93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
Columbia’s mayor expects city manager De’Carlon Seewood to submit a report to the council within the next month or two on what her proposed new Office of Violence Prevention would look like.
Mayor Barbara Buffaloe is proposing the creation of the new office, in the wake of the recent killing of a three-year-old child. She says many community groups, churches, nonprofits and others are working on violence prevention.
“And so from the city’s perspective, we can really help convene those groups together. And we have the data that we pulled together. We know what our police department needs assistance with. We know what our health care system needs assistance with and where they see the need. And so if we can just kind of convene around that, we can help organize everybody to work in the same direction,” Buffaloe says.
Mayor Buffaloe tells 939 the Eagle that city manager Seewood recently returned from the international city manager’s association meeting in Austin, and attended sessions where this very topic was addressed.
The mayor says she’s done talking about community violence and that it’s time for action. 939 the Eagle News asked Mayor Buffaloe if her plan would require an amendment to the city’s $533-million operating budget, which was approved in mid-September.
“Now in our fiscal year 24 budget, we do have over $100,000 for community violence assessment. That’s the sort of task that would fall within this office. And so I imagine there is the potential to use a little bit of that funds to help kind of brainstorm, put the foundation in place for what this is,” says Buffaloe.
The mayor emphasizes that other cities like Kansas City and Baltimore have similar offices, so there are models for Columbia to learn from.
