JUDGE WON'T DISMISS COUNTY LAWSUIT

JACKSON, Mo. -- A judge refused Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the Cape Girardeau County Commission of illegally spending money to develop planning and zoning regulations.

Scott County Associate Circuit Judge Hense Winchester ruled the lawsuit can proceed and ordered county officials to file a formal response to the suit within 15 days.

Winchester said further that commissioners must answer plaintiffs' attorney's written questions within 20 days.

Cape Girardeau attorney Walter S. Drusch represents 75 people who opposed planning and zoning and filed the lawsuit against the commission.

Winchester said the case ultimately may be decided by an appeals court.

At a hearing Tuesday, Drusch accused county officials of dragging their feet in refusing to answer the suit.

"They don't want to," he told the judge as several plaintiffs looked on. "They want to keep dodging this thing."

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Scott Lipke, however, said the commission hadn't responded to Drusch's written questions because it was waiting for the judge to rule on the county's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Doug Flannery, a plaintiff from Whitewater, Mo., welcomed the judge's ruling.

"I'm happy we're going to get some answers," he said following the hearing.

The lawsuit was filed Oct. 31, a few days before voters rejected the November ballot measure that sought to implement planning and zoning restrictions in the county's unincorporated areas.

The lawsuit charges the county commission violated a state law governing first-class counties when it paid more than $29,000 to the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Development Commission to draft planning and zoning regulations prior to the election.

Conflicting statutes

State law Section 64.211 allows money to be spent to develop a plan only after voters have approved county planning, the lawsuit states.

The county commission cites a different statute, 64.275, that allows a temporary planning commission to spend money to develop a plan. The planning commission was established shortly before Cape Girardeau County moved from second-class to first-class status.

Drusch said county officials, however, made it clear prior to the election that they were operating under state law section 64.211.

The lawsuit cites an Aug. 28 memorandum to the county commission and the county clerk from Roger Arnzen, director of mapping and appraisal, that advises that the ballot wording is based on statute 64.211.