COUNCIL EYES CAPITAL BUDGET

Cape Girardeau needs a parks maintenance building more than a new golf pro shop, two councilmen said Monday night.

Councilmen Tom Neumeyer and Melvin Gateley suggested the maintenance building should be a top priority.

The project is on the unfunded list, while construction of a new golf pro shop is listed in the city's five-year capital improvements plan. The plan outlines $74 million worth of projects.

The need for the maintenance building was discussed at a special study session on the capital budget Monday night.

Only three of the seven council members -- Neumeyer, Gateley and Mayor Al Spradling -- attended the hour-long meeting with city staff.

The Arena Building basement, which Gateley called "a dungeon," is unheated and regularly floods during storms.

The city wants to build a $150,000, wood frame and metal maintenance building where park equipment could be stored and repairs made. It would be built near the tennis courts and the National Guard Armory.

The capital improvements plan projects spending $200,000 to construct a 3,000-square-foot pro shop to replace the exiting 1,300-square-foot facility.

Dan Muser, parks and recreation director, said the existing building is too small. "There is hardly room to turn around," he said.

The plan projects allocating $50,000 a year to the project over four years, beginning in fiscal 1998.

"The new pro shop is probably a money-making project," Spradling said. Construction of a larger and better facility could increase the sale of food and merchandise, he said.

But Spradling said the city also needs a parks maintenance building.