Skala ekes out narrow win

After a campaign in which he advocated controlled and targeted growth, community activist Karl Skala won a close contest for a three-year term as Third Ward city councilman over businessman Gary Kespohl.

The final tally from the Boone County Clerk’s Office showed Skala with 908 votes, or 51.8 percent, to Kespohl’s 845 votes, or 48 percent.

Skala will replace Bob Hutton, who did not seek re-election after serving two separate stints of six years each on the council.

Skala, 60, who served six years on the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission and until now has also been a member of the Environment and Energy Commission, enjoyed the support of environmentalists and “smart-growth” advocates. He gathered with supporters at The Pasta Factory on Tuesday night.

“We have three votes in a similar vein now, and I think we can move ahead and make the community what we want it to be,” Skala said, referring to the election of Jerry Wade in the Fourth Ward and to last year’s election of Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe, an ardent environmentalist.

Skala is director of MU’s Swine Hormone Research Core and has been active in local politics for years. In 2005, he was a leader of Timely and Responsible Road Infrastructure Financing, or TARRIF, which campaigned against a proposed increase in the capital improvement sales tax for streets and in favor of higher development fees. Voters rejected the former and approved the latter.

Skala is also a founding member of the Hominy Branch Neighborhood Association.

Skala said his first priority on the council will be traffic relief for Ballenger Lane in the Third Ward. He said that during his campaign,

he found that the Third Ward has been neglected.

“But from this neglect you can find a solution, and that’s empowerment,” he said. “And after empowerment, you get community.”

Kespohl, 60, ran a more general campaign, saying he was “pro-Columbia” and choosing not to emphasize any particular issue. He said he simply wanted Columbia, where his children are raising his grandchildren, to remain a wonderful place to live.

In radio spots leading up to the election, Kespohl called for “balance” and “common sense” on the council.

“This is not life-altering,” Kespohl said many times during a gathering with friends and supporters at Jack’s Gourmet on Tuesday night. “Life goes on, and that’s OK. That’s how it is.”

Kespohl, who has been a Little League volunteer for more than 30 years, owns numerous rental properties and has owned and operated his own business, Central Missouri Computer Center, for 25 years. A Columbia resident since the age of 5, he said he had long thought about running for council, but this was his first bid.

“I knew it would be close,” Kespohl said. “I thought going door to door might sway it, but apparently not. But you may not have heard the last of me.”