COLUMBIA, 1/31/11 (Beat Byte)
-- Antagonistic words from a Columbia City Councilman have members of
the Sierra Club angry and
disappointed.
Urging Columbia city manager Bill Watkins and public works
director John Glascock to "discount" Sierra Club complaints about the city's
compliance with EPA stormwater discharge requirements, Third Ward Councilman
Gary Kespohl asked Watkins in a Jan. 10 email if he could "recall any time when
the Sierra Club and/or the American Canoe Association have participated in a
joint effort with any department in the city to work on a project to improve the
health of the Hinkson creek?"
"???" Watkins replied. "I do not remember any, do you?"
Glascock added. Sierra Club members obtained the emails via a Sunshine Law
request.
Record Straightening
Until he decided to run for his current position, Kespohl (below)
himself had limited involvement with city government. But that didn't stop the first-term Councilman from
applying a different standard to the Sierra Club.
"Do they actually take steps and spend funds to better the
water quality or do they just complain that the city is not doing things right?"
Kespohl chided. "Seems to me that if they are truly concerned about the
Hinkson, they would take action (do work) to help improve it. If they simply
are an alarm to the DNR and EPA and not willing to go into action, we should
discount their involvement."
"I do not take lightly aspersions from Councilman Kespohl,
city manager Watkins and public works director Glascock," local Sierra Club
program director Scott Dye told the Columbia Heart Beat. "Apparently, everyone
on their email chain is stunningly uninformed."
The American Canoe Association, Dye informed the three men in a follow up email, "does not have an affiliate office in Columbia," and hasn't been involved in recent Sierra Club efforts to secure documents regarding City Hall's EPA compliance. More importantly, however, "for ten years, the Sierra Club has been proud to be one of the primary cosponsors of Cleanup Columbia, by far the largest single-day citywide cleanup per capita in the state," Dye wrote. "The City is the event sponsor." Along with labor and organization, the Sierra Club annually donates $1,000 to the event.
Long History
The American Canoe Association, Dye informed the three men in a follow up email, "does not have an affiliate office in Columbia," and hasn't been involved in recent Sierra Club efforts to secure documents regarding City Hall's EPA compliance. More importantly, however, "for ten years, the Sierra Club has been proud to be one of the primary cosponsors of Cleanup Columbia, by far the largest single-day citywide cleanup per capita in the state," Dye wrote. "The City is the event sponsor." Along with labor and organization, the Sierra Club annually donates $1,000 to the event.
Long History
Founded in 1892 by famed naturalist John
Muir, the Sierra Club is the nation's
oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization. In Columbia,
group participation has more than tripled over the last decade.
"For seven years, we’ve held the annual Hinkson
Clean Sweep each Fall in Columbia," Dye explained. "The event has
grown from 70 participants to over 250 in 2010, and has removed over 17 tons of
trash, debris, appliances and over 150 waste tires from Hinkson Creek and its
tributaries."
"It’s disappointing," Dye added, "that Director Glascock
was apparently unaware that Columbia Public Works has been a full sponsor for
the last five years."
So that Columbia remains tire free, the Sierra Club is tireless, Dye explained, also cleaning up abandoned homeless camps and clandestine tire dumps. "Public Works employees at the Grissum Building are well familiar with my red pickup pulling through the gate to deposit the tires on their racks," he said.
So that Columbia remains tire free, the Sierra Club is tireless, Dye explained, also cleaning up abandoned homeless camps and clandestine tire dumps. "Public Works employees at the Grissum Building are well familiar with my red pickup pulling through the gate to deposit the tires on their racks," he said.
"We also help coordinate stream cleanups for Job
Point; provide certified volunteer water quality
monitors for Missouri’s Stream Team program; report sewage
spills and severe erosion," Dye wrote. "I was honored
to be one of the first four Missouri Stream Team volunteers selected for Level
IV training (the highest certification available from this nationally acclaimed
program)."
Dye ended by inviting Watkins, Glascock, and Kespohl to
the 8th Annual Hinkson Clean Sweep and by rising above the fray.
"Thank you for listening, and for your
public service to our city," Dye wrote the three men.
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