CITY COUNCIL REACHES NO AGREEMENT ABOUT CONTRACTOR LICENSING

After nearly five months of debate, the Cape Girardeau City Council once again Tuesday night did not vote on a construction-trades licensing law.

Following lengthy discussion, the council voted 5-2 to remand a revised version of the law to the city staff for further amendments. The proposed ordinance already has been altered no less than three times.

About 25 contractors and members of a city Trades Licensing Committee attended the meeting to discuss the law.

Councilman David Limbaugh said he wondered if reconsideration of the measure would serve to resolve conflicts that remain as to who should be regulated by the law and to what extent the regulation should be imposed.

"We have done this repeatedly and sent it back to the drawing board and there are still concerns," Limbaugh said. "Are we ever going to have something that's acceptable to everyone?"

Councilman Al Spradling III said he thought the measure already has been "watered down" too much and wouldn't serve its initial purpose to ensure the safety of consumers who contract for repairs and construction.

"I'm in favor of it going back to staff," Spradling said. "I would vote against it tonight. It's gotten to the point where we're trying to compromise too much, trying to appease too many people."

Frank Bean, a local developer, echoed some of Spradling's sentiments. But he said he thought the matter should be retired, not revisited.

"You've heard all kinds of reasons why we need this," Bean said. "To me, they've all been compromised and worked over so much you've watered it down so that you don't have anything.

"At this point, I don't see a good reason for going on with this."

Bean said the law would place too many restrictions on property owners who wish to repair and renovate their own rental units. He said he also thought the measure would increase construction costs in the city as property owners would be forced to hire only full-time, licensed contractors.

Councilman Doug Richards and Mayor Gene Rhodes said they favored voting on the issue Tuesday. "I'm tired of it being brought up," said Richards. "I hate to send this back. I think it's time to either vote for this ordinance or to kill it."

Rhodes said he also thought the licensing measure would increase construction costs in Cape Girardeau.

"This thing can eat the town up and run costs out of this world," Rhodes said. "I have not had anyone other than a few contractors tell me they're in favor of this."

During Tuesday's meeting several contractors questioned parts of the law and the need for further regulation of the construction trades.

Jess Bolen, a Cape Girardeau plumber who served on the Trades Licensing Committee, said the purpose of the law, which would essentially require all city contractors to be licensed, was to ensure safe construction by qualified contractors.

"I think in the building trades you deal in so much safety and danger. I think, yes, we do need somebody to regulate that," Bolen said.

Some of the issues debated by contractors and members of the city council included how much liability insurance should be required of contractors; how much experience the contractors should have; and whether a grandfather clause in the law discriminates against already regulated plumbers and gas fitters.

Council member Mary Wulfers questioned why a minimum insurance requirement was dropped from the latest version of the law. Members of the committee said the insurance industry likely would regulate itself with regard to construction contractors.

Councilman Al Spradling said that if the measure was passed the council would want to monitor how much liability insurance most contractors needed and had. He said the council could then go back and add an insurance requirement to the law.

Rhodes questioned a section of the law that allows contractors to count academic or vocational training toward a four-year minimum experience requirement.

"If you're going to license them, it has to be more than book knowledge," he said. "They need practical experience. To grant a license without on-the-job training for a period of time is very dangerous in some cases."

But the mayor later criticized a grandfather clause in the law that waived testing requirements only for working contractors with four years of experience.

"What about the person who takes over the business from dad and he's only been in it two years?" Rhodes said. "He's out of business; you're putting him out of business."

Ron Scheper, a plumber, said he thought the measure was weighted too heavily in favor of "handyman" contractors, who would be licensed without many of the testing required of other contractors.

"This allows the remodeling and repair contractors to do about 70 percent of the plumbing work on a house," Scheper said. "It takes out the need for plumbers.

"You're opening up this license so the repair guy can come in and do all the work. The purpose of this licensing is to get good-quality personnel and protect the public. You're going to defeat the purpose by allowing any repair contractor to do any type of work."