Plans continue to move forward for a potential regional port district on the Missouri River in Jefferson City.
At a public meeting Thursday night at City Hall, Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce President Randy Allen gave a presentation on the progress so far.
Earlier this month, the Cole and Callaway county commissions joined the Jefferson City Council in supporting the chamber's effort to find funding for the port district.
The two counties and city are asking for roughly $900,000 in grant money to do preliminary planning of the port. If they receive it, the entities will provide a 20 percent match. Jefferson City and Cole County would pay $75,000 each, and Callaway County would pay $37,500.
If they do not receive the grant, each government entity would pay double that amount. With that in mind, the chamber asked the Jefferson City Council and Cole County Commissioners to approve $150,000, each. The commission approved the motion with the money coming out of the county's general revenue fund, and the council approved a bill that uses money from Sales Tax F.
Callaway County commissioners declined to approve the $75,000 the chamber had requested for design work and instead committed to pay $37,500 - and only if the grant goes through.
The three bodies all approved resolutions authorizing a partnership between the city, Cole County and Callaway County to establish the regional port district, which will be called the Heartland Port Authority of Central Missouri. Each of the entities could appoint three people to the nine-member port authority.
Allen said these votes allowed the grant and port applications to proceed. He said the grant application was sent to the Federal Department of Transportation this week, and he believes they should hear whether or not they get it in December. The application to create a port authority will be sent to the Missouri Department of Transportation next week. It's hoped a decision will be made during a Sept. 8 Missouri Highway Commission meeting in Chesterfield.
"If we get the grant, then we can move forward a lot faster," Allen said. "I think we're looking at a project that would be done in three to four phases."
There are two options proposed for building a port. The first would build a port on the Missouri River in southern Jefferson City, adjacent to the Missouri National Guard Ike Skelton Training Facility. The second option would build ports on the site in southern Jefferson City and on a site along the Missouri River near OCCI Inc. in Callaway County. Dry bulk commodities would be handled at the south site using conveyor systems, while commodities moved by crane would be handled at the north site.
Building only on the south side of Jefferson City would cost at least $54.77 million, while the combined option would cost approximately $59.5 million.
There would be an additional $10 million cost for roadway improvements and $1 million to pay for engineering and planning services to build those roads, according to information provided to the three governing bodies.
The Callaway County Commission, Cole County Commission, Jefferson City Council and the chamber hired Atlanta consultancy firm Cambridge Systematics last year to conduct a feasibility study of a Missouri River port. The study found the port could have a significant economic impact on the area and potentially create more than 4,000 jobs over 25 years.
At Thursday night's meeting, Bert Dirschell, of Centertown, spoke of a company he worked for that built a plant on a river in Tennessee, which was serviced by rail and they later decided to build a port facility. He said they found out the port wasn't feasible for getting in the materials they needed, making it a waste of a lot of money.
"If there are private entities who say they will use this port, why not have them pay for it," Dirschell said. "It's not good use of taxpayers' money if they can't deliver the goods that the businesses need."
Dirschell also noted there is a port authority in Boonville, which is already close to an interstate, I-70.
"If they can't get funding to build their facility up, what makes people think it will happen here? " he asked.
Also at the meeting was Steve Engemann, president of Hermann Sand and Gravel and Missouri River Towing. He said they began the towing company in 2009 and shipped 30,000 tons of cargo. He said they are now shipping 500,000 tons of cargo, mostly farm commodities going mainly to St. Louis and Kansas City.
"The Missouri River is a world market," he said. "It's been great for our company. Today, we moved 10,000 tons of product on the river, going through Jefferson City, and hardly anyone knew about it - probably. It was out of sight and didn't cause any problems. I fully support the project because we need to do more economic development on the river."