The Columbia City Council unanimously passed a resolution Monday to prohibit discrimination toward individuals based on their gender identity.
The issue was brought to the attention of Mayor Bob McDavid by the organization PROMO, a Missouri LGBT advocacy group.
Claire Cook, the organization’s Kansas City and Mid-Missouri field organizer, said she was excited the bill passed.
“I was very pleased to see a unanimous decision by the council,” Cook said. “It shows this council knows what’s right for the city and is willing to stand up for what is right.”
Fifth Ward Councilwoman Helen Anthony said she was happy to support the bill and said she was sorry that it took the city nearly a decade to take action on this issue after it was initially brought to their attention.
Former Columbia Human Relations Chairman David Finke said though the issue took a while to receive justice, he wanted to reflect on the positive.
“Thank you to the civic leadership who showed the political courage to help rectify this situation,” Finke said.
Finke spoke about how often transgender individuals are commonly discriminated against in the job and housing market, among other issues.
Aside from the bill, graduate student Brittany Perrin spoke about Columbia’s transit issues.
This past October, McDavid formed a 10-person Transit System Task Force to come up with a solution to the city’s transit issues. The task force came after the council voted to increase transit costs and reduce services on Sept. 19. The changes to transit based on the vote took effect Oct. 1 of this year.
Perrin, who is representing MU on the task force, and others recently formed a committee of students to reach out to the student body. She spoke about the committee’s goals to move forward with the issue.
Perrin said the members plan to start a student marketing plan to increase student transit use, survey students on what they want in a reformed transit system and possibly travel to another college town to see how an effective student-centric transit system works.
“I am pleased to see an enthusiasm from the students,” First Ward Councilman Fred Schmidt said. “They are the majority of riders and it looks like they are taking an interest in transit.”
McDavid he said from his own research, the best system he has found is one in Ames, Iowa because of the transparency, clarity of the website and the amount of riders who use it.
The council also voted 5-2 to change the way Columbia bills residents for sewer services.
Columbia uses a winter quarterly average to determine how much to charge residents for their sewer. This year, the city billed residents during the months of January, February and March for use during the months of December, January and February. Under the new legislation, residents will now be billed in the months of November, December and January for the months of October, November and December.
The change came after the city received complaints regarding the fact that some residents’ sewer rates possibly rose because under the old plan, “snowbirds,” or residents who spend the winter months in the south, appeared to use no water.