ABC 17 News is interviewing candidates heading into the Aug. 4 election. On the ballot for Columbia’s Ward 4 seat is Ryan King, Dave Sorrell and Sharon Jones. COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) OLIVIA HAYES: Today, I am here with Columbia City Council Ward 4 candidate Ryan King. Ryan, thank you for joining me today. RYAN KING:
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A press release from The District states that it will hold off on presenting its letter supporting an “urban camping ordinance” to the Columbia City Council until Aug. 17. A letter expressing support for the proposed ordinance was signed by nearly 70 downtown business owners and organizations. The District Executive Director Nickie
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Columbia drivers could soon pay more to park in downtown garages. The city is proposing increasing garage rates from 50 cents to $1 per hour and reducing the free parking period from one hour to 30 minutes. Columbia Public Works spokesman John Ogan said the proposal is meant to make parking more
Continue Reading COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Columbia’s Downtown Community Improvement District sent a letter requesting the City Council to develop an enforceable “urban camping ordinance.” CID Executive Director Nickie Davis told ABC 17 News on Tuesday about the letter being sent to the council and the number of businesses that signed in support. She said it is expected
Continue Reading COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Downtown Columbia businesses are asking the city to consider an urban camping ordinance. According to Nickie Davis, executive director of Columbia’s Downtown Community Improvement District, roughly 70 businesses have signed a letter asking the city to research and consider the ordinance. Davis stated last week that the Downtown CID planned to send
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Columbia city council members discussed next year’s budget at a work session Monday evening. In a presentation to the council, members heard the city is expecting a 1% increase in its general fund. But the city is looking at more than $7 million in cuts to department requests in order to balance
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Columbia city attorney Nancy Thompson will retire on Oct. 14, the city announced in a Monday afternoon press release. Thompson has been the head of the city’s law department for the past 13 years and has been representing Missouri cities for more than 40 years, the release says. The city wrote that
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The City of Columbia announced in a Friday press release that it is expanding its parking enforcement devices. The city will start using “wheel immobilization devices,” beginning on Monday. This is in additional to the parking barnacles the city started using last year. The release says it will be used for people
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The City of Columbia had its first in a series of forums over its proposal for a public safety sales tax that would pay for a new Columbia Police Department headquarters at a building formerly owned by IBM. The plan would spend $35 million to convert the building. Do you like the idea? Let us
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The City of Columbia has been in talks for months with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources over the renewal of a permit that allows it to discharge stormwater. In any urban environment, stormwater will be polluted with organic and inorganic chemicals from a variety of sources. But some state officials have zeroed in on
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The City of Columbia collected nearly 110 tons of recycling materials in the first 10 days after curbside pickup resumed. Utilities spokesman Jason West told ABC 17 News that is more than 25 tons of recycling materials that were collected during the same period in 2025. An EF-1 tornado hit the city’s
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The City of Columbia is expected to receive the required waterway permit from the Department of Natural Resources, with an ordinance to manage encampments near bodies of water up for a final vote in the coming weeks. “The department expects to issue the permit by the end of this month,” DNR spokesman
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COLUMBIA MO. (KMIZ) The Columbia Water and Light Board on Tuesday recommended new utility rate increases to the City Council. The board proposed a 6% rate that would apply to the usage portion of residents’ bills, meaning users will pay more for each unit of electricity that is used. The new increase will not affect
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The City of Columbia has scheduled several town halls to discuss a public safety sales tax measure that will be on the Aug. 4 ballot. City Councilmembers and representatives from the Columbia Fire and Police departments will be present to ask questions about the proposed 1% tax. Previous reporting says city leaders
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An ordinance that prevents people from standing on medians along busy roads in Columbia is taking effect. The police have been on an education campaign, informing panhandlers about the ordinance ahead of Wednesday’s effective date. But the ordinance is still meeting political resistance from people who say it unfairly targets those same panhandlers and restricts
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Public education efforts are underway by the Columbia Police Department as the city’s new median ordinance is set to take effect July 1. CPD Lt. Clint Sinclair, who is overseeing the implementation, said education efforts began the first week of April, providing a three-month window before the law takes effect. “I think we’re
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Columbia’s police department has been at work educating people on a law taking effect July 1 that will make it illegal to linger in medians at busy city intersections. The law is like those in several other cities, and by its letter, looks to prevent collisions between pedestrians and vehicles at busy medians. However, critics
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Candidates vying to fill Columbia’s vacant Fourth Ward City Council seat laid out competing visions for growth, government efficiency, housing and public safety during a forum Tuesday hosted by the Columbia Board of Realtors. The forum, held at 311 Bernadette Dr., featured former Columbia Utilities Director Dave Sorrell, attorney Sharon Jones and
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The City of Columbia is following the lead of other Missouri cities by implementing a median ordinance set to take effect July 1. The City of Springfield put its median ordinance in place in January 2018. Both ordinances focus on medians in intersections with speed limits of 35 mph or higher, average
Continue Reading COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Columbia City Council on Monday approved a number of items, including the movement of funds. The council last year authorized a call for bids to build a Municipal Services Center near the intersection of West Nifong Boulevard and Sinclair Road, just south of Mill Creek Elementary School. Previous reporting shows the
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