CVB BOARD CAN DO THE JOB

When Councilman Melvin Gateley proposed the creation of another city board to oversee economic development and public-private partnerships that could benefit from Cape Girardeau's motel-restaurant tax, he clearly wanted to be all things to all people. But the existing city ordinance that created the tax and provided for its administration seems to do already what Gateley is proposing.

His plan for a new board came after the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation made a formal request for an unspecified amount of funding to assist with the purchase and development of the old St. Vincent's Seminary property. The foundation purchased the property earlier this year but faces a payment deadline early next year.

Most of the motel-restaurant tax revenue is committed to paying off the bonds that financed the Shoe Me Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. In the ordinance that created the tax, this is specified as the No. 1 priority for the revenue. The ordinance also says the tax money can be used "to promote tourism, conventions and other related activities, and programs for the fostering and development of manufacturing, industrial, retail, scientific, educational and business enterprise, and economic development in the city."

Gateley believes the mission as stated in the ordinance is being handled well except for the economic development part. This is where he puts the seminary project. But the project, as outlined so far, is more of a tourism and cultural idea, which also could have an impact on convention business and long-range economic development.

The ordinance is pretty clear in another section: "Expenditures from the convention and visitors fund (which is where all the motel-restaurant tax revenue goes) shall be made at the sole discretion of the city council. To assist in exercising this discretion a convention and visitors advisory board is hereby established."

The city's Convention and Visitors Bureau board seems like not only a logical choice to fulfill Gateley's expectations, but also is the board designated by the current ordinance to do the job.

All of this, of course, presumes that there is money available from the motel-restaurant tax. In addition to the Show Me Center bonds, a big chunk also has been committed to some major park improvements. Just how much money would be left over for the causes Gateley is promoting is a question mark right now, but some estimates put it at just a few thousand dollars a year.