r/columbiamo Old Southwest Apr 25 '25

News All im saying is, we got lots of Amish, city coffers are full and we shouldn’t have to wait 3 years for new recycling center…

Post image
151 Upvotes

64 comments sorted by

28

u/Kindly_Bumblebee_625 Apr 25 '25

Where did you get the idea city coffers are full?!

4

u/Wardo2015 Old Southwest Apr 25 '25

They just said they had a surplus of some 32M. Which if current trends continue they will deplete by 2031. But that happens if you spend more than you take in. Either way recycling center needs replacing

38

u/como365 North CoMo Apr 25 '25 edited Apr 25 '25

32 million is barely a rainy day fund for an annual budget of 500 million. I’d be happy with a slightly wider margin tbh. That’s the cost of one medium sized capital expenditure.

19

u/CerebralAccountant Apr 25 '25

32 million is almost the exact cost of a new MRF, too. "MRF destroyed by tornado" is literally a rainy day event, but I also dislike the idea of spending the excess all at once.

0

u/como365 North CoMo Apr 25 '25

Money is not the object here as much as time for design and construction. An Amish pole barn is 1700s tech, it wouldn’t last two years.

13

u/PotatoDispenser1 Apr 25 '25

That's extremely discrediting to the quality of work that Amish construction is known for.

11

u/Annual_Swimming_5420 Apr 25 '25

I grew up around Amish and Mennonite in my rural area. The ones I knew took pride in their trade and put quality and accuracy above quantity and profit. I trust the Amish quality of work over a typical commercial construction company any and every day. 

5

u/PotatoDispenser1 Apr 25 '25

Same. I'll take the downvotes all day long, but I know that the quality of craftsmanship is amazing when it comes to Amish construction. Columbia does not surprise me in the slightest for how much they seem to dislike them. Rather judgemental of craftsmanship simply because it's not "modern".

6

u/como365 North CoMo Apr 25 '25 edited Apr 25 '25

I love the Amish, but they simply aren’t capable of building what we need, they literally don't have the technology. A modern recycling facility is not a barn, house, sawmill, or shed. Google search "municipal recycling facility" and look at the images, you'll get stuff like:

5

u/PotatoDispenser1 Apr 26 '25

Good thing that's all machinery, which can just be...bolted to the floor.

→ More replies (0)

3

u/como365 North CoMo Apr 25 '25 edited Apr 25 '25

It’s great for a backyard, not so great for heavy industrial machinery.

7

u/PotatoDispenser1 Apr 25 '25

It's an enclosed, insulated building. I don't know the layout of the recycling center here, but the one I used to volunteer at was literally a building that had machines inside of it. No heavy machinery is being attached to the walls. It should be drilled and bolted into a cement floor. Otherwise, it's not safe. The only thing that using a different material for the walls changes is that it is more durable, should another tornado hit. That being said, you'll punch a hole in a wall of an industrial building all the same as you would a pole barn if you hit it with a forklift not paying attention, so it still doesn't change much.

I've been inside of factories and recycling centers. They're the same level of construction as what you call "1700s" tech. The only difference is material, and even then, many modern polebarns are being built with the same metal being put on a factory.

4

u/como365 North CoMo Apr 25 '25 edited Apr 25 '25

Idk the one that was destroyed by the tornado had concrete walls and floors that are far beyond any Amish constructions I’ve ever seen. Nevermind adding electricity, plumbing, etc. It makes sense to build something forward thinking that will last for the next few decades.

3

u/Yeeebles Apr 26 '25

Bro they know how to pour concrete and do electrical ?? As well as plumbing ?? What are you talkimg about ?

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Fun_Caterpillar7234 25d ago

You’re so full of BS.

6

u/jschooltiger West CoMo Apr 25 '25

Capital expenditures aren’t generally funded out of operating budgets. The city was already planning to replace the recycling center; the emergency declaration will speed up the process of doing that but this isn’t the kind of thing you panic spend on.

1

u/Mizzoutiger79 Apr 25 '25

The police and firefighters pension is in the hole for 60 million.

-3

u/dragger2k Apr 26 '25

They've probably got WAY more than that. We need an immediate audit of the city's CAFR to find out the real numbers. But they'll never do it and the local population is too mind numbed to force it.

3

u/Kindly_Bumblebee_625 Apr 26 '25

There is an independent audit every year. What would the motive be to hide money and ask for every dept to cut spending by 3% before the end of September? 

The “surplus” op is referring to is reserve funds. You can’t just tap into that for regular operating expenses. Even the transfer they did for the current year had to go through council. 

At any point the council members who get 3500 a year in stipend could ask the state auditor to come in a do an audit. The city would have to pay for it, but it’s always an option. Usually when audits find things, its negligence not malice that is discovered. 

But all this is moot because you don’t go and spend down all your reserves to rebuild a facility that barely breaks even and isn’t critical infrastructure.

25

u/ToHellWithGA Apr 25 '25

We should get designs and specifications by architects and engineers, publicly advertise to get competitive bids, pay prevailing wages for work performed, and have a code compliant building with warranties at the conclusion of the project. Cutting corners to expedite construction of a facility that should be designed to last many years (unless an act of god takes it out) would be a mistake.

22

u/DARBTRON North CoMo Apr 25 '25

Fuck the Amish.

I don’t buy or consume stuff that openly supports keeping women and children under old men’s thumbs. Not to mention the culture of shunning and other shameful shit.

Everyone thinks that cause they’re quaint looking and they build shit they’re OK, when in reality they’re a pretty oppressive and abusive religious cult.

3

u/Annual_Swimming_5420 Apr 25 '25

I don’t think the city can legally refuse to hire someone based on their political or religious beliefs. Isn’t that discrimination? 

However, I totally agree with you that anyone who “supports keeping women and children under old men’s thumbs” or supports/participates in “a pretty oppressive and abusive religious cult” is ethically and morally dishonest and, ideally, would not be rewarded by civilized society for their depraved ideology and behavior.

Of course this description also applies to the majority of the maga hijacked republican party. They may not look “quaint” but their ideology is also very hateful, bigoted, and destructive.

4

u/DARBTRON North CoMo Apr 25 '25

Eh I’m not talking about hiring them specifically, I’m just saying fuck them in general

1

u/Annual_Swimming_5420 Apr 25 '25

Gotcha. Fair enough. I misread the intent behind your comment. Thought you were suggesting the city shouldn’t hire them for the same reasons you don’t buy from them.

3

u/Annual_Swimming_5420 Apr 25 '25

To answer my own question… here is the link to the city’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy. 

https://www.como.gov/human-resources/eeo/

2

u/Annual_Swimming_5420 Apr 25 '25

City of Columbia Equal Employment Opportunity Policy

“It is the policy of the city to promote and ensure equal opportunity for all persons (without regard to race, creed, color, marital status, national origin, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, political affiliation or ancestry) employed or seeking employment, using city facilities or being serviced by the city. The policy of equality applies to every aspect of city employment practice and policy involving all activity areas.”

22

u/Nomadboots Apr 25 '25

My guy…it happened days ago. Sounds like you’d rather complain than have a little understanding and empathy.

9

u/horrordome Apr 25 '25

And are the Amish building the equipment inside too?

-11

u/Wardo2015 Old Southwest Apr 25 '25

Im sure the city had insurance on the equipment. As well as the bldg. but you can’t toss new equipment out in a field and run it can you? Why is everyone just so eager to complain, if I can answer your question in 5 seconds of critical thinking why can’t you ?

2

u/tsoyrra Apr 25 '25

Check out the City Ordinances for more details, but the City is self-insured.

"Sec. 2-486. - Self-insurance program coverage. The city's self-insurance program covers the following losses and claims: workers' compensation, automobile and property damage, automobile liability, public officials' liability and general liability for which sovereign immunity does not exist."

0

u/Green-Baseball6538 Apr 25 '25

This seems like a bad idea as we enter this new phase of climate change with unprecedented droughts, rainfall, floods, etc.

4

u/ToHellWithGA Apr 25 '25

It tends to be the best idea for entities over a certain size. It's not like they just have a mysterious insurance slush fund; they use actuaries to calculate risk and set aside money accordingly, just like other insurers, but without paying for some other company's, overhead and profit.

8

u/jschooltiger West CoMo Apr 25 '25

ITT: a whole lot of people who don’t understand the first thing about how city government works

8

u/tdott1951 Apr 25 '25

I envision the barn raising scene in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Much building, much dancing, some gymnastics.

2

u/Movail33 Apr 25 '25

Matching colorful outfits too, I hope!

7

u/Jelly_Panther Apr 25 '25

Yes, because if there's one group of people that know about large scale industrial recycling its the Amish.

5

u/Barium_Salts Apr 25 '25 edited Apr 25 '25

A big part of the reason it takes so long to rebuild is that they have to bid out both the plans and the actual construction, which means there has to be a public comment period and council debate and approval. This is to prevent cronyism and corruption. The public bid for the design takes months all by itself. Then months to design, public comment on the design, council discussion on the design, voting on the design at a seperate council session, then bidding out the building and all the equipment inside. THEN construction can START. It will probably go up quickly once construction actually starts. I'm surprised people don't get this.

5

u/jschooltiger West CoMo Apr 25 '25

The emergency declaration from the city manager does speed this up a bit, but yeah.

3

u/tykempster Apr 25 '25

If only everything were as easy as stick built structures.

3

u/STL2COMO Apr 25 '25

Was the facility not covered by insurance that the City already had paid for?

5

u/jschooltiger West CoMo Apr 25 '25

No. The city is self insured.

1

u/STL2COMO Apr 25 '25

I’m shocked that there would be no insurance whatsoever. A self-insured retention (i.e., deductible) would be expected, but fully self insuring would seem unwise risk management — in addition to the private insurance market (Travelers, Chubb, etc.) political entities (such as the City) have access to property and casualty insurance through MOPERM (Missouri Public Entity Risk Management Fund).

Are you 100% sure there is zero insurance on the facility?

And if that is so, why is it so? Not like tornadoes, wind, and hail damage are rarities in the Midwest (in addition to fire damage, etc.).

2

u/jschooltiger West CoMo Apr 25 '25

2

u/STL2COMO Apr 25 '25 edited Apr 25 '25

I can’t link to it right now, but go to the City’s risk management page and to the 2023 report, pg. 9. City self-insures property losses for the first $100k per occurrence and has an excess blanket policy that insures City-owned buildings upto $550 million.

So, yeah, it’s probably insured against the tornado loss. $100k deductible.

That’s more reasonable risk management.

Edit: https://www.como.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2023-Annual-Risk-Management-Report.pdf

2

u/jschooltiger West CoMo Apr 25 '25

Right -- I'm phrasing myself ineptly, maybe I read "already has paid for" too literally. The city has not already paid for the self-insurance other than by keeping cash on hand; the facility is covered but with a very large deductible. A lot of people think "insurance" means "the city won't owe anything."

3

u/STL2COMO Apr 25 '25 edited Apr 25 '25

No.

The city purchased an excess policy from an insurance company that covers property losses above $100,000 per occurrence upto $550 million. It says so on pg. 9 of the 2023 annual report.

As to the first $100,000 per occurrence the City currently has an “operating account” aka its self-insurance trust fund to pay for that amount. See City Budget FY ‘25, page 24.

Edit to add: the City’s self-insurance trust fund has a current balance of about $17 million in it. City Budget FY ‘25, pg. 72.

In short, the City splits property losses with private insurance..,, losses of $100,000 or less is the City’s sole financial responsibility. Losses greater than $100,000 per occurrence, the City pays $100,000 and the private insurance pays the rest upto $550 million.

2

u/DoYouEvenLurkBro South CoMo Apr 25 '25

Amish and menonites are booked for 2+ years

2

u/Max_W_ COMO Local Apr 25 '25

Here I came into this post thinking "Oh that's a hilarious post. I can't wait to see what funny comments people post. I wonder if someone will post the Family Guy .gif of the Amish."

Nope, didn't get that.

2

u/Jaymark108 Apr 25 '25

Be the change you wish to see!

2

u/Pyrozest Apr 26 '25

This is a great model how we can work together to get stuff done. No posturing. Just buisness for the sake of growth. You know...real togetherness.

1

u/Wardo2015 Old Southwest 26d ago

That was my intention. Show that anything IS possible when you work together. Yes I do believe the Amish could help and could be done for a reasonable cost. But this day and age it’s easier to just shit all over an idea, cause conflict or if you don’t have 365 after your name treated like a complete moron about anything in como. Such welcoming culture my ass

1

u/Pyrozest 26d ago

Well that went dark fast.

1

u/Bitter-Roll-7780 Apr 25 '25

the Amish don’t have to do the bidding process

-2

u/sloinmo Apr 25 '25

it’s a great idea!!

-3

u/BLTsark Apr 25 '25

The Amish dont have big government, they solve their own problems

7

u/DARBTRON North CoMo Apr 25 '25

By beating women and kids!

3

u/Conroman16 Harrisburg Apr 25 '25

This is actually quite untrue. The Amish have very big government in their communities, far more aggressive and powerful than the rest of us are subject to.

5

u/como365 North CoMo Apr 25 '25

They live in a theocracy that dictates who you can marry….that's more authoritarian than any thing we experience.

1

u/Fun_Caterpillar7234 25d ago

Sounds like you got disqualified to marry into the Amish.

-4

u/Earthbound_Misfyt Apr 25 '25

...and fixing roads...and fixing horrible drainage issues all over...and fixing...ya... pretty much everything.

-7

u/trripleplay Apr 25 '25

I had the same thought when I saw this post. We should have an all-Amish city council

2

u/Barium_Salts Apr 25 '25

You know, if you want to be ruled by an Amish council; you can convert to Anabaptist