RIVER CAMPUS WILL BE MAJOR ASSET FOR CITY AND REGION

Here are edited excerpts of remarks that were delivered June 28 at the groundbreaking for nature trails at the former St. Vincent's Seminary, Southeast Missouri State University's proposed River Campus for the visual and performing arts overlooking the Mississippi River.

By Don Dickerson

On behalf of my colleagues on the board of regents, we want to welcome you. We think this is a wonderful occasion. Back in May or June of 1998, not that long ago, I had the pleasure on behalf of the board of welcoming many of you who are here today to this place to share a dream with us, and I'm here to tell you today, despite the hiccups along the way, this dream lives. And today we're going to turn some ground for the first time. And what I'd like to do with you is to very quickly review some of the history.

We had the chance through B.W. Harrison's wonderful donation to the university to obtain this property. Folks, that was only in February of 1998. This is a huge project, and huge projects take time. And there are always lots of pitfalls in the road. And let me tell you what was accomplished in this community. No matter whatever happens, I shall be forever proud. I've never seen a group of people band together to accomplish so much in relatively a short period of time.

A speedy process

As you well know we needed about 90 days after the gift to get the preliminary engineering studies done to see if this magnificent structure here could be saved, rehabbed and used. And when we found out it could, we went public with the fact that this seemed to us to be one of the great potential projects, not just in Southeast Missouri, but for the entire state of Missouri.

We saw help from every corner in this city, and they all were willing to come forward and help. We had a steering group that we worked with. I can recount to you the total of like 55 different meetings in a period of about 60 days that then-President Dale Nitzsche, at the time Vice President Ken Dobbins and I had with a wonderful steering group, a cross-section of this town. We talked with the city, and I was extremely proud of the leadership of this city. We had a mayor and a city manager and a council with vision. And they wholeheartedly decided that we needed to support this project for all the many good things that it brings to us.

Then, of course, we needed to submit it to a vote of the people. You have to realize that in a period of about three months, we were able to promote this whole project, as large as it is, take it to the voters of the city of Cape Girardeau and received almost 54 percent approval for the dedication of the hotel-motel tax to this property.

Now, true, we have to remember, that the other proposition on the ballot related to what type of bonds were going to be issued. There's been so much confusion surrounding this. Let's straighten that out in our own minds. That's a separate proposition. The city might have opted to fund it in various different ways. They felt general-obligation bonds were the best way to go because at that time, at least, we thought that's the way you get the best interest rate. That needed more than a majority to pass. It takes like four-sevenths, and that gets you up to about 58 percent. After all, this is a tax proposal, so that didn't pass. They were totally separate issues.

We went back to the council after we were able to find out that actually over the years things had changed. We're not as smart as we probably ought to be. Quite frankly, there were other agencies in the state who could help issue the bonds for this project and service that for us. And the cost would be just as good as the general-obligation bonds with the city.

I always thought that we would have gotten a much bigger vote than the 54 percent had that issue not been on there. Because I think there were a lot of older people, who were concerned that if the tax revenue, the source of revenue to pay off the bonds, was not sufficient, it comes out of the general revenues of the city. The city has to stand by it, and they thought it was going to potentially to hurt their property tax. After which we found out the university could issue the bonds and just use the revenue stream to pay them off. That means the city doesn't stand behind the bonds.

No city obligation

Now when we went to the council and laid this before them, what it meant to the council was they suddenly had a great opportunity to do this same project, and the city no longer had to stand behind any shortfall of the bonds. That's all that ever amounted to.

After that, we then had the job and we got that done in November of the same year in 1998 -- of tackling the state legislature to see if they would help us with the funding of this project. And I am pleased to report to you that the governor at the time Gov. Mel Carnahan, couldn't have been more splendid to us. He put $4.6 million in a budget after it had already been in the legislature and not in his original budget, and we managed to get it done.

Now let me talk to you a little about things maybe you don't know about, the type of cooperation that came from this.

I went and talked with state Sen. Peter Kinder, Pete and I have known each other for years, and I said to Pete, "Could you get all of the Republican legislators in this part of the world together for a meeting?" And I went to the Democratic side of the aisle, and asked I think then-Sen. Jerry Howard and some others, "Would you get all the Democrat legislators from this district who's in the service region of Southeast in a meeting." We met with both of them. Pete did a terrific job. We got everybody there. And let me tell you something, this delegation from southeastern Missouri joined hands, folks, and of all the legislators starting practically from Jefferson County going west and all the way down to the Arkansas border, we got every single vote for this proposition from both sides of the aisle. Because the pitch we made, and we made it up and down, is this is not a political issue. This is an issue for the good of Southeast Missouri, and it stood us in wonderful stead.

Everywhere we have gone after that, folks, I can tell you, when we went to the Missouri finance board and asked them to take a look at giving us some tax credits to try to help raise the $10 million that we had pledged to raise, these people received this project. You can't believe in what high esteem they viewed this. They had never done a major project on tax credits in outstate Missouri. This is the first one, and they were very, very proud of it. And we were offered help from that group that you can't believe. Everywhere I go, the people out of Cape Girardeau are awed by this project. And for some reason, I get the feeling sometimes it's at home that we don't realize what it can mean. Other people can see what it means. The state legislature was persuaded: $4.6 million in 1999, one year after we first aimed to respond to this project, and almost $11.6 million more in the following session in 2000. And then, lo and behold as we have moved through, think of the work that has been done by Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson's office and her staff and Lloyd Smith and Sen. Christopher Bond's office. Folks, $2.6 million toward the museum that we want to build on these grounds -- doesn't that tell us something about how other people view the importance of this project? It's a wonderful gift.

And this one here came up, and with the help of the highway department we got it. Let me tell you these things are sometimes almost hilarious. Missouri Department of Transportation district engineer Scott Meyer will laugh about this. I don't think I ever accomplish a whole lot, but I'm quick and I've got big ears and I listen a lot. And Greg Williams, who's with the Regional Commerce and Growth Association, mentioned that he had heard about some enhancement funds that the highway department had that still had not been spent. And they were looking for some good projects. At the moment I wasn't even sure what enhancement funds were. That's how smart I am. But I figured I knew who to call. I called Scott Meyer. And he told us, yes, there is money there. And I told him, "Well, do we have a chance here?" And then, of course, Dale Nitzschke had called. And I said, "Dale, we need to find out what enhancement funds are." And then we went down and talked to city manager Mike Miller and Mayor Al Spradling and said, "Hey, you know, there are some enhancement funds here. Can we put together something?" And it was a joint application made by the city and by us. Just thrown out there in the hopes that if you want to enhance something much better than this, and this is the end result today.

First dirt turned

This is going to be the first dirt that we can really turn on this property, because that's fully financed and we have the money. I can't begin to thank all the people for the thousands of hours donated free to get us to this day. Now, folks, with all of that, do you think we ought to be concerned about one fellow who fights progress? I don't think so.

And what I'm here today to say is that when I say to you the city's part of the project is needed, it is. For us to commit to raise $10 million from private funds as a small state university is a huge mountain already to climb. But, folks, we've got $21 million approved for this project. And I say to you, Mayor, I know that you all have to decide what you need to do. But any day you want to put this back on the ballot, I want you to know that I'm there to help you pass it. And I think that everybody else here is there to help you pass it. And, folks, we'll pass it. Because it's too good a project not to do it.

OK, I've talked too long, but I'm very enthused and remain enthused to this day about this project. Can you imagine what our life would be like here without the Show Me Center? And I think people are going to look back at this project and say, why was there ever anybody against it? And I think that's how these things, unfortunately, have to develop. Because what this will mean for this whole area I think is probably even beyond our comprehension for right now. It has to do with what kind of people we want to be. It has to do with what kind of life we want to live. Sure, it benefits the university, but folks, don't forget, 85 percent of all of the young people in the five-county area around Cape Girardeau who go to college go to Southeast Missouri State University.

This project helps your children. It helps your grandchildren. It promotes this city. And it makes it the kind of place we want to live. So let's say the hiccup aside, we're going to shrug it off folks, and let's get the job done.

Don Dickerson of Cape Girardeau is a lawyer and president of the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents.