Office of Administration Archives

Missouri Capitol makeover expected to finish later this year

June 26, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

A $45 million project to spruce up the Missouri Capitol is on track to finish in November or December. As the first major construction work of the building assembled in 1917, it is addressing deteriorating stonework on its facades, dome and drum, overall appearance and stabilizing the structure. Upon completion, the project will extend the life of the building and ensure the historic structure is properly preserved for decades to come.

Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City

The project includes two phases. The first phase began in 2016 to address the substructure of the building, including waterproofing and repairs to major leakage into the basement. It also refurbished the outside Capitol grand staircase, which is 30 feet wide and extends from ground level to the third floor.

The current phase is focused on the stonework and terraces. Project Manager Mike Qutami with the Office of Administration says most of the stone is in good shape but there are some problem spots being fixed.

“Basically, every square foot of that building was assessed and will receive some kind of treatment – that being repair of the stone, reshaping of the stone and definitely cleaning all the stone,” he says. “The south entrance – there was a huge chunk of stone, about 4,000 maybe 5,000 pounds that could have come down any time. Now throughout the building, there was some pieces that could have fallen from the upper part of the perimeter of the Capitol façade.”

The stone being used in the repair work is from Willard in southwest Missouri.

“The actual stone replacement was approximately 5% of the stone in the building,” he says. “And that total is approximately 4,565,000 pounds.”

Other repair work is at the structure’s north plaza where sidewalks and walkways have buckled. In addition, all the bronze monuments in the capital complex are being conserved. Chief among them is the statue that had been perched 260 feet high atop the capitol dome for 95 years. The sculpture of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, was lowered to the ground in 2018. She was shipped off to a Chicago spa for laser treatment to restore Ceres to her natural beauty.

In 2014, the Missouri Legislature approved bonding for the renovations.

Missouri governor announces $210 million in additional budget restrictions

June 2, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Citing the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of 300,000 jobs between March and April, Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R) has announced an additional $210 million in budget withholds, including $131 million for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

Missouri Governor Mike Parson announces $210 million in additional budget restrictions during a Statehouse media briefing on June 1, 2020 (photo courtesy of Governor Parson’s Flickr page)

The governor made the announcement during a media briefing on Monday afternoon at the Statehouse in Jefferson City.

Governor Parson says Missouri’s unemployment rate increased from 3.9 to 9.7 percent in April. He notes that the loss of 300,000 jobs is a decrease of more than ten percent.

“It goes without saying that COVID-19 has had severe impacts on our anticipated economic growth,” Parson says. “This is truly unlike anything we have ever experienced before, and we are now expecting significant revenue declines.”

The $131 million in budget withholds for DESE include $123 million for the school foundation formula and $7 million for school transportation.

“I have always been a strong supporter of education. These were extremely difficult decisions I never thought I would have to make in just a few months,” Parson tells Capitol reporters.

The budget restrictions announced on Monday are in addition to the two rounds announced by the governor in April, of $180 million and $47 million, respectively. In addition to DESE, the restrictions will impact the Office of Administration (OA), the state Department of Corrections, the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), the Department of Social Services (DSS) and other agencies.

Governor Parson was joined at the press conference by DESE Commissioner Margie Vandeven and other Cabinet members.

“It’s important to make these decisions now, so school districts can adjust before next school year. Our intent is to withhold now and avoid withholds once school begins,” says Parson.

The top Democrat in the Missouri House is blaming tax cuts approved by the GOP-controlled Legislature, for the education cuts.

“The governor’s devastating cuts to public education are as much a product of failed Republican tax policy as they are of the coronavirus pandemic,” House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, says in a written statement. “Every time Republicans chipped away at Missouri’s revenue base, Democrats warned these short-sighted decisions would pay a terrible dividend when the next economic downturn hit, and there always is a next one.”

The Missouri Legislature approved a $35.2 billion state operating budget in early May. The new fiscal year begins on July 1.

Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City closes to public due to COVID-19; 15,000 state employees working remotely

March 23, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor has announced that the State Capitol in Jefferson City and state office buildings across the state are closed to the general public effective Tuesday morning, to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Governor Mike Parson made the announcement during his daily media briefing on Monday afternoon in Jefferson City, where he was joined by Office of Administration (OA) Commissioner Sarah Steelman. She says only essential personnel will be allowed inside the Capitol and other state offices.

“And of course we have a lot of those people (essential employees) already in corrections (state prisons) and mental health institutions and veterans homes who cannot go home, or cannot work remotely,” Steelman says.

The Capitol will be closed to the public for at least two weeks.

Commissioner Steelman says there are 300 leased office buildings in Missouri, along with 36 state-owned office buildings, with a combined total of about 10,000 state employees.

She says all state departments have identified key personnel, and that about 15,000 state employees have started working remotely. Steelman also says IT personnel have established an additional call center, to take more calls from the public.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) says Missouri now has 183 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including State Rep. Joe Runions, D-Grandview. He remains hospitalized in Kansas City’s St. Joseph Hospital.

The governor has also announced that he’s signed an executive order that suspends any prohibition on the sale of unprepared food by restaurants to the general public. Governor Parson says the COVID-19 outbreak has forced many Missouri restaurants to limit or stop their normal business operations.

“We hope this will not only assist restaurants financially during this time and avoid unnecessary waste, but also help meet the increased demand for food across the state,” says Parson.

The governor notes many Missourians are seeing bare grocery store shelves, and is emphasizing that this is a demand issue and not a supply one.

Parson says Missouri’s food supply remains strong, adding that the state’s farmers, ranchers and grocers are working hard to restock shelves quickly. He also says the U.S. Homeland Security Department has identified food and agriculture as essential critical infrastructure workers during the COVID-19 response.

State Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Sandy Karsten also spoke at Monday’s press conference, saying her top priority is obtaining personal protective equipment (PPE) for hospitals, EMS, law enforcement and fire services.

Director Karsten says her office is pursuing gown, masks, goggles, shields and gloves from all available sources, and has announced that the first shipment from the National Strategic Stockpile has been sent to 148 Missouri hospitals and EMS.

She also says 200 sets of protective goggles arrived Monday and that more equipment will be arriving and will be shipped to fire and police statewide.

You can watch the full briefing below, from Missouri Governor Parson and Cabinet members:

Missouri Governor Parson’s Monday COVID-19 briefing (VIDEO)

Missouri Governor Parson’s Monday COVID-19 briefing (VIDEO)

March 23, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Here is the video from Missouri Governor Mike Parson’s press briefing at the State Capitol in Jefferson City about coronavirus. It took place on Monday March 23, 2020. Governor Parson was joined by state Department of Public Safety Director Sandy Karsten, Office of Administration Commissioner Sarah Steelman, and state Department of Commerce and Insurance Director Chlora Lindley-Myers. The briefing was virtual-only, in accordance with the governor’s COVID-19 directive:

Missouri House Democratic Leader describes medical marijuana rollout as “atrocious”

March 5, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s House Democratic Leader said Thursday in Jefferson City that she has several concerns about the state’s medical marijuana program.

Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, and Assistant Minority Floor Leader Tommie Pierson, D-St. Louis, brief Capitol reporters on March 5, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, spoke to Capitol reporters in the House press gallery, after Thursday morning’s adjournment.

Missourinet asked Leader Quade about the three hearings conducted by the House Special Committee on Government Oversight. She says the hearings have left her with even more questions.

“My position is that the rollout has been atrocious,” Quade says. “That we have a lot of questions from conflict to interests to decisions that were made on licensing.”

The oversight committee has been focusing on how licenses have been approved. During hearings, some committee members in both parties have questioned Missouri medical marijuana director Lyndall Fraker’s qualifications and his handling of the program.

Mr. Fraker testified this week that the hearings are all about “money and politics,” and that he stands by all of his decisions.

“I’m quite offended by it. We’ve got a team of folks that, they’ve put their heart and soul into this for over a year now and they’re hurt by this (House oversight committee inquiry). They’re hurt by this inquiry, as well as I am too,” Fraker told House committee members.

The oversight committee has asked questions about the decision to hire a third-party scoring company whose partners are already active in the industry.

As for Leader Quade, she’s frustrated by what she describes as a lack of responsibility, during testimony.

“You know the first couple of hearings were with Director Fraker, and his response is that was the Office of Administration (OA). We had them in yesterday, they bucked it back to the department,” Quade tells the Capitol Press Corps.

Quade says the responsibility lies with the Parson administration.

But House Oversight Committee vice chairman State Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, disagrees. Schroer defends Fraker and Governor Parson, saying the issues are with third-party scorers who are unaffiliated with the Parson administration.

The oversight committee has held three hearings. The first one was informational, and the last two have involved committee members asking questions of witnesses.

State halts tours to ‘assess site issues’ at historic prison

September 26, 2013 By Mike Lear

Tours of the historic Missouri State Penitentiary have been put on hold.

Missouri State Penitentiary was once the largest prison in the state, with more than 5,200 inmates in the 1930s. (Photo courtesy: Missouri Division of Tourism)

A statement from the Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau says the “property owners are assessing some site issues.” The prison is owned by the state and overseen by the Office of Administration.

Tours scheduled through Wednesday have been cancelled and guests will be contacted for a refund or voucher for a future tour. The statement says that date could change.

The Penitentiary was the oldest operating prison west of the Mississippi when it closed nine years ago. Last year more than 19,000 people took one of the Bureau’s tours of the site.

Senate Committee presents laundry list of state repair, maintenance needs

July 30, 2013 By Mike Lear

The Senate Interim Committee on Capital Improvement will prepare a report by the end of this year for the rest of the senate. The Office of Administration has shown it a list dating to August 6 of last year of 20,782 repair or maintenance projects that would cost the state $662,032,616.

Data provided by the Office of Administration notes that with additional costs in addressing those needs the total would rise to between $700- and $800 million.

Committee Chairman Sen. David Pearce (R-Warrensburg) says the numbers don’t surprise him.

“Serving on the appropriations committee I’ve seen the huge need that’s out there, but it’s a great need,” he said. “We really haven’t had a capital improvement bill since 2001 and so some of these projects have just been put off and put off and put off, and so as elected officials it’s up to us to take a look at what these long-term needs are and make some tough decisions.”

The committee was told that for the last decade or more, the amounts appropriated for capital improvements by the legislature have been withheld by governors. This year, that included money for remediation at the State Capitol, the construction of a new Department of Transportation building at the site of the old Missouri State Penitentiary and for planning a new State Mental Hospital at Fulton, among other items in supplemental budget bill HB 19.

Pearce says withholds like that are why the list of needs has grown so long.

“It never gets cheaper to actually build buildings, and so it’s kind of going in not a very organized manner and so if we can do better than that I think that’d be better,” Pearce said. “Probably I would think most of this money that’s being withheld will be released but until then you can’t actually spend it.”

Pearce says the Committee’s goal in meeting is to prepare a report that can be used by legislators in preparing bills and the budget. First, he says, it will meet at least three more times including in September when lawmakers are in Jefferson City for the veto session. It is then that it will visit what he sees as the top capital need in the state, that mental hospital in Fulton.

“That is an antiquated facility. It’s bad for the patients, it’s bad for the employees and Missouri can do better and it serves the entire state, and so I would think that has to be our number one priority. This committee’s is going to take a look at that and so we’re going to tour it and try to come up with some ways to have a new state mental health hospital.”

Additional hearings will take place August 26 in St. Louis and October 9 in the Kansas City area, with one other possible hearing to be set.

The Committee also spent about 30 minutes in the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. The prison closed in September, 2004 and plans to renovate the site have been at a standstill since.

Pearce says he does hope to see the historic buildings on the site saved.

“This [prison and its history] will never happen again, and so it’s very important to save what you can,” he said. “Obviously on this facility there are a lot of old buildings that it’s already been determined are not worth saving but there are some that are of tremendous historical significance that, not only here in Jefferson City but around the state, that we need to take a look at and see if they can be preserved.”

The Committee was told that a state law created the Prison Redevelopment Commission, who then created a redevelopment plan for the prison property. It was shown where, according to the plan, that Transportation Department building would be constructed if the money is released, in an area set aside for state office buildings and away from the structures considered historic.

The Office of Administration says money has been secured for the next phase of demolition on the prison site, and 9 buildings not considered historic are slated to be demolished as early as next spring.

A request to talk to Office of Administration staff about the current status of that redevelopment plan was not answered by the time this story was posted, but earlier versions of the plan are available online.

Audit points to mishandling of funds by Office of Administration

March 3, 2010 By Jessica Machetta

The Office of Administration under the past three governors has been misappropriating certain funds according to the State Auditor’s Office.

State Auditor Susan Montee says the Office of Administration has essentially played “a shell game” in regards to taking money from eleven different state programs.

Montee says over the past two years and as far back as 2002, transfers have been made from three state scholarship, two state funds to benefit veterans’ homes and cemeteries, as well as services to domestic violence victims, alcohol and drug rehabilitation services, an endowment trust, workers’ compensation, and early childhood development, education and care.

[Read more…]

Lawsuit filed over school and ambulance district construction contracts

November 2, 2009 By admin

An organization representing non-union construction industry companies and their employees is involved in a legal challenge against the Office of Administration, the Attorney General, and others over two projects the organization claims are in violation of a 2007 Missouri law prohibiting the awarding of union-only construction contracts for publicly-funded projects without public scrutiny. The Heart of America Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors has filed the lawsuit ABC Lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court alleging the actions of the Bayless School District in St. Louis and the St. Charles County Ambulance District were illegal. [Read more…]