River Campus suit costs Southeast, city $124,000 and counting

Oral Payne, left, from Kelso, Mo., and Ron Simmons of Cape Girardeau programmed a computer to simulate starting and stopping motors in a plant during a class with program class Feb. 19, 2002. The Lonestar employees have spent their evenings over the last three years learning programming. (Southeast Missourian/Charles DiStefano)LEGAL FEES

By Mark Bliss ~ Southeast Missourian

The legal battle with Cape Girardeau businessman Jim Drury over the proposed River Campus arts school development has cost taxpayers $124,000 in legal fees so far, and it's not over yet.

The city of Cape Girardeau and state-funded Southeast Missouri State University split the bills from Armstrong Teasdale LLP, a St. Louis-based law firm, from June 1999 to December 2001.

John Richbourg, city finance director, said that doesn't include expenses incurred since the start of this year for battling the original suit or a second River Campus lawsuit filed by Drury Jan. 22.

Drury filed his first lawsuit against the city over the River Campus project in April 1999. Richbourg said Armstrong Teasdale attorneys are charging $150 an hour to fight Drury in court.

University and city officials say that's a bargain for top-notch legal help. Mayor Al Spradling III said the lead defense lawyer is James Mello, an expert on municipal law in Missouri.

"We felt his expertise in these kinds of issues was invaluable," Spradling said.

Attorney Walter Drusch of Jackson is representing Drury in the lawsuits. Although Drusch could not be reached for comment on his charges, lawyers' hourly fees in Southeast Missouri generally fall between $120 and $170.

Paying with tax money

The city is using motel and restaurant tax money, which is the subject of Drury's litigation, to pay its share of the legal bills. Southeast's share is coming from university funds.

Even though the Missouri Supreme Court ruled last week against Drury in his first lawsuit, the city can't recover legal fees because it is a governmental body.

The university, through its Board of Regents, agreed early on at the request of city officials to bear half of the defense costs.

Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast president, said the regents felt it was right to share the cost because the city and university are partners in the $36 million project to turn a former Catholic seminary into a visual and performing arts school.

"We have a lot invested in this," Dobbins said.

The state has earmarked $16.55 million for the project in recent years, but state budget woes are expected to hold up most of that funding until at least July 2003.

Raising support

The university has raised nearly half of the $10 million in private money that it wants for the project.

The remaining $9 million would come from the city of Cape Girardeau.

Under the plan, the city would use motel and restaurant tax money to retire bonds that the university hopes would be issued through the Missouri Development Finance Board. The quasi-state agency helps finance economic development projects around the state.

But Drury objects to the use of the city tax money.

His first lawsuit challenged the legality of a 1998 voter-approved plan to use motel and restaurant tax money to finance the city's share of the project. The Missouri Supreme Court last week upheld city ordinances spelling out the tax measure, rejecting Drury's legal challenge.

But the project remains in litigation because of Drury's second lawsuit. He contends the city council ignored a Dec. 31, 2001, funding deadline and extended an agreement with the university on the River Campus project without voter approval.

Local circuit judges recused themselves from hearing the case. The state has appointed Paul McGhee, a retired judge from Stoddard County, to give a decision on the second lawsuit.

As long as that lawsuit is pending, legal costs will continue to mount, city and university officials said. They said they have no intention of halting the project.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123