Council members question financial request process

A seemingly routine Cape Girardeau City Council meeting on Dec. 6 erupted into a heated discussion when talks of a $50,000 appropriation began in the last 30 minutes of the meeting.

Robbie Guard, mayor pro tem and Ward 4 representative, announced a future $50,000 request he would soon bring to the council on behalf of a local not-for-profit, Cape Girardeau Area Magnet, designed to foster economic growth in the area.

The $50,000 appropriation would help Magnet recoup the costs of a strategic plan Magnet hired Ernst & Young to create earlier this year. The company's price tag for the study was $125,000 with an additional $15,000 for travel fees, according to Guard, who is chairman of Magnet's board of directors.

On Monday, council members will vote on whether to provide the funds.

For some council members, mention of the $50,000 ask seemed sudden.

Tensions rose as Ward 6 Representative Stacy Kinder questioned how much background information council members were given on Magnet and funding for its strategic plan.

Kinder argued Guard should have mentioned the $50,000 sooner since Magnet began its work with Ernst & Young in June.

The discussion led to further questioning as to how the City of Cape Girardeau determines what projects and organizations to financially support.

'In the dark' on funding requests

According to Ward 5 Representative Shannon Truxel, certain council members, including herself, have been excluded from some conversations regarding funding requests.

Each council member has board or committee assignments, and it is not out of the ordinary for council members to propose a project or request funds for a group or entity if that council member is actively involved or supports it, Truxel said.

"On the other hand, it does this city and its citizens a disservice when one, two or three members of our council are not informed or included in funding projects," Truxel wrote in an email to the Southeast Missourian. "What does that mean exactly? It means that Council has failed to communicate with each other."

Cape Girardeau City Charter requires all council actions to have an affirmative vote of at least four members.

At the Dec. 6 Council meeting, Guard said he talked to some but not all council members about the Magnet funds, saying he "needed four votes, not all of them," and did not have conversations with Kinder about the $50,000 allocation because he "didn't want to waste his time."

"I live by the City Charter," Guard said. "I think there are side discussions, and I've heard about side discussions I haven't been included in, and that's fine. Were decisions made? No. Were votes asked for? Absolutely not."

Kinder did not characterize Guard's process as improper, illegal or immoral.

"I do characterize it, however, as not being transparent with the Council or the public, as not cultivating a collaborative approach to problem solving and as trying to keep a tight rein on the decision making and influence with city issues and city coffers," Kinder said.

Guard encouraged all council members to meet with Magnet's interim director, John Thompson, to get up to speed on what the organization is working on.

At the Dec. 6 Council meeting, Truxel said she would have taken such a meeting.

"These are tax dollars that are being doled out, and I can't imagine any worse way to force through funding than a rush to vote in the affirmative by four members ... prior to public comments and discussion all while having three other Council members in the dark," Truxel wrote in an email.

According to Kinder, the Magnet situation is the third instance of some Council members being left in the dark regarding background information on requests.

In January, council approved a $20,000 appropriation to a community college feasibility study on a 4-3 vote. Those who voted against said they desired more information before approving the full $20,000.

"We weren't even told who the City would make the check out to," Kinder said.

Kinder said all the projects were ones she is generally supportive of.

"However, I do like to make sure city funding is appropriate, essential and that there is some kind of return on investment to the citizens of Cape Girardeau," Kinder said.

Mayor Bob Fox said it's up to each individual Council member to educate themselves on issues.

"I think there's some Council members who don't even look at the agenda 'til they get there, and that's not a good thing," Fox said.

Magnet request

Guard routinely provides updates regarding Magnet at City Council.

He said in the Dec. 6 meeting his intent is to also ask the City of Jackson, Cape Girardeau County and the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) board to help recoup the cost of Magnet's strategic plan.

However, Guard said, Magnet's strategic plan was not contingent on reimbursement from local government agencies.

To quell their long search for an executive director, Magnet's board initially intended to hire a consulting firm to facilitate a search for a new executive director. Instead, according to Fox, the board decided to direct dollars away from hiring and instead focus on forming a strategic plan.

So far, other than a $30,000 donation from the IDA, funding for Ernst & Young's strategic plan has come out of Magnet's budget.

"It's not like they didn't have it [the money]," Fox said. "But it's nice to get reimbursed because that money is used for industrial recruitment and other things that could be vital to recruiting business here."

Guard argued that every entity in the Cape Girardeau area could benefit from the findings of this study.

"From an economic development standpoint, it stands to benefit the City of Cape Girardeau tremendously," Guard said.

The Southeast Missourian previously reported preliminary findings from the study. Ernst & Young benchmarked Cape Girardeau County against eight similar communities in five states.

Magnet anticipates receiving a full strategic plan report during the first week in January.

With its mission in mind, Guard does not classify Magnet as "just" a not-for-profit.

"Just calling it a nonprofit is a little short-sighted," Guard said. "It's much more than that. This is our economic development driver."

Ward 1 Representative Dan Presson said he's typically conservative with public dollars but sees the importance of investing in economic growth.

"I look at everything through a skeptic's eye," Presson said. "The future of our community is economic development. ... To me, that's an expenditure I'm comfortable with, because without economic development, we just stagnate."

A call for strategy

Cape Girardeau City Council and the City of Cape Girardeau have no way to strategically assess financial requests in an organized, comprehensive way, Kinder said.

Nor is there any limit, besides a zero coffers balance, Truxel said, in determining how much the city should give.

"There should be a system and process in place in which not-for-profits can approach and request funding for projects," Truxel said. "This would be a topic of discussion for Council and perhaps to be addressed prior to the next budget review."

Fox said he thinks it's vital for the city to develop an economic development budget. Usually, with requests similar to Guard's, Fox said, the city has to dip into casino revenue.

"As we begin our budget process for the next year, we need to start thinking about putting some money in the budget for economic development," Fox said.

If approved on Monday, the City will appropriate $50,000 for Magnet from casino revenue funds.

Ward 2 Council Representative Shelly Moore and Ward 3 Representative Nate Thomas were contacted for this story but did not respond to requests for comment.