Officials from capital taking suggestions for Jobs Now

After years of dealing with complaints from applicants for other state-administered economic programs, the Missouri Department of Economic Development has decided to do something different. This time, the DED has sent representatives on the road across Missouri to take into consideration the public's wants and needs before implementing Gov. Bob Holden's new Jobs Now program.

That's why Sallie Hemenway and Jason Archer made the trip from Jefferson City to Cape Girardeau Thursday, to conduct a public forum to discuss Jobs Now and other infrastructure programs at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. The event was attended by 15 government officials from Cape Girardeau city, Cape Girardeau and Scott counties, as well as other local and regional entities.

The purpose of the forum -- the ninth such forum held in the state -- was to educate officials on the basic outline of the recently-passed Jobs Now bill and take in their suggestions as to how they'd like to see the specifics drawn up in the future during an open discussion period.

"You'll be helping us to set up the further framework," said Hemenway, director of Community Development for Economic Development. She helped facilitate the discussion, while Archer, director of government affairs for the department, took down suggestions on an oversized notepad.

Jobs Now -- or Senate Bill 1155 -- is an act that repeals or sunsets about $12 million in tax credits to create funding opportunities for public entities to access grants, or low- or no-interest loans, for public infrastructure projects. Under the current language of the act, those project proposals would have to show "significant local economic impact" or a "high level of job creation." Part of the discussion dealt with how concrete these definitions should be made.

"If you further define these criteria, you start saddling yourself with limits that will cause you problems," said John Mehner, director of the Cape Girardeau chamber.

"I agree, keep it simple," chimed in Nathan Hartman of Gordonville.

After over an hour of similar discussions, the forum shifted to a tutorial on two other state programs: The Missouri Downtown Economic Stimulus Act and the Missouri Rural Economic Stimulus Act. These two -- both signed into law in 2003 -- provide public financing for qualifying community enhancement or job creation projects, and qualifying renewable fuel production facility projects, respectively.

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137