Missouri River port authority receives grant funding

Backers of a proposed Missouri River port in or near Jefferson City are working to advance the project.
Backers of a proposed Missouri River port in or near Jefferson City are working to advance the project.

A grant to help in the process to establish a Missouri River port in Jefferson City has been approved.

The Heartland Port Authority Board has been approved for a grant from the state Department of Agriculture's Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture provides these grants for projects that aid rural communities. Grants can cover expenses relating to feasibility studies, marketing studies, marketing plans, business plans and prospects for development, according to MDA guidelines.

"This will help us find out what businesses would utilize a port," said Cole County Western District Commissioner Kris Scheperle, who also is a member of the Port Authority Board.

A subcommittee of board members worked to develop a request for proposals from firms with business planning expertise, and they determined Decision Innovation Solutions, an economic research and analysis firm from Iowa, had the best proposal.

The MASBDA grant for the Port Authority is for $183,700, requiring a $20,000 match. Missouri Soybean Association CEO and Executive Director Gary Wheeler, who also sits on the Heartland Port Authority board, said his organization would provide $5,000 toward the match, leaving $13,370 yet to be funded.

Port Authority Board Chair Rick Mihalevich asked the Jefferson City Council - of which Mihalevich is a member - to approve a resolution to provide $6,850 toward the match, which the council did in May.

The Cole County Commission on Tuesday approved providing up to $7,000 to cover match funding.

"It's eight times cheaper to haul products by barge than by truck," Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman said. "Eight times the savings means more profits in the pockets of local business owners."

Meanwhile, the Port Authority is awaiting word on whether it was approved for a federal grant.

The USDA Missouri Rural Business Development Grant would be for $175,000, used to fund needed clearances under the National Environmental Policy Act that the port site would have to meet - including farmland impact, hydraulic modeling and determining if any endangered species are in the area where a proposed port would be located.

No funds from local governments were used, and the Port Authority Board received a letter of support from Missouri's U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt.

The bill that would have transferred 116 acres of state-owned land just east of the Ike Skelton Training Facility in Jefferson City to the Heartland Port Authority failed to make it through the legislative process during this year's session. However, Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce President Rany Allen said they never heard anyone oppose the measure, but that other matters simply were put ahead of this piece of legislation. Allen said they plan to resubmit the plan for the 2020 legislative session.