JOINT RIVER CAMPUS BOARD IS GOOD PLAN

The proposed River Campus will be managed by a board of city and university representatives. The Cape Girardeau City Council and Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents will each appoint three members.

It's good to see the city will have meaningful say-so in the operations of the center, since local tax dollars are helping foot the bills.

Under current plans, the city's motel and restaurant taxes would be used to retire nearly $9 million in bonds. In all, the project will cost about $36 million.

This new board's makeup mirrors the one which manages the Show Me Center.

It's important to get things rolling with the new board even though the River Campus may not open until 2003. The Show Me Center board assisted the regents in hiring the center director, and this new board may have much the same role.

The advisory board would only deal with the jointly operated facilities at the River Campus: a 1,000-seat theater, a 500-seat theater, a regional museum and a scenic Mississippi River overlook with public access. The board won't deal with classrooms or other academic space at the River Campus, which makes perfect sense.

The board may meet more often in the beginning, but may well settle into quarterly meetings similar to the Show Me Center's advisory board.

Although the River Campus board may have a hand in hiring a new director, it should then turn the day-to-day personnel issues over to that individual. Other city advisory boards have become too involved in day-to-day issues that shouldn't involve them. That kind of micro-management is unproductive and undermines the purpose of advisory boards. These boards are designed to help set policies and goals and to provide oversight of key city operations.

It's good to see that at least one city representative must represent the hotel-motel industry. Since the city's share of the funding comes from hotel-motel and restaurant tax collections, it's important to keep close ties with these businesses. Obviously, a busy River Campus could boost hotel-motel and restaurant business.

If you have an interest, now is your opportunity. Applications for city representatives are available at City Hall. The council hopes to appoint its three members Aug. 16.