JOPLIN, Mo. — Accolades at a historic summit for Joplin gave a celebratory air to business on Thursday night as five panels of city leaders unanimously ratified a tornado recovery plan described as the whistle to start full-steam rebuilding.

State Sen. Ron Richard was chairman of the meeting that brought together the Joplin City Council, the Joplin Board of Education, the Duquesne Board of Aldermen, the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors and the executive committee of the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team. Richard introduced Jane Cage, chairwoman of the advisory team, who presented the plan for consideration during the session in Billingsly Student Center at Missouri Southern State University.

Called the Joplin Area — Next Steps Plan, it is a booklet that outlines projects that can be undertaken in the areas of housing, schools and public buildings, infrastructure and environment, and economic development affected by the catastrophic May 22 tornado.

The ideas listed in the plan were developed by the advisory team after a series of public comment sessions that began in July, followed by seminars and public information presentations by consultants, and a design round table involving 60 architects, city planners and other professionals.

“We’ve taken our work very seriously to listen to the public and what they want” for the future of Joplin, Cage said. She said the team members developed a vision from that input, and a positive step for dealing with the destruction left by the massive storm that damaged or destroyed at least 7,500 homes and affected more than 500 businesses.

“We want to set the standard for disaster recovery, and we’re doing that tonight,” Cage said. Leaders of the advisory team outlined the plan for the Joplin City Council on Nov. 7, when Mayor Mike Woolston asked the group to continue with a study of how to implement the plan.

Cage said the plan does not answer all the questions about the future and is not set in stone. She said it will not be funded “on the backs of residents.” She had spent the day in meetings with government officials about how to fund the steps for rebuilding.

“This plan is a skeleton that will become the framework of recovery” and show that Joplin is unified in its mission, Cage said. “This is a signal that we are ready to pick up the pace of the recovery.”

During a public comment session, resident John Hale, whose home at 2420 S. Illinois Ave. was destroyed in the storm, commended the public bodies for their leadership.

“We have been absolutely astounded by everything you’ve done,” he said. Even though some of the decisions by city officials may have been unpopular, such as imposing a temporary building moratorium so that debris clearing could be done unhampered, those decisions were the right ones in the end, he said.

Hale added a commendation for the work of volunteers from all over the nation, and the churches that recruited and housed the volunteers and, with other organizations, fed everyone during the aftermath of the EF-5 twister. “It’s unbelievable the cooperation that’s taken place here,” he said.

School board members drew applause from the audience for thanking C.J. Huff, the superintendent, for his leadership that resulted in schools convening on time in August.

Two members of the Joplin City Council served on the advisory team task force. One of them, Michael Seibert, said people may wonder “how do we honor the people who lost their lives, the grieving families, and those who lost their homes and businesses? This is how we do that. We move forward. And we move forward at a rate we all are proud to be a part of.”

The other council representative, Trisha Raney, said, “I am incredibly proud of our community and all of the people from across the country and the world who came to help.”

The mayor said Joplin was “extremely lucky to have the right people in the right place” to lead the work for rescue, recovery and eventual rebuilding. He specifically cited City Manager Mark Rohr, Huff, Duquesne Mayor Denny White and the chamber president, Rob O’Brian. He also commended Cage for leading the advisory team, and she drew a standing ovation.

All of the groups unanimously endorsed implementing the plan.

Cage said that as a record of what she considered to be a historic occasion of a joint meeting to mark the city’s acceptance of a road map for recovery, she had a photograph of the meeting’s participants that she asked them to sign. She said she plans to give the photo to the Joplin Museum Complex as a memento of the summit.





Parting words



STATE SEN. RON RICHARD, in wrapping up the meeting, said Joplin should live by the words of Winston Churchill, who he paraphrased: “Never give up. Never ever give up.”Debby Woodin 1/19/12 this is not the exact Churchill quote but this is how Richard said it.