CAPE AIRPORT MUST FIND WAY TO KEEP AIRPORT CONTROL TOWER

If Cape Girardeau can persuade the Federal Aviation Administration its air-traffic control tower is a must for the city to prosper, the agency will continue funding the control tower.

However, Joplin Regional Airport Manager Steve Stockam said the FAA is a tough audience when it comes to sales pitches for federal money.

It looks at the cost of air-traffic control towers and their benefit to the city and surrounding areas. The magic cost-benefit ratio is 1.0.

Stockam's first time dealing with FAA he was told his airport's ratio was 0.63, he told the Missouri Airport Managers Association meeting at the Drury Lodge Thursday.

Stockam went over the FAA errors, "some 15 on just the first five pages," and got his ratio to 0.95.

Stockam has until October to boost reach 1.0 cost-benefit ratio; Cape Girardeau has until Aug. 1 to send in the necessary papers.

"The FAA told me that if we can't show a 1.0 cost-benefit ratio by December of 1995, we'll lose our air-traffic control tower," Stockam said. Cape Girardeau will learn the fate of its air-traffic control tower in October.

The FAA is asking cities with government-funded air-traffic control towers to show a dollar return on every dollar the agency spends on a tower.

Airports in Cape Girardeau, Joplin and St. Joseph are trying to show the FAA their air-traffic control towers should not be among the 23 the agency plans to close across the nation.

The FAA reimburses the city $170,000 a year to operate the tower.

Three areas judged to determine the ratio are enplanements and use of the tower, the tower's link to business and the city's economy, and the tower's importance to the city's future.

Cape Girardeau Regional Airport manager Greg Chenoweth feels better about his situation after hearing Stockam's remarks.

Chenoweth said his job of showing the need for the control tower will be easier.

"I plan on sitting down with Steve and talking to him about how he went about the process of trying to keep the control tower to save as much time as possible," Chenoweth said.

Cape Girardeau's cost-benefit ratio is .45, but Chenoweth plans to show how important the control tower is to a trauma center like St. Francis Medical Center, businesses like Procter & Gamble, and casino operations like Boyd Gaming and Lady Luck. He thinks that will kick the ratio up to 1.0.

"There's a link to businesses, medical facilities and the growth of this city," Chenoweth said.

If Cape Girardeau is unable to persuade the FAA that it has a 1.0 cost-benefit ratio, the government agency would require the city to hire Midwest ATC to man the tower at $206,000 a year.

Chenoweth said the city has not met about the closing of the tower and is confident the city will find a way to keep it open.

Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling told the airport managers: "Our regional airport is one of the big attractions to the area. Airports attract industry. We realize how important our airport is to the growth of this city."