Roll call

Columbia City Council agreed to fund the terrace building behind EdVenture for $5,004,720.11. Columbia City Council convened around 9 am Wednesday, June 24 on the third floor of City Hall for its regular meeting. All members of council were present: Kirkman Finlay III, Tameika Isaac Devine, E.W. Cromartie, Mayor Bob Coble, Sam Davis, Daniel Rickenmann, and Belinda Gergel.

Budget

Council voted for the fiscal year 2009/2010 budget with total expenditures and transfers out coming to $235,667,664.

Bus service or lack thereof

When Mayor Bob Coble first took office in early July 1990, Columbia put about 34 buses on the street every morning at the peak period. Looking ahead to July 2009, one week away to Coble's 19th transit anniversary, Columbia can expect to see a morning peak average number of buses of about 34. To fund this grand continuum in mass transit for the next two years, since the city let Scana Corp. off the hook while it also extended the company's utility monopoly another 30 years, the city must sell the property that was formerly Scana's bus barn. The city expects to transfer $4,000,000 from the sale of the property to the bus system in two $2,000,000 payments over two years. By then, as now, the city still runs the risk of having no transit policy because the city has no transit money.

Back of EdVenture

Council agreed to fund the terrace building behind EdVenture for $5,004,720.11, which includes hard costs ($2,596,193), soft costs ($1,577,555.90), and contingency ($592,150). Do note that design and survey costs ($1,146,150.80) come to about 44 percent of hard construction costs, something of a record price for design services.

Next meeting

Council will meet on Wednesday evening, July 8, at 6 pm in the Eau Claire Print Building, 3905 Ensor Avenue.