Poplar Bluff city manager faces more questions

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Questions again faced Poplar Bluff city manager Heath Kaplan this week about payments to a developer and a phone system bought in July and replaced in October.

On Tuesday, Kaplan denied the city has missed payments to Eight Point developers, despite having painted a different picture during an earlier city council meeting.

The question about Eight Points payments was raised Tuesday during a meeting of the city's finance committee.

The city has an agreement to reimburse the developer for certain costs related to a redevelopment project on Oak Grove Road.

The debt stands at almost $14 million, with 21 years remaining on the repayment schedule.

"We have not missed one single playment," Kaplan said in response to questions Tuesday, adding later: "This, among a lot of other things, has been a commonplace misconception in the city."

On March 18, Kaplan urged the council to pass a debt-management policy quickly.

Official minutes from the meeting, posted on the city's website, show Kaplan told the council it was time to begin reimbursing the developer.

"(Kaplan) stated ... we are past 180 days of reimbursing them, which means the interest rate went from 8 percent to 10 percent accrued," the minutes read. "He stated we need to refinance this as fast as we can."

Kaplan told the finance committee Tuesday the city has accepted two certificates of substantial completion from the developer. The deadline for repayment does not begin until the city accepts the certificates, Kaplan said.

Meanwhile, a local technology company claimed Tuesday the city bought $32,000 in phone equipment in July, only to replace it in October with $580,000 in equipment from a Michigan company that did not bid on the job.

Finance committee members asked whether the July system was intended to serve all departments or could be expanded citywide, as well as how the October system was paid for.

Kaplan said the July purchase was intended only for the temporary Municipal Utilities building.

"It was for those employees. It was not a citywide (system)," Kaplan said.

Only 10 phones were bought in July, and the only item from that purchase that cannot be used by the city is the phones, said Kaplan, who was hired in August.

The Cisco system purchased in October from Information Systems Intelligence, the Michigan company, is better and has less expensive licensing costs, Kaplan said.

Eric Arnold, owner of Today's Computers in Poplar Bluff, however, said the system he provided in July was meant to be used citywide.

Arnold said his company worked directly with Municipal Utilities director Bill Bach and city technology worker Michael Pry to find a system that met the city's requirements.

"I want to make sure all the facts are out there," Arnold said. "Our intention with Michael Pry was to deploy this for the city as a whole."