FLOOD, GAMBLING TOP 1993 CITY MATTERS

The summer's record flood, riverboat gambling and a new system of city elections were just some of the issues that made 1993 an eventful year in Cape Girardeau.

J. Ronald Fischer, who's approaching the end of his sixth year as Cape Girardeau's city manager, said the flood dominated the lives of many residents throughout the summer.

It also affected city operations, forcing public works crews to devote time and efforts toward flood mitigation rather than needed street maintenance.

"We spent about a half-million dollars as far as a financial outlay on the flood," Fischer said. "But the impact you don't see is in street improvements and repairs that had to stop while street crews worked on the flood."

He said there could be other long-term flood costs from damage initiated in the flood but that won't surface until later.

But even the record flood couldn't overshadow the interest citizens took in the issue of riverboat gambling.

In January the city council agreed to put riverboat gambling on the June election ballot. Although voters rejected the gambling issue in June, a grass-roots effort to put the measure back on the ballot in November was successful. This time the issue passed in an election marked by an unusually high voter turnout.

Fischer said how best to first secure a riverboat operator and then to spend local proceeds from riverboat gambling will be prominent city issues for years to come.

"It's going to impact the local economy not only in the jobs it will bring and the tax revenue for the city, but it's also going to be an impact on infrastructure -- streets, sewers and water," he said.

Revenue generated by a riverboat casino will be significant, which is why the city must consider carefully how best to spend those funds, Fischer said.

"My guideline is that we're not going to look at the income as a permanent source of revenue," he said. "It's going to be earmarked for capital projects, not new programs."

Years ago, when Fischer was a Cape Girardeau County commissioner, federal revenue sharing helped build Cape County Park, the county administrative building and jail and improve the county courthouse.

"That's the kind of things I would envision we would use the revenues generated from a riverboat for," he said.

The council has set a March 7 deadline for its recommendation on an operator. That recommendation will go to the Missouri Gaming Commission for its consideration.

In April, a dramatically altered council will have to deal with riverboat gambling and other city issues.

A new ward-election system approved by voters last year but implemented this year will place three new members on the city council.

Also, since two sitting councilmen are vying for the at-large mayor's seat, a special election will be held in the spring to replace the winner. Fischer said ward elections can be good for the city.

"Any form of democratic government is as good as the people who are elected," he said. "We've got a ward system now, and my goal is to make the best out of this situation."

Fischer said it will be important for new council members to look beyond ward interests. "Although they represent a ward, we want to explain to them that they have a responsibility to the entire city."

The city council this year took steps to address an ongoing problem that arises each time there's a flash flood in Cape Girardeau.

In April, voters will decide on whether to extend a capital improvements tax to pay for $19 million in sewer improvements -- including separation of combined storm and sanitary sewers in older parts of the city, which tend to back up into homes during flooding.

"When you look at the city's 20-year master sewer plan, this is taking a big chunk out of that plan," Fischer said of the measure. "This is something that, some day, we're going to have to bite the bullet and do anyway, because the federal government will mandate it.

"Right now we can take advantage of some record-low interest rates, and get the work done for a lot less money that we'll probably be able to do in the future."

An issue that resurfaced late in the year was a proposed $1.46 per month trash-fee hike.

The council this month twice delayed action on the bill in order to consider alternative funding and trash billing methods.

"I think the council is wanting to move to some type of volume-based billing," Fischer said. "Where we see probably the most complaints right now is from the person who uses very little of the service but pays the same as someone with a large family."

The hope is that volume-based billing would encourage more residents to recycle.

Fischer said he doesn't recommend subsidizing solid-waste costs with general revenue, as some council members suggested.

"When you start subsidizing out of general revenue, you have to look at raising taxes to replenish that lost general revenue income," he said.

Another contentious issue in the past year has been a proposed property maintenance code and a recommendation by a citizens advisory board to take steps in the city to build public housing.

"I have to agree with the task force (that recommended public housing)," Fischer said. "There is a need for some affordable housing, and I think the committee's got a good recommendation.

"I think the low-income families need some help in the area of housing. If it's done the way this committee has recommended, it could be a positive thing for the city."

Another key project in 1993, Fischer said, was the $4 million tourism tax-funded recreation project.

The project will include a softball complex at Shawnee Park and construction of a multipurpose building at Kingshighway and Mount Auburn Road.

The city manager also lauded the annexation of Twin Lakes subdivision, situated west of Interstate 55 along Hopper Road.

"Twin Lakes is very strategically located in the northwest part of the city," he said. "If this city is going to grow, that's the direction it's going to go, west. We're defining a growth area out there."

Other ongoing projects that progressed in 1993 include the Lexington Avenue arterial and the Cape LaCroix Creek-Walker Branch flood control project.

Sales tax receipts were up significantly in 1993, and the city's water division continued to operate well into the black more than a year after the city purchased the utility from Union Electric Co.