CITY OFFICIALS DEBATE MERITS OF FORMING NEW CITY ADVISORY BOARD

Cape Girardeau needs a new city board to foster economic development, Councilman Melvin Gateley said Tuesday.

Gateley proposed Monday night that the council create a five-member board of governors to formulate a plan for economic development and look at funding public-private partnerships.

Some funding could come from motel and restaurant tax money, Gateley said.

The council will discuss the issue again at its Dec. 18 meeting.

Mayor Al Spradling III and Mary Miller, director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Tuesday that the Convention and Visitors Advisory Board could handle some of the funding duties without creating a new city board.

"They are capable and willing to do that," Miller said.

The motel and restaurant tax money goes into the city's Convention and Visitors Fund.

A city law stipulates that the money be used to retire the Show Me Center bonds, promote tourism and conventions, and foster economic development.

The Board of Managers, whose members include representatives from both the city and Southeast Missouri State University, oversees the operation of the Show Me Center.

The city's Convention and Visitors Advisory Board oversees the operation of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

But Gateley said the city doesn't have an advisory board that is focusing on economic development, from manufacturing to educational enterprises.

"It just came to me we were letting this item lay dormant and not promoting it," said Gateley.

But Spradling said city law makes it clear that the CVB board has the duty of advising the council on how to spend money from the Convention and Visitors Fund.

Miller said the CVB board has concentrated largely on operating the bureau because it hasn't been given clear direction to do anything else.

"Until the need arises, you don't always address the issue," Miller said.

Gateley said a board is needed to develop an overall plan for economic development, which could include tourism projects.

He said a board of governors is needed to develop criteria that would be used in dealing with funding requests, such as the amount of private matching funds that would be needed for a public-private partnership.

Gateley's suggestion comes on the heals of a plea by Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation for a share of city tourism money to turn Old St. Vincent's Seminary into a cultural center.

But the councilman said his proposal isn't designed specifically to come up with a way to finance the Colonial Cape project.

Miller said the CVB board could help develop an economic development plan for the city.

She said the seven-member board includes representatives from the university, the travel industry, restaurants and motels.

"They could look at the total revenue that this special tax generates and then make recommendations to the City Council," Miller said.

But Gateley said the city should look at other sources of funding for projects besides motel and restaurant taxes, particularly since those taxes are set to expire in 2004 when the Show Me Center bonds are paid off.

"We can't let tourism and this type of thing wither on the vine in Cape Girardeau because we don't have the resources," Gateley said.

Spradling said the council, not advisory boards, ultimately controls how city money will be spent.