JACKSON ALDERMAN CANDIDATE ON ATTACK AGAINST CITY HALL

JACKSON -- In this growing, but still friendly city, election campaigns usually are low-key and gentle. Nobody told Chris Bowen, a candidate for Ward 3 alderman who has been on the attack against City Hall and more indirectly his opponent in the April election, Alderman Valerie Tuschoff.

Bowen has questioned why the city spent nearly $1 million on a 60-acre industrial tract on Highway 61 North when "the city currently owns a 50-acre site south of Jackson designated for industrial development. This land is sitting idle."

The land Bowen refers to actually is owned by the city, the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association, the Jackson Chamber of Commerce and the Jackson Industrial Development Corp.

The land has not been fully developed, in part because some of it lies in the flood plain. City and industrial development officials also maintain that an industrial tract closer to the interstate highway was needed.

"It's like a car lot," says Mitch Robinson, the industrial recruitment association's executive director. "You've got to have cars on your lot to sell them, and there needed to be additional property so the city would be able to access grant funds to build infrastructure."

Bowen maintains that the city paid at least double the amount the land in the tract was worth, especially considering that 10 of the 60 acres are in a flood plain and considered undevelopable.

The seller did not want to separate those 10 acres from the parcel, say city officials. They plan to use the land either for a park or detention basin.

An appraiser who works with Jackson properties said he is not familiar with this transaction, but said the approximately $15,000 per acre the city paid for the property is "not that far off."

Robinson says the land is worth what the market says it is.

"With the prices of land sold or leased in the area, it definitely falls in line with property that has been sold for industrial purposes," Robinson said.

Robinson worked with the Board of Aldermen and the city staff in reviewing the site.

"I feel very positive it's a good location for the City of Jackson," he said.

One thing companies look for and ask about is proximity to an interstate highway, Robinson said. The site's relative proximity to the Procter & Gamble plant was another plus.

But Bowen thinks the new tract is in a bad location.

"I don't think we want industry located in the main highway coming through town," Bowen said.

In his latest statement, Bowen questions the quality of the city's inspection services and says some of the money the city is spending on administrative salaries "could be better used by providing a higher quality inspection service."

While Bowen's statements zero in on how the city is being managed, they end by noting that Tuschoff voted for these projects or salary increases and Bowen wouldn't have.

The popular Tuschoff, whom even Bowen says he likes, is ending her fourth term as an aldermen. She doesn't want to comment on Bowen's attacks.

"It is not in my character or in the best interest of the City of Jackson to take the low road," she said.

"I think the people of Jackson and the residents of my ward know that Mr. Bowen's attitude towards me is a result of his firm's termination from employment with the city," Tuschoff says.

Rich Bowen, the president of Bowen Engineering, was the city's consulting engineer through the 1990s. That relationship was ended by the city last year. The city is conducting a search for a full-time city engineer.

Chris Bowen, who is Rich Bowen's son and vice president of Bowen Engineering, has said he is not running for alderman in retaliation. He said the reason he is running is simple: "I have become exasperated with a city staff and Board of Aldermen that abuses the trust of the citizens and squanders the taxpayers' money."

One of his targets is the $160,000 the city spends annually on administrative salaries, which he contends amounted to only $42,000 when City Administrator Steve Wilson arrived four years ago.

Wilson disputes both Bowen figures, saying administrative salaries are about $150,000 and were about $100,000 four years ago, an amount that then paid the salaries of the city administrator, public works director and administrative assistant.

Last year, a consultant hired by the city advised raising salaries at the top and bottom of the city's payroll to make Jackson more competitive with other cities its size.

"The citizens of Jackson can see the progress we have made in our city over the past several years," Tuschoff says. She points to current and planned improvements in infrastructure, the creation of the city's first K-9 unit to combat drugs, the emergency medical services now provided by the fire department, and the support the city has received from existing business and its ability to attract new businesses.

"These are just a few of the positive things I am proud to have been a part of," she says.

Bowen says he is only trying to point out that everything isn't as rosy in Jackson as people might think.

"Jackson is a great little town," he said. "I want my little girl to grow up here, but I think some things can be improved on in city government. I don't think people always hear the whole truth. I want to get that changed."