CONTRACTOR LICENSING DEBATED

Debate Monday night over whether to adopt licensing requirements for all building-trades contractors in Cape Girardeau prompted some City Council members to defend the city staff against "blind attacks of innuendo."

The council approved a motion that the city staff prepare a contractor licensing ordinance for consideration next month.

The ordinance will include amendments recommended by a committee that drafted a previous licensing law. The recommendations were drafted last week in response to concerns voiced by part-time "handy-man" contractors who said they feared the measure would put them out of business.

But Mayor Gene Rhodes' comment that he has received numerous anonymous complaints about the ordinance from contractors afraid to be identified prompted other council members to defend the city staff.

Council member Mary Wulfers said she was "offended" by Rhodes remarks, which implied that the concerned contractors would only trust him with their complaints.

"What good are we?" Wulfers asked. "I've gotten probably a half-dozen negative phone calls on this subject, all of which have been addressed by the committee."

Wulfers questioned why the overwhelming concerns seem only to be directed at the mayor when she tries always to make herself available to the public.

Council members David Limbaugh, David Barklage and Al Spradling III criticized Rhodes for continued comments implying that the city staff would mount reprisals against contractors critical of their recommendations.

"It's a shotgun effort to go after the staff, and somebody needs to defend them," Limbaugh said. "It's a constant attack by innuendo."

Spradling said that using "anonymous" complaints of staff reprisals against contractors creates an "aura of distrust" in the community.

"Why do we keep stamping on the city staff's head with this unknown?" he asked.

Some contractors at Monday's council meeting questioned the motives of a committee of contractors drafting an ordinance to require licensing. They said the contractors had a vested interest in limiting competition.

But Barklage defended the committee against what he called unprecedented personal attacks.

"I've never seen a committee so under personal attack of their motives as I've seen tonight," he said. "I think we need to focus on the ordinance and the real issues.

"I think it's very unfortunate the abuse the committee has taken. The whole issue has gotten out of control."

Barklage said he thought a licensing ordinance was needed but the council might want to further limit its scope.

Assistant City Manager Al Stoverink said he thought a simple registration requirement for contractors would be a "step in the right direction." He said the staff would prepare an ordinance implementing the committee's recommendations for the council's consideration next month.

The recommended changes from the previous proposal, which was tabled earlier this month by the council, address concerns about liability insurance and minimum experience requirements.

The committee recommended that a separate registration requirement would be established for "handy-man" contractors who wouldn't perform extensive work or gas, sewer or electrical modifications. The registration would have a smaller insurance requirement as it would address small remodeling and repair work that generally involves fewer safety hazards.

The committee's second recommendation was that the Board of Examiners would be authorized to waive some of the four-year experience requirement in lieu of technical training or education.

Rhodes was the most vocal opponent of the recommendations at Monday's City Council study session. He said the licensing requirements would eliminate competition from contractors who perform "small jobs."

He said the ordinance would allow some contractors to "get a bigger price because right now they've priced themselves out of the market.

"I think it's totally absurd what we're trying to do," Rhodes said. "You're going to have one of the biggest uprisings you've had. This is to eliminate competition, and I'm against that."

Rick Essner, who chaired the ad-hoc committee that drafted the recommendations, said that if the mayor was opposed to eliminating competition, the city should discard all licensing requirements and building codes because they restrict contractors.