Jefferson City mayor looks ahead to 2017 goals

Shares highlights of 2016

Carrie Tergin
Carrie Tergin

Setting goals.

It's a natural thing for decision-makers, coaches and, of course, politicians. Especially at year's end.

Take stock of where you are and look ahead, guess where you and yours are going if you dare.

Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin is at such a juncture today.

The year 2016 is 144 hours or so from being history; 2017 is all warmed up, waiting for its debut.

Ask Mayor Tergin about her city's 2017 and she introduces her vision of her hometown today and tomorrow.

The year 2016 has been a good year, she said with confidence. Difficult economic times are in the past. The 2016 economy, locally, was flourishing. Job growth, low unemployment, the expansion of infrastructure like the opening of the Lafayette Street-U.S. 50 interchange, and the completion of the Missouri River bridge renovation all confirmed that view.

So what of this new year, the infant 2017 about to come to a nearby calendar? Jefferson City is ready for new goals in 2017, Mayor Tergin said, especially in at least four areas generally known, readily understood and widely embraced:

The East Capitol Avenue Urban Renewal Plan.

The Missouri State Penitentiary (MSP).

The Veterans Walk to Riverfront Park at Adrian's Island.

The Job Classification System and Pay Plan Analysis.

Tergin's short list for 2017 is topped by an old issue - the East Capitol Avenue Urban Renewal Plan. She said that's an easy call.

Documents were signed formalizing the plan in the last few days of December, locking in the working relationship between the City Council and Housing Authority. After decades of neglect well documented by the actions of various agencies of federal, state, county and city government, the more than 38 acres of the most historic district in Jefferson City remain an eyesore as 2016 ends. That will change dramatically in 2017. The area is now officially designated as blighted.

Appraisals of the 106 parcels of land, 42 of which are 100 years old or older, will begin soon. Offers to purchase, acquisition and, finally, restoration or removal and revival will occur. It will be a multi-year project.

Tergin is ebullient in describing her vision for the day East Capitol Avenue will once again be a showplace of grand old homes, many with distinctive and even unique architectural flairs. The opposition to urban renewal, she emphasizes, has abated and there is a sense of unanimity about the need for the total face lift.

As enthusiastic as Tergin is about the beautification and gentrification of East Capitol Avenue, she's almost as effusive in her praise of MSP and its present and, more importantly, its future.

Tergin is a well-known fan of MSP, the nationally-historic prison now acknowledged as an economic hammer in Jefferson City and an emerging tourist magnet. In 2016, tours of MSP experienced a full 25 percent growth compared to 2015, with more than 32,000 persons paying to see the site.

The mayor's excitement about MSP for 2017 rests, in no small part, in her recent agreement with Commissioner of Administration Doug Nelson for a second concert in July next year. New and popular events and attractions like concerts and other performing arts will lure thousands more to MSP in 2017 and the years to come, Tergin said.

She lauds the work of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau, Nelson's Office of Administration and other sponsors with creating a unified team committed to seeing the old penal institution compete with other decomissioned American prisons for the curious traveler's dollars.

Tergin notes the city was ever-so-close to a breakthrough in the development of the riverfront near the Capitol and construction of the bridge and its many features that will be known as Veterans Walk, leading to a total overhaul of Adrian's Island, the now-unused expanse of wildlife, woods, weeds and water within a stone's throw of the shore.

Indeed, she hints the project, which is contingent on attracting millions of dollars in private funding, will be formally launched in 2017, with just a smidgen of luck. In 2016, the plan to build the bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks to Adrian's Island hit a bump in the road when it was determined ineligible for a state and federal funding grant, but planners continue to seek donations and other funding for the project.

And, finally, Tergin is optimistic the pay plan adopted by the City Council in 2016, after six months of study by a nationally-prominent consultant, will fortify the high morale she perceives among the more than 400 persons on the city payroll. The pay study resulted in almost $1 million in new wages and benefits being passed to city staff in 2016.

Its full implementation and role in the city's future human resources plan will be defined in 2017.

She said 2017 will be a year to concentrate on Jefferson City's unique national status with a state Capitol, a river and a historic gem of a prison.

 

Tergin shares 5 highlights for city in 2016

Every day is a Mayor of Jefferson City Day for Carrie Tergin.

"I try to attend everything, everything I possibly can," she said of her philosophy toward her mayoral responsibilities. "I watch my calendar closely, and even then I hate it when I hear of something after it's happened when I think I should have been there to represent the city."

As the owner and No. 1 sales clerk at the East High Street gift shop which bears her name, Tergin was physically surrounded by customers this past week, while concomitantly discussing several of the biggest achievements of the city's year. With 44 customers - by actual head count - in the store at one point, the mayor leaned against the cluttered shelf which passes for her basement office and summarized her mayoral 2016. Several of her 2016 highlights have happened in just the past few days:

The combination of City Council and Housing Authority moves which formalized launch in January 2017 of the East Capitol Avenue Urban Renewal plan. The timeline for the actual work on the 38.1-acre, 106-parcel historic district is in place, the council should approve the funding plan at its Jan. 3 meeting and a joint council-authority meeting Jan. 10 will give the public an opportunity to influence the prioritization of structures on the appraisal-acquisition-action list, Tergin said. The long-stagnant project moved from point zero in January 2016 to kickoff one year later, she said.

Her first visit with Gov.-Elect Eric Greitens, which was arranged by state Sen. Mike Kehoe. That meeting, she said, was a valuable experience for her and the city. Building a positive relationship with Greitens, she said, will be essential to his view of the town he'll call home the next four years.

The 2016 efforts of Gov. Jay Nixon and his administration, especially Commissioner of Administration Doug Nelson and his staff, in facilitating the 25 percent surge in attendance, popularity, national visibility and revenues of the Missouri State Penitentiary (MSP). Indeed, Nelson and his Office of Administration (OA) made last summer's landmark "Inside the Walls" concert at MSP possible, Tergin said. Tergin considers that concert a breakthrough for the city and the continued future growth of MSP as a magnet for tourism. A second concert already is on her calendar for July 2017; she and Nelson already have struck the deal to confirm that.

The city's reaction to residents' needs following the back-to-back August and September flash floods. She can tick off the work of staff in the Public Works, Police and Fire departments, among others, as testimony to the "customer service" the city furnished residents soaked, displaced and in some cases devastated by the twin deluges. The quick response of the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department to the storms, especially in cleaning, restoring and reopening the Washington Park Ice Arena, was clear evidence of city staff's commitment to that customer service, Tergin said.

Completion and implementation of the Job Classification System and Pay Plan Analysis. The so-called city pay plan is important in assuring the more than 400 city employees are well paid and supported with comprehensive benefits that protect them and their dependents, Tergin said. Tergin believes the city's employees deserve to enjoy a solid work environment, including satisfaction with their paychecks, and to compare themselves favorably with the State of Missouri and private employers, too.