CAPE GIRARDEAU REQUESTS REHEARING ON RIVER CAMPUS

The city of Cape Girardeau contends that a ruling by the Missouri Court of Appeals could force city councils to write ridiculously long ordinance titles to avoid potential lawsuits.

The St. Louis law firm of Armstrong and Teasdale filed a motion last week requesting the court of appeals rehear the city's case or voluntarily transfer it to the Missouri Supreme Court. Among the reasons: the titling of ordinances and the city's opinion that the judges erred in their June 26 ruling that blocked Cape Girardeau from spending motel and restaurant tax money on the proposed Southeast Missouri State University River Campus

A three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District in St. Louis ruled that a city ordinance that put the tax issue on the ballot in 1998 violated the state constitution and the city's own charter.

The city contends the ruling was erroneous and that it could have a widespread effect, not only on the River Campus project but on the titling of future city ordinances, said Mayor Al Spradling III.

"All cities in the eastern district could be affected by the titling issue," said Spradling, a lawyer. "If I read this opinion correctly, the court of appeals is also condemning short titles for ordinances. My concern is that some prior title for city ordinances could be attacked because of the ruling."

The court's ruling struck down the city's law that provided for the expansion of a motel-restaurant tax to fund the city's share of the River Campus project with the university.

The decision leaves the River Campus in jeopardy. State funding is expected to pay for half of the project, but that funding depends on securing private donations and the $8.9 million in city funding.

Cape Girardeau businessman Jim Drury had filed the lawsuit against the city, claiming the city shouldn't be involved in the River Campus project.

Drury's lawsuit, filed in April 1999, blocked the city from using motel and restaurant tax money to fund its share of the $36 million River Campus project. The university project would involve renovations and new construction to turn a former Catholic seminary in Cape Girardeau into a school for the visual and performing arts.

"We feel we have a good case," said Walter S. Drusch, Drury's attorney. "We were satisfied with the court's decision last time. We'll take things one step at a time."