Columbia leaders to hold public discussions on effect of federal orders on city operations
Lucas Geisler
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia city leaders and elected officials will meet with the public over four open sessions to discuss the effects federal orders are having on city business.
The “informal office hours” will allow citizens to learn and discuss how executive orders from the White House have affected operations at the city government level, according to a news release sent by the city on Monday. The meetings promise to have elected council members alongside city staff as part of the discussions.
Saturday, June 7, from 10 a.m. to noon at Columbia City Hall‘s Conference Room 1A. Fourth Ward council member Nick Foster will be there with staff.
Monday, June 9, from 1-3 p.m. at the Columbia/Boone County Health and Human Services building at 1005 Worley Street. Mayor Barbara Buffaloe is slated to appear there.
Wednesday, June 11, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Fire Department Training Academy at 700 Big Bear Blvd. Third Ward councilmember Jacque Sample will attend.
Sunday, June 15, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Friends Room of the Daniel Boone Regional Library at 100 W. Broadway. First Ward councilperson Valerie Carroll is scheduled for that meeting.
The city council put off making changes to its vision and mission statement on May 5 in response to an executive order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Federal agencies have warned that so-called DEI policies would be considered forms of hiring discrimination and could put a city’s federal funding at risk. Dozens of residents asked the council to either oppose the changes or push a decision back to discuss options further.
The council approved some legal protections to city staff signing off on federal grants at its May 16 meeting.
Further cuts to federal grant spending have already cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. City manager De’Carlon Seewood said at his State of the City address that the health department lost several hundred thousand dollars in grants this year. A federal review of grants briefly imperiled money for a safety audit of Business Loop 70, but was eventually unfrozen and approved.