Our Opinion: What’s ahead for city’s environmental quality panel?

Jefferson City’s Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) may be characterized as a victim of its own success.

The panel was created to pursue goals it largely has attained, raising the question voiced by Mayor Carrie Tergin: What is the future of the EQC?

A brief journey through the panel’s history reveals:

• An initiative to regulate the sizes and placement of signs is now among city ordinances.

• Recycling efforts now are included in the city’s contract with Republic Services, which provides curbside recycling and trash disposal.

• A downtown streetscape and tree plantings now are maintained, respectively, by the city Public Works and Parks, Recreation and Forestry departments, in connection with the Downtown Association members and other groups.

Other aspects of the city’s visual appeal are overseen by municipal panels pertaining to historic preservation, cultural arts, building facades and artists’ murals.

The parks and recreation agency offers community garden plots and maintains parks and an extensive Greenway for pedestrians and bicyclists; farmers’ markets are overseen by university extension services and other community groups.

Does EQC have a role to play in enhancing or adding to existing amenities?

The mayor sees an opportunity for the commission to address wellness issues. “I’m looking at ways we can expand their mission, keeping up with the environmental aspect but also looking at community health and wellness.”

Cole County operates a health department and, lest we forget, Jefferson City is within Cole County. The three major health care facilities offer medical seminars and screenings and, along with YMCA branches and private businesses, provide physical fitness opportunities ranging from workouts to community run/walks.

The mayor is open to ideas. “The commission,” she said, “has had an important role in shaping the overall environmental quality of our community over the years, and I look forward to updating the vision and projects it is charged with working on to reflect our community today.”

Have the accomplishments of the Environmental Quality Commission contributed to its own obsolescence, or do new challenges exist?

We join the mayor in encouraging the community to help identify those challenges.