CITY KICKS OFF CAMPAIGN ON UTILITY ISSUES

Cape Girardeau city officials this week began a campaign to inform voters of the issues surrounding a proposal to purchase the city's water system from Union Electric Co.

The campaign also is intended to inform the public about proposals for new gas and electric franchise agreements with the utility company.

Assistant City Manager Al Stoverink said he hopes the campaign can balance some of the "false assumptions" citizens may have about the water system and its conditions.

When the city announced its intention of buying the system, some residents expressed concern over the condition of the system's older sections. Voters will decide at the polls Nov. 5 whether to approve the franchises and the water system purchase.

"We are scheduling informational programs at different clubs and civic groups in town, and we are hoping to get a citizens committee formed that would help us in getting information out," Stoverink said.

"We really feel it's very important to get the information out to people because there have been some false assumptions that have been made early on about the condition of the system."

Stoverink said he and other city officials have studied the city's water system over the years to try to resolve questions about its condition and whether costly improvements would be needed if the city were to buy it.

"We've got some sections of pipe cut out of the system that show it's in pretty good shape," he said. Stoverink also said the franchise proposals that voters will approve or reject in November are much more comprehensive than the agreements that expired more than two years ago.

"There are some new features that make the franchises much more significant to the city than what they were in the past," he added.

Stoverink said public information is the key to garnering voter support for the franchises and the proposal to purchase the water system.

"We want a factually based type of effort," he said. The key thing, I believe, with these kinds of ballot is, if you're dealing with a clear need and a sensible solution ... then what it really boils down to is just getting that information out to the people.

"The voters are very intelligent and if you get the information out ... people will generally respond in a positive way."

Stoverink said the campaign will include presentations to civic groups and community leaders, as well as smaller groups of concerned residents.

"Our role at the city is just to get the information out," he said. "We're not interested in fancy slogans or any kind of high-priced `PR' campaign, but there is quite a bit of information that we want out there."

He said this effort will be similar to the successful capital improvements flood control tax campaign of 1988.

"In that campaign, it was real important to get in touch with as many people as we could, whatever size the group," Stoverink said. "We even had programs in homes in neighborhoods. We did that last time and would like to do it again."

The assistant city manager said it's important for citizens to realize that Union Electric plans to sell its water system regardless. He said if the city doesn't take advantage of the opportunity to purchase it at a fair price now, residents likely would be forced to fund, through rate hikes, a private company's purchase of the system.

He said neither the franchises nor the water system proposal would involve rate increases.

"We were thinking, `Wouldn't it be nice to be able to go to the ballot and vote on three issues that don't involve any tax increase?'" Stoverink said. "That's what we've got here.

"In fact, one can save over the long run. Not only in the lower cost for service, but I believe we'll be able to make improvements necessary to get a Class 3 fire insurance rating, which will give us a break on fire insurance rates.

"That's not something that's going to happen overnight, but over a period of years with some concentrated effort, we could get to that point."

Stoverink said the community so far has generally reacted favorably to the campaign.

"The feedback I'm getting is pretty positive at this point," he said. "I think it's going to have a pretty positive response, once people understand the basic issues involved."

Stoverink said he hopes a citizen's group can be formed to help with the campaign. He also said he plans to conduct radio and cable TV programs and draft "question/answer fact sheets" regarding the franchises and water system purchase.