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PrintTuesday is Election Day in Columbia. Voters will elect two City Council members and two school board members.
Throughout the campaign,s the Missourian has reported where the candidates stand on the biggest challenges they will face if elected.
- As two school board members, Michelle Gadbois and Steve Calloway, leave, two new members, Michelle Pruitt and Christine King, are sworn in Monday at the District’s Administration Building. Gadbois discusses her feelings about leaving the district as Pruitt and King discuss their excitement for joining the board.
- Michelle Pruitt, left, newly elected member of the Columbia Board of Education, is sworn into office by Lynn Barnett, assistant superintendent and secretary of the board, during the board meeting at the Public School Administration building Monday.
- Top row, left to right: Marc Bledsoe, Jeannine Craig, Greg Flippin, Dan Holt
Bottom row, left to right: Christine King, Sam Phillips, Michelle Pruitt, Adam Sorg
Not pictured: Bill Merideth
New school board members have a worrisome $3.2 million deficit to account for and a few years of a perceived lack of communication with the community to repair.
The City Council race winners face the task of continuing to help Columbia grow through an economic downturn. All four candidates have listed public safety and changes or improvements to the Columbia Police Department asimportant issues.
You can read about other issues the candidates have discussed with the community in the Missourian’s Voters Guide.
With such a long list of challenges, the most pressing decision of new council and school board members may simply be which to focus on first.
What single issue do you think is most important for the newly elected officials to begin to address immediately after taking office? Why does this issue stand out to you?
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