The ballot language has not been written, the dollar amount which the public will be asked to approve has not been established, a campaign committee has not been recruited, and the campaign plan doesn't exist.
That doesn't concern 5th Ward City Councilman Larry Henry, he said, discussing his vision for passing an August initiative in the tens of millions of dollars to fund reconstruction of Jefferson City's stormwater infrastructure.
Although the exact amount needed to overhaul the aging stormwater system has not been revealed, it is sure to be between $30 million and $36 million, Public Works Director Matt Morasch has said.
Property owners who sustained thousands of dollars in uninsured or unreimbursed property damage in the August and September flash floods in 2016 are right there in lockstep with Henry, who chairs the city's Public Works Committee, ready to campaign for the plan.
Third Ward Councilman Ken Hussey, speaking on Henry's behalf, announced the city's intention to place a stormwater proposal on the Aug. 8 municipal ballot at last Tuesday's City Council meeting.
The vote will be "an opportunity to invest in our infrastructure and repair and replace our aging system," Hussey told the News Tribune. "These needs only get more expensive each year, and especially as we have more flood events that put added stress on the system. It's an issue that impacts all residents, even if they live atop a hill and do not think they are impacted by stormwater.
"We all drive on roads and access businesses which depend on the system to be up to date and reliable," Hussey said. "We have put off these repairs and needs for so long, and it is reaching a critical stage for our community."
The city will not settle on final ballot language until outreach efforts with stakeholders have been completed, city counselor Ryan Moehlman said.
City leaders decided it would be unwise to offer the tax plan on the April 4 ballot, Henry said. That election - the general municipal election day in Missouri in 2017 - likely will feature a $130 million Jefferson City Public Schools proposal to build a second high school.
"We didn't consider it a wise move to put our stormwater issue on the same ballot with the new high school," Henry said. "Especially in the economic climate we are living in now, it just didn't seem smart. We wanted to let each separate issue stand on its own merits."
After back-to-back floods in August and September last year, Morasch and members of the council dedicated many hours to researching the stormwater issue, analyzing the Jefferson City system and the manner in which comparable municipalities have approached reconstruction of these vast chunks of infrastructure. At least four public meetings explored the issue in November and December, culminating with the Public Works Committee's deep dive on the subject Dec. 8.
Hussey's statement Tuesday brought the ballot discussion into the focus Henry is ready to take to the campaign level.
"Now we'll let the public know what we're doing," Henry said. "We've got to get out and communicate with those who haven't been hit with flooding yet. You can't stop Mother Nature, and you can't predict Mother Nature. Just because you haven't had a big flood in your neighborhood yet doesn't mean you're not going to get one with the next storm. The key's going to be getting out and communicating with the folks who are still skeptical there is a problem."
Reaching out to stormwater stakeholders, as Moehlman said, will be pivotal to the success of the campaign. Henry said he would welcome support from the ad hoc committee which sprang from a Nov. 12 meeting, led by residents Mary Ann Reuter, Eric Weddle and Marilyn Russell.
Reuter told the News Tribune she was as enthused as ever about pushing for passage of the stormwater election.
"I've not given up on this, not at all," she said. She already has written over $20,000 in checks for repairs caused by the 2016 floods in her Moreau Heights Elementary School neighborhood.
She also blames Jefferson City for the devastation sustained at her home.
"They're the reason we had such a big flood out here. If they'd done their job and cleaned out these ditches out here, we wouldn't have had this much trouble," Reuter said.
Russell and Weddle also reported high-dollar losses associated with the flooding.
Morasch, stormwater engineer Don Fontana, planning engineer David Bange and others at City Hall have drawn high praise from Henry for their work on the issue, preparing the city for the August election.
"I can't say enough good things about Don Fontana," Henry said. "He took a lot of anger from city residents after those floods."
Before the August and September floods, Morasch estimated the city had 58 stormwater projects needing at least $15 million in improvements. After the floods, he said that number has risen to $30 million.
The city budgets about $1.8 million over the next five years for stormwater Band-Aids, Morasch has said.