City of Columbia, Missouri  
Meeting Minutes  
City Council  
City Hall  
Conference Room  
1A/1B  
Tuesday, January 20, 2026  
5:00 PM  
Pre-Council  
701 E. Broadway  
Columbia, MO  
I. CALL TO ORDER  
Mayor Buffaloe called the meeting to order at approximately 5:00 p.m.  
7 - Buffaloe, Foster, Waterman, Peters, Carroll, Sample, and Elwood  
Present:  
Labor Group Presentations  
-Local 955  
-Local 1055  
-CPLA  
-CPOA  
Mayor Buffaloe introduced Kathy Baker, HR Director. Kathy introduced the labor groups  
presenting.  
Local 955  
Scotty Johnson presented for Local 955. He provided handouts to the Council. He  
expressed support for pay adjustments, including a $19 minimum wage, changes to  
policies related to attendance, add. pays, policies related to drug testing, etc. Vera  
Elwood asked for more information about attendance policies. He noted a desire for a  
uniform attendance policy as there seemed to be variability across divisions.  
Local 1055  
Zack Privette presented for Local 1055. He spoke on priorities related to base salaries,  
meal allowances, add. pays, and retirement health insurance pay. He noted members  
were satisfied with how the pay plan was set up. He commented on the improvements  
made towards pay. He provided some additional information about the Consumer Price  
Index (CPI) - noting that the raises were still behind the CPI inflation rate. He added that  
pacing inflation is not a pay raise, but stagnation. He highlighted a request to add one  
step to the pay plan. For the add pays, he noted a request for specialty team pay, such  
as special operations and water rescue. He noted there hadn’t been an adjustment to  
meal allowance since 2017/2018 and noted a request for an automatic adjustment  
annually. The retirement health insurance program requests were similar to the previous  
year. The fiscal note for their request, they estimated to be around $1.3 million.  
The Mayor requested additional information on the meal allowance. Zack clarified that it  
was around $14 per shift and was paid out in lump sums.  
CPLA  
Lt. Derrick Morris noted a focus on recruitment and retention. He emphasized ensuring  
compensation and leave was addressed. He noted a desire to see the accrual limit  
removed. He added a desire for compensation due to the requirement to work on city  
holidays. He also noted post-employment retirement benefits. Organization efficiency and  
accountability. He emphasized the desire for trust when decisions need to be made.  
CPOA  
Don Weaver presented for CPOA. He emphasized pay step plans that award tenure. He  
noted several resignations within the past 90 days. Another goal for the union was  
restoring the pension. He also discussed a neutral and unbiased outside review of  
discipline (binding arbitration). In addition to that, there was an interest in collaborating  
with City staff on ways to improve the investigation, discipline, review, and appeals  
process.  
Council member Don Waterman asked about the reason for the resignations he  
referenced - Weaver stated he did not have access to that information. Council member  
Vera Elwood asked about the pension. Weaver brought up the 20 year retirement and  
noted that retention was less of an issue then. The Mayor asked about other police  
departments with a 20 year retirement - Weaver noted that there weren’t many remaining.  
Kathy noted the Water & Light Association did not request the opportunity to speak.  
There was some discussion about when a closed session related to the labor group  
presentation could occur.  
Community Survey Results  
Attachments: 2025 Columbia MO Survey Report  
2025 Columbia MO Survey - Open Ended Comments  
2025 Columbia MO Survey - Maps by Ward  
2025 Columbia MO Survey - Maps by Census Block  
Carol Rhodes, Assistant City Manager, introduced Robert Heacock, ETC Institute. Robert  
emphasized that of the 89 metrics 80 either stayed the same or improved. He reviewed  
the purpose and methodology used in the survey. He noted a total of 804 surveys were  
completed, adding that the goal was 800. He noted that this was a margin of error +/-  
3.4%  
Council member Valerie Carroll arrived at approximately 5:36 pm.  
Robert reviewed the demographics of the survey respondents, noting all age groups and  
time in Columbia were well represented. The Mayor asked about the survey respondents.  
Robert noted that only around 20 residents responded to the survey outside of the  
random sample - due to the low number, those responses were not provided to Council.  
He noted that if there had been a group of 50 or more, then they would have tabulated  
that data in a separate report. Council member Carroll asked about the social media ads.  
Robert noted that the surveys outside city limits were not included in the 20 he  
referenced. He also added that there were occasions when two members of the same  
household tried to submit a survey, but it was only one per household that was recorded.  
He reviewed the questions covering overall satisfaction. Council member Elwood asked  
about the numbers by option for respondents who opted “don’t know.” Council member  
Waterman asked if excluding the “don’t knows” was common practice and Robert  
indicated that it was. Council member Carroll asked if Robert could re-create the slide  
with the “don’t knows” included. Robert said he would follow up with staff.  
He reviewed the question about services that should have the most emphasis over the  
past two years, noting that respondents could rank their top three choices. Public safety,  
streets, and solid waste services were the top choices.  
Council member Jacque Sample asked about the date range for the survey. It was  
conducted in October and November 2025.  
He reviewed satisfaction with customer service, noting that the results were very high. He  
reviewed satisfaction with public safety. There was high satisfaction for Fire, and  
satisfaction for Police improved significantly from the prior year’s survey. When reviewing  
satisfaction with city maintenance and public works, the maintenance of City streets was  
the lowest but there could be opportunities for increased public education about street  
maintenance authority. He noted high satisfaction with walking and biking trails.  
Compared to other communities, results rated higher than the margin of error for  
Columbia over the US overall in several areas, including as a place to work, to live, to  
raise a family, buy a home, and retire. For the City services, the City scored higher  
compared to other areas in Parks, customer services, and electric services. He noted  
that the quality of City streets and enforcement of codes were lower than the US overall.  
The viability of police, responsiveness in enforcing traffic laws, and crime prevention  
scored low, but Robert noted that the community's knowledge of efforts to prevent crime  
could be low.  
When reviewing trends, he covered the areas showing the greatest increases. These  
included quality of police, feeling of safety in neighborhoods at night, police  
responsiveness, efforts to prevent crime, etc. He reviewed the 9 areas that decreased,  
noting only two were outside the margin of area.  
When considering priorities for investment, he reviewed the satisfaction rating for service  
areas including general city services, public safety, public works, etc.  
Respondents ranked email, social media, and direct mailers were the most preferred  
forms of communication. Transparency and accountability were the highest ranked for  
contributing to trust in local government. The safety issues that should receive the most  
attention over the next two years emphasized gun violence. 69% of respondents noted  
that the City didn’t have enough police officers and firefighters. A total of 55% of  
respondents indicated support in an additional tax to fund public safety.  
The Mayor noted that the “don’t know” responses were totaled in the actual report.  
Council member Nick Foster asked about the respondents that have lived in Columbia for  
a long time and asked if it was typical. Robert noted that there are a number of  
institutions that would draw people to live in Columbia for a long period of time. He said it  
seemed like more than other communities. Council member Elwood asked about  
questions related to transportation - Robert noted that the presentation was high level,  
and not all questions were included in the slides. He also noted the presentation was  
modified with feedback from staff.  
Council member Carroll asked about the demographics, noting the owner occupied  
compared to renters. Robert noted that, while they haven’t done this for Columbia in the  
past, they have weighted certain responses.  
De’Carlon Seewood, City Manager, presented the staff slides. The key themes included  
homelessness, public safety and crime prevention, litter and code enforcement, and  
streets and sidewalks. He noted that these were similar to last year’s results. The  
presentation covered ongoing efforts, as well as staff recommended actions, for each of  
these themes.  
The Mayor asked about conversations with MoDOT concerning litter crews to improve  
priority routes, adding that many of those areas are state roads. Seewood noted that  
conversations with MoDOT were happening.  
Seewood noted that the City should improve education on which streets were maintained  
by the City as there are a number of roadways that are maintained by MoDOT or the  
County. He noted that solid waste satisfaction was down, but felt that was due to the  
tornado taking out the MRF, noting the the comments were related to recycling.  
Shane Creech, Public Works Director, shared information about staffing levels compared  
to the lane miles.  
Council member Betsy Peters asked about changes based on the survey. Seewood  
noted staffing needed to address concerns. The Mayor asked about how these results  
would inform the budget. Seewood noted that these results would help formulate what  
would be included in the budget.  
II. ANY OTHER ITEMS COUNCIL MAY WISH TO DISCUSS  
The Mayor noted the potential to table reports 5-26 and 6-26 to the February 16 meeting.  
Council member Elwood asked about seeing comparison data to the questions related to  
transportation (question 21 - US, Plains Region).  
The Mayor clarified whether the not statistically significant results were included in the  
open ended comments. Robert noted that he would look into it.  
III. ADJOURNMENT  
The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:32 p.m.