Park land sale creates friction

The Cape Girardeau County Commission voted in a closed session in early April to sell a strip of county park land to Drury Development Corp., a move that has become a source of friction between commissioners over the role of the county's park board.

And Joe Sherinski, president of the Board of Park Commissioners and a longtime board member, said any decision to sell land needs serious, in-depth discussion by the board.

Few details, such as the purchase price or Drury's plans for the 70-foot-wide strip of County Park North, are available. Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones and District 1 Commissioner Larry Bock declined to say whether a vote occurred, citing provisions of state law allowing them to keep the details private until all aspects of the deal are complete. But District 2 Commissioner Jay Purcell, who objects to moving ahead with the sale without a favorable review by the Board of Park Commissioners, said he voted against the deal in a closed session April 3.

"I have said from the get-go that I would never approve or vote for anything that had to do with park ground without first asking for the park board to weigh in on it and give us a recommendation," Purcell said.

Purcell's desire to seek park board approval and his decision to reveal that a vote took place brought harsh words from Jones. "It is nothing that we are hiding," Jones said. "It is nothing that is illegal or immoral. But it is pretty unethical for one of our people to release that information."

The details will be released when the deal is final, Jones said. "It is in the hands of an attorney right now," he said. "They are reviewing things. That is closed-session stuff."

A call to the home offices of Drury Land Development in St. Louis was not returned.

Another layer of review

The land deal has not been completed. The mapping department in the assessor's office has not done the work necessary to create a separate parcel that could be sold. No money has been received from the Drury company, county Treasurer Roger Hudson said.

The Board of Park Commissioners is a seven-member advisory panel designed to help guide the county's park program. While the board has no authority to block the sale, it would help by adding another layer of review to the process, Purcell said.

Purcell's responsibilities as commissioner include supervisory duties for the parks. A park board meeting with Purcell and Jones scheduled for Tuesday has been canceled. Board president Joe Sherinski said Thursday the reason for the cancellation was because too few members are available to attend.

On Saturday, he said he has since learned that Bruce Watkins, park superintendent, was asked to cancel the meeting by Jones after Jones learned a notice announcing a public meeting with the board, himself and Purcell had been posted at county offices.

The full park board has never discussed the potential sale of park land, Sherinski said. In contrast, he said the board discussed the lease of park property to the Missouri Department of Conservation for the Conservation Campus "at meeting after meeting after meeting for about a year."

Jones has asked for a private meeting with Sherinski and another board member, Sherinski said. As of Saturday, he said he's not inclined to do so. "The entire board needs to be brought up to speed," Sherinski said.

Attempts by the Southeast Missourian to reach Jones on Saturday for comment were not successful.

Interviews with four other members of the board showed they had varying levels of knowledge of the plan. Some had strong misgivings both about any plan to sell park land and about the commission taking action without a park board review. Two members could not be reached. None of the board members who would comment were aware that a vote on the land deal had already taken place.

"I am very hesitant to do such a thing unless there can be some replacement of it somewhere else," said O. David Niswonger. "We don't make land every day, and we have a limited amount of land. I am not inclined to do anything with it unless we offset it or get additional park space."

The total amount of land in the deal is about 1 1/4 acres. The land is adjacent to property already owned by the Drury company.

'Kitchen table' talk

Board member Melvin Gateley said he and another board member, whom he did not name, met with Purcell in a "kitchen table" discussion of the deal. Gateley, a former member of the Cape Girardeau City Council, said his top concern is to obtain the best deal possible if a decision is made to sell park property. But he's also concerned about any steps to move ahead with the deal without park board review.

"I suppose they have a right to do so, but I would be very disappointed if they didn't give the park board a chance to share information with them and some ideas," Gateley said. "If they are going ahead with this, I would be very disappointed that they didn't."

Both Bock and Jones said they value input from the park board.

"It is important to know their feelings," Bock said.

The first steps of obtaining feedback from the park board occurred when Purcell met with many of the members in individual sessions, Jones said. "It was not a meeting situation."

But Purcell said he just gave a bare outline, at Jones' suggestion, to park commissioners in those sessions. Purcell said he argued in the closed session April 3 for a complete review by the park board and that his vote against the deal was based on the lack of a formal discussion by the board.

"I told them I wanted the park board convened over this issue to fully analyze it and decide if this is good or bad and we are going to have to ask for their recommendation," he said. "The other two commissioners decided we didn't need to do that."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

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