TYREE BYNDOM FILES: As First Ward City Council candidate

A well-known voice in Columbia policy announces Council candidacy

COLUMBIA, Mo 1/13/14 (Beat Byte) -- The man Columbia Missourian columnist David Rosman called "one of the best community activists in our fair city" is a mere eight signatures shy of qualifying as a candidate for the Columbia City Council. 

Tyree Byndom announced today that he and his father "turned in my petition to be an option on the ballot for 1st Ward City Council in CoMo." 

 

The City Charter mandates Council candidates submit a signed petition from "not less than fifty (50), nor more than seventy-five (75), registered voters who are entitled to vote for the candidate."   After reviewing the signatures, city officials disqualified eight of the 50, Byndom explained.   He plans to gather more signatures this evening. 

A longtime employment and staffing professional, Byndom is principal in a business management consulting firm, Byndom, Stanton and Associates.  

 

He has distinguished himself on several community fronts, from helping fight a 2012-13 move to "blight" Columbia for an Enhanced Enterprise Zone (EEZ), to reorganizing the Douglass Park Neighborhood Association.   He is a recent recipient of both the Columbia Values Diversity Martin Luther King. Jr. Diversity Award and Mid-Missouri Peace-works Award.  

Byndom keeps his ear to local politics and national issues as host of KOPN's Kore Issues radio talk show.   Last year, Columbia Mayor Bob McDavid appointed him to the Mayor's Task Force on Community Violence. 

Byndom announced his candidacy on Facebook today, after "a whirlwind morning of getting three daughters off to school."   He will face Ginny Chadwick in April.  Two other potential candidates, Duell Lauderdale and Matthew Huffman, have yet to file candidate petitions.  

"Tyree has joined in the race for First Ward Council," Chadwick wrote on her Facebook page.  "Welcome Tyree.  I look forward to forums and community events with you."