RECREATION PROJECT BONDS TO BE ISSUED; CONSTRUCTION LIKELY TO START NEXT FALL

City officials have set mid-December as the date they will market bonds to finance a $4 million project to expand the city's parks and recreation facilities.

Assistant Manager Al Stoverink said last week the city hopes to close on the sale of the bonds in early January, which would put the city on track to actually start work on the project late in the construction season next year.

"We might be able to get a contract on some of the earth work in the early spring," Stoverink said. "I think the idea is we'd get a construction contract or contracts on the improvements going by late summer or fall.

"That would be, I think, a very optimistic schedule, but that's what we'll try to shoot for."

Stoverink said he doubts the project will be done in less than two years, although some proponents have said it might be completed within 18 months.

"I think if everything clicked together that's possible," he said. "But I've been doing this for 15 years, and it's not very often that everything just clicks together."

The parks and recreation proposal will include construction of softball and soccer fields at Shawnee Park; acquisition of a 90-acre tract of land at Mt. Auburn and Kingshighway for development as a "general-use community park"; construction of a 32,000-square-foot, multi-use building on the site; completion of a fitness trail through Arena Park and the new park site; and added emphasis by the Convention and Visitors Bureau on recreation in the city.

The project will be funded by bonding excess tourism funds, which are financed by a quarter-cent tax on motel and restaurant receipts.

Stoverink said the city will be able to issue bonds with the excess tourism funds for $3.5 million. The balance of the $4 million project will be paid from donations to the city's Parks Development Foundation.

The assistant city manager said the $500,000 pledge by the foundation could be reduced if the city is able to secure local financing at an interest rate lower than that offered on the open market.

"That's something that is fairly extraordinary today since most of your financial institutions are held by larger groups," Stoverink said. "They're not individually owned banks, generally speaking, so there may not be as much flexibility to do that kind of thing."

Stoverink said city officials are meeting with representatives of local financial institutions with the hope that some type of arrangement could be worked out.

"We've asked them to consider buying the bonds directly from us at a lower rate of interest," he said. "Of course that would be less return for them than if they invest those bonds on the open market."

Stoverink said that interest rates are at the lowest levels in years. But, he said, the rates likely will begin to climb next year. "This is the ideal time to be out in the market," he added.

Once funding is available for the project, a planning committee organized by the city's Parks and Recreation Advisory Board will begin to gather information on specific features of the project.

Other city staff members are planning to meet next week to establish the groundwork for implementing the project.

"That essentially will consist of soliciting proposals from architects and engineers for the design work that will be needed," Stoverink said. "We're going to bring a design contract to the council as quickly as we can probably in January.

"I'm not sure how long it will take to do that actual design," he said. "Realistically, it will be at least three to six months for the design process, and probably closer to six."

Stoverink said the city's come a long way since 13 months ago when then-Councilman David Barklage suggested the city solicit proposals for use of the excess tourism funds.

At the time, Barklage said he wanted the city to consider various proposals in light of "risk, investment and return" on tourism dollars. He also warned against letting the process drag out too long.

"The biggest mistake we can make is to let this drag on forever," Barklage said at a council meeting last December. "Then you'd begin to see people jump on sides and begin to lobby. You'd have groups trading off to see how we can divide this up, and I think you can lose your focus pretty quickly."

But the former councilman said Wednesday he's pleased the parks and recreation project finally has emerged in the process.

"One of the guidelines we gave is that it make the most dollar sense to the community," he said. "Sports and sports-related activities certainly qualify in that respect."

Barklage said a key to the project's success, though, will be a new focus on a "recreation industry" in Cape Girardeau that can attract visitors to the community.

"It's easy to build a complex," he said. "The harder part is to manage it and get the return back. We should go farther than this complex. It should include support for other facilities, from the Show Me Center to Central Pool to other private facilities.

"But I think a key is going to be redirecting the convention and tourism funds to coordinate that," Barklage added.

Although the long process of choosing among more than 30 proposals was frustrating at times, Barklage said he thinks it was worthwhile.

He said that for years, various groups in the community have criticized the use of tourism funds, claiming they were wasted on the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"One of the reasons we needed to address the excess tourism funds was that there was so much politics up front and behind the scenes regarding the use of the funds," Barklage said. "I wasn't happy with the kind of return we were getting on the funds either.

"I think by targeting a better return, it really undercuts a lot of the political infighting because nobody's going to argue with dollars."

Stoverink said he thinks the new city parks facilities and multi-purpose building won't only benefit residents of the community, but also will draw visitors.

"I think it's an exciting project," he said. "I think there's a lot of potential there for some significant economic spinoffs."

Stoverink said the planned building will enable the city to expand recreation programs that now are "bursting at the seams." The building also will provide a facility for small conventions for which the city's Arena building is inadequate.

"It certainly fulfills some major needs that the park board's been asking for for years," he said. "I cut most of those things out of their capital improvements plan four years ago not because they weren't needed, but because the money just wasn't there."

Barklage said he's glad the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation, proponents of a plan to buy and renovate the old St. Vincent's Seminary property, has realized the merits of the recreation proposal.

The foundation previously vied for the tourism funds for the seminary project.

"I think (the recreation project) will draw families into the community from all over the nation, which will then provide a base for other tourism projects such as historical one," said Barklage.

"I think historical projects will draw from recreation much more than recreation could draw from historical attractions."