New Council members brush off Chamber of Commerce - Columbia ...

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20 April 16, 2011 Columbia Business Times | ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com PhoTo By ReBeCCA RAdemAn SPECIAL SECTION | hOMe & gArDen Columbia Garden Club ... continued from Page 16 Bluffs Nursing Home and taking flowers monthly to the Wyatt Guest House at Ellis Fischel Cancer Center and Daniel Boone Regional Library. The club also gives a yearly scholarship to one high-school student, selected from a group of applicants with an interest in pursuing horticulture. Another group project is an after-school program at Russell Boulevard Elementary School, a junior garden club appropriately deemed the Russell Sprouts. After the regular Columbia Garden Club meeting, members go to the elementary school and hold a meeting with the junior club. Together, they do a variety of projects such as planting seeds, planting outside and working on garden-related arts and crafts. Growing new membership At its peak, the Columbia Garden Club boasted 132 members; membership as of May 2010 stood at 67. “There’s no reason Columbia should only have 67 people in the garden club; we should have many more active members,” Blackmore said. Current membership stands at 62, according to the group's website. One explanation for the lower membership could be the meeting time. The club is still largely made up of individuals who do not work outside the home, many of whom are retired, so the monthly meeting reflects that flexibility of schedules. The group meets at 1 p.m. the second Monday of every month, except July and August. “We have a member looking into starting an evening club,” Blackmore said. “Several people have expressed an interested in joining but can’t attend our club because they work during the day.” Programs at the meetings cover topics of interest to gardeners such as harmful and beneficial insects or selecting and planting trees. At the upcoming June meeting, members and their guests will have the opportunity to tour some of the members’ gardens. Blackmore’s garden has previously been included on the tour. “Our annual member garden tour is held in June, so lots of things are blooming, and it really is very nice,” she says. Planting for the future The Columbia Garden Club will hold its Annual Plant Sale, the group’s only fundraiser of the year, on April 30 at Trinity Presbyterian Church. Club members will sell countless blooms of all shapes and sizes, most donated from their own gardens, with proceeds from the sale used to pursue its next projects. When asked what tips she has for new gardeners, Blackmore sat back and smiled. “I think gardening is just like anything else,” she said. “A good photographer takes a lot of pictures and keeps the good ones. A gardener does much the same. There’s a lot of trial and error involved. I plant a lot of different plants, and if they don’t do well, I plant something else in their spot. That’s just how it works for me.” The Columbia Garden Club meets at 1 p.m. the second Monday of each month (except July and August) at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 1600 W. Rollins Road. For more information about the club or how to become a member, contact Karen Blackmore at Karen@kewpie. net or (573) 442-1873. v (This story originally appeared in the June/July 2010 issuhe of Columbia Home.) We’d like your property to be next! Columbia Orthopaedic Group M.S.H.S.A.A. Canterbury HOA “Keeping it GREEN & GROWING” MFA Oil Company Your Business Here! “Professional Grounds Maintenance” www.ColumbiaTurf.com • 7105 Henderson Rd., Columbia • Office: 573.443.5681 • Landscape Office: 573.449.7855
PhoTo By AugusT kRygeR By Sean Spence Alliance Water Resources, quietly going about its business at its corporate headquarters on Keene Street, has grown during the years into one of Missouri’s leading managers of water and sewer systems. “There are other companies that do what we do,” Sandy Neal, vice president of marketing and business development, said. “No one does as much as we do here in Missouri.” The primary job Alliance performs is to manage and maintain water and sewer systems for communities and districts. The company provides service to 25 locations, ranging from smaller communities such as Bowling Green to the largest district it serves, St. Charles County Water District No. 2, with more than 100,000 customers. “We’re a Columbia-based company and serve communities all throughout Missouri and two communities in Iowa,” Neal said. In recent months, Alliance announced renewal of its contract with the Public Water Supply District No. 1 of Franklin County, with whom Alliance first started working in 2005, and the award of a new five-year contract to manage the city of Nevada’s wastewater treatment system. Alliance Water Resources started in 1976 as Mid-Missouri Engineers Inc. to provide specialty services to the water and wastewater industry. In the early 1980s, the company began to play a role in the professional management and maintenance of water and wastewater systems and districts, the role it fills today. Across Missouri and in Iowa, Alliance employs more than 250 people, mostly in the communities and districts it serves. The Columbia BUSIneSS PROFILE FROM LEFT: Dale Wagner, sandy neal and Dick tuttle are vice presidents at alliance Water resources in Columbia. Alliance Water Resources expands presence in Missouri gary anger, president of alliance headquarters offices 15 employees, including President Gary Anger and other company leaders. The company does not have any contracts in Boone County. The diversity of Alliance’s services occasionally goes beyond water and sewer system management and maintenance. In Bowling Green, for example, Alliance started managing the water and sewer systems and expanded the relationship with the city over many years. Now, Alliance serves as the community’s department of public works. Its services include non-water-related activities such as mowing the cemetery, making minor street repairs and putting up the city’s Christmas lights. “The city liked what we were doing, so eventually we added to the scope of services,” Neal said. Neal said a key advantage that Alliance offers is access to the entire company’s expertise. In Ste. Genevieve, for example, the city typically would have hired four people to do the job that Alliance was hired to do. Alliance provided a staff of four but with access to the rest of its employees throughout the company. “If one of our community’s has a problem, instead of completely relying on the knowledge of the local staff, they can reach out to the rest of our company to find someone with the expertise they need,” Neal said. “Instead of buying four people, they bought a company of resources,” Neal said. “There is no way these communities, particularly smaller communities, can even begin to afford the multitude of service that they get, as they need them and when they need them.” v 21 April 16, 2011 Columbia Business Times | ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com
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New Council members brush off Chamber of Commerce - Columbia ...

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