COUNCIL DISCUSSES GAMBLING

The Cape Girardeau City Council met Tuesday behind closed doors to iron final details in the city's process to endorse one of two riverboat gaming proposals.

That process will culminate Monday, when the council is slated to recommend that either Boyd Gaming or Lady Luck Gaming be granted a license to operate a riverboat casino in Cape Girardeau.

The Missouri Gaming Commission has final say in the matter, but the city's endorsement is expected to hold sway, as demonstrated by the gaming companies' efforts to woo the council.

The Boyd project has been proposed for a site at the foot of Broadway in downtown Cape, and Lady Luck's hotel and resort proposal is planned for a 100-acre site in the southeast end of town.

In order to clarify issues in the proposals and to require financial assurances that both companies would complete their projects as proposed, the council drafted "memorandums of understanding" to be included with the proposals.

The details of those memorandums were discussed at Tuesday's closed meeting, said City Manager J. Ronald Fischer.

City Attorney Warren Wells cited Section 10.04, paragraph 1 of the Missouri Open Meetings Law for closing the meeting. He said the negotiations involved: "privileged or confidential communications between the city and its attorneys."