Columbia council approves grant and several ordinances; zoning annexation fails on second consideration

The City of Columbia council approved a package of routine business, several ordinances and resolutions, and a $1.3 million grant from the Tennessee violent-crime intervention fund during its November meeting.

On resolutions, the council ratified Resolution 25-81 authorizing acceptance and administration of a State violent-crime intervention fund grant in an amount not to exceed $1,300,000. Chief Haywood told the council that the award had been increased from $1,000,000 to $1,300,000 because not all eligible agencies applied; as he told the body, “what originally was a million dollar grant…are awarding City of Columbia $1,300,000 now.” Council authorized the mayor to execute grant documents and accept the award.

The council approved multiple financial and administrative measures on the consent agenda and elsewhere: September disbursements totaling $10,818,033.19 were approved; a $524,497 contract with DWR Aquatics was authorized for pool renovations at the Columbia Aquatics and Recreation Center; and a transfer-station/landfill services agreement with United Disposal Partners LLC at $84.73 per ton was approved. The council also authorized a work order with Granicus for $3,274.79 to add a blog module to the Visit Columbia website and approved a $4,000 social-media contract with a content creator.

On ordinances, council passed second consideration of Ordinance 45-62 to convert South Garden Street to one-way traffic (West 11th Street to Depot Street). A second-consideration vote on Ordinance 45-64 — rezoning tied to the annexation covered in Resolution 25-70 — failed on roll call. Council adopted building-code amendments (Ordinance 45-66) and moved forward with first consideration or public-hearing scheduling for other items including adoption of the 2024 International Fire Code (Ordinance 45-68), collection of 2024 delinquent property taxes (45-69), special-assessment collections (45-70), and budget revisions (45-71).

All passed motions were recorded on roll call; several items had only brief discussion from staff and council before votes. Where an ordinance or resolution was tied to a later public hearing (for example the fire-code adoption), council set the hearing date and required statutory notice.

Next steps: city staff will execute the grant acceptance process, complete contract signatures, and publish notice for items that require future hearings.