Columbia Business Times - November 2017

PYSK: MIKE PARKS PAGE 35

WORD ON THE STREETS PAGE 70

VIEWS FROM THE TOP

/////////////////////////// M A R C U S B AT T O N , DAV I D A N D E R S O N , L A N C E S M I T H | PAG E 4 6

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14 NOVEMBER 2017

I

’ve always been a skeptic. Maybe it’s some deep-rooted issue with authority; could be the red-blooded patriot in me; possibly even a dose of pride with a dash of ignorance. I admit it. But the older I get, the more I try to temper myself and spend more time listening before offering opinions.

Years of covering public discourse have solidified my opinions on a number of topics, and I imagine most folks can relate. We pick a camp on a particular issue at some point in time, and it becomes mighty difficult, if not unimaginable, to step away from it without serious convincing.

Another trap I’m breaking out of is repeating VIEWS FROM THE TOP talking points. Ugh. While this is so common in partisan politics, it’s just plain lazy, obvious, and ON THE COVER Some may ask why we’ve focused off-putting. It can be so easy to use extreme scenarso much on drone pilots for our ios in making a point, when framing a position only transportation and infrastructure issue. takes a little research of one’s own.

The answer is: purpose and regulation.

I’m not sure “all politics is local,” as the saying These aircraft are here to stay, and goes, but I do know that local politics are a lot more their uses and laws continue to build in complexity. We chased around some personal. It’s tougher to lambaste someone you highly trained operators for these run into at the grocery store than it is to spout off shots. Photography by Keith Borgmeyer at a talking head on TV. It’s also more frustrating if you feel your local politician holds philosophies that couldn’t be more different than your own (but I suppose, at least, they’re more accessible).

When we address transportation and infrastructure issues as a community, the political divides are no different. If you’re against a certain initiative that still moves forward, it’s a tough pill to swallow — you might secretly (or even openly) wish for its failure. But we’re all in this together, and most of the time, decisions are made with the best of intentions, with no one “getting rich” by pushing an agenda.

At the same time, the more input curated from the highly educated community we have, the better. We have the benefit of many diverse viewpoints and brilliant minds who contribute their expertise to our city. And there’s room yet for more folks who are informed enough to join in the discussion, providing options for solving problems and preventing potential SNAFUs. But goodness, there’s a lot to keep track of if you want to be a fully informed citizen. It’s almost impossible to have a thorough knowledge of more than a few complex topics. So many government decisions are executed on our behalf that oftentimes we’re unaware until a problem lands in our own backyard — and with infrastructure issues, that analogy can be quite literal.

With that in mind, our Transportation and Infrastructure Issue covers a lot of ground. We check in on Carfax (page 64), give you updates on the big picture for city projects (page 70), provide an in-depth update on The Loop (page 54), and explore what’s slated with MoDOT (page 60). It’s our hope that these stories will provide insight you need in a digestible way.

EDITOR'S PICKS As we approach the end of the year, we tend to let our discipline fall a bit to the wayside. Here are some reads to help gear up your motivation.

PYSK: MIKE

PARKS PAGE 35

WORD

ON THE

STREETS PAGE 70

/////////////////////////// M A R C U S B AT T O N , DAV I D A N D E R S O N , L A N C E S M I T H | PAG E 4 6

“START WITH WHY”

BY SIMON SINEK It seems like a simple concept, but this book takes an in-depth look at business philosophies, particularly Apple’s. This is for the visionary-type soul.

“THE WAR OF ART”

BY STEVEN PRESSFIELD Pressfield provides solutions for getting through those times we feel stuck. While it’s geared toward writers, anyone who could use a swift kick in the pants would find it helpful.

Enjoy, “THE POWER OF HABIT”

BY CHARLES DUHIGG This work is invaluable for marketing folks as well as anyone trying to build or beat a particular habit. It relies on tons of research, but Duhigg presents it in an engaging way with a lot of storytelling.

Breck Dumas, Editor Breck@businesstimescompany.com

/Co l u m b i a B u s i n e ss Ti m e s

@ Co l u m b i a B i z

Co l u m b i a B u s i n e ss Ti m e s .co m

Ed i to r @ B u s i n e ss Ti m e s Co m p a ny.co m COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 15

A Vision of caring

benefiting The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri’s BUDDY PACK PROGRAM For each LASIK surgery we perform between Nov. 1 - Dec. 31, we will donate a year’s worth of Buddy Packs for a child in need!

Buddy Packs are bags of kid-friendly nutrition sent home on Fridays with children who rely on subsidized school lunch. Each bag contains: • Two ready-to-eat entrees • Fruit cup • Nutritional bar • Two servings of cereal • Shelf-stable milk

Re sto rat io n Eye C a re.co m • 573 - 4 41-7070 • Con tact u s to day to s et u p you r F REE Las ik s c re e n i n g!

16 NOVEMBER 2017

EDITORIAL Breck Dumas, Editor Breck@BusinessTimesCompany.com Matthew Patston, Managing Editor Matt@BusinessTimesCompany.com DESIGN/CREATIVE SERVICES Jordan Watts, Senior Designer Jordan@BusinessTimesCompany.com Keith Borgmeyer, Art Director Keith@BusinessTimesCompany.com Kate Morrow, Graphic Designer Kate@BusinessTimesCompany.com Cassidy Shearrer, Graphic Designer Cassidy@BusinessTimesCompany.com MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES Deb Valvo, Marketing Consultant Deb@BusinessTimesCompany.com Bonnie Hudson, Marketing Consultant Bonnie@BusinessTimesCompany.com MANAGEMENT Erica Pefferman, President Erica@BusinessTimesCompany.com Renea Sapp, Vice President ReneaS@BusinessTimesCompany.com Amy Ferrari, Operations Manager Amy@BusinessTimesCompany.com Beth Bramstedt, Director of Content Beth@BusinessTimesCompany.com Heather Martin, Director of Sales HMartin@BusinessTimesCompany.com CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Keith Borgmeyer, Anthony Jinson, Matt Patston CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jerry Dowell, Al Germond, Mike Grellner, Jodie Jackson Jr., Brenna McDermott, David Morrison, Jamie Patterson, Tony Richards, Sean Spence, Anne Williams

Inside the Issue Twitter Chatter Woodruff @wearewoodruff Hey, we know them! Thank you for highlighting our new employee ownership status, @ColumbiaBiz CitizenJaneFilmFest @citizenjanefilm Thank you to @ColumbiaBiz for showing us some love!

Mizzou Education @MizzouEducation Did you know that Dean @KathrynChval prefers the ocean over mountains? @ColumbiaBiz learned this and more!

Hendrix @gethendrix @ColumbiaBiz offers 8 ways to “…improve your organizational climate by making your meetings more dynamic” Peter Stiepelman @PSteiple Thanks, @ColumbiaBiz, for highlighting the fast-paced work of #cpsbest @mbaumstark RMLalchanCSA @RMLalchanCSA Great tips and advice in this blog from @ColumbiaBiz – 9 Tips to Amp Up Your Brand

Around the Office LOCAL CELEBRITY

INTERNS Nina Hebrank, Abigail Jones, Elizabeth Quinn, Tiffany Schmidt, Chelsea Skidmore

Managing Editor Matt Patston went on KOPN's Keeping Up CoMo to talk about our October issue and run through the news of the week. Check the show's Facebook page to hear the episode!

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20 UNDER 40 We've officially selected the 20 Under 40 class of 2018! But you'll have to wait until December until the official reveals start. Tough luck for you.

Contributors

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Write to CBT editor Breck Dumas at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com Breck@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 17

Jobs change.

Markets shift.

Life happens.

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18 NOVEMBER 2017

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NOVE MBE R 2017 VOL . 24 / ISSUE 5

TA B LE OF CON T EN TS

The Transportation & Infrastructure Issue 15 FROM THE EDITOR 17 INSIDE THE ISSUE 21 CLOSER LOOK 22 BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS 25 BUSINESS UPDATE McClure Engineering Company

28 NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT Cancer Research Center

30 CELEBRATIONS

Boone Electric Cooperative

33 MOVERS & SHAKERS 35 P.Y.S.K. Mike Parks

43 9 QUESTIONS Dan Atwill

45 OPINION 75 ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH Seven Ways Happy Employees Stay Happy

76 MARKETING

Mobile Advertising Technology

77 POLICY

Advancing Public Safety in Columbia

79 REAL ESTATE

The Infrastructure Dilemma

46

80 ASK ANNE

When Employees Take Leave

81 BUSINESS SMARTS

Business-building Scams to Avoid

Drone pilots find innovative uses for these

83 NEW BUSINESS LICENSES 84 DEEDS OF TRUST 85 ECONOMIC INDEX 87 BY THE NUMBERS 89 THIS OR THAT

increasingly sophisticated aircraft, building new

90 FLASHBACK

Views from the Top

Mike Matthes

businesses to meet increasing demand.

54

60

On the eve of a 10-year corridor plan rollout, The Business Loop CID is poised to make major improvements.

Cruisin’

Columbia Power Plant

Road Wage

64

No Jerks Allowed

70

Explore Missouri’s infrastructure spending, and lack thereof, with a glance to the future.

The nationwide car history reporting company from Columbia has impacted the industry with their service and set an example with their workplace culture.

A citizen’s brief on the big issues being tackled by city authorities and engineers.

Word on the Streets

20 NOVEMBER 2017

BUSINE SS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

C LOSER LOOK

Closer Look

Rent College Pads

Mid-Missouri Kickball

Coming Home

“Finding housing is a pain point for students,” says Jeremy Schmidt, chief marketing officer for Rent College Pads. It was such a pain for the founder of the company that in 2014 he started an online platform in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to solve the problem. Three years later, the business has expanded to 80 markets, including Columbia.

“We launched in Springfield at Missouri State in the spring,” Schmidt says, “and we’re in the process of launching Columbia now.”

Rent College Pads uses guerrilla marketing techniques and a sophisticated digital strategy to bring properties to students. With the help of Google maps, students can explore their potential neighborhoods and view a variety of housing options all from one website.

Schmidt admits that Columbia has been an interesting market. “With less students looking for housing,” Schmidt says, “there is an intense competition among landlords, and students are looking for places later than normal.” He says it puts the company in a great position to help.

“In this changing climate, students have more choices, and we can help landlords connect to those students,” Schmidt says.

Louis and Adriana Nieman met while playing kickball in St. Louis. They even played kickball on their wedding day. So they were heartbroken when they moved to Columbia in 2015 and couldn’t find a place to play.

“Those were our friends and family,” Adriana says. “We felt like a giant part of our life was missing.” So, Louis and Adriana started Mid-Missouri Kickball to create the same social environment they experienced in St. Louis.

Their kickball league just finished its sixweek, eight-game, fall season with four teams and 65 players. Except for the winter months, the group can be found at the corner of South Providence and Corporate Lake from 3:00 to 6:00 on Sunday afternoons.

“We are an over-21 league,” Louis says. “We love to socialize, make new friends, and share a drink together.” Adriana adds: “It’s so much more than a kickball league. We’re showing people that you don’t have to be athletic to have fun, laugh, and let loose.”

In 2018, Mid-Missouri Kickball hopes to add more teams and a Thursday evening summer league. They also coordinate kickball fundraisers with local charities and host corporate kickball events.

Jean Gruenewald grew up in Callaway County, lived in St. Louis for many years, and then moved home six years ago to live on her parents farm. Having spent years running a consignment shop and, later, a counted cross-stitch store in the St. Louis area, she quickly realized she missed being in business.

“I had a concept about a business that I wanted to start,” Gruenewald says. “Then I found this spot and it all fell into place. I had the name by that night.”

That name was ‘Coming Home’ and the spot was inside the Balsamo Warehouse in the North Village Arts District. “Coming Home is filled with the best parts that you love about coming home,” Gruenewald says. “We sell a variety of home decor, kitchen, outdoor, sustainable, and vintageinspired products.”

Gruenewald’s goal is to sell comfort items that are unique to Columbia. Customers can find pillows, afghans, jadeite, memory jars, and even reclaimed wine bottles made into herb gardens. “Come on in,” Gruenewald says, “especially if you have a special occasion and need a gift.”

Address: rentcollegepads.com Contact: 414-882-3226

Address: midmissourikickball.com Contact: 314-249-0999

Address: 110 Orr Street, Suite 103 Contact: 573-777-6957 Website: facebook.com/ComingHomeCOMO

Are you an entrepreneur? Are you sprouting a new business? Tell us about it at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 21

BUSINE SS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

Briefly in the News NOVEMBER 2017

I N F R A S T RUC T U R E

MO HYPERLOOP A group of five organizations in the state have formed the Missouri Hyperloop Coalition, a public–private partnership to advance the building of a hyperloop route linking Kansas City, Columbia, and St. Louis. The five groups — The Missouri Innovation Center, the UM System, MoDOT, the St. Louis Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the Kansas City Tech Council — are working with Hyperloop One, a California-based company that’s considered a leader in the high-speed hyperloop transportation field. The coalition’s first action will be commissioning a feasibility study, which they expect to cost between $1 million and $1.5 million.

R EAL ES TAT E

AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPENS Boone County Family Resources, in partnership with Boone County Special Needs Affordable Housing, opened Boone Point South, the first of two apartment buildings that the group is building to provide affordable housing solutions for people with disabilities in Columbia.

Boone Point South has 13 onebedroom apartments and two twobedroom apartments; four of the units are fully accessible. Boone Point South is located in the Cedar Lake subdivision in southwest Columbia. Its sister project, Boone Point Central, will open in downtown Columbia later this year.

“They want to see a strong public–private partnership and engagement from the business community. I believe we have that in Missouri and that our businesses will be willing to step up to the plate to fund this study.”

— Bill Turpin, CEO, Missouri Innovation Center 22 NOVEMBER 2017

BR I EFLY I N T H E N EWS

BUSINESS

ANTIC ACQUIRED Columbia-based Agents National Title Company was acquired by Incenter LLC, a Minneapolis-based lender services company. ANTIC was founded in 2005 and sells residential and commercial title insurance through independent agents across the country. In a press release, Incenter said “key staff” will remain in the Columbia headquarters. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed.

E C ONOM Y

REDI ACCREDITATION Columbia’s REDI became one of just 60 economic development organizations accredited by the International Economic Development Council. To become an accredited organization, REDI was subject to a peer review process that included a documentation review and an on-site visit.

BUSINESS

AOD CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP Aurora Organic Dairy, the dairy processing company that expanded to Columbia last spring after a long recruitment process, says it's on track to surpass several of its fiveyear corporate citizenship goals, which include efforts in water and irrigation efficiency, animal welfare, and employee benefits.

BUS INES S

SHELTER FACILITY EXPANSION Shelter Insurance announced a planned expansion of the company’s headquarters on West Broadway. The company will be adding a new two-story building for its claims office as well as a new distribution center, pending approval from the city.

The project will also add parking spaces for employees. Shelter expects the project to take 18 months to complete.

BUS INES S

CC / VU PARTNERSHIP Columbia College and Veterans United Home Loans announced a new partnership to benefit CC students and VU customers and employees. Through the partnership, VU will offer their Home Buyer Select savings program to the college’s veteran students, alumni, and staff, and CC will offer a tuition discount to VU borrowers and employees and their spouses.

“We broke ground recently on our new parking lot. Everyone is asking us about the expansion, so we decided to share our plans with the community.” — Jay MacLellan, Director of Public Relations, Shelter Insurance COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 23

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BUSINE SS • P EO P L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

B U SI N ESS U PDAT E

Building Community McClure Engineering Company continues building its network in Missouri.

BY N INA HEBRA N K | P HOTOG R A P HY BY A NTH O N Y J I N S O N

Zane Clark and Marcus Himmelberg COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 25

BUSINE SS • P EO P L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

“WE WANT OUR CLIENTS to be successful,” McClure Engineering’s chief operating officer, Dennis Folden, says. “We want to build a relationship, we want to know what is important to them, and we want to make them successful. When we do that, it builds stronger communities.”

McClure Engineering Company offers a wide variety of engineering services in fields such as agricultural drainage, aviation, community development, creative placemaking, digital services, land development, rail and transloading, structural, surveying, transportation, and water environment. The firm currently has 10 office locations throughout both Iowa and Missouri. MEC acquired the Columbia-based engineering firm THHinc. — also known as Trabue, Hansen & Hinshaw —in 2015 to provide more resources to clients in Missouri and establish a new footprint in the local community.

MEC has been growing for more than 60 years. Their secret? Building relationships with their team and with clients.

Left to right, Tom Wooten, Kristin Carson, Nick Timberlake, Tyler Asche, Chris Sander

GROWING GREAT PEOPLE “People within the firm are super important,” business and marketing operations lead Jenna Nelson says. “I know every single person in our firm by name, all 130 or so people across all 10 offices.” The McClure team includes 39 professional engineers, two structural engineers, seven professional land surveyors, and two professional traffic operations engineers.

To reinforce the company’s culture, MEC has established a list of core values that each employee works by: integrity, professionalism, constant attention to detail, innovation, fun, hard work, and continuous self-improvement.

“For me, the most important thing is the people,” Folden says. “It is important not only to build relationships with our clients but also to have that working relationship where people come to work, have fun, and enjoy what they do.”

Their cohesiveness also helps guide MEC’s work structures — employees look at projects as a whole rather than in simple parts, and work to build relationships with their clients that last beyond the project. As Folden says, they want to ensure that the client is happy and successful.

Taking a big-picture approach to projects helps build lasting relationships with clients, some spanning multiple decades. These 26 NOVEMBER 2017

Ian Micklethwaite

B U SI N ESS U PDAT E

Gene Hinshaw and Tom Trabue

durable partnerships, and the emphasis MEC places on maintaining them, gives the company a stable foundation on which to expand, allowing for more opportunities to reach new customers. Building such bonds, Nelson says, is what allows them to produce results that cater to the specific needs of their clients.

“We really, truly build those lifetime relationships with our clients, and we get to know them,” Nelson says. “By being innovative, being trusted advisors to our clients and maintaining great communication with them, we think outside the box and end up with successful projects.”

HELPING OTHERS GROW Since coming to Columbia, MEC has actively looked for ways to use its resources to benefit the community. A project that’s currently in the works for MEC is the Clary-Shy Agriculture Park, which will soon be home to the Columbia Farmers Market.

The goal of the project is to make ClaryShy Ag Park a place for residents and visitors to learn about sustainable food production,

buy farm-to-table products, and see agriculture in action. Proposed improvements to the park include a permanent farmers market structure, a playground, an education-focused urban farm, demonstration gardens, an outdoor classroom, walking trails, and a welcome center for community events.

“MEC is providing site, civil, and structural design for the project,” Nelson says. “The site and civil scope has included stormwater master planning, overall site development plan, and master planning for current and future improvements, platting, and design construction documents for the farmer’s market, urban agriculture, and ancillary uses.”

As for the structural scope of the project, MEC has created design and construction documents for three buildings on site, including a 35,000-square-foot market pavilion, outdoor classroom facility, barn, and greenhouse.

The first of three construction phases is set to begin this fall.

Currently, MEC has seven offices across both Iowa and Missouri — their three Missouri locations are Columbia, Lake Ozark, and St. Louis.

The firm plans on continuing to grow across the Midwest and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. The Columbia structural team, to take one example, is currently working on a project for the Navy Pier in Chicago.

“McClure has the next generation of engineers and leaders of the engineering industry,” Nelson says. “We’re going to be serving clients for well over 61 more years and continuing on strong.”

The firm feels they currently have an innovative group of engineers who have the skills and the opportunities to grow as leaders. By adding more personnel to the company, MEC looks to build a larger presence in the Columbia market.

“As we’ve grown the business,” Folden says, “we are excited to continue to grow with great people.” CBT

McClure Engineering Company 1901 Pennsylvania Dr. 573-814-1568 mecresults.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 27

BUSINE SS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

How to Save a Life Behind Cancer Research Center’s groundbreaking discoveries.

BY ELIZA BETH QU IN N

LAST YEAR, MISSOURI HAD OVER 34,000 new cancer cases. That’s roughly the population of Moberly and Sedalia combined.

Cancer Research Center was founded in 1962 to create a better future for cancer patients. Since then, CRC has dedicated its time to identifying ways to detect cancer early, create innovative therapies, and analyze tumor reduction factors.

“We work on getting humanity to the point where cancer becomes a disease you can treat,” says senior investigator Dr. Robert A. Kazmierczak, “something you can live with and still live your full lifespan with a high quality of life.”

28 NOVEMBER 2017

NEW FINDINGS Chemotherapy. Radiation therapy. Hair loss.

Sores. Cancer patients seeking treatment go through hours of therapy that results in pain, emotionally and physically. Some of CRC’s recent work involves a breakthrough therapy involving an unlikely component: salmonella.

Yes, it’s most commonly found in raw meat and is usually dangerous to consume, but for cancer patients, it could be a revitalizing therapy.

The salmonella strain, CRC 2631, is a targeted cancer therapy that can treat a multitude of cancers. In 2005, senior technician and laboratory manager Alison Dino began working with an archival strain of salmonella that had been

brought to CRC from the Carnegie Institution for Science by Dr. Abraham Eisenstark. Building on past research, Dino took the bacteria and put it in a dish with cancer cells. Within half an hour, CRC 2631 had moved to the cancer cells and surrounded them.

“It was a really neat ‘Eureka!’ moment,” Dino says.

When the CRC 2631 bacteria enters the body, it locates the cancer area and disrupts tumors, keeping them from becoming malignant.

(It’s non-toxic to normal cells.) By using the circulatory system, CRC 2631 not only targets the primary area, but could also target any possible secondary cancer areas. This discovery

N ON PR OFI T

Cancer Research Center RESEARCHERS • Dr. Abraham Eisenstark Research Director Emeritus • Dr. Chiswili Yves Chabu Research Director • Dr. Robert A. Kazmierczak - Senior Investigator • Alison Dino - Senior Technician and Laboratory Manager • Dr. Bakul Dhagat Mehta Raymond W. Freese Fellow

RECOGNITION 147 media outlets covered the CRC 2631 press release (148, if you include this one).

BOARD OF TRUSTEES • Stephen Lee, President • Garry Banks, Vice President • David Keller, Secretary • Charlotte Acton • Burleigh Arnold • Bob Basore • Travis Burnett • James Cherrington • Tim Crockett • Sally Estes • Joel Kaplan • David Lafrenz • Sara LeMone • John McEntire

has allowed for maximum effectiveness with minimal harsh side effects. The federal government has recognized and patented the Salmonella strain to CRC. “My favorite part of this job is being able to come in the lab, do an experiment and see an exciting result and go, ‘OK. I am the only person in the world that knows this right now,’” Kazmierczak says.

Since there’s not federal or state financial support, finding donors to help fund more personnel and resources can be pivotal. Researchers work on finding which areas funders are most comfortable Dr. Chiswili Yves Chabu with donating money; many times, it’s towards equipment.

And people want to see the research be proven before they donate, Kazmierczak says. The CRC hopes that, with the exciting results of CRC 2631, funders will jump TIME MANAGEMENT on board faster.

Time is of the essence in Dr. Bakul Dhagat Mehta fighting cancer. One of the On top of funding issues, first things that Kazmierczak the team also must navigate did when he joined the team the complicated regulatory in 2005 was save time in path to continue their tracking CRC 2631. He made research, particularly on CRC the bacteria shine a red or green 2631. To do so, they need to fluorescent color to be more abide by FDA protocol for a easily recognizable. He also clinical trial, which includes further engineered the strain studies in mammals. The Alison Dino to improve its non-toxicity team is working on obtaining and better target and destroy three generations of mice cancer cells. (who are treated “better than Other CRC efficiency MU freshmen,” given the efforts have come in required protocol for testing many forms — human or, on animals, administrative sometimes, machine. Dr. director Marnie Clark joked) Bakul Dhagat Mehta, the for the next round of research, Dr. Robert Kazmierczak CRC’s Raymond W. Freese which will be conducted from Fellow, is currently working January to April of 2018. on a project measuring the rate Until the FDA approval, at which salmonella kills cancers, which calls CRC is working with the MU medical school for counting cells. Before, the process would to gather data, and they’re applying to test on be done by the researcher or, in some cases, larger mammals, like dogs whose owners have a hired individual. But with the support from exhausted other treatment options. donors, CRC was able to purchase a cell counter Planning for these experiments takes machine that is faster and more accurate than a months of prior preparation. Kazmierczak says human — compare two hours to 10 minutes. he’s made checking on the mice at the MU vet The CRC doesn’t have federal or state funding. school part of his work routine.

Instead, they rely on fundraisers, donations It’s easy for the team to stay motivated. from the public, and grants. Donors come from “I love that I come in and know what I’m doing all across the country. The annual Jim Kidwell will help humanity,” Dhagat says. “You get up Memorial Gala is CRC’s signature fundraiser; and you’re excited to be here because you know however, Kazmierczak said he spends about you will be doing something worthwhile.” CBT a quarter of his time researching funding and applying for grants.

Cancer Research Center 2501 Berrywood Dr. #2 FOR THE FUTURE 573-875-2255 Despite the team’s exciting accomplishments cancerresearchcenter.org so far, there are still obstacles to overcome.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 29

Chris Rohlfing

1936

1950s

1962

Boone Electric is incorporated on June 11. It’s the first rural electric cooperative in the state and will serve more than 140 members by 1938.

Expansions and system improvements throughout the state allow Boone Electric to continue growing its member base.

Boone Electric joins other cooperatives in the state to form Associated Electrical Cooperatives Inc., a group to plan and operate the generation and transmission facilities for the state’s rural co-ops.

30 NOVEMBER 2017

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C ELEBRAT I ON S

Guardians of the Grid Boone Electric continues building a legacy in Mid-Missouri.

BY A BIGAIL JONES | P HOTOG R A P HY BY A N TH O N Y J I N S O N

SINCE ITS FOUNDING IN 1936, Boone Electric Cooperative has always had the mission to provide Missourians with access to power — but now, with more ways in which to supply power than ever before, access isn’t enough. The cooperative wants to further reach members’ needs by providing them with the options they want for where their energy comes from.

Boone Electric convened their 80th annual meeting this past July, and they celebrated the one year anniversary for the co-op’s Community Solar program this past September. It’s an apt time to give recognition to a company that has been pivotal in not only the history of Columbia, but in the city’s future.

GETTING ON THE MAP Growing up in Columbia, Boone Electric has always been a part of my life, even if I didn’t always recognize how heavy its involvement was.

It wasn’t until I met with Chris Rohlfing, Boone Electric’s membership services director, that I gained an appreciation for the scope of the cooperative’s work.

Rohlfing has been with Boone Electric Cooperative for more than 30 years. The beginning of our discussion began with the history of Boone Electric. “After starting off downtown, the cooperative bought a 23-acre farm, and all these years later, the building we’re sitting in is on the same land where it all started,” Rohlfing says.

The co-op’s origin started with the need for rural Missourians to have access to electricity. As the world built up around them, the citizens of Mid-Missouri, mainly farmers at the time, found themselves being overlooked by private power companies as power lines went up across the

nation. But thanks to the Rural Electrification Act, a law passed under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, it was possible for citizens to get loans from the federal government to install electrical systems in farming communities.

The effort to bring power to Missouri began with one letter, written by May and Wilbur Watson, that was sent to D.C. petitioning for getting REA lines up in the state. Farmers then had to band together and pass on the funds to be a member of the cooperative. It originally cost $5 to be a member — about $90 in today’s money — and there had to be at least three co-op members per mile before progress could move forward. Thanks to the effort of those determined first customers, the lines went up and became a foundation for further progress in electrifying Mid-Missouri.

Boone Electric’s website says that “by the end of 1937, Boone Electric served just more than 140 members in rural Boone County.” The co-op has come a long way. Now there are approximately 25,000 members spanning six counties.

MOVING AHEAD The future of Boone Electric largely depends on its members’ demands — the co-op’s main directive is to stay attentive to the needs and requests of those they serve. In recent years, the biggest shift has been in how customers want energy to be created. Boone Electric now offers its members multiple ways to receive energy, the newest being solar and wind. The former comes from the new Community Solar Program, which features a lot filled with solar panels near Boone Electric’s headquarters on Rangeline Street, while the wind energy is provided by one of Northeast Missouri’s first utility-scale wind farms.

While solely using these energy sources is nice in thought, Rohlfing points out that relying only on solar and wind is not the most efficient, nor the most economical. Boone Electric draws upon multiple sources of energy, including coal and natural gas, to offset some of that cost. Each member can still choose the places their energy comes from and receive it at an affordable price.

They’re also reaching out to their members in other ways, including a scholarship program for graduating high school seniors living in Boone Electric service areas. The co-op has awarded 13 $2,000 scholarships per year since 1998.

While the co-op’s main focus stays on their members’ demands, they also want to foster interest and educate customers on where their power comes from. The first anniversary celebration for the Community Solar Program was a festive celebration, to be sure, but Boone Electric also used the event to provide information on how the solar panels work and provided an outlet for interested members to ask questions about the program.

“I really hope that people will leave with an understanding of how their energy works,” Rohlfing says. “I think that there’s a moral push behind solar power, but a lot of people don’t realize how much it would take [in solar panels] to meet the needs of members. But ultimately, it will always be the members’ choice for where their power comes from.” CBT

Boone Electric Cooperative 1413 Rangeline St. 573-449-4181 booneelectric.coop

1988

1997

2016

Boone Electric and the City of Columbia sign a territory agreement stipulating how much of the Columbia area would be served by the co-op.

The cooperative forms the Boone Electric Community Trust, which has given back $2.5 million to the community since.

Boone Electric’s Community Solar program begins offering customers solar energy options.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 31

Higher Interest ROI-optimized technology solutions

A local bank requested an A/V system compatible with their existing conferencing system, but with no rewiring in the walls or ceiling. They wanted it large enough to show multiple displays, workable with a variety of computer outputs, offer sound clear for everyone and use one remote to control it all. Our solution included a 70� TV with inputs that convert VGA computer outputs, a soundbar below the TV, and a custom-programmed remote easily used by a lot of people.

32 NOVEMBER 2017

B U SINESS • PEOP LE • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

M OVER S & SH AKER S

Movers & Shakers NOVEMBER 2017 SIDDALL

Marty Siddall

Kerri Roberts

Marty Siddall retired as KOMU 8 general manager, effective November 9. Siddall spent 18 years as the station’s general manager, where he oversaw the station’s transition to digital broadcast and expansion of online operations. Matt Garrett, KOMU 8’s director of audience development, will serve as interim general manager.

Kerri Roberts joined Funding Athletics as vice president of sales and marketing. Roberts graduated from Columbia College with a bachelor’s degree in business and got her MBA from William Woods University. Roberts has previously worked for the UM System, Veterans United Home Loans, and MidwayUSA.

Central Bank of Boone County

David Keller will retire as community bank president of Columbia’s Bank of Missouri branch, a post he has held for the past 12 years. Keller has been banking in Columbia since 1984, and he started the Columbia branch of the Bank of Missouri with his son, John Keller, and Keith McLaughlin in 2004.

Central Bank of Boone County promoted 12 employees in September. Skylar Taylor is now senior teller; Danielle Kiplinger and Jalen Maheny are now financial associates; Taylor Strope, Brian Lopez, Kathy Lybarger, and Leslie Lamb are now tellers II; Gregory Stegeman is now consumer loan officer; Marissa Bacon is now consumer loan officer; and Margaret Myers, Carmen Stransbury, and Katie Mason are now customer service representatives II.

Caleb Jones Caleb Jones, former state representative for the 50th district and deputy chief of staff to Governor Eric Greitens, is now vice president at the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives.

Jones left the Greitens administration for the job in early October. Jones, originally from California, Missouri, received both his undergraduate and law degrees from MU.

David Keller

Piyusha Singh Dr. Piyusha Singh became Columbia College’s first chief of staff in September. Singh will continue to serve in her existing role as the college’s vice president of online education.

Singh holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Mount Holyoke College and a Ph.D. in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Landmark Bank Landmark Bank added RANDA RAWLINS as the newest mem-

ber of its board of directors.

Rawlins is currently senior vice president, general counsel, and

corporate secretary for Shelter Insurance. Landmark also hired CARA CHRISTIANSON as Columbia business services officer, where she’ll support local businesses’ banking needs.

Steve Knorr IMMVAC Inc., an animal health sciences company, hired Steve Knorr as chief operating officer and executive vice president. Knorr was previously the vice president of university relations for the UM System, where he spent 23 years in various positions.

JONES

ROBERTS

MidwayUSA MidwayUSA promoted Joe St. Clair to hunting merchandising manger. St. Clair has worked at MidwayUSA since 2011; in his new position, he’ll be responsible for sales, margins, and product mix in the company’s hunting product line. MidwayUSA also promoted Dave Loucks to customer support manager, where he’ll lead daily operations for the company’s customer service team. Loucks has been with MidwayUSA since 2008.

SINGH

RAWLINS

Laura Brownfield Laura Brownfield joined Providence Bank Mortgage as assistant vice president, mortgage banking officer. In her new role, Brownfield will be originating residential mortgage loans in Mid-Missouri. Brownfield has more than 30 years of financial industry experience, including 15 in mortgage lending. CBT

CHRISTIANSON

BROWNFIELD

Are you or your employees making waves in the Columbia business community? Send us your news at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 33

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34 NOVEMBER 2017

B U SINESS • PEOP LE • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

P E R S ON YO U SH OU LD KN OW

MIKE PARKS

A IR P ORT M A NAG E R | C OLU M B I A R E G IONA L A I R P ORT | AGE: 41 Job description: My position requires daily oversight of operations, maintenance, public safety personnel, concessions, and one administration assistant. Our division falls under the city’s department of economic development; there are a total of 17 employees assigned to the airport in full-time positions and approximately seven part-time employees operating the concessions. Normal daily duties include the review of federal regulatory compliance, grant administration, capital improvement projects, and general operations.

Years lived in Columbia/ Mid-Missouri: 20.

Original hometown: Whiting, Iowa.

Favorite volunteer/community activity: I assist with the Cooper County 4-H Youth Fair. I enjoy watching my kids interact and grow with others through this process and see the rewards of their hard work at the fair.

Professional background: I’ve been employed with the Columbia Regional Airport for nearly 16 years and with the City of Columbia for nearly 18 years. During this time, I’ve been in the positions of public safety supervisor and operations supervisor before becoming the airport manager.

Why I'm passionate about my job: It’s very easy to stay engaged in my position — there are many moving parts to safely and efficiently operate an airport. It’s a great feeling going to work every day knowing that we’re making a positive impact on the Mid-Missouri economy, and I manage a great staff that truly cares about the current and future success of the airport. The city leadership’s support for the airport, along with the support from all of the Mid-Missouri area, is the reason for the continued success and growth of our commercial service.

Photography by Keith Borgmeyer

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 35

B U SINESS • PEOP LE • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

P E R S ON YO U SH OU LD KN OW

provided air for flat tires, blown snow off of cars before arrivals, helped with jump-starts, helped carry bags, and, most recently, added signs to all handicapped parking with a phone number to call if they need additional assistance. The airport has grown, but we’ll always provide the best possible experience in and out of COU. The people who have had the biggest impact on my life: My parents, who taught me to be honest, respectful, kind, and proud in every aspect of my life. They instilled in me how to be a great parent and to work hard in achieving my goals. We’re still close: I call my mother every morning on my way to work, talking the entire way, and call my dad most afternoons, trying to solve the world’s problems. We haven’t quite finetuned a plan yet, but I think we’re getting there.

Why I'm passionate about my company: I’ve always said that working for the City of Columbia is the best thing a person can ask for. The City of Columbia is a large employer, but there’s still a sense of caring from everyone. It’s like a large family. It takes a lot of people to make the airport operate smoothly and successfully. I wouldn’t be successful in my position without all of the great people on our “city team.”

What people should know about this profession: My position at the airport has unique challenges that change daily. These challenges are what keep me motivated and engaged. I frequently speak to people in the terminal who are flying for various reasons — vacation, business, and personal — and they all have different needs. Being the manager at a regional airport requires many different hats to be worn, sometimes on an hourly basis. And my day doesn’t end at 5:00 — I remain in contact with all of the staff 24 hours a day, on weekends, and on holidays. I feel that being available to assist staff is one of the most important demands of my position.

My next professional goal: My ultimate goal in this position is to continue finding additional ways to provide the best customer service experience possible for all of our passengers. I want to accomplish this by continuing to operate the airport safely, effectively, and efficiently as I take pride in 36 NOVEMBER 2017

what I do. I’ll continue the rest of my career until retirement with the City of Columbia as the airport manager.

The next challenge facing my industry: I wish I knew ahead of time what the next challenge is going to be — that would be about as easy as picking the Powerball numbers.

Challenges constantly change in the aviation industry. Things like regulations, fuel cost, and world events all impact the demand for air travel.

Biggest lesson learned in business: The importance of helping people learn all of the great things to do in our community. Columbia and the surrounding areas offer so many benefits that we can showcase, which helps our local economy and makes people want to come back again.

Treating people kindly and with respect gives them a positive experience and will help spread the message that Columbia and Mid-Missouri is a great place to live, work, learn, and play.

Information Columbia residents should know about COU: It’s really important to me to maintain contact with all of the Mid-Missouri communities to ensure that they understand the great economic impact that the airport has on the area. I enjoy going to different neighborhood meetings and events to talk about the benefits of the airport and what they can expect when flying out of COU. Things that you’ll see at COU are benefits that you won’t see at larger airports. Our staff has

If I wasn't doing this for a living, I would: probably be a farmer. I came from a very small, rural farming town. (I graduated high school with only 11 people.) I grew up living in the country and working part-time on neighboring farms all summer long, operating machinery. I still have a strong connection to the farming community, even though most of the equipment now is not even close to similar to the old Farmalls and Case tractors that I operated.

What I do for fun: My family and I enjoy camping, fishing, and kayaking. We spend several weekends a year camping alongside my parents in Missouri State Parks, sharing cooking duties, campfires, and great conversations.

I probably should admit that this camping includes air-conditioned campers, but it’s the thought that counts!

Family: The most important thing in my life is my family. My wife and I have been married for over 17 years. My daughters are growing quickly, so I try to spend time with them every chance I get.

Most people don’t know that: I’m an adjunct instructor for the MU Fire Rescue Training Institute. I’ve traveled and instructed students at airports nationwide on operations and many other topics and continue this on a limited basis when my schedules allows. These engagements have helped me create professional contacts across the country, which I use to collect ideas that we’ve implemented here in Columbia to increase efficiency and safety. CBT

SPONSORED CONTENT

WHAT IS Your MACHENS?

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 37

SPONSORED CONTENT

DANNY HAMMACK Managing Partner

What does Machens mean to you? The Machens name is synonymous with a great car deal.

As a staple community partner, we have a vested interest in tomorrow, and Central Missouri’s future.

This foundation gives our clients, employees and community the great experience we strive for.

What or who in Columbia has made a big impact in your business or life? Spending five years at Kemper Military Academy in Boonville, MO absolutely shaped my life. It taught me many valuable lessons: compassion, honesty, and accountability. Not a day goes by that I do not practice what I learned during my time there.

What inspires you? Our goal is to be the best employer and place to do business in Missouri.

For me, I draw inspiration from mature successful business models. Working to improve our culture, and client experience to cultivate a long term and insulated business model is at the forefront of my mind.

What is your area of expertise? I like to lead by example. I have held every position in the dealership at some point in my career so when I am asking something of a team member I do my best to explain the “why”, so they have a clear understanding of the end goal. My team members know that I have walked the same path as them, and that I can offer guidance and support when they need it.

38 NOVEMBER 2017

What advice would you give a younger version of you? Don’t take yourself too seriously. It is OK to make mistakes (we all do at one time or another) be flexible to embrace the setback and learn a life lesson. Don’t live your life defensively, put yourself out there and try new things.

What strengths do you bring to those around you? Vision, communication and a passion for keeping the team on track to succeed. God gave me my word, and my handshake; I don’t break those. My moral compass is strong and anchors me no matter what.

From what do you draw strength? I pull strength from the experiences I have lived through, and know that I can put my head down, focus on the challenge life throws in my direction and know I will learn and grow as a result of that.

Where is your favorite place to eat in Columbia? Murry’s – Tuna Pesto Sandwich On a typical weekend, what would we find you doing?

Saturdays are work days in this business, so, making customers happy on the lot is a good place to find me.

Sundays are a time to get out and be active with my fiancée and dogs.

SPONSORED CONTENT

STEPHEN NAGEL Managing Partner

What does Machens mean to you? Family, Team, Heritage and being number one, sum up what Machen’s means to me.

What inspires you? The key to my drive and desire to succeed lies in my family. My grandmother has been the cornerstone and inspiration as I go through life. Her strength and ideals are what stick with me daily and make me strive to be better.

Faith and family are my building blocks of strength every day.”

What is your area of expertise? First and foremost, I am a people person. There is nothing more rewarding than getting to know our customers, and making sure they are well taken care of.

Customers can be wary of the sales process when purchasing a new vehicle, I enjoy bringing a level of comfort and knowledge to them to ensure they have all the answers.

On a typical weekend, what would we find you doing?

Spending quality time with my family and working in my wood shop.

From what do you draw strength? Faith and family are my building blocks of strength every day.

Where is your favorite place to eat in Columbia?

Anywhere with a great steak on the menu.

What advice would you give a younger version of you? There are going to be tough times; build deep relationships and surround yourself with right people. If there are difficult decisions to be made, make them quickly and believe in yourself.

What strengths do you bring to those around you? With 23 years’ of experience I have learned that having a clear, defined, well thought out plan is key to team success. As a leader, having a futuristic view of where we want to be and how to get there are key to making an impact.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 39

SPONSORED CONTENT

JERRY PATTERSON Managing Partner

What does Machens mean to you? Machens is a close-knit, familyoriented business. If it’s not for the people within this business, we don’t have one. Machens is all about our people, they are the core of who we are. We truly have the best employees.

What or who in Columbia has made a big impact in your business or life? Being involved in the community and philanthropic events has enabled me to meet so many people in Columbia. Building these relationships has led to networking and gaining a better understanding of what is happening around town. This has influenced me both personally and professionally and helped me with making my own business decisions.

What strengths do you bring to those around you? I always have a positive attitude. I think it’s important to know what’s going on with your people outside of work. Take the time to ask questions, know their family and make them feel important. People appreciate sincerity and showing that you care. It truly goes a long way when you take a genuine interest and concern in the lives of others.

What advice would you give a younger version of yourself?

Always maintain a good work ethic.

Stay up on current events, and maintain a positive attitude. If you take these measures, you can talk to anyone on any level with great confidence. Control the things you can, and stop worrying about what you can’t control.

40 NOVEMBER 2017

What inspires you? I’m inspired by success. My biggest win is not when I’m successful but when I get to watch someone grow into a great leader.

From what do you draw strength? I draw strength from people driven to be successful. I look for that drive in others more than anything else. I don’t always look at the dollars, but I look at the progress.

I am always looking for ways to find a win! I feel like you are only as good as the way you leave an organization.

If you leave and it continues to be rock solid, then you’ve done your job.

You’ve built a strong foundation and a successful team. But, if you leave a place and it falls apart, you didn’t do what you set out to do. That is not a success in my book.

What is your area of expertise? People are my area of expertise. I think it’s important to focus on the positives and find the good in everyone you meet. I’m an expert in seeking opportunities to improve.

It comes down to finding ways to bring out strengths during times of opportunity. I find ways to help my team follow through with proper processes and make things happen.

Where is your favorite place to eat in Columbia? Broil – the service is amazing, the people are wonderful and the food is exceptional.

On a typical weekend what would we find you doing? You can find me working, cooking or relaxing at the lake.

COME VISIT US TO FIND Y our MACHENS

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 41

42 NOVEMBER 2017

B U SINESS • PEOP LE • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

9 QU EST I ON S

background in law is very useful. Many years

Highway 63. MoDOT considers it a failed

of practicing law involved exposure to many

intersection, and more traffic is being added

diverse problems and diverse personalities.

every year. It’s a state road problem, but it affects our daily lives. An organized effort

3. What do you feel is the most

to improve that intersection is needed to

pressing issue the commission

encourage future improvements.

is currently addressing? There are

Q&A

many pressing issues that take on different

7. Is there anything you would like

levels of importance — sometimes for

the public to be more informed

good reasons and sometimes for reasons

about that doesn’t grab headlines?

that are hard to identify. Because we’re

The daily activities of all elected officials and

blessed with continual growth, we’re

department heads needs to be illustrated

constantly challenged with infrastructure

to the public. Many important and

issues, especially road maintenance and

interesting things are going on and are being

construction.

accomplished by dedicated people who are doing great work for the citizens of the

DAN ATWILL

4. What’s been your most fulfilling

Presiding Commissioner

accomplishment while serving

of Boone County

as presiding commissioner?

Helping to improve Route Z — including the installation of a roundabout at the St. Charles Road intersection — was

1. What’s the biggest challenge of your job? Our biggest challenge is to use limited resources to satisfy virtually unlimited needs. Whether it be roads and bridges, law enforcement, mental health, or any of the countless other needs our county

satisfying because it fixed a very dangerous intersection that Battle High School students needed to access every day. The new bridge over I-70 was also important for industrial development in the area.

has, we must balance the various issues that

5. What advice would you give

confront us daily.

someone considering a run for public office? Plan on working much

2. You started your career in the

harder than most people would believe.

U.S. Air Force before going on to

county. We hope to publicize these efforts more in the future.

8. What guiding principles or values help you perform your duties? Try to learn all the pros and cons of every issue and base decisions on facts and data.

9. What is the best way for Boone County voters to stay informed regarding actions of the commission? For our weekly agenda and scheduled activities, check out showmeboone.org. The county has several boards and commissions that are composed of citizens who work very hard and are deeply involved in specific county responsibilities.

practice law. How did your military

6. Specifically considering

We’re fortunate to have the participation of

and legal background prepare

transportation and infrastructure,

these highly qualified and dedicated people.

you for your current position? I

do you have a “wish list” of

Their work leads to the improvement of our

believe military experience broadens

projects you would pursue if

county. I would encourage people to consider

your perspective and exposes people to

funding were no issue? In my

applying to participate in these important

organizational issues on a large scale, and

opinion, the most difficult infrastructure

organizations — they can check the website

everything we do has legal implications, so a

problem is the intersection of I-70 and

for vacancies. CBT

Check out past Q&A's with your favorite Columbia businesspeople online at ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 43

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B U SINESS • PEOP LE • IM P R OV EM EN T • F YI

Managing in Times of Crisis

BY A L GERMON D

IN THE MINDS OF MANY of its residents, it was the worst thing that ever happened in both Harrisburg, Missouri, (population 266) and the 600-square-mile Harrisburg R-VIII School District that serves some 600 K-12 students in northwest Boone County and a portion of eastern Howard County.

When the call came in shortly after 3 p.m. on that perfect weather Thursday afternoon September 28 — that there’d been a bad accident involving a district school bus on State Route F — it didn’t take long for word to spread that something bad, very bad, had happened. The small yellow bus taking five students to a cross country track meet was driven by their coach.

For a reason we will probably never know, the bus collided forcefully with a pick-up truck on a level stretch of the paved state road. Several of the girls were injured, but they survived.

The popular coach and high school social studies teacher — 37-year old Brian Simpson — died at the scene. He leaves a wife and daughter who must now painfully pick up the pieces

of their lives that have been changed forever by the unlicensed 26-year old driver of the totaled pick-up whose notoriety with the law is already fully displayed on Missouri’s CaseNet web site.

One can read all the textbook cases and participate in any number of mock exercises and still not be prepared for situations such as this.

School officials shocked into action with a rush of adrenaline displayed their remarkable compassion and communication skills. Students were brought home, classes were cancelled the next day and a period of district-wide mourning was declared. The leadership shown in Harrisburg set an example for how to comfort a community faced with tragedy.

TURNING TO MU As we approach the second anniversary of the University of Missouri’s Time of Troubles, oh how we wish that a team with the same force and conviction to take command of the situation had been in place on the MU campus, instead of the hapless crew that ended up

OPI N I ON

meekly crawling away. Though enveloped with a very different crisis indeed, new leadership at the university has been welcomed and brings new hope for both the system and community at large.

It's a time of regrouping and looking to the future, for MU. Fortunately — and not too late, we hasten to add — getting Drs. Choi and Cartwright into action as university president and chancellor respectively has already perked things up around here.

And there is a third person on the new team: Dr. Marshall Stewart, who comes to us from North Carolina. As Vice Chancellor for Extension and Engagement, Dr. Stewart is already carrying the mission of our land grant university, its schools, colleges, and research activities to state’s 567 school districts through his ongoing work and contact with extension offices in Missouri's 114 counties as well as the independent city of St. Louis.

Now a gentle nudge we should mention — something very important we haven’t been hearing much about these days.

Nuclear medicine.

MU has the only reactor in this part of the world that’s scaled to produce the delicate, time sensitive isotopes that have proved invaluable in treating a variety of cancers. We’re told that jets fly in and out of Columbia Regional Airport carrying these precious cargoes to a variety of well-known medical facilities across the land and, in some cases, beyond.

If there was one thing former MU Chancellor Bowen Loftin got right, it was his proposal to establish small medical facility — a hospital, if you will — right next door to MURR on South Providence Road because these isotopes are time-sensitive in terms of their usable life.

How about it? With all the unsettling talk about the future of Columbia’s medical facilities — to merge or not to merge and so forth — let’s make the University of Missouri's Hospital and Clinics the destination in this hemisphere for advanced medical care and treatments utilizing the isotopes produced at the MURR. This would give us as much to shout about as a destination as any of the other famed medical destinations we hear so much about.

With the right leadership in place, we are poised to move forward. CBT Al Germond is the host of the Columbia Business Times Sunday Morning Roundtable at 8:15 a.m.

Sundays on KFRU. COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 45

46 NOVEMBER 2017

Mid-Missouri businesses embrace the fast-moving, imaginative world of drone piloting.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 47

DAVID ANDERSON’S mental storyboard has grown exponentially in the past year.

Anderson, the owner and creative director at Columbia-based Chimaeric Motion Pictures, recently partnered with Aerial Playground owner Marcus Batton to purchase a Freefly Alta 8 drone. It has eight rotors, can carry up to 20 pounds of camera and equipment, and retails for around $18,000. The initial cost starts to seem worth it, though, when Anderson starts imagining the possibilities.

For example, if he and Batton want to shoot alongside a car speeding down the road, they used to need a second car driving alongside it and an especially wide thoroughfare to make it work. Now, they can hover their drone next to the car and get the same quality of shots. And that’s just the beginning.

“It makes your vision as a director kind of limitless. You’re not confined to the ground,” Anderson says. “I don’t have to think, ‘What are we capable of? How tall of a ladder can we put the camera on?’

Even if we’re not doing what would be considered a dramatic, sweeping drone shot, we still have a lot more possibilities as far as where we can place the camera, how we can move it.”

Business owners like Anderson — even those who aren’t in the motion picture business — are adopting drones for a variety of reasons, including the impact they can make on their bottom lines. Real estate agents are finding ways to enhance their listings. Construction companies are getting more accurate site specifications to help keep costs down. Farmers can check up on their acres of crops cheaply.

An explosion in drone technology over the past decade has led to more reasonable prices for sophisticated hardware along with the proliferation of uses for businesses.

“I don’t want them ever looking at another listing and thinking, ‘Gosh, I wish my Realtor did that for me,’” says Katie Wagner, an agent at 573 Home Team in Columbia. “I want people looking at my listings and saying, ‘Gosh, I wish my Realtor was doing what she’s doing.’ It’s worth it.”

As federal, state, and municipal regulations struggle to match the pace of 48 NOVEMBER 2017

innovation, drone pilots position themselves to both stay on the books and on the leading edge of a valuable service. It’s manifest destiny on a new frontier.

“In the last couple years, it’s been really hard to keep up with the technology that’s advancing, not just in camera technology, but drone technology,” says Ben Harris, of ECP Aerial Solutions in Columbia. “Everybody has been innovating very quickly. It’s been very hard to keep up with how the technology has been moving.”

NEW HEIGHTS Last March, Jacob Thompson’s aunt came to him with a proposition.

He’d been flying since 2011 and earned his pilot’s license two years later. A political science major at MU, the 22-year-old Thompson hopes to become a pilot in the Air Force following graduation.

Thompson’s aunt, a real-estate agent with Reece & Nichols in Kansas City, suggested Jacob look into starting his own drone pho-

tography business on the side. Why not head to the skies early?

Last August, he earned his Part 107 certification, allowing him to fly drones for commercial use, from the Federal Aviation Administration and started Jet Streak Photography. In the past year, he says he’s shot more than 250 property listings and has made as much money off the venture as the base pay of a second lieutenant in the Air Force.

“For Columbia being the market it is with real estate, it was the perfect place to start a company like this with little to no competition,” Thompson says. “I’m basically just knocking down doors at agencies, going into their sales teams’ meetings, and pitching the idea to them.”

Not only can Thompson’s DJI Phantom 4 drones snap any sort of aerial photos for a client, but they can also fly through the properties and provide video walkthroughs. He says it takes between 10 and 30 minutes to complete a shoot, and he can have photos and videos to clients within 12 to 24 hours.

Wagner, who contracts with Thompson for her listings, says about 15 percent of area real-estate agents utilize drone technology, but the vast majority only do so for high-end listings. Wagner sees the value in doing it for all of her properties.

“I just want to give every customer and client the benefit of technology,” she says. “I think it’s very important to spend the money and showcase the house in the best way I can, and I think the best way I can is through adding drone photography through all the listings. The main feedback we’ve heard is that we’re always a step above what everyone else is doing.”

Harris, of ECP Aerial Solutions, built his first drone in Australia five years ago. That model had some impressive, albeit rudimentary, features — GPS tracking, some automation — but they were difficult to fly and didn’t have nearly the data feedback capabilities of today’s models. He was still able to use them to check on wave buoys out in the surf for the renewable energy company he worked for.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 49

He moved to the United States less than three years ago and bought his first drone off the shelf. He got his green card last August and started ECP. Now, he shoots three-dimensional models of sites for construction clients and helps farmers maximize their crop yields, among other things.

Harris has the technology to fly over acres of farmland and bounce waves off the crops on the ground on a nearly infrared level to show how much stress the vegetation is receiving in different areas.

“The mapping out I do will tell a farmer where they need to put more nitrogen into the soil, potentially where there might be disease,” Harris says. “The farmers I’ve been talking to have been saying they can allocate resources better by using this precision agriculture drone technology. My software does a very rudimentary analysis of that data, then it’s up to the farmer to see that and interpret that data, or give that data to their agronomist, who will then interpret and give that advice to the farmer.”

Thompson says his familiarity with game controllers prepared him more for flying a drone than being his actual piloting experience. Batton grew up piloting radio-controlled planes. But no flight experience is really necessary for those looking to get a start in the field — some drones even have obstacle avoidance technology, so you’d almost have to be trying in order to crash one.

Judd Slivka, who runs the drone journalism program at MU, says he starts students with simple commands in a livestock barn with “fairly resilient” drones. Soon, they’re ready to add aerial capabilities to their storytelling portfolio.

Slivka estimates a news helicopter costs about $1,000 an hour to operate. A drone costs a fraction of that. “[Media companies] McClatchy, Gannett, and Raycom are all companies that have some sort of corporate drone initiative or training going,” Slivka says. “Also, if you look at something like a newspaper, which is traditionally set in a market position where they don’t need to fly a helicopter, now they have the ability to get aerial coverage of some things that they would not have been able to get before.

As the prices of drones go down, we now have an easy-to-control drone that shoots high-definition video, and it’s $500. That was unheard of two years ago.”

50 NOVEMBER 2017

REGULATING THE FUTURE The FAA’s Part 107, released last summer, requires commercial drone pilots to be at least 16 years old, be vetted by the Transportation Safety Administration, and pass an aeronautical knowledge test at an FAA-approved center.

Pilots must also register their drones and, once they have them in the air, they must keep them in their line of sight, fly them below 400 feet and at or below 100 mph, fly them during the day, and not fly them over people unless they’ve received a waiver to do so.

Other than that, shades of gray abound.

“The FAA would say it controls the airspace from above the blade of grass to infinity. So there’s that question of who regulates the airspace. These are largely open questions,” Slivka says. “We’re trying to come to grips with a technology that’s developing faster than regulation can keep up. If I’m flying up to 200 feet, I can look into a lot of people’s yards.

What is my presumptive right to privacy, or what is their presumptive right to privacy in that situation?

We’re still trying to figure that out.”

Slivka’s predecessor in the MU drone journalism program, Rick Shaw, helped university leaders craft the school’s drone regulations before he retired in August. Slivka continues to be a part of those discussions. The MU News Bureau contracted his program to record aerial video of Tiger Walk at the beginning of the year, as well as the scene on Carnahan Quadrangle for the solar eclipse August 21.

When Thompson is shooting a listing, he makes sure not to shoot

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 51

"FOR COLUMBIA BEING THE MARKET IT IS WITH REAL ESTATE, IT WAS THE PERFECT PLACE TO START A COMPANY LIKE THIS WITH LITTLE TO NO COMPETITION." 52 NOVEMBER 2017

the roofs and yards of the properties around him even though, technically, there’s no rule against it. Batton, too, says he and Anderson call ahead to make sure property owners know they’ll be piloting a drone around the area before they set out on a project. Columbia has not codified drone procedures on a citywide basis.

“The way you would find out about policy would be you’re on a location and somebody from that company and/or somebody from the city comes out and tells you, ‘Hey, you can’t do that,’” Thompson says. “Well I didn’t know I couldn’t do that. I’m flying this for a client, I’m totally within the rights of the FAA to be able to do this. It hasn’t happened to me very often, but I think it would be better for states, cities, or whoever it is thinking it’s on their property to state that openly.”

Such are the difficulties of grappling with an ever-evolving revenue stream, one that continues to reveal its utility as the technology improves.

Slivka and his students can already livestream events from 300 feet in the air. Harris says he’s close to a breakthrough that would allow him to record an event in 360 degrees and then plop a viewer down in it wherever he or she wants — if you want to be in the crowd looking up at a concert stage (virtually) you could do that; if you wanted to be the lead singer looking down at the crowd, you could do that as well.

Batton and Anderson have their eyes on lighting technology: being able to attach a lamp to a drone and light a scene instead of having to send up a balloon or rig up some sort of intricate apparatus. The drone unleashes their imagination. And, with the recent pace of progress in drones, they can’t even imagine what’s coming next.

“Helicopter scenes, even spotlights from UFOs. You can do so much,” Batton says. “I’ve seen them put hazers or fog machines on it so it’ll leave a trail, and they’ll put a digital object that kind of adds to that.

It’s endless.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 53

54 NOVEMBER 2017

Cruisin' On the eve of a 10-year corridor plan rollout,

The Business Loop CID is ready to make major improvements.

B Y B R E N N A M c D E R M OT T | P H OTOG R A P H Y B Y A N T H O N Y J I N S O N

BUSINESS LOOP 70 STANDS APART IN COLUMBIA. It has its own vibe; you start to notice patterns as you drive up and down the mile-and-a-half corridor. You see patterns in the mix of businesses (auto, home, services, education, décor). You see row after row of locally owned and mom-and-pop stores. You also see poorly marked streets, and a five-lane road that’s difficult to navigate. You see a road without much charm or spunk.

If you’re looking carefully, you’ve also seen change. Roads are improving, the streets are becoming a little less unsightly, and businesses are upgrading and investing in their properties.

On the eve of completing its strategic corridor improvement plan, The Loop Community Improvement District is seeing some progress.

The question is: can the corridor become what stakeholders (residents, property owners, and business owners) dream it can be?

“I think they’re very excited that, finally, they organized themselves,” CID executive director Carrie Gartner says of the Loop CID board.

“And I think they’re excited that there’s finally some attention being paid to the street.”

‘A CULMINATION OF EVERYTHING’ A good deal of that attention has come from city and state projects along the Business Loop corridor — the city of Columbia completed undergrounding utility lines from Providence Road to I-70, and MoDOT constructed two round-

abouts and a double roundabout interchange at I-70 that have improved the traffic flow and aesthetics of The Loop’s west end. The projects are a precursor to the CID’s corridor plan, which will focus on infrastructure, transportation, and beautification of The Loop.

Working with St. Louis based consulting firm Arcturis, the Loop board has been working on developing that corridor plan, which will be completed later this fall.

James Roark-Gruender, a Loop CID board member whose family owns Passions of Columbia, says there has been an encouraging mix of stakeholders getting involved in the corridor plan, from city officials to MoDOT to business owners and residents. Roark-Gruender is the chair of the Corridor Planning Committee.

“When this plan comes out, people are going to be absolutely amazed on the potential of the look, of the infrastructure, of what it can be,” he says. “Mind you, not everyone’s going to be happy. And I personally think if we can make everybody 50 to 60 percent happy, that’s pretty good. It shouldn’t be just one stakeholder’s vision — it should be a culmination of everything.”

The corridor plan will address two of the CID’s main goals: beautification and infrastructure. There are other areas of improvement — like marketing, economic development, and public safety — to address too. But beautification and infrastructure improvements are both what The Loop’s stakehold-

ers are asking most for and what needs to improved before their other goals, like business recruitment, can get traction.

That corridor plan isn’t finished, but the general ideas aren’t a secret: plans will include both long-term, costly projects and short-term, less expensive projects. Among the long term projects are reclaiming unused or underutilized public space and beautifying it; making the street multi-modal friendly, with bike lanes people feel safe in as well as pedestrian and wheelchair accessible sidewalks that run contiguously; creating more accessibility from nearby neighborhoods; and creating solutions for those driving down Business Loop as well — figuring out ways to make turning into businesses more accessible. (If you’ve tried to turn left into a Loop business, you know it can be hectic navigating the center turn lane.)

For their fiscal year 2018 (which runs from October 1 to September 30), The Loop budgeted for a non-recurring $200,000 in expenditures to execute goals from the upcoming corridor plan. The funds could be used for “corridor design efforts, specific improvements, or [be] earmarked” for future use, according to a May 2017 board memo. It all depends on what priorities are set in the corridor plan.

Also in the next fiscal year, The Loop has budgeted $229,125 on beautification. In the previous year, the CID budgeted $125,000 for the corridor plan and spent $24,646 of it. They wanted to focus on clearing debt instead of COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 55

implementing beautification projects without a plan in place.

The CID has held two public meetings to collect input from business owners and neighborhood residents. The plan will be something the public helped create, Gartner says. “It’s giving us a chance to have a good conversation about the structure of the street, which is fun,” she says. “That’s the fun part, right? Imagining what this street could be.”

Gartner says the corridor plan will be a 10-year plan. It will take time to raise the funds and acquire any necessary property, so the plan will outline some short-term beautification projects too, like revamping The Loop’s branding. That might include better identifying streets with improved signage or landscaping the entire corridor with native plants to make it feel cohesive.

Branding will be key to maintaining the unique aspects of the Business Loop, and it isn’t something that requires a lot of funds, Gartner says: “We have a team of people who understand the street and understand the vibe of the street. So I think they’re working really hard to give us a plan that fits with who we are, not turn us into a street that we’re not.”

Second ward Councilman Mike Trapp says he’d like to see The Loop incorporate the “pop-up trend” he’s seeing in urban planning.

Using DIY methods (basically: paint, tape, and pylons), cities are temporarily changing the way certain spaces work or the way people interact with those spaces to make them more fun. For example, you turn an empty lot into a festival grounds for a weekend, or a temporary art installation.

Roark-Gruender hopes these “fun, funky projects” (and don’t forget they’re inexpensive) will get people to pay attention to the area. There are tons of ideas about what those short-term projects could be, and the consulting firm will offer some more.

“It shouldn’t be one person’s idea,” Roark-Gruender says. “It shouldn’t be what I want, it shouldn’t be what Carrie wants, it shouldn’t be what Dave Griggs wants. It should be a combination of all that so it can be what the Loop community as a whole wants and needs.”

GROWING CONFIDENCE While the CID is finalizing public plans for the street, there’s already been a surge in private business owners on The Loop updating their properties.

Property valuations have grown significantly on The Loop in the past year. Total assessed value 56 NOVEMBER 2017

Loop CID Property Assessments NEW CONSTRUCTION

TOTAL ASSESSED VALUATIONS

2017: $576,544

2017: $13,556,619

2016: $29,456

2016: $12,119,593

2015: $12,800

2015: $12,090,137

of property grew to $13,556,619 in fiscal year 2017, a 12 percent increase over 2016, with $576,544 in new construction — a 1,857 percent increase over 2016 numbers.

Columbia overall has an average property value growth of 2 to 3 percent each year. Gartner says she anticipates growth next year, but probably not another 12 percent.

Kia of Columbia recently completed a renovation of its showroom; the Bob McCosh dealership expanded its footprint with a parking lot expansion; and The Loop lunch spot Just Jeff’s tore down its patio and outdoor kitchen and installed a new indoor kitchen in the same location. Boys and Girls Clubs of Columbia also added 14,000 square feet to their facility as part of a $2.5 million project.

“Businesses along the corridor are already willing to invest in their property, and that says that they’ve got confidence,” Gartner says. It also means that when the CID does start to enhance the public space, it will encourage those business owners who haven’t invested in their property to start making improvements to their underutilized spaces, old buildings, and vacant lots.

Roark-Gruender’s family opened the first Passions store in Boonville in 1999, and they opened the Business Loop location around 2006. The family has since doubled down on their commitment to doing business on The Loop — they purchased their building in September, so they’re there to stay. They painted the building this year and took feedback directly from a stakeholder’s meeting that the CID held to get public input for the corridor plan. One particular piece of feedback concerned the trucks sitting in parking lots with signage promoting the business. People thought they were unsightly.

“I never took a critical look at my own business to see how other people perceived [it],”

Roark-Gruender says. He promptly removed his own truck and sign from the parking lot. “What I thought was an advantage was actually being perceived as negative and as a blight. It just clicked that I should take a look at my family’s own property and how it looks to the public.”

Trapp, who lives in the Parkade neighborhood immediately north of The Loop CID’s boundaries, says the increase in property values is good and will benefit surrounding neighborhoods (The Loop is in Ward 1), but his long-term concern will be supporting that growth with other investments in the area — specifically, making sure that as property values continue to rise, residents aren’t priced out.

The surrounding neighborhoods are investment areas for Columbia’s Community Land Trust to stabilize and preserve affordable housing as the Business Loop area continues to improve. “[The Community Land Trust buys] the land, and we’ll hold it into affordable housing into perpetuity, so the rising land price won’t affect the price of those homes as they turn over,” Trapp says. “So it’s not just putting low and moderate [-income] people in affordable housing right now. When they sell the house, the home stays affordable for the next buyer. And so we preserve that subsidy and we also harness the power of rising land prices, so no matter what the other houses do, those houses will stay affordable. And they’re reasonable investments now.”

Owner-occupied programs will stabilize prices of neighborhoods, and in the future, if other homes in the area rise in value, it won’t close off access for low-income people to be able to live nearby.

Gartner says the Business Loop area is a long way from pricing residents out of the market, but it’s something to be aware of. Old buildings have to be updated and vacant lots have to be filled to

From left: Paul Land, Lili Vianello, James Roark-Gruender, Dave Griggs, Gary Ennis, Carrie Gartner

Corridor 101 Planning and development for an area like the Business Loop is different from that of a place like downtown Columbia. Loop CID executive director Carrie Gartner (who was also executive director of The District CID) related the differences to those of two other familiar Columbia spots.

“Downtown is like Stephens Lake Park. You put enough amenities in one spot and you provide enough parking and everyone’s going to just go there and hang out. But a corridor is like the MKT Trail — there’s amenities along it, but really it’s a way to get from one place to another.”

A corridor becomes successful when you increase the connections to the local neighborhoods and to the other retail areas in town. The CID’s goal is to make the Business Loop more of a destination than a way to get from one place to another.

grow the area, and that’s primarily what’s increasing the property values right now.

“For decades, people have just not thought about the Business Loop or have kind of looked askance at the Business Loop as sort of a run-down part of town,” Gartner says.

“I think the more things we do, the more investments business and property owners make, the more that will change. People will look at this as a valuable location.”

For residents, Trapp’s other concerns are safety and walkability. Many nearby residents walk to Moser’s to do grocery shopping. The Loop is “downtown Columbia” for many Parkade residents.

“I think to be able to walk and fully enjoy the front yard experience, you need three things: you need infrastructure that allows for that, you need to be able to feel safe, and you need places to go,” Trapp says.

Overall, he says he’s impressed with the corridor improvements thus far. “The proof is in the pudding,” Trapp says. “It didn’t hurt the business environment. Property values are growing quickly, so it seems like it’s been a smart investment and I hope it will continue to pay off.”

PARTNERSHIP IMPROVEMENTS Rolling out the corridor plan will create the to-do list, but funding the projects will take time. Gartner says the CID is wait-

ing to investigate what kind of federal and state funds might be available depending on which projects they prioritize.

It’ll take time to present the proposed improvements to the City and MoDOT (the Business Loop is a MoDOT road), to get in the queue with both entities to get work scheduled, and partner to pay for the projects.

“No project is going to be funded by one entity,” Gartner says. “That’s why it’s a 10-year [corridor] plan. You go out further in the distance, you get on everybody’s radar, you get into their planning process.”

The CID would fund the “icing on the cake” projects, Gartner says, like signage, landscaping roundabouts, and so forth.

In 2018, the CID’s estimated revenues will come from property assessment ($54,644); from MU, because of Mizzou North’s presence on The Loop ($5,000); and from sales tax revenue from a half-cent sales tax increase passed in April 2016 ($313,501).

That figure doesn’t include any sales tax revenue from auto sales, which comprise a large chunk of Loop businesses — in Missouri, vehicles are taxed where the buyer lives, not where the vehicle is purchased.

Until this year, The Loop had been referencing 2012 sales tax numbers. Gartner says 2017’s sales tax revenue is 50 percent more than she expected. “That means we have more money to pour back into the street,” she says.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 57

Roark-Gruender says. “That’s just not the case, and the numbers prove that.”

BUSINESS RECRUITMENT

"When this plan comes out, people are going to be absolutely amazed on the potential of the look, of the infrastructure, of what it can be. Mind you, not everyone’s going to be happy. And I personally think if we can make everybody 50 to 60 percent happy, that’s pretty good. It shouldn’t be just one stakeholder’s vision — it should be a culmination of everything."

58 NOVEMBER 2017

Around 2012, the city estimated sales tax based on business license data to be $225,570.

It’s hard to say exactly where that number is now; the true test of growth will come a year from now, when the Fiscal Year 2018 numbers are reported. Gartner anticipates that those sales tax revenues will hold steady. In the future, as vacancies decrease, she’ll expect to see sales tax numbers grow.

Those sales tax figures also speak to the nature of Loop businesses, which Gartner calls “internet-resistant.” It’s also another reason to build on the already successful niches of home improvement, décor, and auto services.

“If you’re buying carpet or you’re buying flooring, or tile, or paint, you don’t do that online,” Gartner says. “The shipping costs alone would just kill you. These are all things that you really need to look at and touch and feel.”

Yes, all brick-and-mortar businesses are hurting, and corporate giants like Walmart and Target are adjusting to stay competitive. But you won’t find much of anything corporate on Business Loop. Many of the Loop businesses are locally owned. It makes sense to continue to invest in an area with a stable sales tax in an otherwise declining retail sector, Trapp says.

“That equates to a lot of revenue generated and a lot of money being spent on The Loop, [an area] that a lot of people had written off as not worthy of attention, that it was dead and gone,”

Corridor planning is the priority, but after that comes recruitment: finding businesses that fit the DIY niche, the education niche, or fill in the gaps of needed industry on the Loop. With more business comes more need for lunch options and happy hour options. It’s about creating a space that feels distinct and plays to its advantages.

One member described Business Loop as “a working man’s street,” Gartner says, which seems to have stuck. And it makes sense. Nineteen percent of businesses on the street are services, 14 percent are auto, 5 percent home improvement, and 18 percent general retail.

“We’re working to promote businesses, specifically to get people to think of The Loop as a coherent set of businesses, which I don’t think happened before,” Gartner says. “But honestly, until we have more development and build out these empty lots, we won’t have the inventory to do serious recruitment.”

Media attention has fluctuated — sometimes chaotically — since the CID was created in 2014 amid a contentious public debate about the process used to draw The Loop’s official borders.

Roark-Gruender says, good or bad, the media attention has made people curious about what’s actually on the Business Loop — and that’s good for business. The corridor planning process has created an opportunity for nearby residents and business owners to speak out and work together to figure out what improvements are needed.

“No one said that the Business Loop should not be improved,” Gartner says. “No matter where you came down [on the CID formation], everyone was in absolute agreement that this street needed to be beautified.”

As the corridor plan rolls out, there shouldn’t be any surprises: infrastructure improvements, beautification, and little, funky projects to showcase the area’s quirks. Perhaps the surprise is that, after a rocky start, stakeholders are sharing ideas, properties are being updated, and an area that has been neglected is getting much needed attention. Even in its infancy, the Loop CID is improving the area.

“All the chaos surrounding it in the beginning does not represent what it is and the potential it has,” Roark-Gruender says of the CID. “We have to get past that first initial hump . . . and actually look at the potential and what it can do and what it can accomplish.” CBT

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Road 60 NOVEMBER 2017

Wage

The bleak outlook on MoDOT funding.

BY MATT PATSTON

I’VE PAID ABOUT $26 into Missouri’s transportation system in the last month. That’s a rough estimate I made using the calculator hosted on the Missouri Department of Transportation’s website — I figure I’ve driven about 16,000 miles in the last year (which is about 3,000 above average), and I’ve filled up only at gas stations in Missouri. At my car’s average MPG of 21, and with Missouri’s fuel tax rate of 17.3 cents per gallon, I pay the State of Missouri about $26 per month, which then goes to MoDOT. Since I didn’t register a vehicle or buy a new car in the last year, that’s all I pay — $26.

Here are some other things I’ve spent $26 in the last few months: a keg tap (bachelor party I

was planning); a cheap foam football ($17, incredibly) and a Lindenwood University pennant ($9); the video game “MLB 2K11”(which costs $13 but I had to buy twice, after I threw it in the garbage in a fit of frustration once); four 10-piece Chicken McNugget meals with large Diet Cokes from McDonald’s (I’ve actually bought more than four — don’t judge); and a T-shirt featuring a catchphrase from one of my favorite podcasts (it’s a great shirt, but it doesn’t fit me). I could go on.

The point is: I spend $26 on a lot of things that are inarguably stupider than keeping the state’s transportation infrastructure from falling into disrepair, which is something it’s doing in every community in Missouri. You probably do too.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 61

For the last decade or so, MoDOT has been using stagnating revenue to meet a constantly growing list of demands. The department says they have just enough money now to maintain the status quo, so to speak: to fix high-priority projects before they fail. Missouri’s transportation system has the seventh highest number of highway miles in the country, but the state’s fuel tax — MoDOT’s biggest and most consistent single source of revenue — is the fourth lowest of any state. (It was last increased in 1996, part of an incremental increase passed in 1992.) Given the rate of innovation in fuel efficiency and electric vehicles, fuel tax may be a moot point in 20 years anyway. But Missouri’s roads and bridges are getting older regardless. They’re breaking down. Everybody knows it, from the state legislator reading through the budget to the small business owner with a pothole by their front door. But it’s proven difficult to convince people to pay more than $26 a month to help.

CRACKS IN THE FOUNDATION Patrick McKenna, MoDOT’s current director, moved to Missouri in December 2015 from New Hampshire, where he was the deputy commissioner of that state’s DOT. All funding issues aside, he had his work cut out for him with Missouri’s transportation system.

“It’s massive. That was my first impression,” McKenna says. “Just the breadth, and the multimodal nature of it — it’s really all modes of transportation working together.”

Missouri is home to not only one of the country’s largest highway networks, but also five airports, two of which are international; a robust freight rail system; a wide and winding network of rural roads; and some of the nation’s busiest inland waterways. For being squarely in the middle of flyover country, Missouri plays an outsized part in moving stuff.

McKenna also came aboard in the darkest days of MoDOT’s funding crisis — when he accepted the job, the department was working under its “325 System,” a plan the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, which governs MoDOT, adopted in early 2015.

The name was a reference to the expectation that MoDOT would only have $325 million in construction funding for road projects. The system as a whole, they estimated, cost $485 million just to maintain in its current state.

A number of different factors contributed to the shortfall: the diminishing power of the state’s fuel tax; the absence of a fed62 NOVEMBER 2017

eral transportation spending bill for the following years; the state’s registration fee system (which is even more outdated the fuel tax in some cases) failing to keep up with inflation; and declining state revenues, which meant Missouri might not be able to match any federal money that MoDOT was able to get. The department turned to some cost-saving measures, including accepting more flexible construction plans, like design–build and practical design, and reducing spending on staff, facilities, and equipment. Under the 325 System, the State Transportation Improvement Program, which is prepared annually and stipulates all of MoDOT’s construction projects for the next five years, prioritized funding for only the most critical points in the state’s system.

“I walked in when the official STIP in place was 2016 to 2020, and it didn’t have the resources to maintain 26,000 out of 34,000 miles of roads in this state,” McKenna says.

“So the official plan in this state for four years was the abandonment of three-fourths of the state’s roads.”

McKenna did run into a bit of luck when he first arrived: the FAST Act, the first federal transportation spending bill since 2005, was signed into law the same month he accepted the MoDOT job, and state revenues finally began to pick up following the recession. The highway commission formally abandoned the 325 System in its first meeting after McKenna took over.

In the years since, MoDOT has been able to add $4 billion in the STIP’s capital budget. This allowed for critical infrastructure improvements around the state, like the I-70 bridge replacements in Columbia that wrapped up in 2016. MoDOT still lacks the funding for more ambitious construction plans, but the imminent crisis has been averted.

But the same systemic problems that wrought the 325 System still exist, unchanged.

The FAST Act only lasts through 2020, meaning that the U.S. Congress will need to reach an agreement, which will likely have to be bipartisan, on a new bill sometime in the next four years. The state still faces the same problem with its registration fees. And, most importantly, the state’s fuel tax remains unchanged.

If another recession were to strike Missouri, it would likely trigger all the same consequences for the state’s transportation funding model — only this time, the model will be a decade further out of date.

FACING THE FUEL TAX A fuel tax increase gets proposed regularly in the state legislature. No version of an increase has passed. The most recent effort came this past April, when the State House of Representatives voted down a six-cent increase 51-103. Not that it would have mattered much: because the tax would have generated more revenue than the state is allowed without voter consent, the increase still would have had to be approved by Missouri citizens, who haven’t shown much interest in tax increases. The last transportation-funding ballot issue that came to the public was a 2014 constitutional amendment that would have generated $5.4 billion dollars for transportation projects over 10 years using a ¾-cent increase in sales taxes. It was defeated with 59 percent of the vote.

That’s not to say that Missouri citizens don’t understand the problems with the state’s transportation infrastructure. Road and bridge improvements aren’t only a popular idea; they’re demanded in every community in the state. “We visit different localities every month and listen to the concerns of the citizenry,” says current highways commission chairman Michael Pace. “And, generally speaking, they’re not unique. Everyone is generally preaching the same song: our system is not broken, but it is bent. And people ask us to fix [their local roads], and we just have to buckle up and say we don’t have the funding to do that. And that’s a hard pill for some of these people to swallow.”

“People don’t like to pay taxes, plain and simple,” McKenna says. “They want to know they’re getting good value from the dollars they pay, and in many cases, they want to be sure that the improvement that they’re looking for will happen three days after a gas tax is passed.”

The local dynamics of infrastructure problems make a fuel tax increase arguably more difficult for Missouri to pass than, say, a cigarette tax increase. There’s a saying that the biggest pothole in town is always the one you drive over on your way to work; if that’s true, then the smallest pothole in the state is the one that you didn’t even know existed, and you’d be understandably annoyed if you found out that was the one getting repaired.

If someone in Centralia votes to increase fuel taxes so MoDOT will have money to make improvements on Highway 22, then they might feel their money is being wasted if

MoDOT were to, say, start the process of widening I-70 instead.

And of course, focusing on fuel tax increases is probably not a viable long-term strategy anyway. In a particularly bleak financial document published in 2012, MoDOT officials wrote, “Simply stated, the fuel tax model that has been used to fund transportation in this country for many, many years does not work anymore.” While Missouri’s fuel tax collections have rebounded from their lowest

the tax anyway. (Changes would also probably be unpopular — Oregon is currently the only state to impose a financial penalty on owners of fuel-efficient cars, which it does through a yearly fee ranging from $18 to $110.) Some state officials, including former Governor Jay Nixon, have wanted to explore making I-70 a toll road, as it is in the western part of Kansas, but that idea likely won’t make it much further; the political group A Better Road Forward submitted a ballot issue for 2018 ban-

“These kind of things could cause, literally, the destruction of two communities economically.” point during the recession, they still haven’t reached the same level they were at in 2005, McKenna says. Pace believes that gas-powered vehicles will be a relic on the roads within a few generations. “Obviously, we have to come up with another mechanism,” he says.

So what then? If Missouri either can’t pass a fuel tax increase or can’t gather enough revenue from a fuel tax for it to matter, what longterm solutions are there for transportation funding? McKenna, at an event earlier in the fall, said that MoDOT was studying the possibility of raising user fees on electric hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles to offset the stagnation in fuel tax, but he also said any changes aren’t imminent and wouldn’t offset

ning toll roads throughout the state. At an October meeting of the 21st Century Missouri Transportation System Task Force, a group of private citizens and lawmakers, Sen. Bill Eigel, of St. Charles, suggested that the state move more money from its general fund over to MoDOT as part of a broader budget overhaul, but that would likely be both politically and mathematically impossible — state funding currently makes up less than one percent of MoDOT’s revenue.

There are other longshot possibilities to help too. A hyperloop — a high-speed tube transportation system that is, so far, mostly theoretical — between Kansas City and St. Louis would take a significant load off of I-70.

(MoDOT joined the Missouri Hyperloop Coalition, a group of organizations advocating for such a project, earlier this year.) Or the state could cross its fingers and hope for a generous federal funding package — in 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump touted a $1 trillion infrastructure plan as part of his presidential campaign, but there’s been little push for the plan in the last year.

At the task force meeting in October, by the way, most members viewed a fuel tax increase as the best bet to fund the state’s transportation system moving forward, particularly in the short term.

“Where the momentum has built is in the education process in the state legislature,” Pace says. “I really believe that, in the time I’ve been on the commission, we’ve increased the education pertaining to transportation in the legislature 10-fold. There’s not a soul over there who doesn’t understand what we’re going through, our problems. The problems are with those who have taken the no-new-tax pledge, and they absolutely will not vote for a new tax of any sort, and that really hamstrings the process.”

BUILDING BRIDGES In September of this year, MoDOT finally had the funding to begin construction, in concert with the Illinois Department of Transportation, on a replacement for the Champ Clark Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi River in Louisiana, Missouri, in the northeast part of the state.

The bridge was built in 1928, and it was built for the cars of 1928 — an inspection in 2014 found “structural deficiencies” in the bridge that led to weight limits for vehicles crossing it. Illinois was ready to fund a replacement project, but Missouri needed time to catch up.

MoDOT only now has the money needed for the replacement, which will take two years to build. McKenna hopes they don’t have to close the existing bridge before they open the new one. It’s a 77-mile detour if they do.

“These kind of things could cause, literally, the destruction of two communities economically,” McKenna says. “And we do need the public’s assistance in that. If the public is unwilling to adjust the rates as they are today, we will not be able to keep paying for everything that needs to be replaced or repaired.

And there will be facilities that we have to close for reason of disrepair.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 63

64 NOVEMBER 2017

NO JERKS ALLOWED In the 1980s, Carfax helped create a new industry of used car history reporting from Columbia. More than 30 years later, they’re still growing in town and beyond.

BY JODIE JACKSON JR. | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANTHONY JINSON

EVERY MORNING, when team members start filing in for work at Carfax’s technology headquarters on Maguire Boulevard, one regular visitor stops by the human resources office to give a nod. And a tail wag.

Katie Lottes says “Bear” is one of her favorite dogs among the dozen or so canines that typically accompany employees to work at Carfax. The practice began after company president Dick Raines brought his dog into the office a year or so ago.

The four-pawed perk is just one of the unique features of a work culture that also offers ping-pong tables, shufflepuck, a variety of video game consoles, and up to $60 reimbursement for employees — they’re called “team members” around the office — who purchase Fitbits.

“We promote a really healthy work­–life balance,” Lottes says. And, starting in 2018, qualified employees will be eligible for six weeks of company paid parental leave.

But the dog-friendly aspect of the Carfax campus tends to get the most attention, and for good reason, Lottes says.

“We have a very casual work environment to begin with. Our employees have just loved it,” she says. “It’s just wonderful. It’s a stress reliever.”

The dogs aren’t a challenge or a distraction, Lottes said. “We have a lot of good self-policing” among team members who bring a dog to

work. If a dog disrupts a meeting, for instance — and Lottes can’t remember the last time that happened — the dog owner knows to take the canine out of the room. Some employees even crate the dogs in their offices if the employee is going to be in another part of the office for an extended period of time.

Carfax, a unit of IHS Markit, created the Vehicle History Report in 1986 for used car buyers, sellers, and the automotive industry.

The company was based solely in Columbia at the time, where it was founded in 1984 by local entrepreneur Ewin Barnett, working with Robert Daniel Clark, an accountant in Huntington, Pennsylvania. In June 2013, IHS, a business information and analytics firm, spent $1.4 billion to buy Carfax’s parent company, privately held R.L. Polk.

IHS Inc. officials said the deal would help the company build its stake in the automotive industry. Carfax has since developed a number of services — like Carfax Used Car Listings and myCarfax — that make it easier to buy, sell, and own a used car. The company maintains a database comprising over 18 billion vehicle history records from more than 100,000 sources worldwide.

The company kept its programming center in Columbia when it moved the corporate headquarters to Centreville, Virginia, in 1993.

While the now-familiar Car Fox branding mascot is a staple of the company’s marketing,

the Carfax work culture continues to stand out as well, earning kudos from the Washington Post and other publications, emphasizing the company’s open and innovative workspace, “teamfirst” culture, and mission. The focus on work­– life balance begins with Raines, who is cited by several sources as saying, “People come to Carfax for our culture and they stay for a career.”

HOMEGROWN The Columbia facility, the company’s tech headquarters, now has about 190 employees.

Most are engaged in some aspect of the company’s technology: software development, programming, research and development, systems engineers, and more.

The first Carfax Report run was for a 1984 Ford Thunderbird.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 65

The company’s investment in and reliance on technology — retiring legacy systems “as soon as possible,” chief technology officer Joedy Lenz says — presents a challenge when it comes to making sure there’s an adequate, trained, and qualified workforce. Lenz has continued to nurture the company’s close relationship with MU’s computer science program, which produces interns for training as future employees.

“We do recruit nationwide,” Lenz says. “But a good percentage are, if not Columbians, Missourians.”

Lenz, who also manages the Columbia office, is on the MU business advisory board in the Department of Computer Science. That relationship has helped foster a steady stream of enthusiastic and qualified interns from the MU campus as well as the Missouri University of Science and Technology, in Rolla.

“We hire a good percentage of those people,” Lenz says. “We very much like to hire local when that talent is available.”

Carfax owns 6 patents for vehicle history data methods.

Five years ago, Carfax invited local community and economic development officials to its remodeled facility to showcase a 15,000-square-foot expansion — now for a total of around 40,000 square feet — that had been two years in the making. A few months later, in January 2013, the company shifted some of its data storage to a facility in Texas that works with about 10 employees. There’s also a data center in New York with roughly the same number.

Lottes said the company has more than 800 employees, including a number in sales positions who work “on the road,” she says. “That way we have presence in multiple locations.”

And considering the mobile nature of the sales reps as well as company executives — and now a facility in Texas — Lottes says Columbia Regional Airport’s expanding flight roster is beneficial, especially the flights to Dallas.

“It is a positive for us,” she says. Managers can come and go in a day or less, rather than losing productivity to travel. It’s part of the symbiosis between company and community that has allowed Carfax to keep an office in Columbia, even as the company has expanded across the country.

Just as Lottes points out the community’s benefits for Carfax, there’s also an array of volunteer activities and civic involvement from the company and its employees. In Columbia, Car66 NOVEMBER 2017

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 67

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fax has long-standing connections and support for Great Circle, the Central Missouri Humane Society, and Youth Empowerment Zone. Even employee events pay dividends for local organizations — each Friday, a team of employees prepares a noon meal for all employees on a rotating basis, and the team in charge always prepares additional food for the Ronald McDonald House in Columbia.

Lottes says the company hosted a group of young people from Youth Empowerment Zone in September “to talk about traditional and non-traditional IT jobs.”

“It was great to have those kids here,” she adds.

Central Missouri Humane Society, which is the recipient of donated computers and tech network help from Carfax systems engineers, also receives active support from Carfax employees for the nonprofit organization’s Whiskers and Wine annual fundraiser. The company also contributes to and provides additional support for Great Circle’s annual golf fundraiser.

“It’s hard to stress how great it is to work here,” Lottes says. “I take it for granted sometimes.”

STAYING QUICK Lenz had a military and technology background before joining the company. He came to Columbia’s Carfax tech headquarters from Medco Health Solutions in 2011 as the facility expansion was getting underway, one of three additions to the current location. The expansion was intended to accommodate another 50 employees from the roster of 155 at the time.

More than 6 Carfax reports are viewed each second by used car buyers and sellers.

Carfax has over 19 billion records. It took Carfax 15 years to reach the first billion records. The most recent billion took just 5 months.

“We’re getting close to that,” Lenz says, referring to the current employee base of 190ish.

Carfax also emphasizes to its team members — and to the tech community in general — that a strong technical workforce is dependent on local companies working together as much as possible to enhance Columbia’s standing as a prime location for tech businesses to open up.

“While we have a really strong technical workforce, we need more companies to come here and build a technology center,” Lenz said. “We need to make sure that everybody in town is constantly upgrading” to new technology and services to attract workers with “proven skill sets.”

Having a well-trained and quick-moving technical staff is pivotal when Carfax needs to respond to a crisis. Recent events — disastrous weather, specifically — have put Carfax at forefront of news reports about an expected flood of used cars that will deserve a second and third look. The double-whammy of hurricanes Harvey and Irma put Carfax officials into overdrive, leading to research that suggested drivers in the U.S. were possibly driving as many as 325,000 previously-flooded vehicles. The number was a 20 percent increase from 2016 and, according to the company’s website, “a stark reminder to consumers to do their due diligence when used car shopping.” Vehicles reported as flood-damaged by state DMVs, insurance companies, and other sources had washed up in every state.

At the time of the hurricanes, Raines said in news reports that the company expected to see several hundred thousand more used cars emerge from hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The company said that about half the vehicles damaged by floods usually end up back on the market. Flooded cars rot from the inside out as water corrodes the mechanical parts, shorts the electrical system, and compromises safety features like airbags and anti-lock brakes. Health concerns are an added problem, as mold and bacteria permeate the soft parts of the car. In the wake

of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, Carfax is letting consumers check for flood damage free of charge at a special page on the company’s website.

The hundreds of thousands of sometimes daily data reports and retrievals make security a constant front-and-center responsibility.

“You have to have a keen eye for security, to protect our data, to protect our customers’ data,” Lenz says. The company contracts with external vendors to actively look for vulnerabilities in Carfax’s systems.

“If a worst-case scenario would happen, are you prepared?” Lenz says, noting the recent news of credit reporting giant Equifax discovering a massive data breach. (The bigger news was perhaps that Equifax sat on the discovery for months before reporting it to the public.)

Lottes echoes Lenz’s edict that Carfax is “definitely a growing company,” but that means continuing to have the ability to recruit top talent. As Carfax responds to regulatory and industry changes and the need to protect customer and individual data in partnership with multiple companies and automobile dealers, it’s even more vital to have a workforce that can provide the needed skills.

“I absolutely agree that people associate tech companies with the West Coast,” Lottes says.

“But we’re seeing a shift of tech jobs coming back to the Midwest.”

The lower cost of living is one reason for that shift, she says, adding, “There’s obviously companies here that want to grow. Carfax is a great example of that.”

Lenz says Columbia continues to have the right economic climate for a company with both highly-skilled team members and a culture that stresses employee and community well-being.

“Historically, it’s been a benefit to talk about what a great place Columbia is,” he says. “We’ve called Columbia home for 33 years. We’ll call Columbia home for a long time to come.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 69

THE WORD ON THE STREETS A s n a ps ho t o f Co l um bi a ’s in f ra st r u c t u re.

BY B RE C K D UM AS 70 NOVEMBER 2017

FROM ROLL CARTS TO SEWER LINES, infrastructure issues can incite fervent political passions as much as any social cause. Putting politics aside, we’ve asked city council members and top engineers to weigh in on where things stand regarding some major priorities for Columbia’s infrastructure.

Each topic is complex enough to warrant a full book, but here, we’ll just try to provide a big-picture view of what you need to know as a member of the community.

BUSES When it comes to best practices for managing Columbia’s bus system, Go COMO, opinions range from shutting it down and replacing it (see Al Germond’s article from our September issue), to Councilman Ian Thomas’s suggestion of doubling or tripling the operating budget to provide greater route availability and frequency to boost ridership. What all camps seem to agree on as a major challenge is the city’s low-density population and sprawling city map. The need for public transit exists, but ridership and revenue have decreased while expenses have climbed.

In the short term, the city has taken action to improve the system's efficiency.

The frequency of buses on a half dozen routes with the lowest ridership have been reduced; one route was eliminated; and a pilot program is being conducted for a “flex zone,” in which a ride can be scheduled to a designated route. But a longterm, permanent solution is still needed for the city’s public transit.

A few ideas floating around involve partnerships geared toward increasing student ridership. “Partnering with Mizzou and other colleges and Columbia Public Schools to transport high school students could lead to a truly effective public transportation system for the first time,” Councilman Michael Trapp says. “CPS spends $12 million a year on transportation, while Columbia’s Go COMO spends $6 million.”

The CPS partnership possibility is on hold indefinitely, barring a change in Missouri law (as Jerry Dowell, of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, pointed out in his CBT column from last month). But a prospective partnership with MU might be possible right now.

Thomas points to successful models in other college towns such as Lawrence,

Kansas; Ames, Iowa; and Gainesville, Florida, where arrangements between the universities and a local bus provider mean the schools pay a negotiated annual fee per student for universal access to public transit. Typically, the rate hovers around $50 to $100 per student, which would mean an additional $1.5M injection into Go COMO’s operating budget, if MU were willing to cough up 50 bucks for each of their 30,000 students for bus fare — which is a cost that would ultimately be passed along to the students.

That 25 percent increase in the operating budget would be great, but Thomas admits it could be a long road to accomplish a deal.

“The University of Missouri has historically been opposed to doing that, and I’ve been working on it for years, and I’m still working on it,” he says. “But I do think that they see more benefit now than they used to.” He and Trapp both point to MU’s interest in alternative transportation as the school itself faces shrinking parking capacity and expensive facility maintenance.

HIGH VOLTAGE POWER LINES For 10 long years, Columbia has been haggling over the placement of new high voltage power lines in south Columbia. Anyone can appreciate the need to maintain and provide additional infrastructure for an increasingly burdened power grid — but no one seems to be too keen on seeing new lines installed over their own heads. Hence the struggle.

Ryan Williams, Assistant Utilities Director for Water and Light, breaks down the expansion into two main needs. First, add an additional 161-kilovolt feed into the Perche Creek substation to ensure that the city can remain compliant with North American Electric Reliability Corporation transmission planning standards. Second, add additional capacity to the distribution system, which is currently below where the city’s distribution engineers feel comfortable guaranteeing delivery of the reliable grid that Columbia Water and Light customers are accustomed to.

In 2013, Option A, a power line route that snakes along several subdivisions in south Columbia, was approved by council. That was proposed to solve both problems with a new substation in south Columbia, referred to as Mill Creek substation, to be located on Peach Court. This plan included building three 161-kilovolt line segments and adding two transformers to create a new load ser-

"So that’s our biggest challenge — people understanding that we need to maintain these things. And they’re not sexy. It’s like your home. It’s nice to maintain the siding, but when you have to go to replace your sewer lateral and spend 10,000 bucks, it ain’t pretty. You don’t really care to do that because it’s $10,000 you don’t see."

– Erin Keys, Engineering and Operations Manager, Sanitary Sewer and Storm Water Utilities vicing center. The funding for Option A was received from a voter-approved bond issue in April 2015, and the city initially spent $4 million on the project.

But in January 2016, at a second public hearing, Option A lost majority council support due to opposition from homeowners living on or near the path of the transmission route, putting the project on hold. At a council work session in May of the same year, a number of other route options came up: options A, B, and B1 were reviewed, and Options C and D were introduced. Mayor Brian Treece proposed a further option, with the goal of partnering with Ameren to leverage their existing 345-kilovolt right-of-way north of town, which is now known as Option E. The City began working with Ameren to assess the feasibility of this latest proposal, and in May of 2017, Ameren delivered a study describing how they could support the city with their right-of-way. As of September 18, council approved two engineering service agreements for gathering additional data to help support making a decision between Option A and Option E. Trapp maintains his position that Option A is the way to go, and says abandoning it for good leaves $4 million on the table: “We had an election to bond fund the project and the bonds passed by a wide majority. . . . Option

E would provide connectivity but would not address load growth in the southern part of the city.”

It’s no wonder Fifth Ward Councilman Matt Pitzer says the high voltage power lines issue “probably generates the most interest when it comes up.” Any time changes are made that impact aesthetics or property value, citizens will take note and watch closely.

SEWER & STORMWATER “I would say both for sanitary sewer and stormwater utilities, the main challenge is ‘out of sight, out of mind’ — it’s in the ground, people flush their toilet, and it goes away,” says Erin Keys, engineering and operations manager for Columbia’s sanitary sewer and stormwater utilities. “That’s all they know, that’s all they want to know.

So that’s our biggest challenge — people understanding that we need to maintain these things. And they’re not sexy. It’s like your home. It’s nice to maintain the siding, but when you have to go to replace your sewer lateral and spend 10,000 bucks, it ain’t pretty. You don’t really care to do that because it’s $10,000 you don’t see.”

In the past — the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, early 2000s — the community’s participation in the cost of extending sewers to growing areas had a positive connotation. “Historically, COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 71

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Wards

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CITY

Mayor Brian Treece 573-874-7222 mayor@como.gov

WARD 1

Council Member Clyde Ruffin 573-268-4783 Ward1@como.gov

WARD 2

Council Member Michael Trapp 573-256-0174 Ward2@como.gov

WARD 3

Council Member Karl Skala 573-474-2195 Ward3@como.gov

WARD 4

Council Member Ian Thomas 573-239-7916 Ward4@como.gov

WARD 5

Council Member Matt Pitzer 573-823-7037 Ward5@como.gov

WARD 6

Council Member Betsy Peters 573-874-7812 Ward6@como.gov

Columbia has prioritized growth in the sewer system and has underfunded maintenance and replacement,” Trapp says. “The 2013 sewer ballot that I supported put 80 to 85 percent of funds towards maintenance and repair.”

Sewer and stormwater issues often go hand in hand, but it’s important to point out that Columbia has separate systems for each, which is not the case in all communities. What makes it particularly noteworthy is that both systems leak — so when a hard rain hits, stormwater gets into the sanitary system, causing it to overflow and creating not just obvious health issues, but also regulatory concerns.

With that knowledge, the city has made major investments in lining sewer pipes, adding relief sewers, and reducing inflow and infiltration. They also have an initiative to clean or inspect every sewer main every five years, which keeps five trucks busy full-time monitoring the hundreds of miles of sewer pipes in operation.

On the regulatory end, Columbia shares its stormwater permit with MU and Boone County, which has been helpful in consolidating resources and brain power to be innovative, work with (and try to ward off) the Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency, and find solutions that maintain local control in order to avoid mandates from regulatory agencies. There’s a long history that goes with these concerns, so the city’s developing an integrated management plan to stay ahead of any future issues in a financially responsible way.

ROAD PROJECTS It’s reasonable to assume that where a person lives, commutes, or frequents would dictate what they might see as priorities when it comes to road projects. A bottleneck or pothole in your daily commute is tough to ignore, and so is some yahoo tearing through your

neighborhood at breakneck speed.

The city has around 60 neighborhoods slated for “traffic calming” that have been approved after evaluation. “Every year, we add about five or 10 neighborhoods to the list, but we only knock off about three” says Ian Thomas, who says he gets calls all the time about cars speeding through neighborhoods.

For higher-traffic roads, more roundabouts are on the horizon.

“Roundabouts are almost always somewhat controversial, but over time, people have come to realize the safety and traffic flow benefits that roundabouts can deliver,” Pitzer says. “My constituents are eager to see voter-approved improvements move forward to relieve bottlenecks at key intersections, including Forum–Green Meadows, Nifong–Sinclair and Vawter School–Old Mill Creek.”

The city will also be widening a stretch of Nifong to five lanes — while that project might be messy when it’s expected to begin in 2020, alleviating the congestion between Providence and Forum is seen as long overdue. “Everybody is ready for the Nifong project to begin — and to be completed — and they understand it’s something that probably should have happened several years ago,” Pitzer says.

BEYOND THE BUZZ We get it. With so much to know and follow when it comes to council actions, city projects, and issues on the horizon, it’s tough to keep it all straight without some serious time commitment. Being a conscientious citizen takes some work, especially if you’re concerned with the direction government is moving on a particular issue. Hopefully scratching the surface here provides a foundation, but each councilperson and expert we spoke with was more than eager to be helpful in educating the public. Such accessibility is a luxury some communities don’t have, so take full advantage. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 73

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B U SINESS • P EOP L E • IM P ROVE M E N T • F YI

OR G A N I ZAT I ON AL H EALT H

make you happy. In reality, once you achieve them, you recede back to your base happiness level and need a new challenge. Very seldom does the destination change you as much as the journey to get there.

With that journey in mind, here are seven best practices my executive clients use to stay happy and productive.

1. Always be on a mission. Research shows

ORGA N I Z AT IONAL H E ALTH

Seven Ways Happy Employees Stay Happy

BY TON Y RICHA R DS | Fou n de r of C le ar Visio n Deve l o p m e n t G ro u p

the more you can set a mission for your life and career, the more optimistic and happy you will be. When you’re living out of something that’s exciting, like the future, you become more joyful. Especially as you get into your mature years, you have to make your future more important than your past.

2. Develop a strong social network. Work

at nurturing your relationships. Don’t let social anxiety or introversion prevent you from making and developing friends.

3. Keep working physically. Move and work

your body on a daily basis. Make a serious commitment to getting into the gym. Have a workout program. Do a daily walk.

4. Practice gratitude on purpose. I had a

I FACILITATE A WORKSHOP (soon to become an e-book) called “Ten Things Leaders Can’t Do.” First on the list is that leaders can’t make everyone happy. I often ask my classes why this is true. People typically shout out several answers, but the primary reason is because happiness has a lot to do with individual choice.

As a leader, you can’t control anyone’s emotions, particularly his or her happiness. Only the individual person has power over themselves and their emotions. Some people are going to be happy no matter what; others have made the opposite decision. Leaders, meanwhile, jump through more hoops than a Barnum & Bailey circus performer trying to make folks happy.

The science of psychology has a history of studying unhappy people. The hope is that if we can understand why people are unhappy, we can figure out what the prescription should be to help them become happy. About 10 years ago, there was a shift to studying happy people — the science of positive psychology. One habit that’s almost automatic for happy people is that they look for a gift or a blessing in the face

of adversity. This persistence keeps them from being off their game for any extended period of time. We all have setbacks, things that bring our mood down, but if we learn to bounce back quicker, we’re happier and our performance improves over time.

Let me introduce you to the 10-50-40 rule on happiness developed by Sonja Kyubomirsky.

50 percent of your happiness comes from your genetic predisposition. Your happy set point comes from your parents and, generally, what level of happiness they displayed as you were growing up under their care. 10 percent of your happiness is because of your current circumstances. We have learned this is called hedonic adaptation — the human tendency to become satisfied in our circumstances. New salary levels, new cars, and new homes make us happy for a while, and then we recede backward. This is why even people in Hawaii go on vacation. The last 40 percent of your happiness is a result of the things you’re doing to be happy. This means that a huge amount of your happiness comes from the chase of things you think are going to

client group who wrote down five things they were grateful for five times a week over 10 weeks. What they learned most was that practicing gratitude on a habitual basis would make you more happy and optimistic.

5. Take time to savor life. People maintain

their high happiness levels because they consciously live in the moment and enjoy life’s simple pleasures, like a cup of coffee or a scenic trail. Remember, the things that get scheduled are the things that get done.

6. Make a commitment to helping others.

The folks who have been able to elevate and maintain their happiness levels often volunteer to help those in need. Your life will be defined and increased by what you have given.

7. Be committed to growth. You’ll be happiest when you grow on a consistent basis. Go voyaging — do some things you’ve never done so you can be who you want to be. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 75

BU SINESS • P EOP L E • IM PROVE M E N T • F YI

M AR KET I N G

mortar store. Some big brands are introducing interactive features you can only access if you visit. A visit to your store is more than just a warm lead. That’s downright hot!

• Neighborhood Targeting/Geofencing: If research has shown that the demographics of a specific subdivision align with your core customer, then you should consider serving mobile ads within a “geofence,” a very specific geographic region. Geofencing is almost like putting up doorhangers, but without the printing costs and the walking door to door.

• Weather Triggers: Own a snow-removal ser-

MA RKET I NG

Mobile Advertising Technology

BY JAMIE PATTERSON

WITH SMARTPHONE OWNERSHIP at an all-time high (approaching 100 percent among U.S. Millennials and Gen Z-ers), no modern marketer can deny the importance of a mobile strategy. You already know that a seamless, responsive website experience is critical. But you may not know that advertising providers are adapting to the growing demand for advanced, high-quality mobile inventory and targeting capabilities. New technologies allow us to reach consumer fragments with highly granular messaging at the exact moment they need you.

• Behavioral Targeting: Behavioral targeting has been around for years, and providers have continued to improve accuracy and effectiveness. Behavioral targeting serves ads to internet users based on their behaviors: websites they’ve visited, online purchases they’ve made, etc. Past behavior is one of the best predictors of future behavior. Now, advertising providers are expanding their mobile behavioral targeting capabilities. Device owners can be categorized into highly narrow segments — “morning diners,” “in market for Nissan,” “coffee lovers,” and “affluent shoppers” are just a few examples.

76 NOVEMBER 2017

• Content Category Targeting: Content category targeting places mobile ads on groups of apps and mobile websites based on their content. For example, a car dealership might choose to run a mobile ad campaign on automotive apps. (The “weather” category is popular for advertisers who want completely neutral, non-controversial ad placements.) If you can pinpoint the types of apps your customers frequent, then you can serve ads there.

• Brand and Location Targeting: Yep. It’s now possible to create mobile campaigns serving ads to people who are fans of, or frequently visit, national chain stores and brands. Major clothing retailers, hotel chains, restaurants, tax-prep services, dental office chains — the list goes on and on. If you’d like your name and message to appear to customers of your national competitors, then this is a mobile ad strategy to consider.

• In-Store and Visit Retargeting: At CMG, retargeting is almost always the foundation of our digital strategies — we love our warm leads.

You may already be serving ads to people who visited your website, but now, you can serve mobile ads to people who visited your brick and

vice? Offer paintless hail dent repair at your body shop? If weather can trigger your business, then it can be used to trigger mobile advertising. Some advertising providers can offer you a chunk of advertising inventory that will only serve when a certain weather condition occurs or is forecasted — a snowstorm, a heat wave, high humidity, low wind chill, and more. The possibilities can be quite specific.

• Dynamic Location Insertion: If foot traffic and passersby can benefit your business, then mobile advertising may make a good addition to your marketing mix. Some premium mobile ads can dynamically update to show a mobile phone user how close they are to your business: “You’re 1.2 miles away from my delicious restaurant!” Hungry, anyone?

ONE LAST WORD… In September, Apple announced that iOS 11 would feature “intelligent tracking prevention.” This new tool prevents cross-tracking across sites viewed on Safari, Apple’s mobile internet browser, and clears all third-party cookies after 24 hours.

Immediately after that announcement, the marketing community roared in protest. Several major advertising associations wrote open letters to Apple asking them to rethink this change.

In light of this news, should you be worried about your current mobile strategies and retargeting? I don’t think so. According to 2017 data from TechCrunch, people only spend 8 percent of time on their phone in mobile browsers. 92 percent of mobile activity occurs in apps, and this change doesn’t affect ads in apps.

Also, intelligent tracking prevention only clears third-party cookies. Retargeting cookies from your own website are first-party, so they are not affected. Overall, this change will have a minimal impact on mobile ad impressions served. No sweat. CBT

B U SINESS • P EOP L E • IM P ROVE M E N T • F YI

POLI CY

What influences morale?

Everything.

P OL IC Y

Advancing Public Safety in Columbia

BY JERRY DOWELL | Director of Government Affairs, Columbia Chamber of Commerce

TO DEVELOP A COMPREHENSIVE public safety plan in Columbia, we need to begin the process with consensus from everyone involved.

What do I mean by consensus? Not that we need to agree on what that plan looks like, what specific changes in current policies are needed, or even how we’re going to fund the plan. I mean that everyone, at the beginning, must agree on a baseline view of what the current public safety system is, including data and the scope and involvement of each interested party.

The discussion of how to begin implementing a comprehensive public safety program has been ongoing for many years. I know that this issue has been, and will continue to be, one that our membership at the Columbia Chamber of Commerce believes is important to address sooner rather than later. When councilmen Ian Thomas and Michael Trapp approached the chamber about participating in a community engagement process, we agreed and added our input to the resolution that was ultimately introduced and passed at the February 20, 2017 city council meeting.

I think more than just a few people were surprised by the introduction of a resolution at the July 3 council meeting to authorize the city manager to enter into a no-bid contract with the

Heart of Missouri United Way to conduct a community engagement process about policing, appropriating over $70,000 dollars for that purpose. I know that the Heart of Missouri United Way is a fantastic organization, but this resolution was met with skepticism from the community and from several council members.

What wasn’t lost in this discussion is that community members wanted to determine their scope and roles within this process. Some community leaders have been carrying on discussions with the city and attending the public meetings held by City Manager Mike Matthes and Chief of Police Ken Burton for several months and were offended that their roles were not larger in this process. Without the baseline understanding of what everyone’s roles would be, there wasn’t a clear path forward.

Another point of confusion — and a pivotal part of any future public safety plan — is community policing. For well over a year, groups like Race Matters, Friends have been speaking to council about policing in Columbia, the racial divides that exist across the community, and what they believe are problems within the Columbia Police Department. These groups have said the police department is only paying lip

service when talking about community policing efforts. Meanwhile, the city and the department have been highlighting their community policing efforts, saying they’ve reduced several crime statistics within focus areas named in the city’s 2015 strategic plan.

Staffing levels, officer safety, morale, and retention are also issues to address that have differing vantage points with areas of both agreement and disagreement. Staffing levels is a multifaceted issue. The number of officers the City of Columbia has employed is influenced by a number of factors: pay and benefits, training cycles, the number of officers hired at a time, future openings due to retirements or resignations, and, finally, morale. What influences morale?

Everything. Morale is affected by the treatment of officers by command staff, the community, and other officers. It’s affected by having to work hours upon hours of overtime. It’s affected by a number of little things that accumulate throughout a police officer’s routine work.

So how do we work to fix such a complicated issue? We need to collectively identify and solve problems both internally and externally. We need to include the officers and their membership organization, the Columbia Police Officers’ Association, in a constructive manner that doesn’t automatically place them in a defensive position. We need to include our community activists, our neighborhood associations, our schools, the business community, and our elected officials, who will ultimately be responsible for the policy changes necessary to create change. This process should not be outsourced — it should be driven collectively by every group that wants to be part of a solution. In the end, the only way to do that in a constructive manner is to be sure everyone can agree on where starting line is. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 77

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B U SINESS • P EOP L E • IM PROVE M E N T • F YI

R EA L ESTAT E

The Infrastructure Dilemma

BY MIK E GRELLNER | Vice P re side n t , P laza Co m m e rc i a l Re a l ty

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE are nearly inseparable topics. They've always had a corresponding relationship, but the two are much more public these days — particularly as they relate to funding new infrastructure and making repairs on existing systems. That dialogue is taking place on a national level, but Columbia has a few defining features.

Taking a local focus, there are two statements we can comfortably make. First, adequate infrastructure is an absolutely critical element to real estate development. Second, the residents of Columbia value quality, well-maintained infrastructure, particularly roads.

Each year the City of Columbia’s citizen survey results point to quality roadways as a high priority. If you reside in a community with a growing population (which is generally thought of as a good thing), such as Columbia, then you'll likely witness demand

for new development and the corresponding infrastructure that supports it.

I think the majority of our taxpayers agree that funds need to be dedicated to the continuous improvement, maintenance, and expansion of our infrastructure (and expansion is necessary if you have a growing population). Where we see divergent opinions is how to fund those needs.

When effective funding solutions are not found, or the solutions are not agreed to by the required majority, the outcome is failing infrastructure below the ground and snarled traffic across the community. Nobody consciously chooses this option. Unfortunately, there haven’t been many solutions that the majority can agree to of late.

There’s a camp that views new development as the cause of degradation and the only reason for expansion requirements and, therefore, the most logical source of funds

R EAL ESTAT E

for infrastructure upgrades. There’s some merit to this argument. But where do we draw the line for what a new development is accountable for? That's a complicated question and an even more complicated formula to equitably collect and allocate new development fees (sometimes referred to as “impact fees”).

I believe it’s also fair to ask the question of whether all Columbians should participate in funding for new infrastructure and maintenance. Whether you moved into a house that was just finished or one that is 100 years old, you’ll inevitably be using roads across the entire city during your lifetime. You’ll be using the same electric grid as everyone else, and of course we all benefit from the good public health provided by an effective sewer system.

And there’s another population segment that puts strain on our infrastructure that’s not accounted for in the aforementioned scenarios. Technically, I’m an Ashland resident.

However, I spend my entire workday and much of my after-hours activities in Columbia. I am not alone in that daily routine. And there’s no precise formula to determine how much of a burden non-resident commuters place on the city’s infrastructure. How is it that we capture an equitable contribution from that segment?

(To some degree, that's done through sales tax, though we all know the diminishing path of sales tax revenues and the complications it's causing for local governments.)

My coverage on this topic raises more questions than answers, but I think I have that in common with many others who discuss this subject. And unfortunately, that leads to inactivity, which further delays the infrastructure upgrades and repairs that are so badly needed.

Columbia is not alone in this dilemma.

Communities and governments across the U.S. are wrestling with this same issue.

Where all this leads on a local, state, and national level I don’t know. But I do know this: in Columbia, we are behind when it comes to installation of new infrastructure and upgrades of existing systems. And public opinion suggests that’s not just a problem for new development, but for every Columbia citizen. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 79

BU SINESS • P EOP L E • IM PROVE M E N T • F YI

ASK AN N E

Q I’m the HR director of a mid-size company that has terrible turnover. During the summer, the work entails manual labor in the heat, and we have trouble retaining new hires — some quit before they’ve even been with us two weeks!

The pay is just average, but everyone gets 40-plus hours a week. What can we do to keep people from leaving?

A SK A N N E

Why Employees Leave

BY A N N E W ILLIAM S | P re side n t , JobF in de rs E m p l oy m e n t S e r vi ce s

Q Dear readers, I’ve received several letters about the challenges you have with intermittent Family Medical Leave Act compliance. According to a recent Society of Human Resource Management study, 35 percent of employers said tracking intermittent FMLA leave was either “difficult” or “extremely difficult.”

During my reading on the subject, I ran across a helpful checklist of best practices for dealing with intermittent FMLA by Teresa Burke Wright, an employment attorney with Jackson Lewis LLP: 1. Dock pay when necessary. When you have

a staffer using paid time off during the intermittent FMLA time, make you’re making the correct deductions to their PTO. If they don’t have PTO left, you, the employer, might be able to “dock” the staffer’s pay, even if they’re salaried exempt folks.

2. Enforce call-in policies. Make them call in.

The courts say it’s good to have standard call-in procedures, and it’s OK to make the intermittent FMLA users use them. We need advance notice of absences whenever possible, so make sure to put that in the policy. Be consistent 80 NOVEMBER 2017

when writing — and especially when enforcing — your call-in policy.

3. Explore transfer options. It's OK to change someone to a different job if it works better for their leave, but you shouldn’t do it unless the leave is for purposes of planned medical treatment. Oh, and remember, you cannot do this for intermittent leave that’s not planned. This can be tricky: the duties of the new job can be different, but the pay and benefits of the position must be the same. When the person returns, they must be restored to their original job too, but not until their FMLA benefits run out.

4. Recertify regularly. Example: Your employ-

ee’s doctor estimated your employee would be out about twice every month for two to three days. The absences turned out to be more frequent and longer. Did you know you can recertify on the grounds the absences mark a “significant change in circumstances?” This is great news!

5. Remember fitness-for-duty certifications. If you have genuine concerns about a staff-

er’s ability to safely do their job after returning to work, you may want to require a fitness of duty certification. Of course, you can only require this if you feel the staffer’s safety is at risk specifically because of the condition that required the FMLA. While this can’t be done after each absence, it can be done regularly, about every 30 days or so.

Retention is an ongoing challenge in all types of industries, not just yours. You do have a few obstacles, like the heat and overtime, that others don’t have to overcome, but let’s look at this through a broader scope.

The Harvard Business Review recently conducted a survey addressing the following: What’s the one factor that most affects how engaged, satisfied, and committed employees are?

The results confirmed what I’ve mentioned before in this column: the biggest factor is the workers’ immediate supervisor. It went on to say that there’s a strong correlation between an effective manager and engaged employees. In other words, the best leaders have committed, happy, and engaged staff members, which helps keep retention high.

But people will leave! And it’s not always for money. Consider these top 10 reasons people abandon jobs: 1. Lack of recognition 2. Lack of respect from supervisor 3. Lack of training 4. Money 5. Bad work hours 6. Favoritism by supervisor 7. Lack of leadership from supervisor 8. Bad employee relations by supervisor 9. Unavoidable reasons 10. Limited career opportunities Managers play a crucial role in the success or failure of their staff. I think it’s our job as leaders to guide and train our supervisors to give our ROBS (recognition, opportunity, belonging, and security) to our employees, no matter what the temperature is. Good luck! CBT Anne Williams is not an attorney. All content in this column is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality and is not to be construed as legal advice.

B U SINESS • P EOP L E • IM PROVE M E N T • F YI

B U SI N ESS SM AR TS

There are plenty of shortcuts out there that offer more risk than reward. tion. In most cases, if you haven’t included necessary fees or have done something incorrectly, the filing will be rejected and returned. If you do receive a bill after the fact, it could be a scam. You should contact the state agency directly, independently verifying the number or e-mail address you’re using.

B U SI N ESS S MARTS

Business-building Scams to Avoid

BY SEAN SP ENCE | Re gion al D ire ctor, Be t te r B u s i n e ss B u re a u Co l u m b i a

THERE’S NEVER BEEN a business owner who doesn’t look for some edge over the competition. There are plenty of potential shortcuts out there, though, that offer more risk than reward — or that may be outright scams — just waiting for an opportunity-seeking business owner to fall victim.

The following are some business scams to avoid when you’re looking for a new business opportunity, ways to improve business performance, or even ways to reduce taxes. Engaging in any could end with you losing money, and some could even be red flags for the IRS or other government agencies.

• The “Shelf Corporation.” BBB advises against investing thousands of dollars in a pre-made corporation in hopes of gaining immediate corporate credit. Doing this the right way takes time. If anyone proposes to help you gain instant credit through a “shelf corporation,” it’s probably best to walk away.

• Deal of the Century. Be cautious when a friend, neighbor, or anyone you know

offers you a too-good-to-be-true deal. Be especially skeptical if that person says that there is no need for an attorney to get involved in the process. It is generally advisable to consult a lawyer before entering into a business agreement.

• Business Coach Services. There are many reputable business coaches out there, but just because someone hangs out a shingle and claims to be a coach does not mean that they are qualified to give business advice. Be wary of anyone — especially people who are not attorneys or CPAs — who provides legal or tax advice. Ask for credentials and references to ascertain whether or not they have the expertise you need.

• State Filing Fees. In most states, you do have to pay a small fee to file incorporation papers and other legal documents, and that fee typically must accompany the paperwork. You probably won’t receive a bill after submitting your documenta-

• Business Funding Kits. It is generally not wise to invest in high-priced information on obtaining grants or no-interest loans for your business. You can usually find most of this information yourself at little to no cost using the internet or by visiting a public library. The information contained in these kits is usually too general and inaccurate to be of real use, and it’s often created from publicly available sources.

• Phantom Investors. Be extra cautious if someone approaches you unexpectedly offering to invest in your company. In this scenario, scammers may “require documentation to verify the investment opportunity,” including financial information such as social security numbers and your bank account number. Scammers can use this approach to steal your corporate identity.

• Advance-Fee Loans. Legitimate lenders do not require an upfront processing fee to determine whether or not you qualify for a loan.

• Overpayment Retainer. There are few cases when you should accept overpayment by a customer for your product or service, especially if it’s a customer you don’t know well. Overpayments of this kind can be the doorway to a business scam.

To report a scam or learn about scams trending in Mid-Missouri, get in touch with BBB Columbia. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 81

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BU SI N ESS • P EOPL E • IM P R OV EM EN T • FY I

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Discovery Clubhouse LLC Central Bank of Boone CountyLt 501 Discovery Park Subdivision Plat 2-C

Boyd, Scott & Beverly Rev Trust Landmark Bank STR 31-48-12 //S SUR BK/PG: 620/396 FF TRACT 15 & 16 W/EXCEPTIONS

Heaven Sent Properties LLC Arvest Bank Lt 1 Pt Hyde Park Blk 2

$3,120,000

Store Master Funding XIII LLC Citibank Lt 2 Bearfield Plaza Subdivision FF & ESMT

$1,220,000

$2,700,000

$1,087,800

Aggarway, Ajay & Garg, Megha First State Community Bank Lt 7 Arrowhead Lake Estates

Frick Family Trust The Meriwest Credit Union Lt 1 DG Plat 1

OTA Properties LLC Landmark Bank Lt 5G-1 Columbia Industrial Development Corp 2-A

Hill, Robert and Sarah Regions Bank STR 1-47-13 //SW SUR BK/ PG: 3057/76 AC 11.83 FF TRACT 1 $902, 000

Pulickal Holdings LLC The Bank of Missouri Lt 1E Village of Cherry Hill Plat 3 The $830,000

Roberts, Richard Lee and Catherine L Hawthorn Bank Lt 7B Georgetown Plat 10 Lt 7 $715,758

Maddox & Robinson Investments LLC First Midwest Bank of Poplar Bluff Lt 32 Pt R B Prices Sub CBT 636 deeds of trust were issued between 8/21 and 10/06

BU SINESS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • FY I

Economic Index LABOR

HOUSING

(not seasonally adjusted)

August 2017

UNITED STATES

Labor force: 160,863,000 Employment: 153,576,000 Unemployment: 7,287,000 Rate: 4.5 percent

WE

LEARN

Total single-family home sales: 188 Existing single-family home

WE

sales: 173

FIX

New construction single-

MISSOURI

family home sales: 15

Labor force: 3,069,421

Single-family homes active

Employment: 2,940,385

listings on market: 744

Unemployment: 129,036

Single-family homes average

Rate: 4.2 percent

sold price: $225,886 Single-family homes median

BOONE COUNTY

sold price: $188,000

Labor force: 97,384

Single family homes average

Employment: 94,510 Unemployment: 2,874 Rate: 3 percent

WE

BUILD

days on market: 48 Single-family homes pending listings on market: 168

COLUMBIA

@theloopcomo #goodtobeintheloop

Labor force: 66,358 Employment: 64,367 Unemployment: 1,991

UTILITIES

Rate: 3 percent

September 2017

THE

WATER

CONSTRUCTION

September 2017: 49,204

August 2017

Number of customers receiving service on October 1,

Residential building permits: 71 Value of residential building permits: $15,077,631 Commercial building permits: 24 Value of commercial building permits: $53,525,843

good to be in the loop

2017: 49,158 ELECTRIC

September 2017: 50,128 Number of customers receiving service on October 1, 2017: 50,118

Commercial additions and alterations: 16

NOTE: Due to irregularities in

Value of commercial

the city’s billing software, 2016

additions: $9,179,888

utilities data has been omitted.

PMS 370

We’re a collection of doers and now we’re taking that same DIY approach to improving The Loop. We’re creating a corridor of learning opportunities, creative endeavors, and economic engines – all with the same get-it-done attitude we’re known for.

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PMS 158

PMS 550

PMS 2289

PMS 7536

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theloopcomo.com Business Loop 70 | Columbia, MO

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 85

olumbia Region al A

by C irp red or we o t P

TOP

CBT’s

OF THE

TOWN 2017

TOP PLACE TO WORK – 1-25 EMPLOYEES

TOP ARCHITECT

TOP ADVERTISING AGENCY

TOP ACCOUNTING SERVICE

1st Place: Columbia Eye Consultants 2nd Place: Caledon Virtual

1st Place: Simon Oswald Architecture 2nd Place: PWArchitects

TOP PLACE TO WORK - 26-50 EMPLOYEES

TOP HR FIRM

1st Place: True Media 2nd Place: Visionworks Marketing Group

1st Place: Williams-Keepers LLC 2005 W. Broadway, Columbia 573-442-6171, williamskeepers.com

1st Place: Woodruff 2nd Place: Century 21 Advantage

1st Place: Moresource, Inc. 2nd Place: Accounting Plus 1604 Business Loop 70 W. B, Columbia 573-445-3805, accountingplusinc.com

TOP PLACE TO WORK - 51+ EMPLOYEES 1st Place: Veterans United Home Loans 2nd Place: Central Bank of Boone County

TOP EMERGING PROFESSIONAL 1st Place: Amanda Quick, The Hatchery 2nd Place: Brandon Banks, Modern Media Concepts

TOP SEASONED PRO 1st Place: Eric Morrison, Providence Bank 2nd Place: Gina Gervino, Columbia Insurance Group

TOP COMMERCIAL REALTOR 1st Place: Paul Land, Plaza Commercial Realty 2501 Bernadette Dr, Columbia 573-445-1020, paulland.com

TOP SALESPERSON 1st Place: Brooke Berkey, Central Bank of Boone County 2nd Place: Danny Gingerich, Joe Machens Toyota-Scion

TOP CHAMBER VOLUNTEER 1st Place: Tom Trabue, McClure Engineering Co. 2nd Place: Sherry Major, Columbia EDP

TOP CEO 1st Place: Steve Erdel, Central Bank of Boone County 2nd Place: Gary Thompson, Columbia Insurance Group

TOP BANK 1st Place: Central Bank of Boone County 2nd Place: Landmark Bank

2nd Place: Gina Rende, Maly Commercial Realty

TOP COMMERCIAL LENDER

1st Place: Coil Construction 2nd Place: Little Dixie Construction

1st Place: Chris Widmer, Landmark Bank 2nd Place: Chris Rosskopf, Central Bank of Boone County

TOP REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER

TOP BUSINESS INSURANCE

1st Place: Mike Tompkins, Tompkins Homes & Development 2nd Place: Jay Lindner, Forum Development Group

1st Place: Stephanie Wilmsmeyer, State Farm 2609 E. Broadway, Columbia 573-445-5774, insurecomo.com

TOP COMMERCIAL BUILDER

TOP PLACE TO CLOSE A DEAL 1st Place: 44 Stone 2nd Place: Boone-Central Title Co.

TOP STAFFING COMPANY 1st Place: JobFinders Employment Services 1729 W. Broadway #4, Columbia, 573-446-4250, jobfindersusa.com

2nd Place: Kelly Services

TOP JANITORIAL SERVICES 1st Place: Atkins, Inc. 2nd Place: Safi Sana

TOP HAPPY HOUR 1st Place: Logboat Brewing Co. 2nd Place: The Roof

TOP IT COMPANY 1st Place: Midwest Computech 311 Bernadette Dr., Ste. A, Columbia 573-499-6928, midwestcomputech.com

1st Place: Fresh Ideas Food Service Management 2nd Place: Missouri Employers Mutual

1st Place: LG Patterson 2nd Place: Casey Buckman

TOP COMMERCIAL VIDEOGRAPHER 1st Place: The Evoke Group 2nd Place: Cosmic Sauce

TOP EVENT LOCATION 1st Place: Logboat Brewing Co. 2nd Place: Stoney Creek Hotel & Conference Center

TOP PLACE FOR BUSINESS LUNCH 1st Place: Addison’s 2nd Place: D. Rowe’s

TOP COFFEE MEETING LOCATION 1st Place: Kaldi’s Coffee 2nd Place: The Grind Coffee House 2nd Place: EasyPC IT & Computer Repair

TOP NATIONAL PRESENCE 1st Place: True/False Film Fest 2nd Place: Veterans United Home Loans

TOP CATERER 1st Place: Bleu Events 2nd Place: Hoss’s Market 1010 Club Village Dr., Columbia 573-815-9711, hosssmarket.com

TOP WEB DEVELOPER 1st Place: Hoot Design Co. 2nd Place: Delta Systems

TOP B2B PRODUCT OR SERVICE

1st Place: Crockett Engineering 2nd Place: McClure Engineering Co.

1st Place: GFI Digital 2nd Place: CoMo Connection Exchange

2nd Place: Columbia Insurance Group

TOP OFFICE DIGS

TOP COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER

TOP ENGINEER 86 NOVEMBER 2017

2nd Place: Accounting Plus

TOP LOCAL TEAM-BUILDING EXPERIENCE 1st Place: Breakout CoMo 2nd Place: Escape Plan

B U SINESS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • FY I

BY T H E N U M BER S

TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE

273,589

682

$50-60M

road miles in the state of Missouri

number of Missouri State Highway fatalities for the year (as of 10/12/2017)

the annual cost of operating and maintaining I-70 in its current condition

(Source: MoDOT)

(Source: MoDOT)

110 feet

90%

16,000

average depth of wells that supply Columbia’s drinking water

how much of Columbia’s energy comes from sources outside the city

number of manholes that pour into the City of Columbia’s Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant

(Source: City of Columbia)

(Source: City of Columbia)

(Source: City of Columbia)

(Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration)

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 87

ADVERTISER INDEX ACCOUNTING PLUS............................................................................................91

JOE MACHENS DEALERSHIPS................................................................. 37-41

ACHIEVE BALANCE...........................................................................................82

LANDMARK BANK................................................................................................ 2

ANTHONY JINSON PHOTOGRAPHY............................................................13

MAHER COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE.........................................................78

ARTISAN BUILDERS OF COLUMBIA.............................................................14

MIDMO TIX............................................................................................................. 84

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES................................................. 9

MISSOURI EMPLOYERS MUTUAL...................................................................18

BLEU EVENTS...................................................................................................... 20

MODERN LITHO/BROWN PRINTING............................................................12

CARPET ONE.........................................................................................................74

NATHAN JONES LAW........................................................................................83

CENTRAL MISSOURI AUTOBODY................................................................ 34 CITY OF COLUMBIA WATER & LIGHT...........................................................4 COLUMBIA EDP....................................................................................................78 COLUMBIA MARKETING GROUP..................................................................59 COLUMBIA REGIONAL AIRPORT.................................................................... 5 D & M SOUND........................................................................................................32 EDWARD JONES - KATHY LOU NEALE......................................................18 FIRST STATE COMMUNITY BANK.................................................................82

NAUGHT NAUGHT INSURANCE AGENCY.................................................78 PCE, INC..................................................................................................................59 PERSONAL TOUCH CLEANING SERVICE..................................................24 PROVIDENCE BANK............................................................................................16 RESTORATION EYECARE.................................................................................16 SILVERBALL.......................................................................................................... 44 SOCKET.................................................................................................................. 20

GFI DIGITAL............................................................................................................. 3

STANGE LAW FIRM.............................................................................................88

GREAT CIRCLE..................................................................................................... 10

STATE FARM INSURANCE - STEPHANIE WILMSMEYER.....................32

HAWTHORN BANK.............................................................................................92

THE LOOP...............................................................................................................85

HEART OF MISSOURI UNITED WAY...................................................... 6 & 7

TIGER SCHOLARSHIP FUND............................................................................. 8

HOSS'S MARKET & ROTISSERIE....................................................................24

TRUE FALSE FILM FEST...................................................................................42

JENNING'S PREMIUM MEATS.........................................................................74

UNIVERSITY CLUB................................................................................................11

JOBFINDERS.........................................................................................................74

WILSON'S FITNESS.................................................................................. 14 & 34

88 NOVEMBER 2017

B U SINESS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • FY I

T H I S OR T H AT

MIKE MATTHES City Manager, City of Columbia

Mac Details

Big Picture

Cursive

Print

Early Bird Cinema Michael Jackson Firefox 9-5 Learn At Your Desk

Night Owl Netflix The Beatles Chrome Flexibility Teach In a Meeting

Wine

Beer

Pie

Cake

Improviser Modern Skeptical City

Planner Traditional Certain Country

Save

Spend

Summer

Winter

Cat Passenger Car Ocean Optimistic Business

Dog Driver Plane Mountains Realistic Casual

Solo

Team

For Here

To Go

DISC Books

StrengthsFinder Magazines

Reading

Writing

Creative

Analytical

Introvert

Extrovert

Podcast Cluttered Card Game Concept Fiction Photography by Anthony Jinson

PC

Text Soup

Playlist Minimalist Board Game Execute Non-fiction Call Sandwich

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 89

B U SINESS • P EOP L E • IM P R OV EM EN T • FY I

FLASH BAC K

Columbia Municipal Power Plant

BY NIN A HEBRANK | P HOTOG R A P HY BY BRE C K D U M AS

THE COLUMBIA MUNICIPAL POWER PLANT has been providing Columbia with electricity for over a century.

The plant was built in 1912 at 1501 Business Loop 70 E. to aid Columbia’s first power plant, which provided only enough electricity for 61 homes, 15,000 commercial bulbs, and 208 street lamps.

Because of the growing demand for electricity in the city of Columbia, the new power plant was built with brick, stone, and more efficient equipment than the city’s first power plant had.

Power plants usually have several units of boilers that are able to burn various resources, such as wood and coal. When the plant’s boilers were in good shape, in the winter and summer seasons, the plant would burn roughly 50,000 tons of coal each year.

The plant’s story is, in some ways, the story of shifting environmental regulations in the country. The Columbia Municipal Power Plant has

put a lot of effort towards being more environmentally conscious.

Columbia Water & Light used to pump water from More’s Lake into the power plant to wash out the burnt ash underneath the boilers; the water would then be flushed back into the lake.

EPA rules came to require the closure of all coal ash landfills that contaminated the groundwater or couldn’t meet structural regulations.

In 1976, the plant started to burn less Missouri coal to meet stricter environmental standards. Unfortunately, the coal they burned instead was high in sulfur content and far more expensive. It also violated state air emission standards, and the city of Columbia was later sued by the Missouri Air Conservation Commission, so they switched to burning Illinois coal to emit less pollution.

In November 2004, the people of Columbia approved the city’s goal to purchase more renewable resources to use as energy to replace

coal burning. The Columbia Municipal Power plant stopped burning coal on September 22, 2015 in order to comply with new EPA rules — their two coal-firing boilers were old, inefficient, and costly to fix.

According to the City of Columbia’s Renewable Portfolio, the goal for 2017 is have 15 percent of electric retail sales be from renewable sources by December 31. Eligible renewable energy replacements include wind power, solar energy, biomass, hydropower, geothermal power, and bio-energy sources. CBT

Columbia Water and Light Department 701 E. Broadway 573-874-7325 como.gov/utilities

We love Columbia business history. If you have any interesting photos and stories, please send them to Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com 90 NOVEMBER 2017

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1604B Business Loop 70W | Columbia, MO Right across from Cosmo Park!

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 91

COLUMBIA BUSINESS TIMES \ 2001 CORPORATE PLACE, STE. 100 \ COLUMBIA, MO 65202

Justin Starr Starr Properties

Matt Boyd QuestTec

Gardell Powell Veterans United

These entrepreneurs connect us to those who drive Columbia forward.

Lydia Melton Günter Hans

Nickie Davis Muse Clothing Forrest Shock Huntleigh McGehee

Kellie Ann Coats Director of Advancement University of Missouri Shelly DeVore Columbia Insurance Group

Member FDIC NASDAQ: HWBK © 2017, Hawthorn Bank

Bartley Stevenson Milam Contracting

David Rowe D. Rowe’s

Tyson Hunt Logboat Brewery

573-449-9933 HawthornBank.com

MacKenzie Knierim The Southern Rose