Cape Girardeau County disabilities board trial date set for February

With mediation attempts fruitless so far, a trial date has been set for Feb. 27 to settle a dispute between VIP Industries and the Cape County Board for Developmental Disabilities.

And the issues are so complex it will take both a jury's verdict and a judge's ruling to disentangle them.

A jury will likely hear the breach-of-contract portion of the suit, in which VIP is seeking more than $200,000 from the board, said John Toma, VIP's lawyer from St. Louis. That is the amount VIP claims it is owed for six months of insurance, maintenance and other costs relating to operating the sheltered workshop that employs 150 people with developmental disabilities. VIP is also seeking the amount that has accumulated since then. Toma didn't have that figure immediately available.

But a judge traditionally considers motions for an order, Toma said. That's what it would take, Toma said, to enforce VIP's demand that the board resume making payments from the property tax dollars it collects. The board stopped making payments to VIP in late 2010.

"Procedurally, it's a little convoluted," Toma said. "But we're hopeful to get some resolution of this matter at the end of February."

VIP's lawsuit alleges that the board is obligated to renew the contract each year because voters approved the collection of a property tax in 1975 to pay for the creation and maintenance of a sheltered workshop and residence facility for the developmentally disabled.

But the board counters that the law doesn't specify which sheltered workshop is to be funded. The board's countersuit, filed in July, also asks that the accounting records of VIP be released, that VIP relinquish property housing the sheltered workshop and that the company pay rent owed since the end of the last contract.

The board also wants more than $1.5 million for money that VIP was reimbursed and that the board be awarded the value of any financial gain VIP may have made from board-funded reimbursements.

The board's lawyer, J. Michael Ponder, said Tuesday there was little to be gained in discussing the case with the media.

"I think we're at a juncture that either party is not well served by airing its grievances in public," Ponder said.

The one-day trial, moved to Stoddard County on a change of venue, could put to rest a feud that began 18 months ago over a $60,000 kitchen renovation. But there may be one more attempt at mediation between now and the court date. Lawyers for both sides said Tuesday that they are open to that possibility and Toma said talks may resume sometime after the first of the year.

"The parties have certainly indicated a willingness to talk, to resume discussions," Toma said.

But previous attempts at mediation have proved unsuccessful. In November, the parties spent a day with mediator Ken Spain, a Poplar Bluff, Mo., lawyer, to no avail, Toma said.

"We had pretty serious discussions," Toma said. "At the end of the day, the case just didn't get settled."

The legal battles were also a factor in the board getting its funding cut in half in September. The Cape Girardeau County Commission voted to cut the tax rate in half, setting it at 0.0385 cents per $100 assessed valuation, the third-lowest in the state. That amount is expected to bring in about $435,000 over the next year. The former rate of 0.077 cents had generated $870,000 annually for the board, money meant to be spent on a sheltered workshop and other services for those with developmental disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome.

Commissioners Clint Tracy and Paul Koeper said at the time they were unhappy that taxpayer dollars were being spent on legal fees.

On Tuesday, the commissioners reiterated their positions and again encouraged the two sides to settle the matter.

"I think they've got to the very last hour to try to get something worked out and hopefully they can," Tracy said.

As it is, Koeper said, it's a no-win situation. He also said he's not interested in appointing four new members to the board to replace those who resigned -- at least not until the legal problems are over.

"If they can eliminate this court battle, the funding can again start going to the children and young men and women that the money is intended for," Koeper said. "I've encouraged that from day one."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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