Cape Council unanimously approves aquatics project, emergency funding measures

After years of discussion and debate, the Cape Girardeau City Council on Monday unanimously endorsed an aquatics project to build a new leisure pool at Jefferson Elementary and renovate the existing Central Municipal Pool facility.

Under the current timeline, the Jefferson facility would be completed in 2021 and the full project is projected for completion by fiscal year 2024-2025.

The two-pool concept will be a jointly-funded venture between the city’s parks department and the school district, and the city will pay $100,000 in additional annual expenses compared to the city’s current operational costs.

“That sounds like a lot, but consultants projected $750,000, so I think it’s a win,” Mayor Bob Fox said Monday. “We as leaders have to make a commitment to offer parks to our citizens, and the other people that come here, knowing the fact that there is always some kind of subsidy for it. It’s a service we offer for our community.”

The decision was made shortly after the City Council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the use of unencumbered casino fund balances and future casino allocations to repay monies taken from the city’s emergency fund to cover costs associated with two city emergencies — a January cyberattack estimated to cost $360,000 and the COVID-19 pandemic, which is estimated to cost $4.5 million.

The city faced a deficit of $1.2 million prior to the two city emergencies this year largely due to Missouri’s lack of a use tax, Fox said. Many reductions were made to the city’s budget for FY2020-21 compared to previous fiscal years.

A first reading of the city’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year was also heard during the meeting, and praises were given to former finance director John Richbourg who returned from retirement to assist with the city’s financial situations.

Calling out the elephant in the room, Ward 5 Councilman Ryan Essex admitted “the timing is terrible” to vote on the aquatics project, but he acknowledged the school district’s need for a decision to be made and expressed his reluctance to let the issue drag into a new City Council after the June 2 election.

Noting their hesitations to endorse the two-pool plan in the past, council members said the item was an investment in the city’s future and recognized the plan as the best option available for the aquatics project.

Credit was given to Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation director Julia Jones and her team who worked to reduce the project’s costs and bring it to fruition while also decreasing departmental costs by a full percent for the upcoming fiscal year.

Jones said she felt excited and inspired by the council’s “tough, tough” decision, and reiterated her faith in the area’s regionally-based recreation facilities.

“It was a relief after such a long process, but also encouraging that the city council and administration have faith in the future,” Jones said.

The Rev. William “Tiger” Bird Jr., president of the Pastoral Assembly of Cape Girardeau and pastor of Greater Dimension Ministries, led an invocation at the meeting. After the meeting, he expressed his faith in the aquatics project by pointing to Proverbs 13:12.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”