Barbara Buffalo Talks City Governance and Sustainability Initiatives

You You Well, I guess it's official then if you haven't opened to it and it says Podcast on on there then I guess we officially are now a podcast. I wanted it to be a broadcast so bad But I guess it's just the way that it that it goes We have a great a great little 30 45 minutes plan for you before we jump into it And I know you can see our guests with us here this morning. I want to mention a couple things very quickly one Steve's pest control you guys you know what the last thing I ever want to worry about is what the hell's going on with pests thinking about coming into my house and Steve's takes care of it you guys were out yesterday Jamie Thank you for coming out and take the Steve's pest control is just amazing Steve's pest control calm Also, I want to mention a thank you to true north of Columbia They're amazing board of directors and the committee for the little black dress event who asked me and gave me the privilege of coming back Again this year to act as a I'll say MC because that's what they called it But I did very very little at all one of the greatest things about the night was getting to meet Barbara Buffalo You came up Barbara mayor of Columbia and introduced yourself to me And it's kind of like I'm in a holding pattern right by the stage Yeah, and if anybody ever wants to find out like hey Tom. Where's the money you owe me? You can always catch me right and I can't do anything about it. You can't get away, and you caught me right there Well, I think because I was like hey, I responded to your email I'd love to come on this show and you're like I replied and I'm like no you didn't yeah And then you found that's when you found your drafts. Yeah, but you said you said it's probably in your dress folder Yeah, a lot of people do that. What has happened to my life You are not alone in this you are not alone in this I'll often find a message from somebody and I'll be like no No, I told you I could be there I was totally there, and I bring up my phone. I was like oh look you have to hit send You have to hit send we're all busy. I swear. I'm hitting well It's probably I find it's that if I start to do it on my phone, and it's like you know in the evening I'm like I'm gonna wait till I'm at a computer To make sure I you know have word check to this make sure I didn't typo anything well typically if it's late in the evening I'll mess up constantly Anyway Barbara Buffalo. Thank you you I asked you before we got started you ever done radio Yeah, this kind of thing and you have done some radio time I've done your show, but this was like decades ago when you were at the Broadway Wow, it's okay. I'm not that memorable. What did you you weren't like part of the waitstaff at the 1111 no no I was there, so this is when I worked for the city, and we were doing an energy challenge There was this challenge coming from Georgetown University And they picked 50 cities to compete to see who could reduce their energy usage and residential housing During a short period of time So we were really pushing out the message about the programs that the city offers to help people save energy at home We partnered with Westlakes and had like a big kickoff and so I was on there talking about They talked about all these things yeah And I talked how people could go to this map and you could see whether or not your neighborhood used more energy than another neighborhood So then you could compete yeah, yeah, yeah, we had like elementary schools competing against each other you You love the idea of sustainability if you have one thing above all others it would probably be save the planet Well, which is saving us right? It's more of this idea of like saving money saving You know just not wasting yeah, that is my I just I I don't like waste I I understand Yeah, the sustainability office of sustainability is what you were running at the time Yep, we'll mention that I want to get into something a little more Housekeeping detail on what's going on someone had mentioned on Facebook don't we love Facebook and social media I told you I was like I'm not really on Facebook, but now right now my I am You are the somebody mentioned the list of questions that you had accepted the interview for You never asked For a list of questions you never gave me parameters on what we would talk about during this no podcast broadcast and so I want to make make sure and We I don't do that. I don't provide questions. You're the mayor of Columbia. You're gonna sit down a conversation We're having a conversation Yeah, and there are things that I'm gonna bring up I do want to say some of this stuff may be pretty hard-hitting and may feel uncomfortable for us or others who are listening Yeah But before we get into it one of the steps that I've made is the belief that we need to have conversations and not just throw mudballs across the street at each other yeah, and probably You're a wonderful person If you weren't mayor we'd probably talking about whatever whatever and things would be great. Yeah, because you're mayor Yeah, because people have a lot of rare in their soul. Yeah, people can get upset Yeah, and and that can come out well part of that I think is what are the expectations of what is a mayor and in in you know Columbia in our form of government a lot? Of us have an understanding that the role of mayor is what they see on TV, or you know Chicago, New York City Los Angeles where the mayor is the chief executive You know and has all the power and is paid to do the job Columbia is different than that But at the same time it's not very sexy to be like well actually it's a volunteer No, I know what it is right This is what people like you to do and this is why I'm happy to be here to answer the questions And then try to find the answers within city staff to get things done That's a huge piece of what we need to establish also at the front of this is that as the mayor of Columbia you are a City Council person at large But does it does give you a great platform though that no other City Council member has right so you're up there you get to Call yourself mayor, and you get to you get to say things What's important to you? And what you think are the most important or should be the most important things for the constituents the citizens of Columbia Those are what you're gonna bring up and talk about and some people may feel that there are other issues not being addressed at least not The way that they'd like to hear I want to go to Facebook for a second you do have a page on Facebook You don't allow comments on Facebook right and you stop that over a year ago, right? beginning of 2024 The issue I have with the Barbara is that Is that you don't allow comments by the public if they see the page? But you still use the page for things that you want to talk about which during your campaign was Re-electing mayor Buffalo, and so that winds up being a heck of a platform for you to promote something But you're not allowing anyone to come in and say how would you address that yes? So I should probably go back to the decision. You know I allowed comments for the first two years on it on The page and and I'll tell you one one issue that came up on it was when I started to see fake accounts that were Commenting on the page and how I knew this Ironically was that it where they were positive comments about me, and I was like well I know that Mike Martin doesn't actually like me What is this going on and so I reported it to Facebook because I was like I looked at this and it's a spoof Account like it's his face. It's his name, but that's he has another page That's not him and Facebook was like we can't do anything about that you can just report the comments And so then I started to see these other ones And I was like what do I do about this because they're spoofing real Columbia members right real Colombians And so I reached out to you. I think it was Georgetown law or something I was like what do I do about this because I can't delete comments Even if it's a spoof account because of First Amendment rights right and so they're like well You can just not allow comments just not have a forum on there And so that's when we put up the thing at the top because because of First Amendment because you are an elected official With that page right you can't you can't delete like a private in the private Organizations and different groups they can block they can they can delete comments as a government official And it's viewed as a it's be creating a public forum according to law Yeah, then you can't cuz then you're violating so it's all or none Yeah I think there are some that would feel like all or none would mean if they can't comment on that page neither Can you even though I'm deleting my page if we want to do that? Well that Would like to see me I View it as trying to push out the information of things that are going on right so you know if you have like the city Is doing right they're getting ready to do like summer block parties where they're gonna Do I think it's almost like every week doing events in different parks? You know come out meet your council member talk to a department head find out what's going on in your neighborhood And so I want to like okay Well, I couldn't use this to push this out because maybe there's people that follow my page and not the city's page I don't know I mean if it's not useful then then maybe it's that I can just work with something within the city's Public relations where they put out information to put out information on that way. It's a tough. It's a tough place to be There's no question about that I remember Shakespeare's years ago when the social media started coming out And I looked at it like you guys allow people to say anything and Kurt Mershing says well Yeah, cuz that seems like a good idea And I'm like but this person says your pizza socks he goes so there are a lot of other people now that are arguing with Him, and I'll just let them go out. What a great place to be I have in my social media I'm not an antagonist, but it doesn't bother me if somebody comes. Yeah charging at me charge all you want to it's I mean that was the interesting thing about it. It's like. Oh, I assume you did it because people weren't nice to you It's like they haven't been nice to me for two years like I've been you know It's which is why I gotta ask you like like why did you run for re-election? Cuz I will tell you it's because we we had a lot of momentum going so when I first stepped into this There were a lot of projects that had not been done There are a lot of things that we had talked about infrastructure projects investing in city employees all these things that we had not done Right they had been voted on years prior And for me I ran the first time because I was like I understand how the city works And I understand like we need to get the momentum going to get these done and so over the last three years We've been doing that right water treatment plant expansion is happening right now looking at some of the infrastructure for our power lines investing in automated trash collection Which somebody said on reddit they were like I will just I will build a sculpture for her in honor of that alone because finally We're just we just have roll cards. It's just is what it is, but but I you know I for me It was like I want to get these things done And so then we have the momentum going and I look at what's happening, and I'm like okay I want to keep that momentum going Working for the city especially in sustainability. I have pretty thick skin, so I'm not I'm not I'm not New is that needed for the office of sustainability yeah, yeah, you heard a lot of crap from a lot of people Oh, yeah, people thought I was gonna take their cars away, and I was like just because I ride my bike But you were gonna give them rickshaws To replace that I didn't see that you are married your spouse is In the medical field yeah, and you guys have two kids We do and they're supposed to be having practice tonight soccer practice this please don't rain anymore And let the fields be dry they haven't I mean they had practice on Tuesday But they haven't had practice for like the last two weeks Yeah, last few games kids not getting to soccer practice is like the dogs not getting to go to Twin Lakes dog It's like they need to get out You you have the normal things that go on Like everybody else with their lives things you're worried about taking care of them And I want to talk about sustainability more in a moment Okay, but I'll come down to some real serious issues that we're part of some conversations in the campaigns leading up to this Which and by the way, I think even you and Murph which was your strongest competitor Blair Murphy you guys probably have more in common. Oh, yeah, then you have different Yeah, we got along great on the campaign trail We might have different approaches to how to get some things done, but he's a very nice man He he believes and I don't want to put words in his mouth But I believe he believes that crime and slash safety is one of the top priorities that he was Building his platform on do you agree with that? Is that a top issue? Yeah, it's that's why we're going into this fiscal year 26 budget the three priorities We have the first one is public safety public safety and health like the services that we provide for a community are in our charter Like they're not technically in a charter But they're in the definition of what a city does health and safety is your main thing, which is why? The majority of our general fund budget goes to public safety It's why you know anytime things have come across Council I've voted yes for it because our police chief has asked for it So these are the things that we hear in the community is the things I heard on the doors and it's an important thing I think the issue within the campaign was that it can't be your only thing you have to understand as a city You know, we have 20 different departments. You're providing both for public safety both police Fire you're also the roads Utilities, you know health department There's a lot going on at the city and you have to be able to understand how the nuances of how they're all related I think you're very articulate and you're very smart and you're very educated. There's no question Well, you mean better than the first time we got together, well, you don't remember that one so obviously I've maybe improved But I think I think why would someone if someone's out there and says Tom has always been concerned about public safety In Columbia, and I don't feel that mayor Buffalo is always concerned Why would someone feel that maybe I'm more concerned about public safety than you are because I don't talk about it as much You know, that's my assumption, right? It's not my only thing that I talk about when I'm talking about the issues of the city and I think in part You know This is this is my own gap that I need to figure out how to improve like I meet pretty regularly with the city manager Often with the police chief like what are the trends we're seeing? What do you need? And then they know when they need something to come to council and ask for it Has it been a surprise for you on what happens when you go talk to them? Is it like oh god, this is this is really hard to get anything accomplished Not a surprise so much is I think the thing that kind of gets frustrating and we brought this up and I think I did It as part of one of my weekly videos a couple weeks ago, you know The fact that there are community members that are choosing to address Arguments within like family to family with with the firearms with guns is is a very frustrating thing and then when some of those things happen like the Cosmo Park incident when they happen with a lot of people around and Out of what 500 to 800 people estimated to be there like a handful like maybe five Are willing to talk to the police department that's frustrating to me because I as a mother I don't want my kids to be in unsafe situations And I have to assume there were a lot of parents there at that event Why would you want your kid to be involved in that? No, and when you're talking about a park where your kids may be playing soccer this weekend, right? I mean it really has to be the same way that I feel if it's my grandkids that I'm talking about that that It's our city and I'm very concerned about the safety Yeah And and and the crime and people have talked about feeling that violent crime is up whether it is or not It's the perception and perception is reality So if they say that is it more important because people are bringing it up to you It is and it's one of the conversations that we have then about okay like how do we then show tell this story because I think part of it is is We know that when there is an incident that's gonna get a lot of attention, right? That's gonna get oh you heard of something happening downtown or in a park That's gonna get a lot of attention because I go downtown. My family goes downtown. My family goes to parks I want to know what we're doing proactively to prevent that and I think for us It's also we don't often share the stories of what we are doing and and we've talked about this with the University Like we partner with the University MU PD CPD. They do joint rotations Downtown and patrols downtown, but we haven't necessarily been talking about that. And so after I think it's about two weeks ago We started doing oh, well, we need to talk about the fact that we do have increased patrols. We have since March Well, I would like to know that I didn't know that March April through the end of the semester And then we're looking at first summer because we know when it gets hot out and people are outside What are we doing to increase patrols in some of these areas? And so we've been working with communications from both the city and the University of Missouri to proactively put out that information You know showing the footage of the MU PD doing patrols on a Friday night I think would help a lot so that you know, if you hear something you're like, oh well Actually, I did see that they are doing this So maybe there's not as much truth to this post that somebody said that they think something's going down Well, and unfortunately, I don't think we have the media outlets here and the journalists that are doing the job that they used to do Here in town. They're just not reporting on the information like they used to and that's on every side of every issue the office of the prevention violence prevention You it was your idea. Yeah, I think you introduced that and the city said yeah Let's go for this City Council approved the idea and then you said let's put somebody in here to run the office of violence Prevention it took a year and a half to get somebody hired. Do you want to explain that? Well, so this council doesn't do the hiring right? This is a city manager decision council We have like two employees the city clerk in the city manager But for this part, I think it was for DeCarlin who also has experience with gun violence and loss in his family It's a very important position and making sure you get the right person into it is is is ideal I made the suggestion to do this right after we had just started fiscal year 24 And so this was you know in October when I did this and he's like, okay Well now we need to figure out how we're gonna fund it and what we're gonna do for the project They started working with community members on like what does it look like to have one of these and also went out to a national Network that does office of violence prevention This is the coordinated effort between people who do this work and are seeing decreases in violent crime somebody could say then that you guys put the horse in Behind the cart because you decided to have this office and yet we didn't know what it should look like Yeah, well for me, I think it's my thing was just calling for it, right? I don't I don't I didn't expect this to be filled the next month because local government you want to make sure you're using your taxpayers money Right. I think we really really lucked out and who we got so I don't know if you have Demarcus Thomas Brown on here But I'm not no and I haven't met him, but I've read up Yeah, he I think his experience and working in the community But also, you know being one of our deacons within this Columbia Police Department who has been responding and working with police officers After incidents, he has a really good understanding of the relationship between police and public prevention and also what's happening in the communities How do you how do you prevent violence? By helping increase the relationships between your your police department and your families You also work within the schools you working with the school districts for see where did they see kind of hotspots happening? And also if somebody wants to be violent, we're saying then that the police should have a better relationship with them I'm confused as to how we can prevent that person from becoming violent to the cosmic Example, so if we had a better if we had some of those families had better relationships and trust within the city and the police Department they would have more than five people who are willing to tell us what went down And so for part of that it's kind of because when you have an incident happen Escalation right retaliation. Those are the things that you you try to prevent also So offices of violence prevention in other communities when examples of one of the things that they might have is Hospital based intervention programs. So hospital based intervention programs are people working within the hospital system Let's say a gunshot victim comes in gunshot victim comes in family comes to react They might decide they're gonna go retaliate in a hospital based intervention program You have people on site to work with that family to be like, let's let's actually talk this through like what's going on What's the root cause of the issue that happened here? And how can we address that? Do you think this is something we're going to be able to measure for success? You see it you see it happen in other communities I mean if you look at the city of Baltimore, which for decades has been known as having extreme high crime They've reduced their murders. They've reduced their gang violence by tremendous numbers And so those are the things that they were doing the hospital based intervention programs doing programs within figuring out for some of these things It's basically youth juvenile justice involved youth that are being Targeted and used by older people who would get in a lot more trouble if they were causing the issues They're targeting younger people because they know it as it's justice involved a youth It's kind of more of a slap on the wrist. You get more opportunities to get better What can we do to create programs for those youth to give them an alternative path rather than seeking out their name and recognition? And potentially funding from some of these paths. How about we think about what other opportunities do we have to intervene there? I think there may be a feeling with some of the public that when they hear there was a shooting last night and when They hear the shots fired last night does they feel like crime is going on right now? And I'm really worried about that crime taking place, and I don't feel safe and with that going on right now I need some right now taken care of and what you're talking about with violence prevention It sounds like we may we could be looking at something immediate with retaliatory by gang related violence Or we could be talking about ten years from now with someone who's six years old. It will be 16 It's a yes, and right It's a both you need to make sure that you have the resources to respond to that incident right then and find out what happens Like if you look at our closure rates right there a hundred percent because when an incident happens there They're finding out who did it and they're arresting the person and it's also investing in the prevention What can we do to try to give alternative paths like I said to you and to others to not have this retaliation? Happened you know one of the things that that we talk about when we talk about the response you mentioned shots fired You know our if you've ever if you had Jill on you have you chief schlutty on before? Years and years ago, so you know one of the things that chief schlutty talks about is that? Right now the way that our radio systems work right that any call into 9-1-1 immediately gets out there on the scanner You know and then we have shots fired Well, they're coded as what they're called in for what it's called in One of the things that they talk about is that then that that creates that oh gosh There was a incident here happen right now the percentage of shots fired that were actually shots fired or not It's not a hundred percent, and so that gives that feeling of safety or fear When you see those and so making sure that we're putting out accurate information on the numbers of shots fired where they're happening They're working on that data right now to have better data going out to the community they can help show where that Where the difference might be between perception and in reality well that means that we may be talking about citizens who really don't know what The truth is going on, but if they're on the street where the shots were fired. Oh, yeah Like the people who see it on this Facebook scanner. You know where they're seeing the thing It's like well hold on if we have people actually witnessing it. I'll give you an example We had a shots fired called in concerned about it because it was near Student housing it ended up being balloons being popped But because when you hear that you don't know what that noise is But you want to call in and I want people to call in and be safe I want alerts to go out to make sure the community members are safe But it might not always be that or she'll talk about sometimes. It's fireworks sometimes It's different instances of things happening, and it's not that I don't want people to call in It's just that I want to make sure that we're responding Accurately and helping get the right information out there about the number of incidents with all due respect my feeling is not based on reading about shots Fired calls going out and watching it on whatever see Como police scanner Facebook page or what have you? I'm actually going through what the police and the Boone County Sheriff's Department are putting out and What the bona fide medias are reporting on and my feeling is that crime violent crime shootings are way higher than I'd like to see It in town if we talk it per capita and base it across the state of Missouri or national Yeah, we might be coming in below the line, and we should feel happy about it. Oh, my is acceptable My feeling is that it's not because I'm perceiving more shots fired, but it's actually balloons popping I think we have too much crime in this area. I would I would agree Are you willing to call a gang relate related violence I'm not a police officer so for me It's it's kind of I if you look at the way that Chief Schlutie is addressing crime and looking at right now She is looking at every call everything is an individual incident So is she not using the phrase gang related violence not I? Cannot speak to what Jill is Jill is talking about right now for me when we talk about no But you've said you've talked to Chief Schlutie What is she addressing because I know the police officers In the CPD have told me it's gang related violence and killings and shootings and so has the Boone County Sheriff Sheriff Kerry, and so that's that's what I'm hearing But you're not using that phrase, and I'm wondering if you're trying to cover what is going on no It's more of that. I've just I don't know the current numbers on what's related to gang violence I think because that's into the sort of weeds that don't normally come to council's Perspective so what comes to a council's perspective is where do we need resources to address any issue of crime wherever we see trends? So for instance you know and they talked about the dove unit at the true north event last week You know if we saw when I first came on to council the trend was actually around domestic violence Incidents and so that's why they were asking requests for resources for our dove unit Following years from that were juvenile issues They were talking about juveniles involved with firearms some of those might be related to gang or quasi gang But we just hear we want to invest more in juvenile We want to try to address these issues and so the resources come to us or the requests for resources And we put it to that as far as like talking about it for me. No crime is acceptable, right? Whatever it is that they need to address this that's what I want to know and where to put the information into Let's talk about the police fund, and I don't want to spend to the pension fund I don't want to spend too much time on it because it's getting in the weeds for almost Everybody out here, right? But leading up to the election you were asked about it in a debate channel 8 I think it was kmu.com and you were asked about the pension fund The CPOA has talked to me about the pension fund. I'm confused Is it a hundred percent funded or 51 percent funded it is that the contributions are a hundred percent funded like every year We've a hundred percent met our contribution so that is the requirements of the payouts to us Having us be we want to be closer to 80 percent funded Which is what you're referring to and we are not there and so once you get to 80 percent funded That's when you can also make changes to the pension system Which is really what our CPOA wants to do to talk about how do we create things for partners? How do we create? Potentially looking at the length of term before you can be accepted before you can draw down from your pension Those are the things they want to address, but you can't do that in the state until you're at 80 percent The Columbia, Missouri reported Matthew Lou director of finance with the City of Columbia said fully funding the police and firefighters Pension plans in four to five years would be fiscally impossible It would cost the city about 130 to 140 million dollars, which is our entire general fund Yeah, I'm sure that it that it would so our is the CPOA asking for something that is unrealistic I think I know what they want. It's not that it's unrealistic It's that it's a goal that they want to see addressed sooner than later. You know we've looked at this So part of it is is that you know some of the funds that go into our council reserves are because of unfilled positions within police and fire It's also unfilled positions and in multiple departments, and so that's why last year we put in a million dollars into both the 500,000 into the police and 500,000 into the fire pension to try to draw that down right we're talking 130 to 140 million Then that's that that's literally nothing right. It's well. It's it's basically yeah We're trying to chip away trying to go a little bit above a hundred percent of our requirements every year But if we finish this conversation because I don't want to go too far in the weeds We're gonna go into the weeds if we finish this Conversation and you walk away saying we're a hundred percent where we should be right now We're supposed to be doing and the CPOA says we're at 50% It's two different things that we're talking about part of it Is is that we've been able to meet our pay pay out our pension pay out the payments that we have for our pension every Year, it's making sure that those who have retired are getting their retirement that you're That you're Contributing and you've got that exactly for the future We're not there, and that's where that's where the conversation has been happening if you've followed about changing pension system So us we're our self-funded pension system It's within our own a lot of other public safety departments in the state of Missouri are going towards more the state funded So the state logger system, I know some of those other cities that have moved it that is a better funded pension system The issue is is that we're gonna have to figure out the balance between okay? We have some officers that are on the pre-2012 pension system. We have other officers. They're on the post 2012 system Okay, if we all of a sudden switch loggers We're gonna have officers on a third system, and so I think there's that concern like well Is this gonna get confusing and I was like, but it's the way to go and it already is confusing It is is the issue causing us to lose experienced officers with the CPD right now You know it's an interesting thing when I look at when they give us reports every like party quarterly on where we lose We do lose officers. I don't I don't see those exit interviews. There's a reason some of it. They're moving out of town They're going to other places. They're going to other organizations. I know it's something that CPOA has stated It is one of the things that they hear I think we're definitely looking at how do we then continue to do this retention? You know the pay increase helps us doing the pay increase for our officers that helps a little bit Recruiting more to get more people into office gives those people didn't time to take their vacations because that's another big piece of it like if You're doing overtime right you're you're not getting as much time with your family now It does help you at the end of your system Because then you bring have a bigger take-home pay and that helps you with your pension, but at the same time That's why we're trying to address the future is like what can we do for the future pension? How many officers are we short right now on the force? I think we have something like 14 down That's like nothing, and we we will be by the time we are actually debating the budget for fiscal year 26 I think we'll be fully staffed. That'll be the first time in how many years oh before my time before Brian's time, right? Yeah, so but one of the conversations So that we're having and that I expect will be part of this discussion on our budget and next week We do a council retreat with department heads is Right we might be fully staffed, but what is what should fully staffed be what is our actually officer per capita? And so that's that that's the big conversation as we're looking into fiscal year 26 We might be fully staffed within the police department, but is that enough staff is there any chance? There's gonna be a hiring freeze coming on for the city of Columbia That's being kicked around in the rumor mill right now right now. We're looking at so I'll tell you sales tax dollars We looked at from December on sales tax dollars are down sales tax dollars are down I think a lot of people are getting a little bit worried. They're looking at their retirement They're looking at their systems, and they're just maybe not spending as much money So I have a concern over that and so the city manager has asked for departments to propose You know if you were to cut 3% of your budget of your spending Where would it be? He hasn't proposed any sort of He hasn't proposed any cuts to any positions yet unless he says if you have a vacant position It's been vacant for a while Do you need it still or does it need to go in the next budget he said he I think he's gonna ask for Justification if you want to hire new like if you want to add positions to he was gonna want justification But that hasn't come to council yet This may be something that you don't want to hear or don't want to answer I don't have any idea, but I've had a feeling for a long time. It's just my feeling is I've had a feeling for a long time that there are a lot of discussions that go on behind the scenes and behind closed doors Between people involved in running the city of Columbia, and it's never brought that part of the conversation is never In the air at the City Council meeting it's never out there in the room That's a feeling you can address that or not address it if you'd like to well I just say you know for part of that I mean, I think it's and this is something that I know that council members struggle with right as a reminder like we are Part viewed as part-time positions And a lot of the conversations probably happen in department meetings right within the city manager administration and department meetings Well one of the things that we've talked about we try to do more work sessions Where the department heads and city manager come to council in a work session and have these generative conversations where they can kind of say? Hey, like we did a revenues conversation. What's it look like in the coming year? Where do we see sales tax dollars? Where do we see these things coming in and what are you concerned about? I've been I since I was elected the first time We've done a lot more work sessions because I knew that was important like people need to hear that we're having these Conversations and it is kind of frustrating as a part-time position because I'll be like well hold on are you actually addressing this like let? Me know I want to be at the table even though. I know I have no Authority to direct staff The city manager and the city clerk are the only ones that serve council And I need four other vote or three other votes in order to really direct staff So it's kind of this weird like don't let me too into the weeds, but at the same time I want to know what's going on Yeah, the it is difficult to be in the form of government We have here the city manager is the one that's running things right But the city manager works at the pleasure of the city council right and I don't feel that it should ever be said From your position and then by the way, I don't do any ambushing over here, and I don't have any gotcha questions I am also not an investigative reporter or journalist Yeah, if anybody hears anything you're saying like that's not quite accurate then they should do some investigative work on that I may have issues that you've said so far that you've you've Alluded to something or specifically said something on I'm not feeling that thing, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna jump your case, okay Except this I will say in your position as the almighty mayor in the City Council person at large If you're talking about something the city manager is doing it's okay for me for you to say I'm not approving of that Yet, I don't hear that yeah And then when you say if you are a person your position was to say well This is the city manager there to handling. It's like wait a second. You're the buck stops up here yeah with the City Council and And I don't like that buck getting passed around size wanted to get that off my chest I appreciate that time Yeah, I think part of it is is when we have our meetings with the city manager You know we're basically putting out. Here's what we're hearing. Here's the priorities. We're hearing in the community level Here's the things that you know we want to see happen You tell us how you're gonna do it right you tell us how and the big the big way We see that done is through our city budget right so when we say public safety is a is a key priority Seen in there that 60% of our general fund dollars That's the that's the ones that you can't that can go to anything that the city wants is going towards public safety When we say we need to do better about communications, right? I want to see what we're doing about communications That's why in the last budget you saw they added positions for communications where we have the connectors program We're not people are actually going door-to-door Like when the tornado happened going door-to-door in those neighborhoods to let people know what their resources are available to them where dumpsters could be For their excess excess waste things like that, so that's where we're seeing that they're trying to and they're trying to invest in it so I think for me it's probably part of it is is right comes from working in the city government and understanding the the pace at which Change happens and understanding of the investment to get it to get it going and I I would love I Would ideally love that we had like full-time council members talking about what is going on in the city and available to go out And be like, here's what I know. I got an update for the police chief or whatever You know, this is what I get to get done I would love that to see a job opportunity for people to get more information out there Just right now. We don't have the I don't have built my personal resources to be able to get there I certainly I certainly get that and it is a hell of a job to take on That is that what are you gonna stipend of a few hundred dollars a month as I look at it? It's a I think every two weeks or you know twice a month a hundred and fifty one dollars What are you doing? Well, I guess Let's talk about the homeless in Colombia There are a lot of people that see this is a major issue It's just they're seeing it every day and they feel like this. Do you think homelessness in? Columbia is a problem. Yes, and it is in what way or ways So for me, it's it well at the end of the day It's the fact that we as a society Have really failed to create the social safety net to help people when something happens and this is not unique to Colombia I'm seeing this in other cities in Missouri even Fulton and Sedalia. I'm seeing it across the nation You know when we look at things like the opioid epidemic when this happened and people lost and they they their lives spiraled out of control We didn't have the systems in place to protect when we see their rise in rents and we see The wages not keeping up with that We don't have a system in place for that when we saw the prices increase, right? So the price for creating a house right now Increasing I'm worried right now I'll tell you about the tariffs because we get all of our lumber from Canada for building houses When this happened the first time we saw a huge increase in the cost of housing So we're not able to bring down those costs and invest It's a lot harder for people to move into a house and right now You're talking about issues that are so grand, but they're all related so homelessness But if you let's see the homeless that are out on the streets right now You think there's a there's a guy who had a house last year Is that what you're thinking for some of them it is and they lost it because of the increase in the cost of living Yeah, if you look at for some if you saw the increase in the numbers of people We had their senior citizens in this last point in time time count. Those are people that had apartments Did they start drinking or shooting up with heroin at that moment? We're talking about people out here that have horrible mental illnesses or they have incredible addictions to substances That has nothing to do with the cost of living Expensive I had to start drinking well not all homeless are not all homeless though are having a substance abuse no No, but they are out there. No But those are the ones that are sleeping in a median Those are the ones that you're yeah Those are the ones you're seeing the pictures of and that's where we talk about I don't just see pictures of them. I see them next to my car several times a day Yeah, so Tom this is what I'm talking about with like when we talk about the substance abuse and not having to set the social Network that is in place for them That has been a lack of historical underfunding and where people are having mental health issues at a national level and even a state level And at a local level so our funding for mental health We look at the Community Mental Health Behavior Act from like 1972 when they shut down like psychiatric institutes, you know And they said this is gonna go to the state level and you're gonna get the funding out there to support these people that are Crisis or their mental health crisis that funding has not come through right now when we we've just been addressing at the state level we want them to put funding into us to help us provide because I have people in jails and in hospitals that really need to Be on medications and need to be in service And so we're working with our county and our regional partners to address this, right? So we have our divert program This is the program that is between public health and Human Services and the police department and our municipal court Where they're looking like if something happens if you're we give you a trespass right warning What can we do to actually kind of force you into services like we're trying to get this if you want this off your things We have a separate docket that's taken care of and working with those who are on the streets, right? And so for me There are people in Columbia that say and this starts happening in any kind of an organization Which is hey, man, these guys aren't following rules. Yeah But we are over here and they get very upset with that Yeah, I mean if people are shooting up with needles in Flatbranch Park I've got a problem with that and right at that moment my Concern is not what happened to them three years ago right now It's that you can't shoot up heroin in Flatbranch Park and that's why we have our officers respond to it So for these instances we have our homeless outreach team which do that But also just regular officers who are responding to those incidents, but we but we have two officers who are devoted to the homeless outreach Is that just that's just for the homeless outreach team? They're more doing more of the proactive to the preventative pieces on that But we also have regular office because it doesn't look like any of this is worth They have their own court system to go through. They've got their own police force to take care of them I don't have that but this doesn't appear to be working at all. I don't know What it's working and what it's not because I think for our instance is looking at like every issue as the chief has talked about Is an individual issue? So responding to where it is now We as the city have invested and trying to do some of these substance abuse issues Investing in programs like you know When Phoenix was doing their programs and compass health and doing their outreach as well as Burrell who's doing their rapid access unit and the Funding that we've given to them to have a space where people can go to clean up before this is providing that gap So they go to MU Psychiatric Center, you know by law Maximum 72 hour hold that can be done there We're working with Burrell to help fill that gap so that when they get discharged from there Rather than going back onto the streets They can go into another kind of step down and then trying to find the programs for this You know One of our big issues that we're seeing is that police departments from other cities are bringing people here to the MU Psychiatric Center They're dropping them off. And then when those people get released, there's they don't have their family social network They don't have anybody to take them back home. So we've addressed at the state level Can you help us fund to get people back home? And we just had this brought up at a city thing What can we do to help get people back home? And I know this is something that for a change also works on is like hey, man, if you're not from here How can we help you get back home because we know that you need a social network in order to deal with the trials that you have do you believe the homeless Can't the opportunity campus on the business loop, which is probably about a year year and a half away from being opened Do you think it will create a beacon to bring more homeless into Boone County and specifically into Columbia the point of over the course Of time the point of the opportunity campus is to have those social services in the place where people are staying, right? So homeless person is staying there The point of it is is that you're then surrounded by those who are providing mental health Physical health they're helping you figure out for workforce training Having all those things there to serve your needs so that you can get you can leave and get out on a better foot That's the whole purpose of that program. But but the the numbers we have in Boone County and in Columbia I feel like we've got more than our share of homeless right now Do you agree with me part of it is it depends on what you call your share? We're a regional catchment center for health. So Emmy Psychiatric Center serves all of mid, Missouri That is why people come here is for these services that there that are there Big issue that I have is how do we get people back home? So they can be back in their social network which helped them deal with the issues that we have right now They can just be released and the question is like what do we do then? We've only got a few minutes left I know you have an appointment you have to get to and I promise you about 40 about so we'll finish up with a Thought on on the homeless the panhandling that's going on right in on Throughout the major intersections and boulevards and thoroughfares in our city We don't have to allow panhandling from a median For the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States We don't need to allow that you should not be soliciting or loitering In the middle of a boulevard with eight lanes of traffic passing you by why have we allowed that in Columbia? Why haven't we put down a rule saying this is not the place for this. Why haven't we done that? So so actually according to our lawyer, we can't first remember we can't Agree with the lawyer I we have municipalities in the state of Missouri that have gone ahead with this law Well, and that's why we are right now. We're following Springfield's lead. So Springfield recently did that for high traffic areas? So it's it's that the First Amendment. I think the discussion around that is is about you can't outlaw panhandling You can't outlaw I'm agreeing time. Hold on And so what we're looking at right now is the way that Springfield did it was in high traffic areas or high-speed areas like a median on the Stadium Boulevard What can we do? and so the first step that they did was they pulled in the data for the instances of Issues your areas of concern that came to council about two months ago That's happening right now. And then we have a report that came to us I'm like, what are our options for what we can do and it's taken so long I think part of it was is that we have different people's opinions about what happens at what's the point of mediums? What's the point of these things and if you're making it unsafe for people to cross the street? Like if it is unsafe at a median for people to cross the street, is that an infrastructure issue? Is that a behavior issue like what people are doing on those medians? Like where is the root cause of what I'm pretty sure is sleeping. All right is its own thing on a median I'm pretty sure we can say you're not allowed to sleep on a media and that which you know We got the homeless camps and we don't have time to go into that this morning. But the fact that you're laying down. Yeah Completely wrapped up in a substance that's taken over your entire life and you're sleeping on a median 10 a.m In the middle of a Wednesday, that's a problem and we've had a lot of issues going on But we cannot as a society allow that to go on in our city. Yeah. No, I agree It's not safe for all of us Well, and we had that conversation at our council meeting, you know Our fire chief brought up that like, you know It has concerns for him because sometimes the trucks have to go over the median And so that was one of the big safety issues that we had was trying to figure out what can we do on this? Our big thing too is I need to have a place for those people to go When we talk about you know, the person that is that's having a substance use that is there in the median I need to have a place for them to go I'm thankful that we have places like Burrell that are looking to invest in that sort of like almost like a Drunk tank, you know what I mean? Like how do I help you get get back because I agree It's not safe and I don't want to see that either. We're gonna finish it up with that and Barbara Buffalo You've been a very very wonderful person to join me here this morning second time on the show I know right first time you remember that. Well, I will tell you this is much more memorable I think than the other but if you had your choice the planet would survive forever and ever and ever Yeah, and then we didn't even talk about recycling and where we are with that. There's We're gonna build it back. It's gonna be so much better be bigger and beautiful I know maybe we'll have jobs there for the homeless that need somewhere Be good we're gonna go ahead and and I we did have an open to the show But I don't can I run that as a close? Also, let me let me see. Oh now we can there we go Barbara Buffalo mayor of Columbia. Thank you. Thanks Tom and maybe in a few months. Maybe we'll do it again. That sounds like fun Thank you You