Due to extensive flooding at the Jefferson City Memorial Airport, the city is considering suspending or decreasing fees associated with the airport.
The city charges various fees associated with airport operations, including ground, building and agriculture leases, as well as student flight instruction fees.
About 10 individuals and/or businesses lease ground for hangers from the city, Jefferson City Operations Division Director Britt Smith said. A restaurant also leases space in the terminal, and one farmer leases ground from the airport and wastewater divisions.
Airport tenants requested city staff consider reducing or suspending some or all of these fees until the airport reopens, Smith told the Jefferson City Public Works and Planning Committee on Thursday.
Use of the airport has been limited due to flooding, Smith said. City facilities at the airport impacted by flooding include two maintenance buildings, the control tower and the terminal building, he added.
The Jefferson City Flying Services leases land from the city. Grant Shorthose, president of Jefferson City Flying Services, said it will be difficult to balance the business' loss of income with the expenses associated with cleanup after the flood.
"We will take anything you can work with us on," he said. "We understand that it is under 3 feet of water, but we still lease that land from you. We would take any help from you."
Revenue from the leases average about $10,000 a month, Smith said. He added he did not know how a possible fee waiver would fiscally impact the city since he was unsure how long the flooding would last.
Associate City Counselor Bryan Wolford told the committee he wants to do more research before making changes to the leases. The Public Works and Planning Committee plans to revisit the lease fees at a future meeting.
City staff hopes the water will recede "within the near future" so they can clean off the runways and get them back in operation quickly, Smith said.
Shorthose said Jefferson City Flying Services plans to "get back into business as soon as possible."
"We can't just sit back and say, 'We might flood again,'" he said. "We have to get back into it."
Since the airport is in a floodplain, Jefferson City Public Works Director Matt Morasch said, he reminded city staff they have to abide by FEMA's substantial improvement rule. Under the rule, property owners of structures in a floodplain can't make improvements totaling more than 50 percent of the structures' values.
The Missouri River crested at 33.41 feet late last week and has steadily decreased since. The river was at 30.9 feet Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
The flood waters breached the Capital View levee around May 24 and created a 30- to 40-foot gap, leading to flooding at the airport and throughout North Jefferson City.
The Memorial Day Weekend Salute to Veterans Corporation canceled its Salute to Veterans Airshow at the airport last month due to anticipated flooding.
While city staff worked to combat flooding in North Jefferson City and parts of downtown, they also devoted time and resources to clean up efforts following the EF-3 tornado that swept through Jefferson City on May 22.
Since May 24, the vegetative debris removal site has more than 13,000 cubic yards - about 2,600 dump truck loads - of debris, Smith said. Vegetative debris includes tree branches, brush and weeds.
"We've been able to really put a large dent into vegetative debris with this site," Smith said.
Non-vegetative debris pickup began May 30, and there have been about 400 tons hauled - 270 dump truck loads - so far, Smith said.
The city has had some issues with residents putting items on the curb that would not be considered wind-blown debris, he said. Wind-blown debris does not include household goods or trash.
"If your house had the roof blow off, certainly that would be wind-blown debris. If your neighbor's house had something blow off and it got on your property, that would be wind-blown debris," said Sonny Sanders, Jefferson City Planning and Protective Services director. "If your house got damaged and you are going to do some repairs, you can't just empty out all of the contents and put them on the edge of the street. That would be a property code violation, and we ultimately are going to hold the property owner responsible for that."
Residents must place wind-blown debris on the curb by Sunday. Starting Monday, Public Works staff will make its final rounds through affected areas for debris collection.
The vegetative debris dropoff site will be open until June 30.
Starting soon, the city's code enforcers will gradually begin enforcing code violations, Sanders said.
"We understand people have all sorts of stresses right now and extenuating circumstances, so if you're making progress on working on your property, we'll work with you," he said. "We're not just going to come in and say, 'You have to remove this in 10 days,' when we know that you have other things going on."
Between the tornado and flood, 53 city vehicles were damaged, Smith said, adding 47 of those have been repaired and are back in service.
There was also minor damage to City Hall, Smith said, including a broken window and some roof damage.
Seven traffic signals, three crosswalk flashing lights, more than 40 city-owned street lights and more than 400 street sign poles were impacted by the tornado and flood, Smith said.
All of the traffic signals are back in operation, he said. The city is also creating a bid for street light and crosswalk repairs, he added.
There also have been various road and parking lot closures due to flooding and tornado damage. The Missouri Office of Administration has been paying the city for shuttle services through JeffTran, Smith said.
City staff plans to clean up some of the parking lots as the water recedes.
"As you can imagine, muddy Missouri," he said. "When the water recedes, it leaves some of the mud behind so we're having to clean up some of that."
FEMA representatives were in Jefferson City on Thursday to assess the tornado and flood damage. The city hopes to receive a potential reimbursement from FEMA to help "lead to some relief."
"It's kind of like working with an insurance company," Smith told the committee. "You have costs that are (and aren't) considered reimbursable, so it is a little bit (of an) accounting measure to walk through this. Fortunately, we've been through this before so we know what we're up against."