Cape City Council reviews priority capital projects

The Cape Girardeau City Council perused a scaled-down list of "high priority" capital improvements Monday night, including pleas for a police department annex, a new fire station, an RV park and various other environmental, transportation and recreational projects.

During a 90-minute study session, the council reviewed a list city department heads culled from an overall five-year $211 million Capital Improvements Program. Department heads designated these as higher priorities than the rest.

One council member, however, took city leaders to task for the way they had decided to spend money the city received in the sale of municipally owned land to Isle of Capri for its new casino, which was included in a funded portion of the list.

"I have a problem with the way we determined these projects," council member Loretta Schneider said of the list of projects to be paid for from the casino land sale. "I see them as council earmarks and somewhat irresponsible."

The city received $2 million from Isle of Capri, but $1 million was required to be used for enhancements to Broadway as part of the agreement with Isle. The council opted to allocate the other $1 million for other uses, including $400,000 to bolster city reserves. The rest is slated to go for seven other projects, including $50,000 for a community garden, $50,000 for parking renovation at the River Heritage Museum, $100,000 for recreational trail lighting, $125,000 for sidewalks on Kingsway Drive and $25,000 for a dog park.

"Those are nice amenities, but a dog park? I'm not sure they're the most needed projects in the city," Schneider said. "We acted like the money was burning a hole in our pocket."

Mayor Harry Rediger defended the decision, saying his intention was to let residents know where the money was going before they voted Nov. 2 on whether to approve gambling in Cape Girardeau.

"The purpose of us doing that was to show we were designating benefits to our community from those funds," Rediger said.

Schneider said she realized the issue "was over and done with," but said she wanted to go on the record that she did not like that it basically was done in "one quick meeting" last year.

The rest of the meeting Monday was used to review the rest of the items on the list, which city manager Scott Meyer called a "scoping list," a term he said he borrowed from his days at the Missouri Department of Transportation.

"That's a list we acknowledge as high priority," Meyer said. "We want to spend some time studying them and finding a source of funding for them. That's not to say the items on the overall list aren't important or that we can't do something with them, but this is the list we'd focus on."

The list of 31 projects was in four categories: community development, environmental, recreation and transportation. Community development projects included $7 million for a police department annex to relieve overcrowding at the existing department building, remodeling Fire Station No. 2, building a new Fire Station No. 4, expanding the city's fiber optic network, and implementing a panic and alarm system at city hall.

Environmental projects included sewer system rehabilitation work and a new $72 million wastewater treatment plant that is before voters April 5.

Recreation projects included floodwall mural lighting, a Bloomfield Road Trail, an RV Park on North Main Street and a master plan for Capaha Park.

Transportation needs included land acquisition at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, a bridge at Sloan's Creek at Big Bend Road and a hangar rehab at the airport.

A public hearing has been scheduled for the council's Feb. 22 meeting, and the council must adopt the Capital Improvements Program by April 1 to meet city charter requirements.

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent Address:

701 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo