FORMER HOSPITAL'S CONDEMNATION SOUGHT; LIABILITY PROBLEMS WORRY COUNCILMAN

~Correction: Hospital was built in 1913 and opened in 1914.

By taking steps to secure the former St. Francis Hospital, the city of Cape Girardeau now is liable for maintaining the privately owned structure's safety.

And some members of the City Council say they would rather incur the expense of condemning the poorly secured, often-vandalized building than risk perhaps a costlier lawsuit from someone injured at the site.

At Monday's council meeting, City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said the abandoned hospital on Good Hope Street has been a "security problem" for years.

Peter Kern of Denton, Texas, owns the property. Fischer said city efforts to get Kern to maintain the property have been futile.

"About 10 days ago, we were notified that one of the elevator doors was open," Fischer said. "We went in and secured the elevator and spent $400 securing the rest of the building with padlocks, chains and bolts.

"Within 24 hours, someone broke in and cut the chains, and we've had to secure it again. We notified the owner three to four months ago and have gotten no response from him."

City Councilman Al Spradling III, who's also a local attorney, said that by securing the building, the city has assumed liability for the property. He said the liability exposure puts the city in a potentially worse economic position than if it were to condemn the property.

Spradling also mentioned that something should be done to condemn the Marquette Hotel building on Broadway Street, which has been in disrepair for years.

"If the building's not being maintained we know the Marquette Hotel isn't and old St. Francis isn't we're going to have someone get hurt or a partial collapse," he said. "We cannot continue to have buildings like that and let owners keep trash in the city.

"We're the ones who are now incurring the liability of maintaining security of old St. Francis. I don't know anybody in their right mind who wants to assume that kind of liability, but we assume that liability when we go in and try to secure the property."

City Attorney Warren Wells said the city is responsible for the safety of the public at large. He said the best way to prevent an injury at the old hospital site is to continue to secure the property at the city's expense.

"Any expenses we incur will be levied against the property, but who knows when we would ever be able to recoup that," said Fischer. "We can condemn the property, but the cost of condemnation could exceed the value of the property."

But Spradling said the city should either take legal action against the property owners to force them to pay for upkeep or seek to condemn the buildings.

"Why should we, day in and day out, maintain this property for somebody?" he said. "I think we ought to bite the bullet. It's going to cost us some money, but it might cost us a lot more in the future."

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard "Butch" Boyd said it's difficult to prosecute trespassers or vandals because the city's unable to contact the Texas owner of the building.

"The big problem is when we catch somebody in the building, we can't do anything to them because we don't have an owner who will testify in court that they're trespassing," Boyd said.

Fischer said he's been told the property might be sold contingent upon the potential buyer's ability to close another transaction. But Boyd said all that remains of the building is a "shell."

"My personal opinion is, and (Fire) Chief (Gene) Hindman would agree with me, that there's not much of value left in there," Boyd said. "It's really just a shell."

The police chief said looters have stripped brass and aluminum from the interior of the building and anything else of value. He said the property also is attractive to "kids."

"I'm afraid one day, we'll have these groups clash," he said.

Wells said there might be some type of civil action the city could take against the owner of the property to try to recoup some of the condemnation costs. The council directed the city staff to continue maintaining security at the site, while working toward condemnation.

The former hospital on Good Hope Street opened in 1913. In 1976, the hospital moved to a new $13.5 million medical complex at Route K and Mount Auburn Road. The hospital grounds were then sold to Southeast Missouri State University and used as student housing until 1985.

In 1987, the facility was sold to a group of local investors, who, in turn, sold it to Peter C. Kern and Texas Health Enterprises in 1989, the property's current owner.

In other business at Monday's meeting, the council directed city staff to draft a new version of a city contractor trades licensing ordinance. The council will consider the measure at its next meeting, Oct. 7.

The new law will be a scaled down version of earlier measures that were freely debated during the past several months.

The new law would be limited to requiring licenses for all contractors for a $5 annual fee and would include penalties to be levied against contractors caught operating without a license.

The license for general building contractors, electricians and "handy-man" contractors would not include any testing or experience requirements. The current testing and experience requirements for the already regulated trades of gas fitters and plumbers would be "cleaned up" for clarification and fairness.

The council and staff would monitor the program for six months and report back on its success or failure.

"I want to clean up the original ordinance, but not add additional fields," said Councilman David Barklage. "My intent is to do something very simple and move it on to get the fear out and to get away from the issue of how someone is qualified to do the work."