Cape City Council approves $31,117 for Glenn House

The local historical association will receive $31,117 in unspent Cape Girardeau city tax dollars to help make repairs to the Glenn House, a Victorian-era house museum, but the city council imposed a moratorium through the end of the year on spending of any more surplus tourism dollars until a comprehensive spending plan is in place.

The council Monday night approved the moratorium at the urging of Mayor Jay Knudtson. The vote was 5-1 for the moratorium with only Councilman Matt Hopkins voting against it. Councilman Hugh White was absent.

Hopkins said he didn't want to tie the city's hands in considering valid spending requests.

But Knudtson worried that without a moratorium the council would be flooded with requests on surplus motel and restaurant tax money that currently totals more than $800,000 and could amount to more than $1 million by this fall.

Knudtson said the city needs a plan on how to spend that much money rather than simply "make a lot of little groups happy."

The council wants the Convention and Visitors Bureau board and the Chamber of Commerce board of directors to come up with a plan to spend the surplus tax money. The chamber operates the CVB under a contract with the city.

Chamber president John Mehner said the surplus will cease to grow as of Oct. 1. At that point, he said, the chamber will know how much money is available to be spent on one-time tourism projects.

Mehner said there are two philosophies about how the money should be spent. One is to use a lot of the money on a "big splash" project. The other is to invest the money to help fund tourism efforts once the city's motel and restaurant taxes expire.

It could be year's end before any comprehensive spending recommendations could be in place, he told the council.

The council unanimously approved the $31,117 request of the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau even though the CVB board narrowly had recommended a $12,000 allocation that would have come from the CVB operating budget but not the surplus.

Loretta Schneider, a longtime volunteer with the historical association, said motel and restaurant tax money can't be used to fix streets. It can only be used for tourism, she said.

Historical association treasurer Leland "Freck" Shivelbine said the association has spent $53,000 over the past 3 1/2 years fixing up the Victorian home. But Shivelbine said the association needs the tax dollars to finish making repairs to the house, including the front porch. The Glenn House was completed in 1883.

"There is no better use of the money," he told the council. "Hundreds of visitors come to Cape Girardeau to see and learn about the Victorian age."

Pet limits

In other action, the council unanimously gave final approval to a new animal control ordinance that limits pet owners to a maximum of four dogs and four cats unless they obtain special-use permits to operate commercial kennels.

The measure takes effect Aug. 12, city officials said. Those who have more than that number of licensed pets prior to the effective date will be exempt from the limit under a grandfather clause.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123