NEW QUARTERS LIKELY FOR CAPE LICENSE BUREAU

The Cape Girardeau license bureau is expected to move to new quarters to make way for riverboat gambling.

The bureau is housed in a small building at 220 N. Main, which is owned by the Downtown Merchants Association.

"The Boyd group has an option to buy it," said Norma Wildman, who manages the Cape Girardeau and Jackson license bureaus for the Southeast Missouri University Foundation.

The Cape Girardeau City Council last Monday endorsed the Boyd Gaming Corp.'s proposed riverboat casino development. The Boyd Group has proposed a $51 million gambling development for the riverfront area north of Broadway.

The Downtown Merchants Association has provided the building to the foundation and previously to the Cape Girardeau chamber free of charge.

But with the gaming venture, the foundation would have to look for a new home for the bureau, said Ken Dobbins, executive vice president at Southeast Missouri State University and treasurer of the foundation.

"I am sure when the dust settles in a couple of weeks they (the Boyd Group) will let us know their plans," said Dobbins.

He said the foundation's oversight committee, headed by Cape Girardeau resident Bekki Cook, will be looking at possible sites for a new office.

Cook said the committee has met infrequently since being formed last fall.

Since the foundation took over operation of the license bureaus last October, the day-to-day operations and direct supervision of the fee offices have been in the hands of Wildman.

"When a policy decision needs to be made or if there are serious management problems that might arise, I assume we might be contacted," said Cook.

But at this point, she said, things have gone well. "I think overall we are real pleased with the response of the public and with the competent startup."

Wildman said that most people probably have noticed little difference in the operation of the bureaus since the foundation took over.

The bureaus, she said, operate with approximately the same personnel budgets and staff size as they did when the chambers had them.

Wildman supervises three full-time employees and one part-time employee in the Cape Girardeau office and two full-time employees and one part-time worker in the Jackson office.

Both fee offices still operate in the same buildings they did prior to the change.

In Jackson, the foundation leases office space in the chamber building at a cost of $750 a month, Wildman said. That's $9,000 in annual revenue for the Jackson Chamber of Commerce.

Wildman said that by leasing the office space, the foundation has aided the Jackson chamber in retaining its building.

Both the Jackson and Cape Girardeau chambers lost the fee office operations last fall, when Gov. Mel Carnahan awarded them to the university foundation.

At the time, Jackson chamber members expressed concern that the loss of between $15,000 and $20,000 in annual revenue from their license bureau operation could force them to close the chamber office and eliminate a staff position.

But the lease arrangement and the part-time employment of chamber executive secretary Patty Reisenbichler with the license bureau has proved beneficial, said Jim Maevers, chamber president.

"We were able to offset her salary through her being employed by the foundation part time," said Maevers.

"It is not an ideal situation, but it is a good alternative," he noted.

"We were able to keep the license bureau office in Jackson," he said, adding that having an office there makes it more convenient for Jackson residents, as well as for the banks and car dealers who have to deal with vehicle titles.

John Mehner, Cape Girardeau chamber president, said that losing the license bureau cost his organization about $35,000 a year in revenue.

"It was basically our economic development fund," he said.

A very small amount of that -- $2,000 -- is coming back to the chamber in the form of a donation from the foundation.

Mehner said the foundation has contributed the money to underwrite the chamber's University Relations Committee this year. He said the foundation also has agreed to pay out similar amounts for the committee's activities for the following two years.