BOARD LEFT IN DARK ON PLANS

Members of the River Campus Board of Managers say Southeast Missouri State University officials have kept them in the dark about plans for the arts school in Cape Girardeau.

Board members demanded Friday that the university disclose more information and allow them more input into the $36 million project to turn a former Catholic seminary into the River Campus.

At a noon meeting in Dempster Hall, board members voiced frustration and complained to Dr. Pauline Fox, vice president of administration and enrollment management.

After the meeting, Fox admitted school officials haven't told board members every planning detail.

Reached by telephone, university President Ken Dobbins said he would work to improve communication with the board.

Fox serves on the six-member board formed in September 1999. The board has three representatives appointed by the Cape Girardeau City Council and three representing the university.

Board members complained that Fox hadn't disclosed details about hiking and biking trails and a $2.6 million federal grant to plan and hire staff for a River Campus museum. They said they learned about the projects from newspaper articles.

The proposed asphalt hiking and biking trails, pavilion and parking lot would destroy precious green space on the tree-filled grounds overlooking the Mississippi River, the board members said. They said the pavilion and parking lot shouldn't be built.

"We want to be in the loop, and we haven't been in the loop," said board member Jerry Ford. "This is supposed to be a collaborative, cooperative process," said Ford.

The university and Cape Girardeau are partners in the project, he said. The city has promised to spend nearly $9 million in tax money to help develop the River Campus.

"We're not trying to be obstructionists," said Ford. "We have a right to expect we will be involved from day one on this project."

After the meeting, Fox said university officials didn't tell the board about the school's efforts to secure a federal grant for museum planning because they weren't sure they would get the money.

"We didn't want to talk about it until we got the grant," she said.

Lawsuit still in the way

Ford said the River Campus board wants the museum to include a visitors' center. The museum must be designed to meet the public's needs, and that can't be done without the board's input, he said.

The university Board of Regents last year signed a $3.87 million contract with Jacobs Facilities of St. Louis, formerly Sverdrup, to design the River Campus arts school and museum buildings. But the contract lapsed as a result of a lawsuit brought by Cape Girardeau businessman Jim Drury, who contends voters didn't approve funding for the city's portion of the project. The case is pending before a St. Louis appeals court.

Fox told the board that it is uncertain if the university will be able to renegotiate the contract with Jacobs Facilities or end up hiring another architectural firm.

Board members said they want to be involved in any future hiring of an architect on the project.

Board member Thomas Swayne Byrd said Southeast shouldn't construct a parking lot and a pavilion on the tree-filled lawn and turn the River Campus into a city park. A shelter, he said, would draw litter.

Fox said a conceptual design by Jacobs Facilities isn't set in stone. Construction of trails or any other improvements as part of the $319,543 project won't begin until next spring, school officials said. Southeast has obtained a $255,634 federal grant through the Missouri Department of Transportation to pay for the bulk of the cost. The university will pay the remainder.

Board members suggested the university consider building a parking lot on state right of way adjacent to the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge under construction. That would preserve much of the existing green space on the River Campus, they said.