Cape Girardeau city council OKs railroad move

Action taken Monday night by the Cape Girardeau City Council allows the city to proceed on a number of projects -- most notably, improvements to the floodwall.

It approved two resolutions related to repair of a toe drain between the Broadway floodgate and Isle Casino Cape Girardeau.

The city plans to enter into an agreement with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to move about 600 feet of railroad seven feet west of the wall, allowing crews to access the drain and replace the pipe. The effort is part of continuing floodwall rehabilitation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

City manager Scott Meyer said reimbursing the railroad company to move the rail line will cost about $1.5 million -- coming from the Parks and Recreation and Stormwater tax -- but the move allows the Corps to do its work that will total more than $6 million.

The Corps also will be involved in improvements to the Merriwether pumping station farther south along the wall.

The city hopes the work, once completed, will bump it up to the Corps' top rating for infrastructure conditions.

"This should help push us over the finish line," Meyer said.

After some discussion and slight amendments, the council also approved a resolution expressing the city's support of an increase in the Missouri state motor fuel tax. A Senate bill proposed by Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, seeks to increase the tax by 2 cents per gallon annually for the next three years. The measure is designed to help cover expected revenue losses for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The department reports by 2017, Missouri no longer will be able to match all of the federal highway funds available to the state, meaning it could lose those available funding opportunities. Libla's bill would raise the existing motor fuel tax from 17.3 cents per gallon to 23.3 cents per gallon and allow the tax to be adjusted annually for inflation after the final 2-cent increase.

The resolution approved unanimously by the council -- minus Councilman Victor Gunn, who was absent -- was amended slightly to note its support for any legislation that seeks to increase the gas tax by up to 6 cents for the purpose of covering transportation funding shortfalls. The change was the result of a discussion of possible substitute bills that could make their way through the Legislature.

Focusing on Cape Girardeau's streets and continuing to adorn its downtown corridor, the council voted to accept the donation and gift of a metal sculpture into the city's public art collection through the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Foundation. Jon K. Rust -- publisher of the Southeast Missourian and co-president of Rust Communications -- delivered a presentation regarding the donation of "Quill" from the Rust family. The sculpture is among those in the 2014 Cape Girardeau Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit on display along Broadway.

Rust said he and other family members felt the sculptures "added to the ambience of downtown" and said it was important to hold on to one of the pieces from the inaugural exhibit.

The 2015 exhibit will be unveiled Friday. Mayor Harry Rediger expressed the city's thanks to the Rust family for stepping forward to start what he hopes will be a tradition of businesses, groups or individuals buying at least one sculpture each year to help grow the number of public art pieces displayed across the city.

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.