Leaders of the Heartland Port Authority said Tuesday they continue to work with the Missouri Office of Administration to get permission to access the land for the proposed port site to start the work.
Gov. Mike Parson in July signed a locally sponsored bill transferring 116 acres of state-owned land just east of the Ike Skelton Training Facility in Jefferson City to the Port Authority - buoying prospects for a future river port there.
However, negotiations remain to be made with OA over what the land is worth and how the Port Authority can have access to it - be it through rent, long-term lease or purchase.
Heartland Port Authority Chairman Rick Mihalevich said a $120,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and $100,000 from the Missouri Department of Transportation will be spent to jump-start the port approval process.
"We need to show the OA there is urgency to get the approval process done because these monies have to be spent by June 30," Mihalevich said.
Missy Bonnot, Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce interim president and director, said the funding could be used only for preliminary design and environmental work, which require access to the property.
"We lobbied hard to get this money because the other ports realized we needed it, and unless you have money you can't start up," Bonnot said.
Cole County Western District Commissioner Harry Otto, who will represent the Cole County Commission on the Heartland Port Authority board, said he had talked with officials at the governor's office and OA and found while the bill provided for conveyance of the property, it did not provide for terms and conditions.
"No one wants to buy the land, and it's not marketable," Otto said. "It comes down to what will the Port Authority offer to the state for the conveyance. We don't have real money to buy the property, but the improvements the port plans to make are very important to the state. Getting across the railroad tracks with an overpass would be invaluable to the state, but that's expensive."
Mihalevich and Bonnot said they will continue to work with state Rep. Rudy Veit, R-Wardsville, who sponsored the legislation to transfer the land, to keep the process moving.
Also Tuesday, Bonnot encouraged the board to start nailing down the next steps in the process to make the port a reality. Board members agreed they should work to have more contact with five key players they see as partners: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, MoDOT and the Union Pacific railroad.