GAMBLING MATTERS FACE CITY COUNCIL

Riverboat gambling, a trash fee increase and a recommendation on public housing will top the agenda at tonight's Cape Girardeau City Council meeting.

The council will conduct a "public forum" to report on the status of city efforts to solicit proposals from riverboat operators.

Tonight, citizens will have an opportunity to respond to a "request for proposal" (RFP) document aimed at attracting gambling operations to Cape Girardeau.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 401 Independence.

In a letter to council members, Assistant City Manager Doug Leslie said the city will have to adopt an RFP soon in order to meet its March 7 deadline for making a recommendation to the Missouri Gaming Commission.

"If approved by council, the request for proposal will be advertised in `The Casino Journal,' a trade publication for casino operators," Leslie said. "The deadline for submission to advertise in the January issue of the journal is Dec. 27."

The RFP document includes many items the city is seeking in addition to riverboat tax obligations mandated by state law.

The city has invited developers to propose such things as improvements to city streets and sewers affected by the riverboat operations.

The RFP requires background information and the financial qualifications of the developer. The company also is required to comply with any conditions set out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, levee districts and other agencies with jurisdiction over the development site.

The RFP also asks for developers' plans to address the "social costs associated with problem gambling."

The trash fee increase first was proposed at the council's Dec. 6 meeting, where it was tabled to allow for additional public comments on the plan.

Tonight, city staff will make a brief presentation on the solid waste program, showing why the proposed $1.46 per customer monthly fee increase is needed.

In a letter to council members, Leslie said increased solid waste costs derive from the mandated closure of the city's landfill, increased solid waste hauling and disposal fees, and raised dues for membership in the Region R Solid Waste Management District.

Also, operating costs in the solid waste division have increased in the past year.

Operating cost increases come from higher diesel fuel prices, 1993 flood cleanup efforts, higher maintenance requirements as equipment ages, city employee pay raises, and advertising and education efforts related to solid waste.

"We feel that the city employees who work in the solid waste division and the services that we offer are appropriate for the size of the city of Cape Girardeau," Leslie said. "The fee increase is necessary to maintain this level of service and to comply with state and federal mandates."

The city's housing assistance task force is expected to recommend the council take steps to appoint a public housing authority.

Earlier this month, task force members, who have met since June, concluded that -- based on the data the group collected -- there's a need in Cape Girardeau for 100-125 "scattered site" public housing units.

Members of the group indicated that the Mississippi River Bridge route, this summer's flood, and continued deterioration of some of the city's older housing stock has led to a shortage of low- to moderate-income housing in Cape Girardeau.

City voters have three times defeated referendums on public housing -- in 1970, 1968 and 1962. The issue has resurfaced several times since, but a housing authority appointed in the late 1960s has long since disbanded.

In other business, the council will consider:

-- A second, six-month extension of the city's cable television franchise with TCI Cablevision of Missouri.

-- Application for a $75,000 Missouri Community Development Block Grant to help Mid-South Steel Products, which was damaged by the flood this summer, relocate to the Six-Thirty Industrial Park.

-- Appointments to the city's board of examiners and convention and visitors bureau, the Vision 2000 Community Relations Council, and the Cape Girardeau Parks Development Foundation

-- A request for a special use permit for a mail order parts business at 624 Koch Avenue, in a single-family residential district. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommending unanimously that the request by denied.