Key To The City
Mayor Bob McDavid Takes The Reins At City Hall
by KATHY CASTEE
photos by L.G. PATTERSON
Dr. Bob McDavid estimates he delivered some 5,000 Boone Countians into the world over the course of his nearly 28 years of medical practice. Now, as the new mayor of Columbia, McDavid hopes to position the city to deliver economic rebirth in mid-Missouri. Prosperity will come, he says, if the city encourages forays into a knowledge-based economy."We all know that Columbia is a wonderful place to live," he said on the campaign trail. "We have talent and ideas in this town. Let's leverage them into increased economic activity. Then we'll have the city revenues to enhance our city's rich services."
It was a message that resonated with voters, who swept the retired obstetrician into office April 6 with 54 percent of the vote, outpolling his nearest competitor in the six-man race by almost 2 to 1. Within hours of his election victory, McDavid was living his campaign credo as an immediate insider in the final weeks of negotiations to land the IBM technology center here. He was a quick study, city staffers say, and the IBM team was impressed with how swiftly the new mayor came up to speed.
"When Bob appeared at that 7 a.m. breakfast with IBM officials just a few hours after he left his election party, it was invaluable," says Regional Economic Development Inc. President Mike Brooks. "It made a statement to them that it mattered for him to be there."
He wasn't even officially on the job yet, but McDavid was already setting the bar for the new role he'd tabbed as Columbia's "energetic and convincing salesman for clean economic development."
"Selling Columbia is not hard," McDavid says. "This city offers a lot of things businesses are looking for: centrally located with a low average cost of living, relatively low taxes and low energy costs. The national fiber-optic network runs along I-70. Our colleges turn out graduates every year for a constant input of educated people in the workforce — that's got to be attractive."
He points to the city's recent inclusion on Forbes magazine's list of Best Small Places for Business and Careers. Columbia is ranked No. 8.
"That list came out after my election, but I can't take credit," McDavid says with a smile. "[Former mayor] Darwin Hindman left a legacy of livability. We're building the perception that Columbia is a business-friendly town because this is a great place to live."
Livability gives the city leverage, he says, to compete for businesses in industries the city wants to cultivate. "Columbia has a track record of not wanting to have smokestack industries," he notes. "We're not going to bring a lead smelter here. What we like are the knowledge-based jobs — ABC Labs and IBM, for instance. To attract those kinds of jobs, we must maintain our symbiotic relationship with the University of Missouri. If we're going to grow, we need a strong, growing university. We want MU to grow — growth means more professors, more grants and more students."
Health care, he notes, is 20 percent of Columbia's gross metropolitan product; higher education accounts for another 30 percent. "We're building on what we've already established."
McDavid adds that Columbia's economic development efforts won't ignore employment opportunities for blue-collar workers.
"We also need to supply blue-collar jobs," he says. "We can't smugly concentrate on one sector to the detriment of others. We're also looking at workforce gaps and the need for a tech school here. Are we filling that need? A knowledge-based economy spins off opportunities for other services. There's a multiplier effect, just as what we expect to happen with the IBM center. For every four jobs created by IBM, another three jobs will be created elsewhere in Columbia — a trucking firm needs another driver, or a restaurant hires another server, or a merchant adds to its sales staff. The net effect is more jobs."
Because he ties Columbia's livability image so closely to the city's future opportunities, McDavid is adamant about preserving that image. His mayoral campaign platform stressed concerns for public safety, a basic amenity that he calls essential for attracting economic development. Pointing to FBI statistics that show increasing instances of violent crime here, he digs in.
"Violent crime is decreasing around the country," he says. "But not here. Rather than argue over the significance of percentage points, we need to face this head on. It's so important to get ahead of these numbers. We need to talk about it."
That talk has included the possibility of installing security cameras downtown, authorized by voters in an April 6 referendum, and the use of license plate scanners by Columbia police, courtesy of a donation from the Boone County Sheriff's Department. Following close on the heels of red-light cameras the city has installed at various intersections, critics have disparaged the additional technology as intrusive. The mayor is unswayed.
"I understand the right-to-privacy argument," McDavid says. "But there's a right to safety, also. Surveillance cameras are a fact of life already. There are 270 cameras at Boone Hospital alone. That shows they're concerned with the safety of the patients and the staff. We want to make it as safe as we can make it for people to be downtown. We want people coming downtown. We want parents to feel safe in sending their children to school here.
"Right now we're dealing with perceptions, and perception is more important than reality," he says. "If downtown cameras create a perception that we're on top of this and we care, then they're worth it. They matter."
McDavid wants to encourage the notion that Columbia is a safe place to live, do business and go to school — but only for the good guys.
"Cameras and plate scanners are law enforcement tools," he says. "If someone has an outstanding warrant or is driving a stolen car, I'd like them to think Columbia, Mo., is a bad place to do business."
Perception can be a fickle business partner, often trumped by cold, hard reality — and when reality raised its ugly head on YouTube, McDavid's young administration was in for a firestorm of criticism. After the Columbia police video of the botched SWAT raid went viral on the Internet, it seemed the city's cachet of positivity had run out.
"There was nothing positive about it," McDavid says with a wince. "We made some mistakes, and responsibility for those mistakes falls on the leadership."
The mayor found himself in the glare of the national news spotlight, appearing as a guest on Fox's "Freedom Watch" while Anthony Napolitano grilled him on the February raid where a police SWAT unit burst into a suspected drug dealer's Columbia home, firing shots in front of a child and killing one of the family's dogs; no drugs were found in the home. Although the raid occurred months before McDavid became mayor, investigators released their report of the incident and the video on May 3.
"I stand by everything I said on the show," McDavid says. "It's complicated. Police work is hard. There's a tough side to it — a side that no one wants to see. More than 100 police officers are killed every year in this country. They take risks every day.
"This, however, was not a high-risk situation. The SWAT tactic is a violent tactic. There's a time and a place for it, and this was not it. We can't do that again. The police chief took ownership and made changes. I have confidence in Chief Ken Burton."
McDavid's performance during the controversy earned kudos from the city staff.
"Mayor McDavid has done very well in projecting a steady Columbia image through positive and negative events," says City Manager Bill Watkins. "He has a high level of political sensitivity; he's able to see an issue from multiple perspectives. He took the police issue by the horns and wanted to deal with it immediately. He got out in front of the issue — he heard the community, he heard the cops, and he worked with the chief and handled it. By explaining what happened and the changes being implemented so it won't happen again, it turned out very positively."
McDavid defines his leadership style as consensus building.
"Everyone has problems to solve," he says. "It takes interaction to solve problems. In medicine, the interaction for a physician and patient is one on one. But in government, the interaction involves constituencies and interest groups. You still have to define the problem — you can never lose sight of the problem — and look for consensus. If you can define the problem and if you can achieve consensus, the solution is easy."
Still, piloting the city through an economically dismal time is no piece of cake.
"Bob's a numbers guy," says Watkins. "He wants justification for a proposal, but he supports it if we make a good argument."
McDavid has transitioned smoothly into the mayor's chair as he orchestrates the direction of Columbia City Council meetings. He smiles frequently and welcomes all comers in their quests to communicate with the council. He is quick to ask questions on procedural issues and stays focused in moving the meetings along.
"He's certainly a consensus builder," says Barbara Weaver, who spent 13 years working alongside McDavid on the Boone Hospital Center Board of Trustees. "He tries to present both sides of the issue and is willing to look at all aspects. But he's a champion for whatever cause he believes in and has integrity — he means what he says."
McDavid has identified the city's major financial issues for the council to address.
"Columbia is spending more money than it takes in," he says. "We have a $3 million deficit and we're dipping into reserves. Our personnel costs are going up and our revenues are declining."
It's time for frugality, McDavid says. "We've cut back on social services, increased user fees, delayed infrastructure and failed to fund all of our public safety positions."
The city has three options, he says. "One, we can hope for the government to bail us out, but I've never considered hope a sound investment strategy. Two, we could increase taxes. And three, we can increase employee participation in their pension plan."
The finances of the city government will take up much of the council's attention in the coming weeks.
"The city is like 30 different companies, tied together as an independent organization," he says. "Some have no chance of breaking even. We have to manage unit cost and increase productivity while dealing with fixed pricing. There are no other options."
He's looking for savings in every corner, and says no idea is too small. When the city switched to vouchers as a more efficient means of distributing trash bags, he notes, the city saved $300,000 a year.
"You set a culture," he says. "We need to set an example of what to expect. That's what it comes down to — expectations and perceptions."
From Stethoscope To Gavel:
Bob McDavid's Journey From Hospital To City Hall
Mayor Bob McDavid is used to dealing with challenges. As an obstetrician-gynecologist, he saw 30 patients a day and coped with a capricious schedule that bent to the unpredictability of a baby's urge to be born.
Meeting those challenges, it turns out, was good training for his new vocation as CEO of this city of 100,000.
"MDs are very interactive with people," says the 63-year-old mayor. "People come to their doctor because they have a problem. You need a lot of interaction with a person to solve their problem. It's the same way in government."
Born in Ironton, McDavid grew up in DeSoto, the son of a factory worker and a grocery clerk. He began college as an engineering student at the University of Missouri-Rolla, but transferred to MU's Columbia campus his sophomore year to major in chemistry. He entered medical school after his junior year, graduating in 1972. After completing an ob-gyn residency at MU, he co-founded Women's Health Associates in 1976, where he practiced until 2003. Skyrocketing malpractice insurance rates convinced him it was time to hang up his stethoscope — his premium had quadrupled in one year. McDavid has since worked as a consultant to the Missouri Board of Healing Arts.
Married for 40 years — wife Suzanne is a nurse with Columbia Public Schools — the McDavids live in the Third Ward, where they raised two children, Kim and Scott, and enjoy visits with their three grandchildren.
McDavid entered politics in 1997 when he won a seat on the Boone Hospital Center Board of Trustees. In 2006, his proposal to end the lease between the county-owned hospital and St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare, which operates Boone Hospital, rocked the county. But by year's end, BJC had offered Boone a new lease that returned more profits to the hospital and helped pay down construction debt.
"There were some tense times," says Dan Rothery, president and CEO of Boone Hospital Center. "But we never lost sight of the mission, working through issues together for the good of the community we serve. Dr. McDavid had certain expectations that he made very clear: maintain the quality and patient satisfaction, treat the employees and medical staff with respect, and practice good fiscal discipline."
Rothery also introduced McDavid to BJC's management discipline. McDavid calls it as an excellent training ground for his new role away from the delivery room.
"In some ways, my life as an obstetrician was predictably unpredictable," he says. "I knew how many patients I'd see in the office, how many surgeries I'd do. Of course, babies are entirely unpredictable — night or day. But now I can sleep all night. Columbia is a busy, active town. The day-to-day responsibilities — meetings, engagements, etc. — vary dramatically. There's less rhythm. In time that may change …
"It's a very different challenge, and just as exhilarating."