Author: KMIZ

Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Missouri state lawmaker is pursuing legislation aimed at limiting superintendent payouts and protecting taxpayers, building on a proposal originally put forward by Columbia Public Schools.

State Rep. John Martin (R-Boone County) was in attendance for a November Columbia Board of Education meeting when he first heard that it was a legislative priority for CPS. 

“That was something that interested me. I thought it’s a good concept, especially on saving as far as taxpayer dollars and a good use of taxpayer dollars,” Martin said. 

Martin is now working on legislation that would limit superintendent buyouts to no more than one year’s salary statewide. 

This comes after the Francis Howell School District made a costly private deal to pay former superintendent Mike Dominguez, $229,166.67 to step away. The only problem, Dominguez didn’t work a day for the district and took a job as Oklahoma’s Shawnee Public Schools assistant superintendent. 

“I think there will be some pushback because that’s not the norm right now. Most districts, the norm is a three-year contract, or even in the City of St. Louis, there’s actually a five-year contract,” Martin said. “[Columbia Public Schools] they’re looking for a uniformity to help them in future negotiations as well.”

In October, CPS submitted a proposal at the Missouri School Boards’ Association Fall Delegation Assembly asking to support legislation to limit superintendent payouts upon separation to no more than one year’s salary to protect taxpayers. 

The district said in its proposal that using “taxpayer dollars to give six-figure payouts is not fiscally responsible” and that “boards across the state are faced with difficult decisions every year when negotiating with superintendents who are missing the mark.” The district went on to say that because most superintendent contracts are three-year rolling deals, any attempts to terminate or reach a settlement come with a price tag. 

CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark told ABC 17 News that MSBA passed their proposal as one of its legislative priorities.

“I think the board really felt strongly about what that means for school districts across the state. So you might look at Columbia Public Schools, obviously, with superintendent contracts,” Baumstark said. “When we separated from our previous superintendent,  there were some financial obligations related to that contract. The contract is written according to state law. So there are some requirements. And so this would be changing what current state law requires school districts to do. There were several school districts in the last two years that have been caught in that requirement under state law for payouts to superintendents that they have separated with.”

The proposal comes after a dispute with former Superintendent Brian Yearwood in November 2024. Initially, Yearwood announced in August that he had been diagnosed with cancer. However, months later, the district announced that he was retiring and paid him $667,268.90 in public dollars in a separation agreement. His cancer diagnosis was not mentioned in his resignation letter.

Yearwood then began applying for other jobs and ended up being named the superintendent of a school district in Louisville, Kentucky.

When CPS hired Jeff Klein as its superintendent, it included language in his contract to limit any payouts to twelve months of salary, something it would like to make uniform across the state. 

“I am grateful their current superintendent, Dr. Klein, he’s agreed to, you a one-year buyout if that would happen. So I think that’s good.  They already have that in place and wanting to see that statewide so I’m willing to support that and at least float that legislation out there and debate it down in Jefferson City,” Martin said. 

CPS is now pushing for a change in legislation to that it feels will benefit smaller districts who may not have the resources to limit the financial risk of buying out a superintendent contract. In its proposal to MSBA, the district wrote: 

“Our board discussed that although we are typically in favor of local control in most situations, we could not think of a time that a local board would prefer to pay more money than less to a superintendent upon separation or termination.” 

Martin said his legislation would not cap a superintendent’s salary, but would limit the number of years a buyout can cover. He said he is currently researching what other states have done and began talking to officials across the state to see if the proposed legislation would be doable. 

“I have talked to some lawmakers. I’ve gotten some pros and cons. And so I I’m not saying it is a done deal,  but I think it’s something that’s noteworthy to look into,  especially again, from that standpoint of wise use of money,” Martin said. “Columbia Schools was in a bad spot. There were a lot of obviously taxpayers that were very upset about that type of a buyout from their previous superintendent. So if I can protect those taxpayer dollars and assist schools in that, I think that’s a positive.” 

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Euphenie Andre

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Construction for Boone County Public Safety Childcare Center is on schedule to be completed in July 2026.

The center cost $5 million, with the county providing half and the state providing the other half.

The Boone County Commission held a meeting Tuesday afternoon to discuss the current status of the project. Officials said they hope the center will be fully operational by August or September, weather permitting.

“That would be our goal, is to have it fully outfitted by that point,” Boone County Commissioner Kip Kendrick. “But we’ve got to we have to have a cooperative weather winter weather this year,”

The 10,000-square-foot facility is designed to serve up to 96 children at a time. The building will have two levels, a main level and a lower level aligned with the basement. The lower level will not be fully outfitted initially, as construction will begin on the main level first. All rooms are being built for infant care. During the meeting, Director Amy Hayse said the upper level will be designated for children two years old and under.

Kendrick said the center will open with a smaller number of children and gradually expand.

“So we may start as small as anywhere from 15-to-20 kids,” Kendrick said. “But we’ve built the facility in such a way that we can grow into it over time.”

The daycare will be located on Boone County’s Public Safety Campus, within walking distance of the sheriff’s office and jail administration. Construction on the facility began approximately three weeks ago. Once open, the center will operate anywhere from 5 a.m.-9 p.m., seven days a week, serving children from 6 weeks old through school age.

According to Kendrick, the schedule is expected to provide sufficient childcare coverage for staff without requiring a full 24-hour operation. While 24-hour service could be considered in the long term if needed, similar facilities mostly hospitals offering comparable services, said it’s rarely necessary. Operating 16 to 18 hours a day usually meets the needs of teams that work around the clock, such as a Joint Communication Center or a Sheriff’s Office.

“So make sure we cover both first and second shift and then be open seven days a week. That’s our goal and so intention of being open, you know, pretty much 365 days a year, maybe a day or two that we have to close down for other purposes,” Kendrick said.

During the meeting, commissioners also discussed potential partnerships with local colleges to help provide volunteers. Officials could not provide an exact number of staff members they plan to hire but said the center will not need to hire its full staff right away, as the number of enrolled children is expected to remain below 40 in the early months.

However, they do anticipate it might be difficult to find staff for those hours that they have planned.

“Preparing for those extended hours and seven days a week, that’s going to create some staffing issues, staffing challenges,” Kendrick said. “So we’ll work work through those.”

Tuition fees have not yet been set, but officials plan to offer a subsidized rate to keep costs below the market. They said tuition rates will be finalized and available to the public by the second or third quarter of 2026.

Of the $5 million allocated for the project, officials said they don’t know exactly how much has been spent, but so far, expenditures have been minimal.

“I don’t want to throw out a number, but we have certainly paid some of the invoices on the engineering side. Some of those invoices are probably starting to come in for excavation,” he said.

Commissioners also noted that several safety details still need to be finalized, including utilities and the materials used on the playground.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A teenager from Freeburg has been charged as an adult in Maries County in connection with a shooting that occurred at a Vienna gas station in September.

Kaden Herzing was charged on Thursday with armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and first-degree property damage. He was 17 years old when he was arrested on Sept. 21. A Friday court filing says he was denied a public defender.

A probable cause statement says Vienna police were called around 2:28 a.m. Sept. 21 after the Quik Spot in the 100 block of South Highway 63 had its windows shot out. Police saw the glass of the front door was destroyed and four shell casings were found at the scene, the statement says. An estimate determined about $1,100 in damage was reported, court documents say.

A friend of Herzing called law enforcement after and allegedly said Herzing told him that he had shot the windows out of two convenience stores in Osage County, the statement says.

Police reviewed video and saw a male arrive in a dark-colored car, walk up to the door with a handgun in his right hand and fired it, court documents say.

Herzing was later found at a residence in Freeburg and a gun containing five bullets was found in a car, the statement says. The bullets were the same brand as the spent shell casing found at the convenience store, police wrote.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

David Williams, who spent more than three decades with the Jefferson City Police Department and recently retired as a captain, was appointed by Gov. Mike Kehoe to the Board of Probation and Parole, according to a Friday press release from Kehoe’s office.

JCPD announced Williams’ retirement in a public social media post on Nov. 25. He was also recognized at the Dec. 1 City Council meeting.

“Captain Williams is retiring from the Jefferson City Police Department after 32+ years of service to the department and the Jefferson City community. Good luck in your next adventures in life,” JCPD wrote in the post.

Friday’s press release says Williams serving on boards for Special Learning Center and Multipli Credit Union.

Williams is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice from Columbia College.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A convicted sex offender on Monday pleaded guilty to keeping artificially generated child pornography on his cellphone.

Charles Hooton, 64, of Columbia, pleaded guilty to four counts of child porn possession and one count of failing to register as a sex offender. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.

The probable cause statement in previous reporting says police were called on May 18 about a report of Hooton having child porn after a woman saw a number of images while using his cellphone.

Hooton spoke with police on July 24 and let them go through his phone, court documents say. He allegedly admitted to using an AI app to generate the explicit images, the statement says. Police wrote that more than 130 AI-generated images were found on Hooton’s phone.

Hooton’s web history also included several websites that had “teen,” “boy” and other related phrases in the name, court documents say.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Boone County dog breeder accused of animal abuse is facing a significant number of felony charges after she was indicted by a grand jury on Friday.

Melissa Sanders, 26, of Columbia, is now charged with 29 counts of animal abuse. All of the counts are felonies. She was previously charged with three felony counts and 15 misdemeanor counts of animal abuse.

An arraignment for the new set of charges is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday. She is being held at the Phelps County Jail without bond, though she is listed on Boone County’s online jail roster.

During a hearing on Thursday, a Judge Kayla Jackson-Williams said she would consider a bond and ordered a detention study to be done. A hearing on that decision was scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 30. A lawyer for the state had argued that Sanders is a flight risk because she is involved in a relationship with someone from Texas.

Sanders ran Magnum Opus German Shepherds and a number of dead dogs, including a dozen dog skulls, were found at the property of the business when law enforcement served a search warrant, according to court documents in previous reporting. Several malnourished dogs were also found at the property.

Court documents say at least two living dogs that were found were on the brink of death.

The living dogs were turned over to the Central Missouri Humane Society after Sanders was arrested. Owners of the dogs were contacted and reunited with the animals.

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Keriana Gamboa

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Boone County Commission on Thursdays approved the finalized budget for the 2026 fiscal year.

Including money being using from the American Rescue Plan Act, expenditures for the new fiscal year are expected to total $156 million.

Officials say the budget will allow for pay raises for some county employees.

Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick says the new pay plan is a different approach to county compensation. As part of the restructuring, positions have been grouped into job “families” like law enforcement, IT, administration, and engineering to ensure pay stays competitive across different fields.

 The new system breaks pay into three components:

Cost-of-living increases

Step raises that move employees toward market-pay levels

Discretionary pay for performance, promotions and other merit-based factors

Boone County Auditor Kyle Rieman said the new pay structure also helps communicate to employees why they are receiving a pay increase or why they may not in certain cases.

Kendrick said the county will continue updating the plan as the county grows to make sure employees’ pay remains competitive. 

“We’ll be able to kind of touch that each and every year. And so this is a more interactive pay plan and something that we can, you know, likely keep on top of better, from our end at the county level, to make sure that it, you know, that it moves forward, that it doesn’t remain stagnant,” Kendrick said. 

In late 2023, the county hired McGrath Consulting Group to review salaries and found 51% of the nearly 500 county employees were being paid below market levels. 

The findings prompted a complete overhaul of the county’s pay policy, aimed at aligning employee salaries more closely with market rates.

Rieman said the county has budgeted $3.9 million to implement the new pay plan and cover 2026 pay increases.

He also adds the proposed revenue projection is $121 million, when not including American Rescue Plan Act money.

Kendrick added while this year’s budget isn’t as large as usual, the county has set aside enough reserve funds to cover major capital projects.

“We will spend more than we’re taking in next year. But our reserves allow us to do that. We’ve been planning these large capital projects for a number of years,” Kendrick said. Large projects such as the, eight megahertz system by the time that’s fully implemented from helping by the radios to building new towers is probably a little over a $20 million project.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Librarians at the University of Missouri in Columbia voted last week to unionize, according to a Friday press release from LiUNA 955, a union that represents several employee groups in Mid-Missouri.

“We are hopeful that the UM System voluntarily recognizes our union and bargains in good faith.” engineering librarian Noël Kopriva said in the release.

The release says the workers filed with the State Board of Mediation on Friday, Dec. 12. An MU spokesman told ABC 17 News that the university has received the petition.

“The University received the petition filed with the Missouri Board of Mediation by the Laborers’ International Union of North America, Local 955, on December 12, 2025, and is aware of today’s press release,” a statement from MU spokesman Travis Zimpfer says. “Local 955 seeks to be the exclusive bargaining representative of certain employees affiliated with the Mizzou libraries. The University is reviewing the petition and press release and will follow the law in these proceedings.”

Taira Meadowcroft, a health science librarian, was quoted in the release says workers voted to unionize to “improve MU Libraries.”

“Some of our staff barely make above minimum wage and that harms our ability to deliver effective service to our users – the researchers, students, staff and faculty that keep this University running,” Meadowcroft was quoted in the release.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Central Missouri Humane Society announced in a Friday press release that it is halting its intake of cats because of “the presence of a contagious upper respiratory illness within the shelter.”

CMHS will waive adoption fees for all cats through Friday, Dec. 26.

“Reducing our feline population is one of the most effective ways we can slow the spread of illness and keep cats comfortable while they recover,” CMHS Executive Director Julie Aber was quoted in the release. “Adoption or even temporary fostering makes an immediate difference for our feline population.”

The release says the fees are waived for cats at the shelter on Big Bear Boulevard and claims all cats there are spayed/neutered, are up to date on vaccinations and microchipped.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man has been charged with a pair of felonies after authorities claim he stole $15,000 from an elderly woman in a cryptocurrency scam.

Charles Burri, 29, of Columbia, was charged on Thursday in Boone County with financially exploiting an elderly person and stealing more than $750. A warrant was requested on Thursday. He is not listed on the Boone County Jail roster and police wrote in the probable cause statement that Burri is “avoiding law enforcement contact.”

The probable cause statement says police received an email from the 71-year-old victim on Nov. 20 that claimed she invested $15,000 with Burri Asset Management on July 1. Burri allegedly “offered her returns from various crypto investments,” the statement says.

When the victim asked for her money back, Burri allegedly claimed he would give it back, but then stopped communicating with the victim, the statement says.

Court documents say a subpoena of Burri’s bank account showed a $10,000 deposit was made on July 2.

The probable cause statement claims Burri is “suspected in other crimes related to stealing by deceit.”

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