Jefferson City Council Election is scheduled for Tuesday, April 8th. Candidates were surveyed by RBAS. Questionnaire on environmental issues were sent to all pre-filed candidates who have opponents in the upcoming election.

      Responses were received from Richard Koon, 2nd Ward; Anita Randolph, 3rd Ward;  Carrie Carroll, 4th Ward; and Sharon Mize, 5th Ward. Candidates who received questionnaires but did not reply were: Thomas Robbin, 2nd Ward; Brian Crane, 3rd Ward; Kevin Brown, 4th Ward; and Dan Klindt, 5th Ward.

      RBAS members are urged to consider these alphabetically arranged responses to the following questions when voting and sharing this information with other voters:

 

What are some of Jefferson City’s biggest environmental problems? And how should these problems be addressed?

Carrie Carroll: As the capital city we should lead by example when it comes to recycling. We need a convenient recycling program for residents and I am thrilled that the city is studying the pilot curbside program and is working on a survey to receive citizen input. A successful residential curbside program is essential. The city also needs to study the issue of commercial recycling. Local businesses generate large amounts of recyclable materials that are often placed in trash bins. The city can help educate businesses on recycling opportunities. Businesses can work together to create opportunities such as the partnership between News

Tribune and the Downtown Association. News Tribune placed a cardboard and newspaper recycling bin in their parking lot and the Downtown Association educates local businesses about the bin.

Richard Koon: Jefferson City has several environmental problems and potential environmental problems.  Storm water runoff, land development, the drinking water supply, and major highways running through the center of town with the potential for a hazardous spills are a few.  The two I am most concerned about are storm water runoff and land development, which I believe are related.   First, we need to be improving our older infrastructure because it has been neglected for years and it cannot handle the current water runoff.  While funds are tight, the city needs to find a way to target additional resources to replace parts of the aging storm water drainage system and use other methods such as retention basins, increased use of green areas, and revision of the zoning code to restrict development in areas where storm water runoff is a serious problem.  We live in a hilly town.  If we continue to build large parking lots and pave over our green areas without significant investment in our drainage systems, we will continue to increase our runoff problems.

Sharon Mize: Emissions from cars, trucks and other noncommercial vehicles are one of the biggest environmental problems in Jefferson City. The City could follow the trends by collaborating with area businesses and organizations to promote the use of public transportation and carpooling.  The City could also

look in to implementing ordinances that reduce the City’s contributions to emission, like considering an ordinance to limit idling of large diesel vehicles.

Anita Randolph:  I think Jefferson City citizens and leaders have made excellent strides forward in recent years to improve environmental quality. The upgrades and improvements to the wastewater treatment plant help ensure that our sewage is properly treated before discharge into the Missouri River. This helps protect water quality for Jefferson City citizens and communities downstream that take their drinking water from the Missouri River. The limitation on open burning, which has been supported by Jefferson City citizens, has been very important to protect the quality of the air that each of us breathes.             I think there are two environmental issues, in particular, that continue to be pressing. The first is to make it easier for Jefferson City citizens to recycle items such as aluminum cans, steel cans, cardboard, plastic, newsprint, magazines and glass. Many of the items we use can be recycled and used to manufacturer new products. Recycling keeps “waste” items out of landfills. Modern landfills are better constructed than older landfills. However, it’s much better for the environment to keep items out of the landfill and reuse them whenever possible. Recycling also reduces the amount of energy needed to manufacture new products. Reducing energy use cuts down on harmful emissions from power plants. It appears that the pilot project to introduce curbside recycling to residents in portions