CAPE CITY COUNCIL PLANS TO DISCUSS PUBLIC HOUSING ISSUE

The Cape Girardeau City Council Wednesday will consider whether to proceed with plans to activate a public housing authority.

On Dec. 20, the Cape Girardeau Housing Assistance Task Force, an advisory group appointed by the council to research public housing issues, reported that government-funded housing is needed in Cape Girardeau.

"It was the consensus of the task force that public housing would help make affordable housing available to low-moderate income residents of the city," said Stephen S. Williams, the city's housing assistance coordinator. "Individual scattered-site housing units were recommended."

The council has yet to act on the recommendation, and Williams said there are procedures the council must follow to move forward.

If the council decides to proceed with public housing, Mayor Gene Rhodes would appoint five commissioners to a Cape Girardeau Housing Authority Board. The commissioners must be taxpayers and residents in the city for the past five years.

Three commissioners would be appointed to terms of one, two and three years, and two commissioners would be appointed to serve four-year terms.

Also, the mayor would designate which of the commissioners will chair the group.

But Williams said the city council's role in public housing essentially ends once commissioners are appointed to the housing authority board.

"Once the mayor appoints commissioners to the Housing Authority Board, the city's governing body has fulfilled its obligation until the next appointment of commissioners," he said.

Funding for the construction and operation of public housing would come from the Department of Housing and Urban Development as a grant to provide low-rent housing.

"The housing authority would contract with private contractors to build and develop public housing units, and they would be owned and operated by the housing authority," Williams said.

The city council also must pass a cooperative agreement with the housing authority. In the past, failure to pass the cooperative agreement ended efforts at establishing public housing in Cape Girardeau.

In other business Wednesday, the council might discuss responses from representatives of Boyd Gaming and Lady Luck Gaming Corp. The responses to questions posed earlier this month by the city staff and council members were included in the council's agenda.

Other agenda items include:

-- A resolution determining the intent of the city to borrow money to provide city services to Twin Lakes subdivision.

The city plans to issue $2.75 million in bonds to finance the closure of the city landfill ($700,000) and to provide water and sewer service to Twin Lakes ($2.1 million). The debt will be repaid with solid waste fees, special assessments and sewer connection fees.

-- A $198,700 contract with Sverdrup Civil Inc. for sewer engineering services to extend trunk sewer lines and lateral sewer lines to Twin Lakes.

-- A resolution to approve an amended engineering services contract with Sverdrup for lime treatment and sludge storage at the wastewater treatment plant.

-- A resolution authorizing a contract with Bloomsdale Excavating Co. of Bloomsdale for the replacement of a sanitary sewer along Brink Street.

Bloomsdale, with a bid of $84,565, had the lowest of six bids on the project. Other bids included Dutch Enterprises of Jackson, $114,948; KCO Construction of Cape Girardeau, $93,318; R.L. Persons Construction of Poplar Bluff, $105,620; Robinson Construction of Perryville, $101,744; and T. Drury Contracting of Bloomsdale, $149,324.

-- Appointment to the Board of Adjustment, where the term of Jerry Schwab expires March 6.

-- Motion approving plans to extend the city water system to serve the Lutheran Home on Bloomfield Road.