Cost savings appear at heart of potential contract change between City, Chamber

The City of Cape Girardeau could save $164,327 annually by merging Visit Cape and the municipal Parks and Recreation Department, according to a proposal obtained by the Southeast Missourian.

The proposal, put forth by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, has not been publicly ratified by city officials, nor has there been any other public action on the issue. City officials have had closed-door sessions in recent months without divulging the purpose of those sessions. State law provides for governmental bodies to have closed-door sessions regarding various issues, including contract review and/or negotiation.

Currently, the City and Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce have a contract under which the chamber oversees Visit Cape. That contract is due to expire at the end of June. According to numerous sources, chamber of commerce officials were not invited or welcome to attend the city’s closed-door sessions regarding the contract.

According to a letter sent last week by the chamber to its members, the Parks and Recreation Department would take up operations of Visit Cape at the end of the contract.

The Southeast Missourian contacted chamber president Rob Gilligan, city manager Ken Haskin and Mayor Stacy Kinder with questions about the contract, future of Visit Cape and process under which officials are considering possible changes.

Gilligan stated he didn’t have any information to share at this time, besides the letter the chamber sent to its members. In that letter, chamber chair Alex Ogburn and Gilligan underlined successes of Visit Cape while operating within the chamber. The letter also identified several goals the chamber had established for the agency moving forward.

Haskin stated the city is still under contract with the chamber.

Kinder stated she would discuss Visit Cape’s new structure after the contract expires in June.

According to the proposal, the Visit Cape office would be relocated to the east side of the Osage Centre. The proposal says the relocation would save $34,779 in rent, annually.

Transitioning Visit Cape operations from the Chamber of Commerce to the City of Cape Girardeau would create “strong synergies and inner connectivity” between Visit Cape and the Parks and Recreation Department, according to the proposal.

“Working directly with Parks and Recreation will reduce duplication and redundancy of efforts, allowing Visit Cape to focus on non-sport related and downtown Cape events, daily business travel and other events coming to Cape Girardeau,” the proposal states.

Parks and Recreation ties into tourism, the proposal contends.

“The travel sports industry has become a major economic player in the City of Cape Girardeau,” it says. “Our future goal of Visit Cape should be to target this captive audience that is already planning trips to Cape Girardeau and introducing them to other non-sport related activities while they are in the community.”

The proposal says Visit Cape employees would become municipal employees. Two current Visit Cape employees are compatible with the department’s recreation coordinator positions, and those two existing employees would become involved with weekend events and be “working more with area hotels and restaurants by developing entertainment destination packages,” according to the document.

The proposal states the Visit Cape executive director would report to the assistant city manager and the Parks and Recreation Department’s staff. The city would establish a Visit Cape advisory board similar to other city advisory boards.