n May, more than 200,000 signatures (double the number required) were delivered to the Missouri secretary of state's office to officially claim a spot on the November 2006 statewide ballot for a minimum wage increase measure that would raise the wage from $5.15 to $6.50 an hour. The measure also calls for cost- of- living indexing to keep up with inflation.
According to the Missouri AFL- CIO, quoting state figures, approximately 42,000 people work for minimum wage in the state. A federal bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives that calls for raising it to $7.25 over a period of two years, but that measure, having been blocked by opponents, now requires a discharge petition that requires the signatures of 218 House members.
Among other government actions in Missouri:
• The City of St. Ann, near Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, became the first community in the state to follow up on an August 2005 state measure allowing local economic development sales tax measures by passing a half- cent measure in November 2005. Among the city's goals is redevelopment of 227 acres (92 hectares) near I- 70.
• Gov. Matt Blunt has asked the state department of transportation to complete its Smooth Roads Initiative one year earlier than planned, by the end of 2006. In testimony before state legislators, Pete Rahn, director of the department, said the current 5- year Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) totals about $7.3 billion in transportation projects.
• The new Capital Improvements Management Office (CIMO) operated by the City of Kansas City, Mo., along with engineering program management partners MWH Americans and Burns & McDonnell, was honored in January by the U.S. Conference of Mayors as a prototype for public- private partnership by municipalities. The CIMO team, composed of both public and private employees, directs the delivery of $1.2 billion in projects including Kansas City's new downtown entertainment district, the expansion of the Bartle Hall convention center, the construction of the 18,000- seat Sprint Center Arena and the contracting process of more than $190 million in neighborhood and public service projects including sanitary sewer connections, stormwater/flood control, street and bridge improvements, traffic signals and street lighting projects. Before CIMO, says a city press release, the city's portfolio of backlogged projects was some 150 exceeding some $240 million in value. After 21 months, CIMO had cut project delivery time in half – down from an average of three years to less than 18 months – and delivered more than $210 million in infrastructure projects. It has reduced by at least 10 percent the City's costs to manage and deliver a project – down from about 18 percent of total project value to about 8 percent.
• The National Association of Manufacturers chose Kansas City for a pilot project to boost the profile of manufacturing as a career choice. Working with the city's respected Kauffman Foundation and other public- sector partners, NAM has quickly helped boost enrollment in manufacturing- related technical school classes by 35 percent, and the region was one of just a handful nationwide to recently receive $15- million work force development grants from the U.S. Dept. of Labor.
