PLANS FOR ECONOMIC GROUP HITS FIRST SNAG

Get a group of people together to promote a common need and you have a better chance of success. Right?

Not necessarily.

An effort to form a group to promote economic development in Cape Girardeau County has hit its first snag and the group has yet to hold its first meeting.

Walt Wildman of the Regional Commerce and Growth Association said the group is still in the planning stages and includes city officials in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, the Chambers of Commerce in both towns, the RCGA and the County Commission.

They will meet next week to discuss the possibility of forming an official organization.

"Traditionally, to try to get the two cities and the county to commit to anything is very difficult," said Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep. "I guess you could say it's paranoia."

Huckstep said although the organization is generally perceived as a good idea, officials of the organizations are already at odds about the possible costs of such a move.

"We at the county level are in pretty good shape financially," he said. "Everyone seems to say they are interested in this, but when you talk about money people are cautious."

It doesn't stop there; city officials in Scott City are upset that their town wasn't included in the group, which has yet to be named.

Larry Forhan, the newly-elected mayor of the town, said he was outraged when he found out Scott City wasn't included in the group. He said he plans to attend the meeting next week despite the fact he wasn't invited.

"You can bet I'll be there," Forhan said.

One of the likely goals of the group is to hire a full-time regional economic developer whose salary would be paid collectively by all groups involved.

Forhan said if the group ignores Scott City they will be ignoring one of the most promising areas of growth in the region: the Nash Road industrial park just south of Cape Girardeau but inside the city limits of Scott City.

The park is the only section of Scott City that lies in Cape Girardeau County; the rest lies in Scott County.

Forhan said the lack of an invitation to join the group has other city officials miffed as well.

"The city council has asked me to write letters of protest to those people the city of Jackson, the city of Cape, the RCGA and the Chamber of Commerce and I plan to do just that," Forhan said.

"We're going to have tremendous growth in the Nash Road area, and all the jobs are not going to people in Scott City. Some of those employees will come from Cape.

"Not only that, but a lot of people from Scott City do an awful lot of shopping in Cape Girardeau. I just think it's not a good idea not to include us in this."

Wildman, who is heading up the effort to form the group, said Scott City was not initially invited to join. But he said that when plans for the group were conceived, the emphasis was put on what the group could do, not on who would be included.

"We're not really paying much attention to physical boundaries," Wildman said. "We're just meeting to talk about the potential of these cities working together."

He said including Scott City in the plans may be the result of the meeting. He said traditional struggles between not only Cape Girardeau and Scott City, but between Cape Girardeau and Jackson, will likely have to be dealt with.

"I think we have a challenge here," Wildman said. "But I think common sense has to override traditional problems."

He said: "We're just exploring this. If it doesn't work, we'll walk away."

The group's first meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the county courthouse in Jackson.