Cape city council approves zoning change for new hotel, renew city employees' health insurance plan and discuss ozone pollution levels

The Cape Girardeau City Council on Monday approved a zoning variance for a new hotel, set employee insurance rates for the coming year and added its voice to a proposal to name Cape Girardeau County as an area with too much air pollution.

Mayson Investments, owned by Rhodes 101 partner Jim Maurer and his son, Jeff Maurer, needed the special-use permit to allow construction of a four-story hotel on the southwest corner of an 11-acre site at Bloomfield Road and Mount Auburn Road. The Candlewood Suites extended stay hotel planned for the site would be 13 feet taller than the 40-foot height allowed by the C-2 commercial zoning at the location.

Jerry Campbell of Central Design Group of Columbia, Mo., appeared at the council and showed a map where the hotel would be built. The 89-room hotel would overlook Interstate 55 in the southwest portion of the site.

Health insurance

In other action, the council renewed the health insurance plan for city employees. There will be no increase in the rates charged for covering families, no increase in deductibles and the city will continue to offer a plan with a health savings accont.

The city, which has a self-funded plan administered by Anthem, will contribute 6.6 percent more, a drop from annual increases that had been in double digits. The city started the health savings plan program Jan. 1, and while data is incomplete, the costs for employees choosing that plan have been substantially less than the traditional plan chosen by most employees, benefits consultant David Johnson of CBIZ Benefits and Insurance Services Inc. told the council.

"We are reaping the benefits of stabilizing wildly fluctuating costs," city manager Doug Leslie said.

A plan with a health savings account aims to keep costs down by making those covered in the plan be more careful about how they spend their health-care dollars.

"The good thing is they gut out a sore throat and don't go to the doctor," Mayor Jay Knudtson said. "We have to drive that mentality. I'm not saying that if they are sick, don't go to the doctor, but use discretion."

In the 12 months that ended Aug. 31, the plan paid out $1.9 million in claims, down $400,000 from the same period a year ago.

Ozone pollution

Council members expressed concern that big-city issues are creeping into Southeast Missouri during the discussion of the air pollution issue. The state is studying areas around the state to determine if they comply with new federal standards for ground-level ozone, caused when sunlight interacts with automobile exhaust.

On 36 days during the 2005-2007 period, the readings for ozone pollution at a monitoring station near Farrar, Mo., in Perry County were above the eight-hour standard of 75 parts per billion, according to figures from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Those readings place the region, which covers Cape Girardeau, Perry, Bollinger and Ste. Genevieve counties, in danger of being listed as a "non-attainment area," a designation that can include requirements for vehicle emission testing and tougher rules for new industries seeking pollution permits.

Mitch Robinson, executive director of Cape Girardeau Area Magnet, urged the council to vote in favor of a resolution opposing the inclusion of Cape Girardeau County in a non-attainment area. The resolution supports a recommendation on the pollution designation from the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission.

The key argument against including Cape Girardeau County in a non-attainment area is that there is no monitoring station, and therefore no data, to show air pollution here was as bad as it was at Farrar when that station exceeded the limit, Robinson said after speaking at the council's work session.

"This has a tremendous potential for impacting economic development in our area," Councilman John Voss said.

The final decision will be made by the Environmental Protection Agency based on recommendations from the Missouri Air Quality Commission.

In other action, the council awarded a $453,563 contract for an extended River Walk to Lappe Cement Finishing of Perryville, Mo. The contract calls for extending the walkway, which runs along the Mississippi River inside the downtown floodwall, to Sloan Creek.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642