Big-picture planning: Seven-county panel offers single voice in asking for grant money

While many are watching the economic horizon and wondering what will come next, at least one government agency is looking for opportunities: the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission.

The commission, created 40 years ago and one of 19 in Missouri, is intended to draw together county, city and smaller governments into a single unit to coordinate everything from grant applications to prioritizing transportation projects.

The commission offers a single, collective voice in asking for funds from the state or such federal agencies as Homeland Security, FEMA, Delta Regional Authority, Economic Development Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Chauncy Buchheit, the commission's executive director, said grants in any given year add up to between $2 million and $3 million. The cash is used for revolving loans to help businesses get started, push transportation projects forward, improve housing conditions and manage environmental concerns.

The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission operates with a $500,000 annual budget while representing seven counties -- Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Iron, Perry, Madison, Ste. Genevieve and St. Francois -- and dozens of cities and villages. Each member pays dues based on population, except for Kathy Daugherty, development director of the East Missouri Action Agency. Her agency's membership is part of the commission's charter to reach low-income people in the region. Her agency pays no dues but benefits, she said, by getting a heads-up on funding she might not be able to find independently.

"The sharing of information is the best thing," she said.

On Tuesday, the commission's nearly 50 members met for the last time this year to review a waste management proposal, approve bills and exchange information.

A cautionary tale came from Brian Gerau, executive director of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce, of a Jackson shop charged $30,000 in back taxes by the state of Illinois. Daugherty announced a Park Hills restaurant opening in January. She said River Hill Restaurant will to train 85 low-income people for food service jobs over the next five years.

The city of Cape Girardeau sends at least two representatives to the meetings and pays $18,000 in annual dues -- about 50 cents per resident, according to Ken Eftink, assistant city manager and director of development services. He estimated the city had a 10-to-1 return on its dues, based on the commission's help in prioritizing major transportation projects with MoDOT, such as Interstate 55's exit 102 and the work it will provide by administering more than $370,000 in state funds being used for a downtown parking lot. Administration includes tracking paperwork, aid with public hearings, getting clearances and permits and making sure all involved follow state grant guidelines.

"The regional planning commission also serves as our Solid Waste Management District to help resolve problems that local counties and cities share with regard to property and economical disposal of trash," Eftink said.

The commission is a treasure trove for the 277 people in St. Mary, according to Dennis Bovey. He is St. Mary's water and sewer plant operator, as well as its board chairman.

"Their grant-writing knowledge is second to none," he said. St. Mary is waiting to hear about community development grants and loans applied for by the commission totaling $700,000. The city pays $120 in annual dues.

Mitch Robinson, executive director of Cape Girardeau Area Magnet, a local economic development agency, said Buchheit and his nine staff members are "able to work to find financing for projects and then know the ins and outs to make complex financing programs work in combination with Small Business Administration, Economic Development Administration, their own revolving loan funds, community development block grant loans or private financing."

Robinson said the regional planning commission has helped with such major business projects as NARS in Cape Girardeau and Signature Packaging in Jackson.

This year and well into next year, Buchheit and his staff of nine are expected to continue fighting to prevent Cape Girardeau and Perry counties from being designated as a nonattainment region for exceeding ozone standards. Buchheit told members at Tuesday's meeting he was disputing the air quality figures being reported and trying to prevent Ste. Genevieve from being added to the St. Louis region. Two other 2009 projects being coordinated by the commission are meeting increased Homeland Security requirements and updating county disaster plans. Cape Girardeau is first on the list for a new five-year plan, Buchheit said, because it has the largest population.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

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