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

Council Members... continued from Page 1 POTM... continued from Page 4
Anthony said the strength of her city planning experience and campaign platform helped her counteract
her opponent’s Chamber endorsement — and the financial advantage that came with it.
“Whenever you have a race running against a Chamber-backed candidate, you have to expect it will
be a well-funded campaign for sure,” she said. “There was a decision that faced the voters, whether to
keep going with the same old, same old, or were we going to move forward?”
Anthony said she plans to move forward in a positive relationship with the Chamber as well, starting
with sitting down and having lunch with some of its leadership.
This is the second election in which the Chamber endorsed candidates. Last year, the Chamber backed
three eventual winners: Mayor Bob McDavid, 3rd Ward Rep. Gary Kespohl and 4th Ward Rep. Daryl
Dudley.
The local Chamber has, for many years, publicly advocated for or against issues impacting business
development and has more recently ramped up the effort with mass emails to members.
Don Laird, president of the Chamber, agreed there were no hard feelings between the winning candidates
and the business organization.
“We look forward to working with the two new Council members, and I'm sure they'll do a good job
for the people of Columbia,” he said. “It was never antagonistic.”
Paul Sturtz and Laura Nauser were elected before the endorsement process began and did not seek
re-election to the 1st and 5th wards, respectively.
After he was sworn in, Schmidt recalled how Sturtz tried to dissuade him from running and told him
how everyone was going to end up hating him. Schmidt added, jokingly, “I know when all this is over
and my star has plummeted, at least Paul will talk to me.”
At the Council ceremony, Sturtz joked that he was leaving office with more enemies and fewer friends.
Sturtz, who often clashed with development advocates, stressed the importance of the city’s comprehensive
plan: “We need to grow bigger in a smarter, more efficient way…so we're not Anytown, USA.”
Nauser said despite disagreements she and other members of the Council might have had over certain
issues, they were still always able to walk out the door as friends. Nauser added that she was glad
another woman filled her seat.
During the ceremony, Anthony grew emotional as she thanked her family and friends for their support.
She said she’s going to continue to need it: “I have a list exhaustively long, and I’ve only (been
elected) to this office for less than a week.”
Now that Anthony and Schmidt have been sworn in, they’re ready to tackle a top priority — the city
budget. They both cited infrastructure repair and supplementing the police and fire pension funds as
major issues to address.
But they’re not without their pet projects. Anthony, with her passion for city planning, said she wants
to make sure more people get involved in the comprehensive plan. Schmidt said he wants to coordinate
job counseling and job training services into a one-stop shop where people who want to work can get
help to do so. v
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Fairview Church of Christ won the group category award for
its work with neighbors in need of anything from yard work
to a home renovation. The winner in the Youth Category was
the Benton K-Kids, a group of fourth- and fifth-graders who
give up their recess time several times a month to help others at
places such as the food bank and the MU Children’s Hospital.
The winner in the Individual Category was Chuck Everitt,
who for almost four decades has helped drive the success of
the Columbia Youth Football League and organized an annual
golf tournament to raise money for the league. The Outstanding
Volunteer in Education or Literacy was Melinda Elmore, for
her volunteer work at the Southern Boone Public Schools to
help those students most at risk in improving their literacy. The
Outstanding Community Protection Volunteer was Richard
Gray, for helping transition the Neighborhood Watch program
when it separated from the Police Department. The Health Care
Volunteer of the Year was Jean Finn, who for the past four years
has played the piano three times a week at Lenoir Woods. She
also plays a couple of times a month at two other nursing homes.
During a company ceremony, Boone County National Bank
presented the following employees with its most prestigious
annual awards: Cindy Whaley, the business banking manager,
received the Dorothy Jacob Legendary Service Award; Ryan
Bross, a commercial loan officer, received the Connie Martin
Sales Award; Deborah Graves, a vice president and director
of mortgage lending, received the Wayne Mountjoy Leadership
Award; and Matt Burns, a consumer lending officer, received
the Bo Fraser Legendary Service Award.
J.R. Lawless, a financial advisor with Edward Jones in
Columbia, and Emily Bosse and Laura Murphy, the branch
office administrators, recently were honored by the firm for their
performance and client service. The trio was among 50 branch
teams, out of the firm's 12,000, selected to attend Edward Jones'
Drucker 100 Conference at the firm's headquarters in St. Louis.
The Missouri Lions Eye Research Foundation, headquartered
in Columbia, was recently selected as one of the 50 Best
NonProfit Organizations to Work for 2011. The awards program
was created in 2010 and is a project of The NonProfit Times and
Best Companies Group. v
7 April 16, 2011 Columbia Business Times | ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com