Volume 17Issue 9

November 27, 2010

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14Power line tensionThe Water and Light Department’s plans to build new transmission lines has neighbors worried about side effects.

SPECIAL SECTION

Group Meetings/Event Planning

See Page 23

CBT ConversationThe new executive director of the Columbia Board of Realtors comes from a background in campaign management and public relations.10

18Power Lunch: Hinkson Creek and StormwaterLocal officials argue that proposed EPA regulations aren’t a good fit for Hinkson’s restoration.

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By Jacob Barker

Carfax plans to build two rain gardens and an enormous basin to filter and contain stormwater that will flow off the roof of a 10,000-square-foot addition that will be built on a grass-covered lot next to the company’s headquarters.

Carfax, which is expanding to keep up with the demand for its vehicle history reports, will spend more than $55,000 to comply with the city’s stormwater ordi-nance. The rules require a developed area to absorb as much rainwater after construction as the area did before construction.

At the IBM site directly behind Carfax, construction workers paved a 3.5-acre parking lot to accommodate the hundreds of employees expected to work at the new ser-vice center.

Unlike the Carfax site, there will be no rain gardens to filter and clean stormwater that runs off the parking lot. A city variance allowed the project to go forward without addressing one of the two main requirements in the ordi-nance — water quality.

A CBT review of all stormwater variances granted since June 2008 found that even when the city does grant a vari-ance for a project that increases impervious surface, it still requires developers to use techniques such as pervious pave-ment and rain gardens to filter stormwater runoff.

Several local engineering consultants said they would not be able to get a variance like the one granted for the IBM site. Although local developers and consultants often struggle to meet expensive stormwater regulations, the IBM site, which will be owned by the city once the company moves in, was not held to the same standard.

IBM site gets unusual stormwater variance

(continued on Page 20)

Larry Potterfield said he'll give the city the money needed to install a new welcome sign and help with efforts to replicate the signs at other gateways.

By David Reed

The green and white paint is faded, and dead yellow pampas grass partially obscures the “Welcome to Columbia” sign along eastbound Interstate 70. The wooden sign between the Midway and Stadium Boulevard exits displays a decade-old population estimate: 84,531.

There are towering billboards flanking the door-sized welcome sign and competing for the attention of drivers whizzing by. A smaller adja-cent sign names the businesses that covered the gateway project’s cost, including one that hasn’t been around for years, Ameritec Cellular.

The three similar welcome signs installed 15 years ago at the western, northern and southern borders are in similar or worse condition, and the original landscaping is long gone.

“You don’t easily see the city’s entrance signs,” said Richard Perkins, an engineer with the city Parks and Recreation Department. “You pass by it and say, ‘What was that?”’

Perkins and city arborist Chad Herwald have been working behind the scenes for more than a year to develop new welcome signs, a gateway project initiated and financed by Larry Potterfield, CEO of MidwayUSA.

The “Welcome to Columbia” message would be paired with the moniker, “A Community of Excellence,” which relates to Columbia’s distinc-tion as the first community to form a Baldrige Performance Excellence Group.

Potterfield sparksgateway project

(continued on Page 11)

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Air Masters Corporation .............................. 23Beckett Taylor Insurance ............................. 11Boone County National Bank ...................... 28Business Conference & Showcase ............. 10CenturyLink ................................................. 26City Of Columbia Water & Light .................. 16Clean Air Solutions ...................................... 21Columbia Convention & Visitors Bureau-Blind Boone ................................................. 20Columbia Convention & Visitors Bureau-Columbia Film Breakfast ............................. 12Columbia Regional Airport .......................... 12Columbia Turf & Landscape .......................... 3Courtyard By Marriott .................................. 12Delta Systems ............................................. 23Hoss's Market & Rotisserie ......................... 21Huber And Associates ................................. 24Landmark Bank ............................................. 2Savant Business Development Systems ..... 27SOCKET ...................................................... 25Sycamore .................................................... 20Tech 2 .......................................................... 17The Callaway Bank ...................................... 18The Commerce Trust Company .................. 22The Insurance Group ..................................... 4Whiskey Wild ................................................. 6Wine Cellar & Bistro ....................................... 7

ABC Laboratories ...........................................................6, 9Allstate ..............................................................................20Annabelle Churchill Events ...........................................2, 24Atkins Inc. ...........................................................................6Associated Property Analysts Inc.....................................14The Bank of Missouri ........................................................23Boone County National Bank .............................................6Boys Scouts of America .....................................................4C & C Construction Inc.......................................................6Carfax .................................................................................1CenturyLink ......................................................................27Charter Communications .................................................27Christensen Asphalt .........................................................21Christensen Construction Company ................................21Con-Agg of MO LLC ..........................................................6Coil Construction ............................................................4, 6Columbia Access Television .............................................27Columbia Board of Realtors .............................1, 10, 17, 23Columbia College .............................................................24Columbia Daily Tribune...................................................6, 8Columbia Mall.....................................................................8Columbia Regional Airport .......................................4, 7, 11Community Events ...........................................................23Community Foundation of Central Missouri.............6, 9, 24D&H Drugstore .................................................................23Five Star Land Investment ..................................................5Flat Branch Mortgage .........................................................6Geosyntec Consultants ....................................................19Holiday Inn Select Executive Center ................................25Huebert Builders Inc. ..........................................................6IBM .........................................................................1, 20, 21Inside Columbia ................................................................24KMIZ .................................................................................12Kroenke Holdings ...............................................................6Lathrop and Gage ............................................................19Legacy Construction Group ...............................................6Mediacom .........................................................................27MidwayUSA ..............................................................1, 4, 11Midwest Builders’ Casualty Mutual Company ...................4Missouri Cardiovascular Specialists...................................4Murry’s ................................................................................5Mutual of Omaha Companies ............................................6Nanotechnology Enterprises Inc. .......................................6Nasopure ..........................................................................23Newsy.com .........................................................................4Outfront Communications ..................................................6Ragtag ................................................................................5Regional Economic Development Inc. ...............................6Research Animal Diagnostic Laboratory ............................6Roots N Blues N BBQ ........................................................6Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation.............................4Shakespeare’s Pizza ...........................................................7Simon Oswald Associates ..................................................4Stoney Creek Inn ..............................................................23Suzi Davis Travel ................................................................6Tiger Hotel ..............................................................8, 19, 24Thumper Entertainment ......................................................6Top Ten Wines ....................................................................5Universi-T’s/Corporate Identi-T’s ...................................2, 5University Hospital ...........................................................24Visionworks Marketing & Communications ......................25Walmart ..............................................................................8“We Always Swing” Jazz Series .......................................27Weichert Realtors-First Tier ..............................................14

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5Couples You Should Know Laura and Joel Kreisman own Universi-T's/Corporate Identi-T's.

AnnaBelle EventsAnne Churchill starts a business doing what she loves.

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The Columbia Business Times is published every other Saturday by The Business Times Co. 2001 Corporate Place, Suite 100, Columbia, Mo 65202.

Copyright The Business Times Co., 2008. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of any editorial or graphic content without the express written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Third-class postage paid at Columbia, Mo. The annual subscription rate is $39.95 for 26 issues.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT:The Columbia Business Times strives to be Columbia’s leading source for timely and comprehensive news coverage of the local business community. This publication is dedicated to being the most relevant and useful vehicle for the exchange of information and ideas among Columbia’s business professionals.

Writers in this issue: Jacob Barker, Victoria Guida, David Reed, Emily Willroth

Columnists in this issue: Al Germond, Joseph Haslag, Tony Richards, Sean Spence, Mary Still, Roger Still

Chris Harrison | General Manager | Ext.1010David Reed | Group Editor | Ext.1013Jacob Barker | Assistant Editor | Ext.1009Alisha Moreland | Art DirectorKristin Branscom | Graphic DesignerBetsy Bell | Creative Marketing DirectorJennifer Kettler | Photo Editor | 573-529-1789Cindy Sheridan | Operations ManagerAnnie Jarrett | Marketing RepresentativeJoe Schmitter | Marketing RepresentativeAshley Meyer | Creative Services

(573) 499-1830 | (573) 499-1831 faxeditor@businesstimescompany.comAdvertising information: info@businesstimescompany.com

MFA Oil Company

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EDITOR’S WELCOME

My wife and I live on a ridge above a brook that empties into Hinkson Creek, and during heavy rains the trickle becomes a torrent. About a year ago, I installed rain barrels below two downspouts at the back of our house to capture water that I use for my garden and potted plants.

In Lebanon, on my way back from a trout fishing trip in southern Missouri, I picked up the pair of sturdy

oak whiskey barrels rejected by the manufacturer, American Stave Co. They look better than the typical plastic rain barrels and cost me only 50 bucks each.

My next modest water conservation project will be to divert water from the two front down-spouts onto little rain gardens and the grass lawn. Normally, the water goes down the driveway, into the street, down a culvert and back behind my house to the brook. My neighbors have automatic lawn sprinklers that turn on even when it’s raining, and much of that water also ends up in the Hinkson.

About 60 percent of Columbia’s property drains into the Hinkson watershed, but I’m not as con-cerned as many people about the EPA’s plan to force the city to reduce the flow of stormwater into Hinkson Creek by about 40 percent.

At a Power Lunch this month, the CBT gath-ered the major players involved in the looming fight against the federal regulations meant to pro-

tect the Hinkson Creek ecosystem. (See our story on Page 18).

I agree with local officials who say they are chal-lenging the drastic decrease in rainstorm runoff because the rule is arbitrary and unreasonable.

The requirement also is unfair and possibly counterproductive. The city and county established a buffer to protect creek banks and closed sewage treatment plants in the watershed. The city has passed a multimillion-dollar bond issue to eliminate old sewer lines and improve others in the watershed. And the community organizes an annual Hinkson cleanup.

The EPA, though, is under a court order to impose regulations for impaired waterways such as the Hinkson by the end of the year and seems disin-clined to negotiate.

This case likely will end up in a federal court, possibly a high-profile test of the new runoff rule, and the city and county governments will have to come up with a proactive strategy to avoid bad pub-licity. It will be easy to portray this as a fight against efforts to reduce pollution in an urban stream.

The city should come up with a proactive strategy so that Columbia isn’t unfairly portrayed as being insensitive to environmental protection. Perception matters when striving to make the city an attractive destination for investment and tourism. How about a dual strategy: let attorneys try to revise the rule while local officials and community leaders orga-nize the biggest grass-roots effort in the country to reduce stromwater flows.

Anybody need directions to pick up some rain barrels?

DavidR@businesstimescompany.

com

David Reed

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We want to hear from you. Please e-mail your submissions to editor@

businesstimescompany.com

HiringsNewsy.com, the video news analysis service, hired

Stefanie Riepe as business manager. Riepe joins Newsy.com after five years at Simon Oswald Associates, where she was the business manager. Prior to Simon Oswald Associates, Riepe was the cash manager for Affordable Equity Partners. Riepe received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Northern Illinois University. Her primary responsibilities at Newsy.com include managing office services, human resources, accounting and vendor management.

The Columbia Chamber of Commerce hired Kathy Frerking as the director of financial services. Frerking is responsible for billing membership dues and all accounting connected with the Chamber. She is also responsible for coordinating all aspects of the ambassador division, including scheduling ribbon cuttings and planning ambas-sador events. Prior to joining the Chamber, she worked for the city of Columbia Public Works Department for 30 years in many different roles. Most recently, Frerking was the manager of the Columbia Regional Airport. In the commu-nity, Frerking was recently appointed to the board of direc-tors for South Rotary Club. She has lived in Columbia for 40 years, and her original hometown is Birmingham, Ala.

Departures

Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs Manager Marie Nau Hunter will resign her position, effective February 2011. Hunter joined the city staff as a cultural program assistant in 1997, advanced to cultural program specialist and attained her current position in 2001. She holds bach-elor’s and master’s degrees in art history and archaeology from MU. During her time with the city, the Missouri Arts Council and state Department of Economic Development designated Columbia the state’s first “creative community.” Hunter received the Missouri Arts Council’s Leadership in the Arts award last February. The city will begin a search for her replacement in the coming weeks.

UM Curator Bo Fraser announced his plans to resign from the UM Board of Curators on Nov. 22. Former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt appointed Fraser in 2007, and his term does not expire until 2013. Whoever replaces Fraser will only serve out the two remaining years of his term.

AppointmentsGov. Jay Nixon appointed attorney Lori Neidel to the

Missouri State Employees Retirement System Board of Trustees. Neidel is the founder of a law practice that pro-vides compliance and regulatory affairs counsel for the financial industry. She advises broker-dealers and invest-ment advisers in matters of compliance and represents financial professionals in regulatory investigations and proceedings. A graduate of the St. Louis University School of Law, Neidel has earned the certified regulatory and com-pliance professional designation. Prior to entering private practice, she was chief enforcement counsel for the securi-ties division of the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office from 2006 to 2009. She also worked as an associate administrative law judge and as a staff attorney for the Missouri Division of

Workers Compensation from 1996 to 2005. Neidel replaces David Steelman, of Rolla, who was appointed to the board in April 2009. Gov. Nixon appointed Steelman to the board specifically to review its compensation practices, especially the practice of awarding bonuses to investment staff.

AwardsPolly Reynolds, CPA, assistant vice president and trust

officer at Landmark Bank, was awarded the certified trust and financial advisor designation from the Institute of Certified Bankers, a subsidiary of the American Bankers Association. The CTFA designation is awarded to indi-viduals who demonstrate excellence in the field of wealth management and trust. To qualify for the CTFA certifica-tion, individuals must have certain levels of experience and education in the trust profession, pass an exam and agree to abide by a code of ethics. Reynolds has worked in the invest-ment management and trust department of Landmark Bank since May 2007. She has 13 years of investment advisory and tax planning experience

Dr. Robert Doroghazi will be recognized by the Boy Scouts of America when they present him with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, a recognition granted to Eagle Scouts who, after 25 years, have distinguished themselves in their life work and who have shared their talents with their communities on a voluntary basis. The award has been bestowed upon fewer than 2,000 of the 2 million Eagle Scouts who have attained the rank in the 100 years of scouting. Doroghazi earned his Eagle Scout Award as a member of Boy Scout Troop 96 in Granite City, Ill., on May 20, 1964. He has distinguished himself in his career as a leading cardiologist and founded the Missouri Cardiovascular Specialists in 1985. He is also the author The Physician’s Guide to Investing: A Practical Approach to Building Wealth, which is now in its second edition and recommended by Warren Buffet as required reading at medical schools. With this award, Doroghazi joins the ranks of individuals such as astronauts Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell, former President Gerald Ford, Congressman Ike Skelton, former Congressman Richard Gephardt, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Walmart founder Sam Walton.

Randy Coil, president and founder of Coil Construction, and Karin Martin, office manager, were each awarded the 2010 Grand Award from Midwest Builders’ Casualty Mutual Company. The Grand Award recognizes Coil Construction’s excellence in the safety aspect of its construction busi-ness. The award, given twice a year to Midwest Builders’ Casualty members, recognizes excellence in field safety, claims management and loss prevention.

PhilanthropyLarry and Brenda Potterfield of MidwayUSA donated

$1.6 million to the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation to support youth shooting programs. The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation is an educational-athletic organization that exists to introduce school-age youths to shooting sports. v

Martin

Riepe

Coil

Frerking

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COuPLE YOu SHOuLD KNOW

AGE: Laura: 40; Joel: 45 | YEARS LIVED IN MID-MISSOURI: Laura: 22; Joel: 27

ORIGINAL HOMETOWN: Both: St. Louis

EDUCATION: Laura: St. Joseph's Academy in St. Louis; bachelor’s degree in journalism from MU in 1992. Joel: Ladue High School in St. Louis; bachelor’s degree in fine art from MU in 1987

JOB DESCRIPTION: Laura: I handle the day-to-day business operations of the business, including employee matters, invoicing, payroll, health insurance and accounts payable — the glamorous side of things. Joel: I direct sales and marketing for the company.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Laura: Right now my greatest involvement is the work I do at Grant Elementary School, my children's home away from home. Joel: I second what Laura said. We look at our kids’ activities as our primary “causes” currently. I love helping coach my son’s soccer team. We also donate and work with many local nonprofits to better those organizations through the business. We are big supporters of Boys & Girls Club and the United Way.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND: Laura: After gradu-ating in 1992, I spent the next eight years working on public health policy. With a federal grant, I worked with the Department of Health and MU. When our first child was less than a year old, I made the move to work at Universi-T's/Corporate Identi-T's with Joel. It was a natural transi-tion because of my advertising and public relations background. I'm also a little better with managing the paperwork than my other half. Joel: While finishing my educa-tion at MU, I was working for the local screen printer Creative Sportswear. When the owner decided to relocate to Florida, I decided to open my own screen-printing business, Universi-T's. As I evolved as a businessperson, the business followed suit and moved us from mostly college apparel to all sorts of corporate and small-business work. We incorporated under Corporate Identi-T's in 1997. In 2005, Laura had become more involved in the day-to-day operations of the business, and I had more time to follow my passion for design and building. I started Five Star Land development, and our first big project was the 10,000-square-foot building that is the new home of Universi-T's/Corporate Identi-T's Inc.

A COLUMBIA BUSINESSPERSON I ADMIRE AND WHY: Laura: We meet so many fascinating people through the business, as well as our friends. I could never just pick one. I will say all the people whom I admire the most share some common traits: They are creative, have vision for their business and the community, are problem solvers, have incredible integrity and have a good sense of humor. Joel: I really admire Dennis Harper. He was the landlord of the building my boss was renting during college. I admired his business sense and entrepreneurial spirit. I admire the integrity that he shows with everything he does. When I started my own business, he was generous with his knowledge and encouragement. I think he is a great person and a huge asset to the Columbia business community.

WHY I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT MY JOB: Laura: I love all the different interesting people we meet every day. No two days are the same, and it makes coming to work very stimu-lating. I also like that I get to work with my husband; it makes getting a day off for my sick kids pretty easy! Joel: I think of myself as a problem solver. I love that I get to use my creative side with my problem-solving skills to find solutions for my customers. I consider their successes to be my successes.

IF I WEREN’T DOING THIS FOR A LIVING, I WOULD: Laura: In my dreams, I'm a writer. Joel: I’d be a chef in my own restaurant in Healdsburg, Calif.

BIGGEST CAREER OBSTACLE I’VE OVERCOME AND HOW: Laura: For me it is sort of twofold. I have been working more in the past few years because our kids are both now in school, so I was transitioning from being more home-focused to more work-focused while trying to rediscover my strengths in the workplace. All the while we were expe-riencing one of the most difficult economic periods to be in business of our generation. Joel: Losing my dad a month into owning my business was really a blow. He taught me everything I know about this industry, and losing him, his encouragement, his

wisdom, his industry knowledge... losing that voice was really tough.

A FAVORITE RECENT PROJECT: Laura: Potty-training two new puppies in the house. We'll see how it turns out. Joel: Restoring a 1978 FJ40

Land Cruiser to better-than-new condition.

FAMILY: We have been married for 15 years, and we have a 10-year-old daughter in fifth grade and a 7-year-old son in first grade. We also have three dogs: Teddy, Mac and Stella.

WHAT TACTICS DO YOU USE TO BALANCE WORKPLACE AND FAMILY DEMANDS: Laura: I try to leave work at work and focus on my home and family when I'm there. My dad was espe-cially good at this and set a great example of when you

walk in the door, you are a parent and not a business-person. Your kids don't need to know or care about

what happened today at work or what is in store tomorrow. They just want to tell you about their day, show you their work and have you focus on them. Joel: Ditto.

WHAT WE DO FOR FUN: Laura: We try to spend a lot of time with friends. We do a lot of family activities with our friends and their kids. We also love Paul's wine tastings at Top Ten Wines, MU football games, Murry's. We have also taken many amazing trips. Joel: I love to play golf when I get the chance, which is not very often these days. We also love taking great trips: wine country in California, the beach, the desert in Arizona.

FAVORITE PLACE IN COLUMBIA: Laura: Ragtag Cinema: A glass of wine, a few friends and a great movie is perfect. Joel: Tailgating at an MU football game on a

beautiful fall afternoon.

ACCOMPLISHMENT I’M MOST PROUD OF: Laura: I guess I'd say I'm proud

of my family. I had no idea how dif-ficult it was to have a strong marriage,

raise kids, work, maintain your home, have friends, spend time with your extended

family, to balance all the things that make life worth living. But I think we are managing to keep all the

balls in the air and have a pretty good time in the pro-cess. Joel: I'd say having been in business in Columbia

for 21 years, 15 years of marriage and 10 years as a parent — that is, when they aren't driving me crazy!

MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THAT I: Laura: Now if I tell you, everyone will know. Joel: That I traveled to see more than 60 Grateful Dead shows from 1984 to 1995 and saw Jerry

Garcia’s last performance at Soldier Field in Chicago. v

Laura KreismanPresident, Universi-T’s/Corporate Identi-T’s

Joel KreismanVice President, Universi-T’s/Corporate Identi-T’s; President, Five Star Land Investment

photo by art smith

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CBT BuSINESS NEWS DIgEST

What’s AheadThe university of Missouri released a request

for qualifications on Nov. 15 to find a developer that would build an 80,000-square-foot building at the Discovery Ridge Research Park. The university would lease land to a developer who would own and operate a building housing high-tech or research-oriented businesses that would collaborate with university researchers. The university hopes the new building will be completed in 2012. Discovery Ridge, located at US Highway 63 and Discovery Drive, cur-rently houses Analytical Bio-Chemistry Laboratories and the Research Animal Diagnostic Laboratory.

The Columbia City Council will hold a special work session Nov. 27 to discuss fiscal 2012 budget development. Finance Director Lori Fleming, whose last day is Dec. 3, will give some parting thoughts on the city’s budget. The City Council will also look at its enterprise funds and its Capital Improvement Project fund.

Affion Public, the firm selected by the City Council to conduct the search for City Manager Bill Watkins’ replacement, will begin interviewing Council members and some Columbia residents in the coming weeks about the qualities they want to see in their new city manager. Watkins intends to leave the position in March.

The Columbia Chamber of Commerce announced the creation of a Candidate Recruitment Task Force to find business-oriented candidates to run for the vacant 1st and 5th Ward City Council seats in the April election. The Chamber board of directors chairman Paul Land appointed to the task force: Scott Atkins of Atkins Inc., Rhonda Carlson of C & C Construction Inc., Randall Coil of Coil Construction Inc., Kee groshong of the university of Missouri, Susan Hart of Huebert Builders Inc., Rob Monsees of Nanotechnology Enterprises Inc., Larry Moore of Con-Agg of MO LLC, Melody Parry of Outfront Communications, Wally Pfeffer of Mutual of Omaha Companies, Robert Roper of Boone County National Bank and Jim Yankee of Flat Branch Mortgage.

The Columbia Daily Tribune will begin charging for its online content Dec. 1. Print subscribers will have access to the newspaper’s website until Jan. 1 or their renewal date, whichever is later. The newspaper will only charge for local news and sports coverage.

The city will officially open the Maguire Boulevard extension Nov. 29, providing a critical second point of access to Concorde Industrial Park before hundreds of workers begin working at the new IBM service center. The $6.9 million project faced a close vote in the city council two years ago, with opponents citing concerns about environ-mental damage to the Grindstone Creek, and some city administrators have said that had it not passed, IBM may not have chosen to locate in Columbia. Late this summer, heavy rains damaged the bridge’s foundations and delayed its completion, originally slated for October.

Suzi Davis Travel, formerly Summit Travel, is moving from the Crossroads West shopping center at 2101 W. Broadway to the Forum Shopping Center at 1400 Forum Blvd. on Dec. 1. The travel service managed by Jerry Price will be two doors down from Schnucks.

What’s HappenedA Workforce Development Study presented on

Nov. 18 identified areas of adult technical training lacking in Boone County but concluded that the gaps could be filled by existing local colleges and training centers. More than nine in 10 employers who responded to the survey believe the area would

benefit from technical skills training, however. Areas of training in which demand significantly exceeds supply involve sales, customer service and health care, particularly for nursing and technical phar-macy and psychiatric jobs.

Mu employed 435 more people this year than in 2009 despite the ongoing salary freeze, primarily because of increases within the School of Medicine not funded by taxpayers, the Columbia Daily Tribune reported. The university’s total payroll with 10,428 employees increased $15 million from the year before, to $570 million. MU’s budget director said funding from general operating revenues, which comes from tuition and state appropriations, going into salaries this year remained flat.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has been working behind the scenes to revive legislation that would ease the way for a second nuclear reactor to be built at Ameren's Callaway County plant, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. On Nov. 19, he announced an agreement had been reached with Missouri utilities to seek an early site permit for a new plant at Ameren’s Callaway site. He asked for legislation to allow the St. Louis-based utility to recoup some of the money it spends trying to obtain a permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by allowing it to raise rates on consumers.

The Columbia Chamber of Commerce and Regional Economic Development Inc. hosted the 7th annual economic outlook conference on Nov. 23. Local bankers discussed Columbia’s “new economy,” and state economic development officials discussed forming regional partnerships.

The Community Foundation of Central Missouri held its official launch party Nov. 17. The foundation will manage local nonprofits’ endow-ments and allow donors to set up funds managed by the organization, which will partner with the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation for financial expertise.

Legacy Construction group submitted a proposal to the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department to buy the city-owned historic Heibel-March Building at the intersection of Range Line Street and Wilkes Boulevard. Keith Windham, Legacy’s general managing partner, submitted a letter to the city Sept. 14 indicating his company’s interest in restoring the building in north central Columbia and moving Legacy’s offices there.

Roots N Blues N BBQ organizer Thumper Entertainment submitted a report to the City Council on the economic impact of the annual fall festival. The study, conducted by a team of MU researchers, estimated the festival drew 65,000 attendees during the weekend. Some people were counted twice if they went both days. The direct spending attributed to festival attendees was $4.5 million, according to the report.

Columbia billionaire Stan Kroenke bought 42 acres of prime mixed-use real estate in North Dallas on Nov. 12, The Dallas Morning News reported. One of Kroenke’s companies, Kroenke Holdings, put the land under contract in October. It had been zoned for a $300 million retail and housing complex but was foreclosed on in October of 2009.

Shakespeare’s Pizza beat out three other college-town hangouts to win ABC’s Good Morning America contest: “Best Bites Challenge: College Edition.” Manager Kurt Mirtsching was interviewed on the program after the popular Columbia pizza joint received the most online votes from viewers

The city of Columbia held a ribbon cutting for the Mexico Gravel Road extension on Nov. 19. The $4.4 million project reconstructed the road from Vandiver Drive to Route PP.

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The University of Missouri Board of Curators approved issuing $30 million in bonds to replace and relocate MU Health Care’s Green Meadows Clinic. They also approved $18.6 million in bonds to renovate the Mark Twain Residence Hall.

The Columbia Regional Airport will receive a third of a $210,000 federal grant awarded to the Missouri Department of Transportation to help smaller regional airports market themselves.

Missouri’s Tax Credit Review Commission voted to recommend the state slash its historic tax credit program, the largest in the country, from $140 million a year to $75 million, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The recommenda-tions were sent to Gov. Jay Nixon last week as part of a report on all of the state’s tax credits.

Nixon has been calling for the state legislature to rein in Missouri’s tax credits as part of the effort to plug budget gaps.

The National Business Incubation Association has awarded the NBIA Soft Landings International Incubator designation to the university of Missouri Life Science Business Incubator at Monsanto Place. Through its Soft Landings program, NBIA recognizes business incubation programs that are especially capable of helping non-domestic companies enter the incuba-tor's domestic market.

The Las Vegas-based Donald W. Reynolds Foundation awarded the university of Missouri a $1 million grant to enhance its geriatric medicine programs, the Associated Press reported. v

ECOMONIC INDEx

CBT BuSINESS NEWS DIgEST

RECEIPTS LABOR Columbia Labor Force October 2010: 93,469 October 2009: 92,941Change (#): 528Change (%): 0.6%

Missouri Labor Force October 2010: 2,992,274October 2009: 3,008,032Change (#): -15,758Change (%): -0.5% Columbia Unemployment October 2010: 5,619October 2009: 5,869Change (#): -250Change (%): -4.3% Missouri Unemployment October 2010: 264,424October 2009: 280,000Change (#): -15,576 Change (%): -5.6% Columbia Unemployment Rate October 2010: 6.0%October 2009: 6.3%Change (#): -0.3%

Missouri Unemployment Rate October 2010: 8.8%October 2009: 9.3%Change (#): -0.5% CONSTRuCTION Building Permits – Residential October 2010: 108October 2009: 68Change (#): 40Change (%): 58.8% Value October 2010: $6,383,652October 2009: $5,801,555Change (#): $582,097Change (%): 10.0%

Building Permits – Detached Single-Family Homes

October 2010: 21October 2009: 23Change (#): -2Change (%): -8.7%

Value October 2010: $4,552,000October 2009: $3,832,000Change (#): 720,000Change (%): 18.8%

Building Permits – Commercial October 2010: 14 October 2009: 28Change (#): -14Change (%): -50.0% Building Value October 2010: $839,600October 2009: $10,559,821Change (#): -$9,720,221Change (%): -92.0%

Building Permits – Commercial Additions/Alterations October 2010: 13October 2009: 27Change (#): -14Change (%): -51.9%

ValueOctober 2010: $838,600October 2009: $10,479,821Change (#): -$9,641,221Change (%): -92.0%

HOuSINgBoone County detached single-family homesUnits Sold October 2010: 101October 2009: 147Change (#): -46Change (%): -31.3%

Volume of Sales October 2010: $17,209,858October 2009: $29,081,393Change (#): -$11,871,535Change (%): -40.8%

Median Price of Home Sales October 2010: $148,900October 2009: $159,000Change (#): -$10,100Change (%): -6.4%

Months of InventoryOctober 2010: 12.01October 2009: 8.03Change (#): 3.98 Change (%): 49%

Foreclosures in Boone County October 2010: 22October 2009: 24Change (#): 2Change (%): -12%

COLuMBIA REgIONAL AIRPORTPassengers on Arriving PlanesOctober 2010: 3,620October 2009: 2,238Change (#): 1,382Change (%): 61.8% Passengers on Departing PlanesOctober 2010: 3,582October 2009: 2,204Change (#): 1,378 Change (%): 62.5% uTILITIESSewer Customers – Residential October 2010: 40,596October 2009: 40,212Change (#): 384Change (%): 1.0%

Sewer Customers – Commercial October 2010: 3,641October 2009: 3,523Change (#): 118Change (%): 3.3%

Contributors include: Lori Fleming, Karen Johnson, Sean Moore, Linda Rootes, Sarah Talbert and Carol Van Gorp Compiled by David Walle

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From the Roundtable

Intellectual property has its price

vOICES

Al germond

Al Germond is the host of the "Sunday

Morning Roundtable" every Sunday at 8:15

a.m. on KFRu. Algermond@gmail.com

The Columbia Daily Tribune’s recent announce-ment that it will start charging people to read articles on its website has generated a tempest in the online community.

Long anticipated, this Internet paywall will be watched closely from afar as well as right here at MU's School of Journalism, the Reynolds Journalism Institute and by the newspaper's print and electronic competitors. At stake is the future of the traditional printed newspaper and other media outlets from broadcast radio, television and the networks to satel-lite, cable and wireline telephony.

I remember the days of panic when the original Internet boom was in full swing about a dozen years ago. Media outlets were fearful of being left behind, and the operative phrase was, "You've got to have an Internet strategy.” This was a heady time for consultants and vendors of hardware, software, connectivity and realms that were invented as we went along.

With too much careless leaping before looking, the newspaper industry failed to anticipate how the transfer of intellectual property (information and advertising) from a manufactured print product to electronic distribution via the Internet would come to threaten its very existence.

Every media outlet right now is poised at the crossroads of survival because of the Internet. Rarely considered in the recent local dust-up about charging for Internet-delivered content are issues ripe for re-examination. They include consumer motivation, sales and distribution mechanisms, advertising and marketing.

Columbia is obviously a very competitive mass-media environment, with an overarching number of entities scrapping for pieces of a relatively inelastic marketing pie. Financial information is typically guarded because most of the players are

private, closely held companies. Sometimes we get a delicious morsel.

Twenty four years ago, the Tribune Publishing Co. opened its financial door a little when it applied to the Boone County Industrial Development Authority for bonds totaling $4.6 million to finance a new printing plant.

The June 8, 1986, article revealed that the news-paper's 1985 operating revenue in rounded num-bers was $5 million in 1985 = $10.1 million today and yielded a net income of $150,000 in 1985 = $305,000 today representing an operating margin of 2.96 percent. The article went on to discuss Columbia's highly competitive media environment and cited the Tribune's above-industry-average expenditure for its core intellectual properties — its local news and sports departments.

What's the situation today? Market-wide devel-opments during the past 25 years have included substantial retail developments, including the Columbia Mall, a trio of Walmart supercenters and numerous big-box stores. Although there have been heady advances in total retail sales and sales tax receipts, the monetary benefit to many media concerns has been rather marginal.

The dark side of this growth is that it really rep-resents the consolidation of retail activity that has actually reduced the number of viable clients media outlets can depend on for support.

Newspapers must ache these days when they look over their lists of lost clients. Although the largest retailers furnish colorful pre-print inserts representing a reliable revenue stream, newspaper proprietors might fear that an outside party will come along to consolidate these circulars in a bundle and toss them independently. Other areas of lost retail activity include automotive (local car and truck dealers do relatively little newspaper

advertising), hundreds of businesses in various malls and shopping centers and enterprises the big-box emporiums have either marginalized or put out of business all together. And where have all the furniture stores gone?

There's also the decline in revenue from classi-fied advertising to consider.

When newspapers went online, they expected advertisers to fill websites as readily as they had contracted for acres of display ads in the regular print edition and the inserts they supplied more recently. When most of us bought a computer for our entry to the Internet, we equated it to buying a radio and TV set, where advertising seen or heard funded the operation. Conditioned to paying for telephone, cable or satellite service, we easily rationalized paying the Internet service provider's monthly fee when that came along.

Now newspapers want to charge a fee to view their intellectual property online via the Internet when they've been foolishly giving it away for years! Although the Tribune should not have put its precious intellectual property online for free to begin with, that's in their past. Now they must catch up to capture lost revenue. In the highly com-petitive local media marketplace, it's going to be a struggle.

Hungry competitors are already lining up. Sleepers in the lot could be the area's three com-mercial television stations. Maybe new players will appear. For the Tribune, this bold step could transfer a chunk of the newspaper's sustenance from advertisers to its subscribers. If anything close to 20,000 subscribe to the Internet product at $96 per year, the grand total, $1.92 million in new-found money, would be a nice fillip of support and something each and every one of us on both sides of the media wall should pay close attention to. v

guest Column

Missouri needs a cigarette tax increaseIn many categories, Missouri has the lowest

taxes in the country. The Morgan Quitno State Rankings 2010 book lists Missouri as:

• 47th-lowest in per capita taxes;• 46th-lowest in corporate income tax;• 40th-lowest in general revenue sales tax.Now Missouri has another record low. As of

July 1, when South Carolina raised its cigarette tax to 55 cents a pack, Missouri had the lowest cigarette tax in the nation.

Missouri’s 17-cents-a-pack tax on cigarettes is now well below all the tobacco-producing states and all surrounding states. In fact, we could raise our tax by 12 cents a package and still be the lowest, with Virginia still above us at 30 cents.

In other words, we could double our cigarette tax and be the second lowest. Right now, when adjusted for inflation, Missouri’s cigarette tax is actually lower today than it was in 1961.

If this is a race to the bottom, we win. But what is the prize?

• More smokers: Already we rank fourth in the country in the percentage of adults who smoke.

• More citizens suffering from lung cancer: We rank fifth in the number of new lung cancer

cases, and we have the seventh-highest lung cancer death rate.

• More pregnant women smoking: Thirty-one percent of Missouri pregnant women on Medicaid smoke. This results in babies with lower birth weights, at significant costs and with terrible illnesses.But forget for a moment the tragedy of these

deaths and illnesses. And forget that our state is in the deepest budget hole since the Great Depression, which requires all of us to tighten our belts.

Let's simply look at this from a position of fair-ness. Citizens who smoke are costing our state a bundle. Missouri now pays $738 per pregnant woman to treat tobacco-related problems. The Missouri Budget Project estimates that smoking-related illness cost the state’s Medicaid system $641 million in 2009 of combined federal and state funds, of which $256 million was state gen-eral revenue.

It is time to ask citizens who smoke to do their parts in helping us cover their expenses.

A 12-cent increase in the cigarette tax — that’s less than a penny a cigarette — would raise about $68 million. Our constitution restricts the amount of new taxes the legislature can impose any given

year without a vote of the people. Because a 12-cent increase produces a revenue increase well below the ceiling mandated by the constitution, this amount could be imposed directly by the legislature.

An alternative would be to send this issue directly to the voters. Let the voters decide if they would support a greater increase. A $1-a-pack increase would net a $570 million revenue gain and keep Missouri well below the national cigarette tax average and in line with our border states.

Either proposal moves Missouri ahead — both on health and well-being of our citizens.

Either proposal improves our ability as a state to balance our budget and increases revenues to protect our investments, improve our economy and maintain our crumbling infrastructure.

Either proposal serves as a user tax and allows citizens who smoke to contribute their fair share of the costs placed upon our state.

The race to the bottom is one we can’t afford to win. I will work this session with like-minded legislators to address this issue of fairness and personal responsibility. v

Statistics were provided by Missouri Budget Project and Center for Disease Control.

Still is the state representative for the

25th District.

Mary Wayne Still

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Econ Matters

What is the Fed doing?Ben Bernanke, chairman of the board of

governors of the Federal Reserve System (the central bank), recently announced another round of quantitative easing.

By the end of the second quarter of 2011, the Fed intends to buy $600 billion of Treasury Department securities, especially those at the longer end of the maturity spectrum, to help the US economy.

By bidding up prices of long-term Treasury bonds, interest rates on debt will fall. Rates on other long-term instruments, such as mortgages and corporate bonds, will be low enough to entice people to buy new houses and borrow for big corporate projects.

The size of this round is not unprec-edented. Between September 2008 and April 2009, the Federal Reserve was a net purchaser of securities. By the time this round was com-plete, the Fed had injected roughly $925 bil-lion of base money into the US economy.

There is an important difference between the 2008-2009 money-expansion episode and this one. In 2008, it was becoming clear that the banking and payment system was under significant duress. The Federal Reserve, in its role as lender of last resort, was the perfect agency to offer much-desired liquidity to the financial system.

Indeed, I am a big cheerleader of this action. If the payment system had frozen, the Great Depression, in my view, would have looked like a walk in the park. We take for granted our sophisticated, well-functioning payment system. Without it, you and I might have been temporarily bartering economics lessons for home-grown vegetables. (I would

have lost some weight, I suspect.) Rather, the Federal Reserve stepped in and offered base money to banks and other financial institutions.

How did the Fed’s first round of money expansion affect our economy? Milton Friedman told us that inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon. When the US money supply doubled, the prediction would have been that higher inflation rates are imminent. Yet, where is the predicted inflation? One is tempted to answer with Friedman’s other dictum that there is a long and variable lag between monetary policy actions and the effects. In my view, there is another explanation: The demand for base money increased by as much as the supply of base money. Hence, there was no increase in inflation rate pressures building.

Bernanke is not surprised by the absence of any uptick in inflation. Indeed, he based his research on the Great Depression and would argue that deflation — that is, falling price levels — is the real concern in the US economy. There are two possibilities: one is that deflation is a symptom of an economy that is contracting; the other is that deflation causes weak economic conditions as people want to hold money as a store of value rather than make loans to finance investment pur-chases. This distinction matters. If deflation causes a weak economy, then avoiding it is useful. In contrast, if deflation is a symptom, then expanding the money supply might not solve any of the underlying economic condition

The problem facing the Fed’s actions are twofold. First, this round of quantita-tive easing is not likely to stimulate the US economy. As Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, put it, the problems in the labor market are not problems that monetary policy is particularly good at repairing. In addition, equipment and other capital good purchases are low because the returns to such activities are presently low. So the traditional monetary policy channels are not operational.

Second, the US appears to be in a liquidity trap. This means that interest rates are so low that any additions to the supply of base money will simply be held as cash by financial insti-tutions. The point is few viable alternatives exist. Banks make money by lending funds at higher rates than they pay to obtain the funds. At present, cash reserves are offering a safe return compared with the alternatives. This will not always be the case. When pro-ductivity gains begin to emerge, and bankers and others identify credit opportunities that are worth taking, then we will see a reduc-tion in the demand for base money. Unless Bernanke can quickly reduce the supply of base money, we will see higher inflation.

In the end, Bernanke will be able to say that he tried to use the tools available to the central bank to stimulate the economy. His gamble is that he and his fellow central bankers can sell enough Treasury securities to shrink the supply of base money in time to avoid a run-up in inflation. If they pull this off, Bernanke would be, in my view, the greatest central banker of all time. v

vOICES

Haslag is a professor of economics at the

university of Missouri.

Joseph Haslag

City view

New foundation supports community betterment With a kick-off event at the Tiger Hotel on

Nov. 17, the Community Foundation of Central Missouri announced its formation as an inde-pendent, nonprofit organization created for the betterment of our community. Significant individual, business, nonprofit and city of Columbia support has helped move this impor-tant community program forward.

There are more than 700 Community Foundations across the country that collec-tively hold more than $50 billion in assets. In Missouri, Community Foundations operate in Kansas City (more than $1 billion in assets), Springfield ($140 million in assets) and St. Louis ($170 million in assets). In each case, they are key partners with the business and nonprofit sectors. Recognizing the success of Community Foundations nationwide and taking into account local needs, the city of Columbia’s visioning process recommended the formation of a local foundation.

Our Community Foundation started work in May 2010 under the guidance of a diverse board comprised of business, community and nonprofit leaders. With startup funding from the city of Columbia, Roger Still was hired as executive director. Soon after, Commerce Bank President Teresa Maledy became board president.

With less hassle than forming their own private foundation, individuals and busi-nesses can establish a fund at the Community Foundation to organize their giving. For a minimum of $250 annually, or a 1 percent fee on assets under management, the Community Foundation provides a mix of accounting services and investment options, helps con-nect donors to local nonprofits and frees them to form a legacy of giving for their family or business.

Donors who have already taken advantage of the Community Foundation’s services were introduced at the Nov. 17 event. Ben Loeb, who was inspired by watching his parents give through the St. Louis Community Foundation as a child, established the Ben Loeb Foundation. ABC Laboratories CEO Byron Hill was present to announce the formation of the company’s charitable fund, working with the Community Foundation to streamline their giving pro-cess and underscore their commitment to the community as a corporate citizen. Eliot Battle extended his legacy in our community by giving funds to form the Eliot and Muriel Battle African-American Community Fund.

Another key role of the Community Foundation is to strengthen nonprofit orga-nizations that are crucial to the health and

vitality of our community. Nonprofit endow-ments, small family foundations and larger foundations can all be part of the Community Foundation while retaining control of their money and receiving marketing and fund-raising assistance to help them grow their assets. Through a partnership with the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, our local foundation also has access to expert advice on the best way to establish planned gifts, chari-table remainder trusts and other instruments of giving. The fee schedule is the same as for donors.

Nonprofit agencies that have agreed to partner with the Community Foundation include the Heart of Missouri United Way Endowment Fund, the Voluntary Action Center Endowment Fund and the Central Missouri Community Action Endowment Fund.

Across the country, Community Foundations have been a proven vehicle for bettering their communities.

If you would like to learn more about how the Community Foundation can help organize your personal or business giving or assist your nonprofit agency, visit our website at www.cfcmfoundation.org, or contact Roger Still at (573)817-5027 or at rstill@cfcmfoundation.org v

Still is executive director of the

Community Foundation of Central Missouri.

still@cfcmfoundation.org

Roger Still

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After more than a year working for two political campaigns and racking up more than 25,000 miles on his Jeep, G. Michael Brown took Nov. 3 as his first day off.

The next morning, Brown was on a plane headed to the National Association of Realtors annual conference in New Orleans, his first task as the Columbia Board of Realtors new chief executive officer.

Brown was recruited by the Columbia board while working as the communica-tions director for the campaign to pass Amendment 3, which changed the Missouri Constitution to prohibit taxes on real estate transactions. He takes the position for-merly held by Carol Van Gorp, who resigned in March to lead a Realtor association in Florida.

Brown, 29, moved to Columbia from Lubbock, Texas, in 2003 to go to law school at University of Missouri. He graduated in 2007 and moved to Washington, D.C., to practice law. He spent the last several months of the George W. Bush administration working as a press secretary for the International Trade Administration. That job ended when Barack Obama won the White House, so Brown headed back to Columbia to finish a master’s degree in public affairs.

In October of 2009, he started working on the Amendment 3 campaign, which passed overwhelmingly on Nov. 2. He also spent most of this year working as a campaign manager for Republican Brian Munzlinger, who beat incumbent Wes Shoemyer for the 18th District state Senate seat in northeast Missouri.

What are your priorities for the organization, and what are the biggest challenges it faces?

At all times, the Columbia Board of Realtors is focused on pro-tecting the interests of property owners. The biggest challenge is making certain people understand that home ownership matters. Owning a home has long-standing government support in this country because home ownership benefits individuals and families, strengthens our communities and is integral to our nation’s economy.

The last quarter was a tough one for existing home sales, and through September, this year is worse than the first nine months of 2009. Do you think we

have hit the bottom, and what pace of growth do you foresee? What price ranges are doing well, and which do you think will continue to struggle?

In comparison with many real estate markets throughout the country, Columbia is still doing well. I think we will see sales begin to ramp up in the spring months. Home ownership is important to a healthy economy, and for qualified buyers who can afford it, now is one of the best times to purchase a home.

Membership in the Columbia Board of Realtors has dropped from its height during the hot market years earlier this decade. The organization once had more than 600 Realtors, and now only 488 are members. Is this a more normalized number of Realtors for the size of our market and its activity, or do you see mem-bership eventually returning to pre-recession levels?

Columbia has a great deal of real estate activity, but I do think the recession affected membership in associations across most, if not all, careers. The Columbia Board of Realtors will gain mem-bership again because of our commitment to member education, ethics and our listing service.

You worked on the campaign to pass Amendment 3, which amended the Missouri Constitution to prohibit any sort of real estate transfer taxes — preemptively quashing any future pro-posals by public officials to pass such taxes. What does this do for the real estate industry in the state, and how do we stack up now against neighbors in our region?

Missouri homeowners already pay property tax, so a real estate transfer tax would have been double taxation. Many families have owned their homes for decades, and they have already paid thousands of dollars in property taxes and other fees. Adding double taxation through a real estate transfer tax was simply bad public policy. It would have denied fairness, and it defied common sense. By prohibiting transfer taxes, we Missourians protected the rights of property owners.

A CBT Conversation:

G. Michael Brown starts job at Columbia Board of Realtors

(continued on Page 17)

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Potterfield said he’ll give the city the money needed to place the first welcome sign, estimated to range from $50,000 to $70,000, and lead an effort to get other local philanthropists to cover the costs of replicated welcome signs at three other gateways.

The first sign would be placed on the Stadium Boulevard bridge embankment adjacent to east-bound I-70. Three others would be placed along US Highway 63, at Prathersville at the northern border, the Discovery Ridge exit at the southern border and along westbound I-70 at the St. Charles exit.

“We’re at the point now where we’re just looking for feedback on designs,” Perkins said. Assistant City Manager Tony St. Romain has been supervising the project, which they plan to present to the City Council in a month or two.

Herwald and Perkins presented what Potterfield called their “work in progress” during a forum on gateway beautification and “wayfinding” improvements held Nov. 16 at Columbia Regional Airport, the first in a CBT series focusing on tourism development strategies.

MidwayUSA was one of five companies in the nation that won a Baldrige Award last year, and Potterfield is on the local group’s steering committee.

The Baldrige National Quality Program, named after former Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige, stresses customer focus and statistics-driven process management. The Columbia Chapter will promote performance excellence in the education, health care, small business, manufacturing, service and nonprofit sectors.

Coincidentally, Lorah Steiner, executive director of the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau, has been using “excellence” as the mantra for the organization.

gateway project ... continued from Page 1

The current Columbia welcome sign on eastbound Interstate 70 displays a decade-old population estimate.

The new Columbia welcome sign proposed for the eastbound Interstate 70 entrance to the city will be financed in full by Larry Potterfield of MidwayUSA.

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“Everything we do here, including gateways, should be looked at through this excellence prism,” she said at the beginning of the tourism forum.

When visitors arrive in the city by car, bus or plane, their first impressions are important, she said. Enhancing the main entrances could improve how the city is perceived by both visitors and trav-elers just passing by, Steiner and other forum participants said.

“Let’s face it,” Herwald said before presenting the details of their proposal. “Columbia has one chance to make a first impres-sion. How many people drive up and down Interstate 70 and never stop in Columbia? We want to present something to those people who are driving through and see that sign and go, ‘Wow, that’s really pretty; that’s interesting.’ Then they go home and Google Columbia and start researching it and decide, ‘The next time we go on a vacation, lets take a day or two and stop in Columbia.’”

The current welcome-to-Columbia sign along eastbound I-70 was the result of a campaign led by Chamber of Commerce President Don Laird and Mary Posner, founder of the annual Memorial Day Salute to Veterans celebration at the airport.

The campaign raised $140,000 from businesses to erect signs and landscaping at the five major intersections leading into Columbia.

Former KMIZ General Manager Randy Wright worked with the city to place the gateway signage and directional signage guiding drivers to local landmarks. “With various construction projects around the city, some of the signs have been removed or are simply in need of updating,” Wright wrote in an e-mail.

Herwald said gateway improvement projects have been pro-posed twice in the nine years that he’s been the city’s arborist. He and Perkins concluded that the last project was too “grandiose” and faltered because of the cost estimates, including $40,000 for annual maintenance.

Along with landscape maintenance challenges, gateway projects must be approved by the Missouri Department of Transportation and the federal highway departments.

Roger Schwartz, MoDOT’s regional director, endorsed the proposed designs and locations Herwald and Perkins submitted.

“Maintenance of the plants is probably the most difficult issue,” Schwartz said during the forum. “The roadside is a very harsh environment for plants to grow in. With clay soil and steep banks, they don’t retain water very well.”

Richard Perkins, an engineer with the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department, explains the city’s plans for new welcome signs along the entrances into town.

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Herwald said their proposed gateways would be low maintenance and would require mowing only once or twice a year. They plan to use low-growing trees and prairie grasses native to Missouri, including red buds, which have varying shades of leaves and flowers so that each gateway would have distinct coloring.

The signs and landscaping must either be elevated and protected by guard rails or be designed to break away if a vehicle leaves the highway and runs into it, Schwartz said.

“If it looks anything like an advertising sign, it will not get approval from the Federal Highway Administration,” he added.

The current welcome signs include an illustration of the MU columns in Francis Quadrangle. When asked whether the university’s logo or imagery could be incorpo-rated into a gateway, Schwarz said MU is a public institution and not subject to the advertising restrictions.

Potterfield said he would prefer a permanent sign made of granite with etched let-tering so that it will “still be around 500 years from now.” There would be no public money involved and no references to sponsoring businesses, he said.

“My interest is Columbia, Mo., being a community of excellence,” Potterfield said, and having gateways that “will help drive the community of excellence concept.” v

Andrew Schneider, Columbia Regional Airport’s new manager, and Bob McDonald, the chairman of the Convention and Visitors Bureau board and the general manager of the Marriott Courtyard.

LeAnn Stroupe, the coordinator of MU Visitors Relations, and Norm Benedict, the chief executive officer of Norman-Roberts Communications.

CBT/CVB TouRIsM DeVeLPoMeNT FoRuM BReAKFAsT sPoNsoReD By

By Jacob Barker

The tall, thick woods bordering Kris Farmer’s backyard in the affluent Cascades subdivision pro-vide his family some privacy, not to mention a pleas-ant view from his deck.

“Everybody who bought homes here bought them for the trees,” Farmer said.

But he worries that their view of 50-foot trees could be marred by new high-voltage power lines. Columbia’s Water and Light Department last month informed residents along the southern edges of the city that it needs to build a substation at the south-west corner of Nifong Boulevard and Providence Road as well as three high-voltage transmission lines connecting the station to the power grid.

Although no specific routes have been chosen, the city has proposed three to four alternatives for each transmission line. Two of the possible routes that would connect the new substation with a sub-station near McBaine run right along the Cascades subdivision. The city would have to cut a wide path-way around the lines, and the poles, likely 80 to 100 feet tall, would be clearly visible over the tree line.

If the view changes, Farmer said he worries his home’s value will, too. And not for the better.

“There’s no way if they cut down 100 feet of trees in my backyard and put up a giant power line that my home value wouldn’t be affected,” he said.

The neighborhood association wants the city to build the lines along a different route or bury them, a much more expensive option for the ratepayers footing the bill.

Water and Light Director Tad Johnsen said the city-run utility started having problems with sup-plying the demanded load of electricity in the south-ern region of Columbia back in 2005. The utility designs its system so that losing a particular piece of infrastructure, either because of standard main-tenance or equipment failure, doesn’t interfere with overall service. The new substation and power lines will make sure the system can continue to supply power if something breaks down.

“It’s more of a reliability issue,” Johnsen said. “If we grow too much, and we don’t stay within our design parameter, and we lose a transformer, people are going to be without power until we can put an-other transformer back in there rather than be able to feed from the redundancy built into the substation.”

“People don’t expect for their lights to go off be-cause we’re doing maintenance on our system,” he added.

The city needs to build roughly 15 miles of 161,000-volt lines to connect southern Columbia with the grid that feeds power into the city. Currently, south Columbia is served by mostly 69,000-volt lines.

Residents such as Farmer want the city to choose a route that follows a road, where home values are less dependent on privacy and natural surround-ings. Burying the lines is another option they want the city to consider.

“The thing we’re worried about is our home val-ues just getting decimated,” Farmer said.

Water and Light’s Assistant Director Ryan Williams said the cost of building overhead lines is around $500,000 to $700,000 a mile. The cost of burying the lines costs about five times more, he said. Estimating the project’s total cost is difficult at this point because the City Council has a variety of routes to choose from and the option of burying cer-tain portions of the lines.

“At $500,000 a mile, that’s $7.5 million,” Williams said. “At five times that, that’s $35 million. It’s kind of hard to estimate where we’re going to be in the middle at this point in the project.”

The substation is estimated to cost between $3 million and $5 million, Williams said. The depart-ment has not factored in the cost of obtaining the property where the lines will be built yet, which adds another layer of cost.

Farmer said building overhead lines might save the city a few million dollars, but the risk of depreci-ating property values could hit city coffers, too, and families can’t take another hit to their home values in a tough market.

“It seems like the city wants to do it the right way,” Farmer said. “No one wants to depreciate home values.”

But the city’s consultant for the project has indicated that the long-term effects on property values are neg-ligible, Williams said. In the short term, a particular property might not be able to sell because of a transmis-sion line, but that effect dis-sipates as time passes.

Randy Bryson, an ap-praiser with Associated Property Analysts Inc., said effects on property values could be “zero” in certain cases to “pretty significant” in others.

“If it removes privacy, there’s going to be some effect on values,” Bryson said. “But the extent of the damages, if any, will vary.”

Until property owners find out how close the lines will be to their homes, they will be concerned,

he said. But the actual effect on value is hard to judge and is “case-by-case.”

“There are cases where the property owner thinks they’re damaged, but the market may not see it that way,” Bryson said.

Brooke Sydenstricker McCarty, a broker officer with Weichert Realtors-First Tier, lists properties in the Cascades and surrounding neighborhoods. With so many houses on the market right now, a power line going in nearby a property could easily end up dissuading a buyer.

“It may not even be going in, and people are al-ready having a hard time selling,” she said.

Judging a definitive impact, though, is difficult, she said.

“It’s hard to put a number on that because every-one values that differently,” McCarty said. “But in general, it’s always a negative.”

But residents have another big concern: the possible health effects of the electromagnetic fields generated by the power lines. Concern about the effects of electromagnetic fields began in the late ’80s after journalist Paul Brodeur wrote a series of articles for The New Yorker about a number of small studies that found links between childhood cancer and power lines.

Williams said the data Water and Light has compiled indicates there is no direct correlation be-tween health risks and electro-magnetic fields.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s website says: “The gen-eral scientific consensus is that, thus far, the evidence available is weak and is not sufficient to es-tablish a definitive cause-effect re-lationship” between health effects

and electro- magnetic fields.Johnsen said the fields generated by the new

transmission lines are nothing out of the ordinary.“It’s not like they’re going to be generating an

EMF field people wouldn’t see in their everyday

The Water and Light Department needs to connect a new substation with the power grid using three new high-voltage transmission lines. The utility’s staff has proposed alternative routes for each transmission line and is gathering public opinion, the first step in a process expected to take about two years.

McBaineSubstation

Mill CreekSubstation

ConneCtion 1

Mill CreekSubstation

Hinkson Creek

PercheSubstation

Vawter School Road/Nifong Blvd.

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CoNNeCtioN 2:the red route follows Providence Road north until it heads due west, cuts through the northern edge of the Green Meadows neighborhood and eventually meets up with Chapel Hill Road. it follows Chapel Hill until heading north on South Fairview Road. it then heads west from Bray Avenue until linking up with the Perche substation just west of Scott Boulevard.

the blue route follows Nifong Boulevard west until heading north along Forum Boulevard. it follows Forum until Katy Lane, where it heads due west, crosses the Hinkson Woods Conservation area and meets up with Grant Lane. it heads north along Grant Lane until Chapel Hill Road, which it follows west to Scott Boulevard, which it follows north to the Perche substation.

the green route follows Nifong Boulevard until heading north along Scott Boulevard to the substation.

(continued on Page 16)

Kris Farmer stands in his backyard with wife, Christi, and his daughter, Paige. Farmer’s home in the Cascades subdivision is near one of the proposed routes for a 161,000-volt transmission line connecting a new Water and Light substation with one in McBaine. He and other homeowners are concerned the lines will hurt property values and could cause adverse health effects.

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The data Water and Light has

compiled indicates there is no direct

correlation between health risks and

electromagnetic fields.

ConneCtion 1

ConneCtion 3

ConneCtion 2

Mill CreekSubstation

GrindstoneSubstation

ConneCtion 3

McBaineSubstation

Mill CreekSubstation

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Mill CreekSubstation

Hinkson Creek

PercheSubstation ConneCtion 2

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Vawter School Road/Nifong Blvd.

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CoNNeCtioN 1the red route follows Bethel Street to Southampton Road, which it then follows west to Sinclair Road. it goes due south and follows Sinclair until the road veers west. the transmission line route continues just to the east of the Cascades until hitting the McBaine substation on High Point Lane.

the blue route follows Providence Road south to old Plank Road and follows that

until it hits Glasgow Drive. it heads due west from Glasgow until it is just south of Sinclair, when it heads due south to the McBaine substation.

the green route follows Route K until High Point Lane.

the pink route heads due south from Providence, in between Route K and Highway 163 South, until heading due west to the McBaine substation.

CoNNeCtioN 2:the red route follows Providence Road north until it heads due west, cuts through the northern edge of the Green Meadows neighborhood and eventually meets up with Chapel Hill Road. it follows Chapel Hill until heading north on South Fairview Road. it then heads west from Bray Avenue until linking up with the Perche substation just west of Scott Boulevard.

the blue route follows Nifong Boulevard west until heading north along Forum Boulevard. it follows Forum until Katy Lane, where it heads due west, crosses the Hinkson Woods Conservation area and meets up with Grant Lane. it heads north along Grant Lane until Chapel Hill Road, which it follows west to Scott Boulevard, which it follows north to the Perche substation.

the green route follows Nifong Boulevard until heading north along Scott Boulevard to the substation.

CoNNeCtioN 3:the red route follows Grindstone Parkway east to Bearfield Road, which it follows south to the Grindstone substation at east Nifong and Bearfield Road.

the blue route heads due east across Providence Road and veers north to east Nifong, which it follows to the Grindstone substation.

the green route follows Providence Road south to Gans Road, which it follows east to Bearfield Road, which it follows north to the substation.

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lives,” he said. “You’re exposed to these types of things every day, everything from your hairdryer to your microwave oven.”

Chada Reddy, a professor of biomedical sciences at MU who specializes in toxicology, said the associa-tion of EMF fields with cancer and other health effects comes primarily from studies using small samples of people. Even those studies found only weak correla-tions, he said.

“I would say probably all of the larger and well-designed studies indicate that there are no potential health effects,” Reddy said.

Still, some people worry, but it is a minority opin-ion, he said.

“If you talk to 100 scientists knowledgeable in this area, you would probably get an opinion from 10 of them that, yes, they think it may be a hazard,” Reddy said.

Farmer, who has two young children, said any chance is not a risk he is willing to take.

“I’ll sell my house; I’ll eat the loss if I have to,” Farmer said. “But I’m not going to give my kids a 1 percent more chance of getting cancer.”

The citizen concern is standard for a utility project in an already developed area, Johnsen said. The city’s utility is still receiving five to 10 citizen comments about the project each day, and it has a staff member devoted to sorting and responding to those comments. The staff is analyzing those comments and will use them to narrow down the route options to those that have the least impact on residents and are the most cost-effective for the city.

Johnsen said the utility hopes to have a decision on the routes in two or three years. But to serve the growing power demand, it needs to have a majority

of the new infrastructure in service in close to five years, he said.

Farmer said he and his neighbors know the util-ity needs the expansion, but he doesn’t want to take a chance that it is built too close to his neighbor-hood. He has started a Facebook page, Columbia For Responsible Power Line Management, and is working on a website to get residents along other proposed routes involved and aware. He doesn’t want people to forget what the impact could be.

“I think interest might wane the further we go out in the process,” Farmer said. “I’d rather get this out in front of people sooner rather than later.” v

Power lines ... continued from page 15

The association of EMF fields with

cancer and other health effects

comes primarily from studies using

small samples of people. Even those

studies found only weak correlations.

— Chada Reddy, professor of biomedical sciences at MU who specializes in toxicology

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Currently, 37 states and the District of Columbia impose transfer taxes or their equivalents, and Missouri is among 13 states that do not impose such taxes. All of Missouri’s neighboring states im-pose some tax on real estate transactions. By prohibiting these taxes, I think Missouri will benefit a great deal in the upcoming years.

Looking at your career, it seems you have moved from the national level to the state level and now to the local level. Is there something in particular that attracted you to an organization fo-cused on local real estate issues and advocacy?

The Columbia Board of Realtors is a great organization in a city I have come to know and love. I am excited to be a part of this group. At the local level, the issues we face affect our friends and neighbors. It really raises the stakes knowing that the work we do at CBOR protects the interests of our community.

In April, Columbia voters will decide who will fill two vacant seats on the City Council, which will shape the body’s decisions on land use, construction costs and business in general. Considering the City Council’s impact on the real estate industry, the recent entrance of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce into local politics and your own political advocacy background, can we expect the Columbia Board of Realtors to get involved in Council candidate recruitment and endorsements?

The Columbia Board of Realtors is very interested in local elections. During the City Council and mayoral elections, we interviewed many of the candidates and broadcast their interviews online. I anticipate doing the same thing for future elections because it helped the candidates define their ideas and let our membership ask questions that were important to protecting the interests of prop-erty owners.

Is there anything else you would like to let CBT readers know?I’m honored to be a part of the Columbia Board of Realtors. Columbia is a vibrant city with a great

future ahead of it, and I think it is important that groups such as ours have a hand in shaping that fu-ture. Ultimately, home ownership matters to all of us in Columbia because it is an investment in our future. Home ownership strengthens communities. Homeowners are more likely to be involved and engaged in local issues and move less frequently than renters. This helps prevent crime, improve childhood education and support neighborhood upkeep. v

CBT Conversation ... continued from page 10

Above: Michael Brown and Columbia Board of Realtors President-elect Betty tice at Brown’s welcome reception, Nov. 19, at the Bank of Missouri.

Left: Columbia Board of Realtors President Kenney Hubble introduces Brown to attendees.

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Officials prepare to fight Hinkson stormwater regulationsMillions of dollars have already been spent to clean up the watershed, they say

Power lunCh | Hinkson-stoRMwateR

By Jacob Barker

Local officials are challenging looming federal regulations meant to protect the Hinkson Creek ecosystem, calling them arbi-trary and ill suited to clean up the watershed.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a revised municipal stormwater permit that includes a provision known as a Total Maximum Daily Load. It requires the city, county and MU to re-duce the total stormwater runoff into the impaired creek by about 40 percent. Such reductions would be implemented gradually over a number of years.

Officials from the local governments and the university, which jointly hold a stormwater discharge permit for the area, say they agree with the goals of the TMDL but question whether the regu-lations are a reasonable path to reach them. At the CBT Power Lunch Nov. 19, there seemed to be broad agreement among par-ticipants that the TMDL, set to be finalized by the EPA before the year’s end, is not the best way to clean up the Hinkson.

“I get the impression the TMDL is a square peg in a round hole in this situation,” said Jeff Barrow, a member of the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission and the director of Missouri River Relief.

The EPA, though, is under a court order to complete 200 TMDLs by the end of the year, and the Hinkson is one of the last ones on their plate. Unlike most TMDLs, the proposed regulations for the Hinkson watershed do not identify a specific pollutant the community must reduce. Rather, all stormwater runoff would have to be reduced because the regulators believe a single pollut-ant isn’t to blame for the creek’s impairment.

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Power lunCh ParTiCiPanTsPresenTer: Karen Miller; Boone County Commissioner

ParTiCiPanTs:Jeff Barrow; Columbia planning and Zoning CommissionGeorganne Bowman; Boone County stormwater CoordinatorTodd houts; mu assist. director, environmental health and safetyKaren Miller; Boone County CommissionerBen londeree; stormwater Commission, smart growth CoalitionBob McDavid; mayor, City of ColumbiaKurt schaefer; missouri state senator, district 19David shorr; attorney, lathrop and gage; Co-host, CBt roundtable

Trent stober; p.e., geosyntec ConsultantsBill watkins; Columbia City manager

The Callaway BanK:Gary Meyerpeter; president, Boone Co. marketDebbie larue; Vice president, marketingCraig Brumfield; Business development officer

CBT’s POwer LunCH sPOnsOred By

That rankles local officials in charge of protecting the area’s watersheds.

“EPA has never stated that flow is a pollutant,” said Boone County Stormwater Coordinator Georganne Bowman. “Instead of saying temperature or salt or sediment, now we’re just going to say water itself, the amount of water coming into the Hinkson is the problem.”

She and others questioned whether reducing the overall flow, a process that would likely cost millions of dollars, would actually improve the health of the stream. David Shorr, an attorney with Lathrop & Gage who represents the city, county and MU in deal-ing with environmental regulators, said an overall reduction in flow could possibly hurt the watershed because pollutants could still be present without the same level of dilution.

Todd Houts, MU assistant director of Environmental Health and Safety, made the case that a TMDL does not fit the EPA’s goal of cleaning up the Hinkson. The TMDL process was designed as part of the Clean Water Act to reduce specific pollutants from a specific source, known as “point sources.”

Urban runoff, i.e. stormwater, was not included in the original regulations because it is a non-point source. But when EPA real-ized runoff was often a significant source of pollution, it had the law changed so it could regulate urban runoff as a point source. The Hinkson drains roughly 60 percent of the land area within the Columbia city limits. Urban land use within the watershed has grown from 7.9 percent in 1993 to 20.7 percent in 2005.

But Houts, who said he was speaking for himself and not the university, said the area has been working for about eight years under other regulations specifically designed to deal with non-point sources. These regulations take a more holistic approach to stormwater control rather than mandating flow reductions in specific areas.

The area’s efforts to improve the quality of the Hinkson wa-tershed are working, Houts said. The community has made prog-ress under the existing regulations, as evidenced by the city and county stormwater ordinances as well as cleanup efforts along the Hinkson. However, the TMDL is an “ill fit,” he said.

“All it’s going to do is take all our resources out of a program that probably is doing a really good job of making our waters bet-ter and make us throw all our resources into something that was never designed to do what it’s now being issued to do,” Houts said.

Although participants agreed that the TMDL is not the best way to clean up the creek, Boone County Smart Growth Coalition Chairman Ben Londeree said some sort of mandate is necessary.

“History has shown that most communities won’t do what’s required without a stick right over the head,” Londeree said.

Shorr said the EPA has acted as if the community has not in-vested anything into improving the watershed. The county has closed sewage treatment plants in the watershed. The city has passed a multimillion-dollar bond issue to eliminate old sewer lines and improve others in the watershed.

“We’re talking real money,” Shorr said. “It’s at a minimum $20 million and potentially as high as $40 million that’s been invested by all the partners (in the stormwater permit).”

The public comment period for the TMDL ends Nov. 30, and Shorr said the EPA generally takes about a month to respond. Shorr is skeptical that the EPA will listen to the arguments from the permit-holders. After reviewing the comments from the pub-lic and the EPA, the city, county and university will make a deci-sion on whether to challenge the TMDL in federal court, he said.

Power lunCh | Hinkson-stoRMwateR

That challenge, Shorr said, will likely pose two questions for the court: Did the EPA act arbi-trarily, and did they fail to listen to the community?

“The answer on both, from our perspective, will be yes,” Shorr said.Implementing the TMDL will “definitely hit the pocketbooks” of local ratepayers, Shorr said. He

and other community officials hope they can convince the EPA to let them continue to work toward compliance through means less draconian than the TMDL.

“We support the objective,” Shorr said. “We just don’t like the path.” v

PReViouS PAGe: Missouri Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R, Columbia, and Boone County Commissioner Karen Miller began CBt’s Power Lunch discussion at the top of the tiger Hotel with some background on the environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to regulate stormwater runoff into Hinkson Creek.

toP: the proposed Hinkson Creek total Maximum Daily Load regulations from the ePA would mandate the city, county and university reduce runoff into the creek by about 40 percent.

MiDDLe, LeFt: David Shorr, an attorney with Lathrop & Gage, represents the city, county and university on regulatory matters.

MiDDLe, RiGHt: Jeff Barrow, director of Missouri River Relief and a Columbia Planning and Zoning commissioner.

LeFt: trent Stober, an engineer with Geosyntec Consultants

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iBM stormwater ... continued from page 1

The city’s stormwater ordinance has two broad goals. One is detaining water to slow its flow into watersheds. The other is to clean the water that flows from buildings and parking lots. That requires techniques known as best management practices, or BMPs, which are used to clean the water before it enters the water-sheds. Pervious pavement and rain gardens are some of those techniques.

The IBM project designed by Allstate Consultants met the city’s detention require-ments; a huge underground pipe slows the release of water from the parking lot. But there were no water quality BMPs proposed or built on the site.

“Due to the need for park-ing, there are no options on site for surface treatment of stormwater quality,” John Holmes, an Allstate engineer, wrote in a June request for a stormwater variance granted by the Department of Public Works.

The stormwater ordinance gives the director of Public Works the authority to grant variances to the ordinance af-ter a review by building and site development staff. Since June 17, 2008, developers and engineers have requested 36 variances for water quality. Only four have been denied, according to a review of city documents.

Builders must use BMPs that give a site credit toward a required “level of service.” Depending on the size of the site, the amount of impervious surface being added and other factors, a development is assigned a level of service it must meet.

If a developer makes the case that site con-straints keep him or her from meeting that level of service, the department may grant a variance. But even then, the department generally makes the developer implement some kind of BMP to push it as close to compliance as feasible.

Based on the stormwater manual, the IBM site was required to meet a level of service of 5.0. It will only be meeting a water quality level of

service of .27. The site is get-ting a .27 credit for plans to plant about 190 trees off site.

Shane Creech, the supervis-ing engineer of development in Public Works, reviews every variance request before it is sent to the director. He said he and his staff try to remain con-sistent, but there were many things about the IBM project that were “unique.”

“I can’t think of an example that would be that far from the level-of-service requirement,” Creech said.

Holmes, the Allstate engi-neer, said his firm “did the best we could do on that site.” In his variance request, he made the case that the 800 jobs IBM has said it will create should be weighed against the city’s stormwater requirements.

“I think ... something we need to look at more often is how many jobs we’re creat-ing compared to just the little amount of pavement we’re adding,” Holmes said.

Although putting BMPs such as rain gardens in place would have reduced parking space, porous pavement would not have. In his letter, Holmes wrote that porous pavement was not feasible due to the soil quality.

toP: Builders added 3.4 acres of parking spaces to the existing lot on the iBM site.BeLoW: Carfax, located directly to the east of the iBM site, plans to add a 10,000-square-foot addition to its headquarters.

If a developer makes

the case that site

constraints keep him

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that level of service,

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“That one might have been reaching a little bit,” said Rob Christensen, owner of Christensen Asphalt and Christensen Construction Company.

He and local engineers said the region is full of clay soil that doesn’t absorb water well. So to use porous pavement, developers must scoop out a layer of soil and put in a layer of rock, which is covered with the pervious pavement. That way water can filter through. It’s a technique many projects have used around town. But it is about 30 percent more expensive than traditional asphalt, Christensen said.

Creech agreed that much of the area’s soil is poor but that per-vious pavement can still be used.

“There’s always a middle ground,” Creech said. “There’s prob-ably something that could have been done.”

Holmes said much of the porous pavement installed around town has not “held up” and deteriorates rapidly.

Because the city will own the site when IBM occupies it, the maintenance of any BMPs would be its responsibility.

Developer Steve Wendling said he was not surprised the vari-ance was granted. When he built Providence South Plaza earlier this year, Wendling said he had to donate right-of-way valued at $750,000 to the city for a stormwater easement. He also had to put in pervious pavement, which costs about $3.50 more per square foot than regular asphalt.

“If the city wants to do it, and it involves them and benefits them, they’ll circumvent anything to get things done,” Wendling said. “That’s the way it’s been for years.”

Local engineers said the IBM variance highlights the need for the city to come up with ways for developers to pay for stormwa-ter management when they can’t fit the necessary controls onto their site.

“I’d like to see the city give us the option to pay a reasonable amount to do something off site where we can have a bigger im-pact,” Holmes said. v

PUBLiC reCorDBoone County deeds of trust worth more than $352,450 Issued Nov. 2 to Nov. 15 Total issued: $63,285,056

$3,027,659CLARK LANE PROPERTIES LLCHAWTHORN BANKLT F1-D HYDE PARK PUD BLK 3

$2,398,500BERES FOODS LLCFIRST BANK FINANCIAL CENTRELT 3 BROADWAY BLUFFS SUBDIVISION

$1,840,000WESTERN OIL INCU S BANKLT 1A SPENCER'S CREST PLAT 2-A

$1,600,000WILSON, RICK AFIRST NATIONAL BANKLT 302 BERLEKAMP SUB PLAT 3

$1,375,000PGS LLCBANK OF MISSOURI THELT D BUTTONWOOD CENTER CONDOS

$1,354,803LEMONE, ROBERT M MARITAL TRUSTBOONE COUNTY NATIONAL BANKSTR 11-47-12 /S/SW

$800,00016 NORTH 10TH ST LLCBOONE COUNTY NATIONAL BANKLT 228 PT COLUMBIA

$790,500CLARK LANE PROPERTIES LLCBLEY, WALTER H & CINDY E; DOLLAR INVESTMENTS LLCLT G1-A HYDE PARK LAKESIDE

$790,500CLARK LANE PROPERTIES LLCBRADLEY, GENE M & SALLYLT G1-A HYDE PARK LAKESIDE

$790,500CLARK LANE PROPERTIES LLCSADHU, VIJAY K DECLARATION OF TRUSTLT G1-A HYDE PARK LAKESIDE

$790,500CLARK LANE PROPERTIES LLCLEE, HUN TAE & MARY; BOONE GROUP LTDLT G1-A HYDE PARK LAKESIDE

$735,000DEUTSCH, KAREN F & EDWARDMETLIFE BANKSTR 9-47-11 /S/SE SUR BK/PG: 1057/959 FF TRACT 1

$735,000DEUTSCH, EDWARD & KAREN FSECRETARY OF HOUSING & URBAN DEVELOPMENTSTR 9-47-11 /S/SE SUR BK/PG: 1057/959 FF TRACT 1

$705,000CHILDS, CRAIG A & ANGELA JFCS FINANCIALSTR 27-51-11 //SW

$417,000MARCHACK, CORBIN & PATRICIACALLAWAY BANK THELT 101 WOODLANDS PLAT 4B THE

$417,000ZERRER, JASON D & LANA ABOONE COUNTY NATIONAL BANKLT 471 THORNBROOK PLAT NO 13

$416,258ANDERSON, BRIAN M & ANGELA JHAWTHORN BANK

STR 4-46-12 /S/SW SUR BK/PG: 3040/107 AC 12840

$410,000MOORE, MADISON M SR & RHONDA TBANK OF MISSOURI THELT 324 OLD HAWTHORNE PLAT NO 3

$400,000HODGES, MICHAEL A & MELODIE LBOONE COUNTY NATIONAL BANKLT 12131 A-1 HIGHLANDS PLAT 12-F THE FF PLUS ESMT

$398,500KRAVCHICK, MICHAEL & LINDABANK OF AMERICALT 1415 HIGHLANDS PLAT 14-B THE

$396,000AILOR, EDGAR I III & SUSAN KLANDMARK BANKLT 79A COUNTRY CLUB VILLA III REPLAT L 79

$394,952SCHLIMME, MARK & CARRIECALLAWAY BANK THELT 23 WOODRAIL SUB PLAT 8

$387,200FROST, ALVIN W & JUDITH ALANDMARK BANKLT 322 WEST LAWN PLAT 3

$361,250JOHN HANSMAN CONSTRUCTION LLCLANDMARK BANKSTR 10-47-12 //NW SUR BK/PG: 2754/78 AC 10000

$352,450KEELER, ERICA S & SEANFLAT BRANCH MORTGAGE INCLT 8 CHAPEL HILL ESTATES PLAT1

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leading Clearly » tony Richards

The new year will get better – when you get better.

The start of a new year is almost upon us, and this is the time when our thoughts turn to what next year might bring, both per-sonally and professionally. There’s one thing I’ve found to be uni-versally true: Your life, your business and your career all flow out of who you are. Your life gets better when you get better.

As you end this year and look back on what you’ve attained in 2010, the fact is you were perfectly aligned to get the results you got. How do you get different results in 2011? You must change your alignment. In the paragraphs below, I’ll offer a few sugges-tions on how to do just that. You’ll learn where to place your fo-cus so you can become better, and that’s when you’ll experience a better 2011.

1. Pursue what you love: The proof of desire is in the pursuit. Desire causes you to push forward so you can reach your target. The best Christmas present you could give yourself is permission to pursue the desire of your heart, the one you’ve been defer-ring for years. If you’ve already started to pursue it, how can you crank up the intensity in 2011 and push forward in a whole new and empowered way? Whether you’re considering a completely different path, or you want to be the best in your current field, pursuing it with all your heart will make you so much better.

2. Turn knowledge into understanding: It can be fun to learn new things, but instead of learning, we often turn training into a form of entertainment. When we execute what we already know, it begins to convert knowledge into understanding. You already know some things about what you do or what you’d like to do. How can you take that knowledge and increase its quotient so you know more than anyone else? Imagine this: You are the ex-pert in your field. Not only did you thrown away the manual a long time ago, but you’ve also become a walking manual and the standard by which all others are measured.

3. Religiously conduct intense practice: Practice doesn’t make perfect; it makes permanent. Put the same amount of focus and energy into practicing as you do the real thing. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, says that research has proven it takes 40,000 hours to attain mastery over something. If you can’t put in that many hours of live work, practice is a great way to make up the difference. Schedule your practice time with no interruptions and for no more than 90 minutes at a time. Evidence has shown that great performers practice no more that four and a half hours per day.

4. Get strong feedback: Everyone has blind spots, and if they are not discovered and addressed, they can be career killers and wreck havoc on those around us. Once you know your blind spots, they are no longer blind spots. It’s much like locating blind spots while driving. You know a car could be obscured from your line of sight, so you look in all your mirrors to make sure you avoid crashing into a car that could be hidden within that blind spot.

You need people whom you trust to give you honest feedback to identify what’s in your blind spots. Important note: Giving honest and accurate feedback is the No. 1 skill most people lack, so be very careful whom you choose for this.

5. Schedule your renewal time: Work your time budget as seriously as you work your financial budget. You require regu-larly scheduled times to relax and rejuvenate to give what you’ve learned and practiced time to metabolize. Every entrepreneur should take at least one regular workday off per quarter and do nothing concerning his or her business. No phone, no e-mail, no reading; everything to do with business should be shut off that day. You’ll be amazed by the difference this will make.

6. First things first; other things second: Staying focused is the biggest challenge faced at every level of leadership today. As we achieve our goals and continue to grow, distractions multiply. Losing the focus on our priorities causes us to alter our trajectory away from the achievement of our goals. Keep your priorities in their proper order, and don’t get distracted. Finding focus is not difficult; keeping focus is. v

Tony Richards is a leader in the area of personal development and senior partner of Clear Vision Development Group, a Columbia-based leadership coaching and training firm. Visit them online at www.clearvisiondevelopment.com.

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sPeCial seCTion | GRoUP MeetinGs/event PLanninG

Guest Column » sean spence

A successful event provides multiple rewards When business owners list the tactics in their mar-

keting arsenals, too few include event marketing.Event marketing is a powerful tool, whether the

businesses create their own events or participate in events hosted by others. Events provide a unique combination of advantages. They facilitate meaning-ful interactions with customers, prospects and referral sources; they can brand hosts as experts or market lead-ers; and they offer a chance to create community buzz.

Events also provide a mechanism for multiple busi-nesses to pool resources and create something bigger than they would be willing to finance on their own.

An example of a successful cooperative event was the Healthy Families Fun Fair, hosted earlier this year by Nasopure and D&H Drugstore at the Stoney Creek Inn. The Fun Fair provided an interactive marketing tool for everyone involved; it made sales, generated leads, created relationships and built brand recogni-tion. Even better, it was relatively easy on the market-ing budgets because sponsors and other business par-ticipants pooled their money.

On a smaller scale, The Bank of Missouri is a great practitioner of event marketing. The bank executives are big believers in creating both personal relation-ships and a relationship with the community, and they regularly host small luncheons and larger receptions that bring people to their lobby in the Buttonwood Building. They find that as people get to know them better, they will be more likely to want to work with

them. The latest Bank of Missouri reception welcomed Michael Brown, the new executive director of the Columbia Board of Realtors.

Certainly, every business is going to have different event marketing needs. Rather than try to use this ar-ticle to convey “everything you need to know about event marketing,” let’s focus on a handful of questions and answers that establish a foundation for success.

What are our goals? Having a big party just for fun can be great, but it won’t pay the bills. You might want to generate quality leads; you might want to make sales; you might want to build relationships with key referral sources; or you might want to make a splash in the media. Think carefully about what you want to accomplish, write it down, and use that to guide your choices.

Who is our audience? Get as detailed as you can about this by starting with demographics and work-ing your way to specific names, if possible. This will be the biggest factor in determining how you will communicate about your event.

What will make people want to attend our event? This could include such things as the promise of a few fun hours, the opportunity to learn something or the chance to hear an entertaining speaker. Build a reputa-tion for creating worthwhile events, and you’ll find it much easier to attract your audience.

How are we going to communicate with our in-tended audience? For this question, refer back to the

definition of your audience. Maybe you know exactly whom you want to invite and can do it with some combination of mailed and electronic invitations. Maybe you’ll need to employ some combination of mass media.

How will we use this event to create and deepen relationships? For every step of the process, you have an opportunity to increase your relationships with people: as you invite them to the event, when they attend and after they’ve returned home. Think about how you can use personalized communications, event activities and other mechanisms to create stronger connections with your audience.

How much money do we want to spend? When you are doing an event, it’s easy to let the budget get away from you. Think about every dime as you spend it, and you’ll feel much better about your efforts.

How are we going to evaluate our success? Look back at the goals you set for yourself, and honestly evaluate every aspect of your event. Make your evalu-ation numerical wherever possible. Events will often leave you feeling good when they are over; your abil-ity to think objectively will make all the difference.

Ask yourself these questions, make sure you an-swer honestly and thoroughly, and you’ll be on your way to being a successful event marketer. v

Sean Spence, a regular contributor to CBT, owns Community Events and can be reached at seanspence@earthlink.net and www.commevents.com.

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By Victoria Guida

When guests walked into the Tiger Hotel for a launch party, they were greeted at a sign-in ta-ble in front of a large poster displaying the new organization’s logo, and food and drinks were lined up in the lobby.

Such details might have been taken for grant-ed by the 75 or so people who attended the cer-emony to launch the Community Foundation of Central Missouri on Nov. 17, but they were visible evidence of organizer Anne Churchill’s handiwork.

The high-powered event took place one month after Churchill launched her own com-pany, AnnaBelle Events.

“It was originally going to be Anne Churchill Events,” Churchill said. But she decided on Annabelle because another Anne Churchill, Winston Churchill’s niece, is from nearby Fulton. “My girlfriends all called me Annabelle growing up.”

Churchill said she has been coordinating va-cations and parties for a long time.

“When I travel with my girlfriends, I’m the one to plan the trip we’re taking,” Churchill said. “Event planning was always my dream. … I figured I might as well make it everything.”

Churchill was born in Chicago, but her fam-ily moved to Columbia when she was 2. She re-turned to Chicago after high school and got her first professional experience in event planning while attending DePaul University and working as an intern at Soldier Field, home of the Bears. She decided to return home and transferred to Columbia College, where she earned a bach-elor’s degree with a double major in marketing and sports management.

She went to work for Inside Columbia maga-zine, where she produced the event calendar and planned events such as magazine launch parties, a festival, a fashion show and numerous cocktail parties.

Now with her own company, she offers to handle anything from corporate events to “ev-eryday occasions” such as birthdays and an-niversaries. For large events, her strategy is to complement the existing marketing department at companies.

“Every company out there has marketing or PR people,” Churchill said, “but they might not have the desire to plan events or the passion for picking out linens or picking out hors d’oeuvres. That’s really my passion.”

For now, Churchill works from an office in her home and is a one-person operation, though she hires people on the day of an event to help with “heavy lifting.”

The Community Foundation launch, her company’s first event, was actually an in-kind donation, provided because she is a member of the new organization’s board. She had about 300 invitations designed, printed, addressed and mailed. She picked the downtown venue, sent out press releases, answered questions about the event, made nametags and did whatever else needed to be done to pull off the event.

“We chose the Tiger because we wanted to make it so people could casually come in from work,” she said. “We didn’t want to make it out of their way.”

Roger Still, executive director of the Community Foundation of Central Missouri, praised Churchill near the end of the event.

“She has done an incredible job in putting this gig together,” he said. “This could not have happened without her help and support.”

Churchill also is a board member for the New Century Fund and was on the committee that organized the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center Gala.

“I grew up in Columbia and wanted to find a way to give back,” she said.

Her second client is one of Columbia’s largest employers, University Hospital. She’ll be work-ing with the hospital staff on a golf tournament in June that will benefit the newly relocated Children’s Hospital. v

event planner makes her passion her profession

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Anne Churchill greets guests at the Community Foundation kickoff.

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Business showcase features self-marketing expert

The Columbia Chamber of Commerce has selected a keynote speaker for its annual Business Showcase. Jeff Beals, an author, commercial real estate broker and part-time college professor from Omaha, Neb., will talk about building a successful career through self-marketing.

Beals is currently vice president of Coldwell Banker Commercial World Group, a commercial real estate company that provides brokerage and property management services to clients in Nebraska and Iowa. He is also a co-host of Grow Omaha and host of a weekly television program on Omaha’s NBC affiliate. Beals has had more than 200 articles published and is a member of the National Speakers Association.

He is also the author of Self Marketing Power, a book about building yourself as a brand to get ahead in busi-ness and life. The book uses anecdotes from Beals’ life to teach readers how to market themselves. He emphasizes es-tablishing name recognition to become well-known in your sphere of interest. By developing expertise in your area of business, you can become a sought-after speaker, consultant and source for news stories, Beals writes.

Beals also has spent years in the edu-cation profession. He has served as an

adjunct faculty member at the University of Nebraska at Omaha for seven years and teaches real estate sales and leasing courses.

Before entering the real es-tate profession in 2001, Beals worked as dean of student affairs and director of enroll-ment management at Clarkson College in Omaha. He has also worked as assistant director of admissions at the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico.

Beals will speak during the Showcase’s Women’s Network Luncheon, between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Select Executive Center. The Showcase starts at 9 a.m. on March 15. Booths are open during the morning, but they will close during the luncheon so participants can hear Beals’ presentation. Booths reopen until 3:30 p.m., and the mixer, sponsored by the Columbia Business Times, goes until 5 p.m.

For those planning to attend the Showcase, Visionworks Marketing & Communications is sponsoring an exhibitor training seminar Jan. 26 to give

businesses tips on planning and running a successful booth.Interested business owners can sign up for the yearly network-

ing event now. Call Victoria Brees at the Chamber: (573) 817-9113. v

Jeff Beals

The Showcase

starts at 9 a.m. on

March 15. Booths

are open during the

morning, but they

will close during

the luncheon so

participants can hear

Beals’ presentation.

Booths reopen until

3:30 p.m., and the

mixer, sponsored

by the Columbia

Business Times,

goes until 5 p.m.

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RAISE THE BAR or DIE A SLOW DEATH

Sandler Training | 1905 Cherry Hill Dr., Ste. 302 | Columbia, MO Fee: This is a complimentary event but you must register at (573) 445-7694 or online at www.savant.sandler.com

Why is sales mediocrity so pervasive in many companies today?• Accountability is painfully absent.• There is little, if any effective hands-on sales management.• A “Camper” culture prevails.• Owners and Managers over-estimate the competency of their sales team.

Embedded sales mediocrity may be the single most damaging problem for businesses today. Recognize the signs & learn what to do about it.

For Owners, Presidents and Sales Managers Only

This session is for you if… You want a better 2011… You’re ready to confront the truth about what’s holding your company back… You’re ready to act.

Tuesday Dec. 7, 2010 from 7:00 AM – 9:30 AM (breakfast included)

Jazz series, CAT-TV producing live telethonBy emily willroth

The “We Always Swing” Jazz Series and Columbia Access Television plan to co-produce a live telethon on Dec. 11 to raise funds for the two nonprofits.

The “We Always Swing” Jazz Series, an organiza-tion dedicated to producing concerts and educating the public about jazz music, is in charge of the programming for the telethon, which will be produced by and broadcasted live over CAT-TV.

Local musicians, including Tom Andes, Lisa Rose and John D’Agostino, will perform during the six-hour telethon, along with music students from Lee Elementary School.

CAT-TV will coordinate the studio production, including the cameras, lights, audio, graphics and phone calls.

“The beauty of this event and the intrigue of this event is, as far as we know, it’s never been done before…on this level, in this town, by two organizations," said John Poses, executive director of the Jazz Series.

Along with musical performances, the telethon will feature testimonials and appearances by local person-alities who will co-host segments of the show.

Gift certificates and other premiums from local businesses will be awarded to donors during the tele-thon, and the hosts are seeking segment sponsors who will provide matching funds. The two organizations will split the donations evenly after expenses are cov-

ered. They did not set a fundraising goal because there is no way to estimate the results of an unprecedented event, Poses said.

“Our only goal is to have fun, be pro-fessional and to produce a good six-hour block of programming,” Poses said.

The Jazz Series and CAT-TV have never worked together in the past, but the Jazz Series often collaborates with other local nonprofits, and both groups con-sider their missions to be complementary.

“We’re thrilled to be collaborating with the Jazz Series, especially

because our missions complement each other so well,” CAT Executive Director Jennifer Erickson said in the news release. “We prom-ise to bring you an event that draws from both our organizations' strengths. It'll be an eclectic, unscripted showcase of live and local music, highlighting the unique community that is Columbia.”

The organizations have reached out for support in the community. All performers for the event will be donating their time in exchange for a DVD of the performance, courtesy of CAT-TV. Local businesses, including restaurants and recording studios, have donated premiums and matching funds for the event.

Local restaurants and bars have been asked to desig-nate one of their TVs for the telethon.

CAT-TV, Mediacom Connections and both orga-nizations’ websites (www.wealwaysswing.org and www.columbiaaccess.tv) are scheduled to broadcast the telethon live from 3 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 11. Viewers will be able to contribute online using PayPal accounts for the Jazz Series and CAT or by phone.

CAT-TV is shown on Mediacom Channel 85, Charter Communications Channel 21 and CenturyLink Channel 603. v

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the Columbia Access television studio, where the “We Always Swing” Jazz Series will lead a telethon fundraiser Dec. 11 to raise money for its operations as well as CAt-tV programming.

“The beauty of this

event is, as far as we

know, it’s never been

done before”

– John Poses