RIVER CAMPUS: OPEN COMMUNICATION LINES

It's not a good thing when the appointed overseers of a $36 million project have to read about their own progress in the newspaper.

That's what happened to the board of managers of Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus earlier this month. They read about a $2.6 million, three-year federal grant -- to be used to develop a regional Mississippi River museum on the campus -- on the front page of the Southeast Missourian.

It was the same story with the River Campus terrace project. That time, the details of a plan to put 8-foot-wide asphalt trails along a half-mile of the property plus a parking lot and pavilion escaped the board. They read about the newest ideas in the newspaper days after the article about the grant was published.

Board members properly voiced their concerns at a meeting last week. They said they should have been told about the grant.

And some board members complained the trails, parking lot and pavilion will destroy precious green space between the River Campus buildings and the mighty Mississippi, detracting from the magnificent view.

That's a matter of personal taste. But what's certainly a fact is that all six members of the board -- both the city appointees and the university appointees -- should be notified as to every movement on the River Campus.

The project is mired in enough trouble as it is. The reason the city has representation on the board, as member Jerry Ford appropriately pointed out, is that $9 million in motel and restaurant sales-tax money being collected by the city is earmarked for the project.

But that city funding is being held up by a lawsuit filed by hotel owner Jim Drury, who contends the city didn't properly get voter approval to support the project.

So with all the problems on the outside, it behooves the board of managers to have its own house in order. And that means open communication among all the members.

Using the excuse that the university officials didn't tell the board about the grant because they weren't sure they'd get the money isn't good enough.