City Council - Regular Meeting

I wanted to start early.

WE WILL GET STARTED WE WILL GET STARTED WE WILL GET STARTED WITH OUR INVOCATION, WITH OUR INVOCATION, WITH OUR INVOCATION, PASTOR DANIEL C. BALL PASTOR DANIEL C. BALL PASTOR DANIEL C. BALL OF LACROIX CHURCH OF LACROIX CHURCH OF LACROIX CHURCH HERE IN CAPE GERARDO.

Lord Jesus, thank you for this day. Thank you for the many ways you care for us and display your amazing love. God, I ask that you be present by your spirit in this place and during all the conversations that will happen here this evening. May you bless those who seek the good of this community. Bless our council members and their families. Bless the residents of this city. Bless every person who calls Cape Girardeau home. And bless and protect those who serve in the police and fire departments in any and all areas that keep this town safe and a wonderful place to live. God, we want Cape to look a little like heaven, and I think that will happen as we surrender our ways to yours and love one another well. We love you. We need you. Help us want the things you want for this town. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. WELCOME, EVERYBODY. GOT A GOOD CROWD TONIGHT. TONIGHT WE DO NOT HAVE A STUDY SESSION ITEM. WE DO NOT HAVE ANY PRESENTATIONS. SO WE WILL JUMP INTO COMMUNICATIONS AND REPORTS. I SEE THE LIGHT ON, MR. BLISS.

I GOT A COUPLE THINGS.

ALL RIGHT.

ONE, I WANT TO CONGRATULATE THE CAPE CATFISH FOR winning the Western Division of the Prospect League and for their record setting number of wins this season. And they're moving on in the playoffs and their game is, the next game is tomorrow night. So congratulations to them. And then also I wanted to praise the work of the city crew and the Alliance Water Resources crew that were out during the night this weekend, fixing a water leak over in the West End neighborhood. And so I really appreciate them getting out there and getting that done. Thirdly, tomorrow is election day, and there are a number of constitutional amendments on the ballot. One in particular is Amendment 5, and I have some major concerns about that. If that passes, it would gradually reduce the state income tax, but it would allow the state to increase its sales taxes. And I think that would have a detrimental impact on cities like Cape Girardeau that depend on local sales taxes to support city services. So I encourage people to look and read the amendments AND WHILE THEY ARE STATEWIDE ISSUES, THEY CAN OFTEN HAVE AN IMPACT ON OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY. SO ASK EVERYBODY TO GET OUT AND VOTE.

ABSOLUTELY. OKAY. MAN, MARK JUMPED IN THERE. HE KNEW IT. ALL RIGHT. Hey, so the lot going on tomorrow night. Tomorrow night is also our first responders national night out. So at the arena starting at six o'clock, get out there and meet your first responders. Don't let it be when you have a 911 call the first time that you meet those people that could possibly save your life, save your property. Get out there and meet them. They'll have some food and drinks, and you just walk around, and it's just, I mean, they're your neighbors. They're our citizens. So they're not only our, you know, protectors and that. So get out there and meet them. I went last year. It was a lot of fun. You know, I can't say it's going to help you if you get pulled over, but dadgummit, it sure can hurt, all right? So anyway, I'm going to say also, sorry, Chief. Selfishly, I said that. Anyway, I want to echo what Mark said. The Catfish ran a great game last night. They trumped their Western Division champs. 12-3, I think, was the final score. DID IT PRETTY WELL. IT'S A PRETTY EXCITING GAME. SO NOW THEY PLAY TUESDAY NIGHT FOR THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP IN HOPES OF A QUEST FOR A BACK-TO-BACK, YOU KNOW, NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE. SO THIS IS WHAT I SUGGEST. GO MEET YOUR FIREMEN AND YOUR POLICEMEN, YOUR FIRST RESPONDERS, HAVE SOME LEMONADE, MAYBE A HOT DOG, THEN GO TO THE GAME. I SHOW UP TO THE GAME AT 7 O'CLOCK, ALMOST ALL OF IT. SO ANYWAY, GREAT THINGS GOING ON TOMORROW NIGHT. IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT TO DO THAT. Also just reading what he said about voting. Voting is not just a right. I really truly believe that's our obligation. And it's not just to go vote, it's to educate ourselves before the vote. I have some of the same concerns Mr. Bliss does, how that would impact us. Don't look any further than our Board of State Tennessee. You can go see what happened to Tennessee, what happens to their taxes, everything from shopping to, I mean, it's just amazing. It's got a pretty good, if you look at the right sites, and you've got to look at several because they're biased, but educate yourself on them, and you'll see that there's some concerns that we need to have when voting for. I don't know a whole lot about the 4th, although it needs to remain where it's at for voting purposes. Every place is different. So anyway, every city is different. So in the state, that makes a big difference. Anyway, that's all I have, Mayor. Thank you.

Something a little lighter than that. I know everybody on the board, anybody that's been in these meetings, oh, here comes the golf guy. He's gonna say something about golf. Yes, I am. As a matter of fact, I am. So I wanna congratulate Carson Silliman, Dr. Ray Silliman's son. He approached me about a year and a half ago about trying to get a nice individual stroke play golf tournament in our community, and I couldn't have been more happy to be part of it and be a sponsor of it. And he pulled it off. We had 104 players, two of them right here, actually. We won't have Councilman Cantrell talk how he finished, but he just told me that awful story. But anyway, I want to thank the Cape Girardeau Country Club, Dalhousie Golf Club for being gracious hosts and all the staff and all the other sponsors that helped get this off the ground. So this was the first annual. I look forward to this growing even more. If that's even possible, like I said, he capped it at 104 and we hit that number. So it was a lot of fun. Weather couldn't have been better for August. And it was cool to see a bunch of different people in our community enjoying each other and enjoying the beautiful golf courses that we have. So that's it for the golf guy.

I couldn't say it any better than they did about, I was just gonna say, get out and vote. The responsibility is to be educated. Everybody has the ability to vote. We have our opinions and we have our own perspective from given our city council roles of how it affects us as a city that's on the border of the state where people can easily go across. State lines and go where there wouldn't be as high as sales tax and how that impacts us and but you may have an individual reason that you individually are in favor or against it. So always educate yourself before you go to the ballot box and please go to the ballot box.

Okay.

Thank you, everybody. I want to thank Laura Dume with Stars and Stripes Museum. Many of you saw the exhibit of Richard Wilson, the only Medal of Honor winner that was ever from Cape Girardeau. That was a great exhibit. His Medal of Honor is out there. She spent some time talking with Dr. Haskin and I, and we were very proud to have that in our city. His brother actually, Skip, uh worked at kfs or yeah nick now i thought it was nick anyway ron worked at kfs for years and years and donated all of that to the stars and stripes museum so that's pretty amazing I had a great meeting with CMO Ready, or CP CMO, Ryan Essex. I just want to, they are working on a lot of grants that can help with moderate to low income housing and working with Habitat for Humanity and Gibson Center. So excited to see what they will have coming up in the next five to six months. I know we've talked a little bit about it, but I just, you know, we still have some discussions and I know staff, this is still early in the process about in the next few months about what mitigation looks like at the police station, what the alternative of mitigation looks like. So I know a lot of people are asking a lot of questions, but they're still very new. I know staff is still compiling a lot of information. Dr. Haskin and I have been summonsed by the Army Corps the first week, I believe, in September. They will be down from St. Louis, so there'll be a lot more information to come in the coming weeks and months. And then, last thing that was just neat, Matt Younghouse, he's a 1999 graduate of Cape Central High School, and he is right now finishing seminary school at Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St. Louis. And it was really neat to be at church yesterday morning and seeing one of our local boys. It's E.C. Younghouse's grandson. E.C. Younghouse was a county commissioner for years and years, but To see a local guy come back and be able to preach here locally was awesome. And we send our hope and prayers to him on his path. So that is all I've got for communications council. Items for discussion. Do we have any appearances by advisory board applicants here this evening to speak? Seeing none, consent agenda review, Dr. Haskin.

Mayor, thank you. Council, we added D3, 4, 5, and 6 for your review tonight. D3 basically is a request to execute an L&I agreement with Old Town Cape for the placemaking sign there on South Main Street on the right-of-way area. And, of course, D-4, another performance review request with Forefront Holdings for improvements to Shadow Woods Villa's cell. And of D5, basically, we are ready to accept as the sanitation sewer improvements, serving Wendy's, and multiple businesses along Kings Highway. And finally, D6, we're ready to, again, accept improvements and finalize final payment to Frontenberger Concrete for the Route 74 Minnesota intersection improvements. Mayor, that concludes the review.

Okay, thank you, Dr. Haskin. And we will jump into regular session with call to order.

Mr. Bliss?

Here.

Mr. Cantrell?

Here.

Mayor Gard?

Here.

Mr. Johnson?

Here.

Ms. Randall?

Here.

Mr. Schaaf? Mr. Thomas?

Here. Okay. Council, you have the agenda before you. I would entertain a motion to adopt.

So moved. Second.

I have a first by Cantrell, a second by Randall. All those in favor, signify by stating aye. Aye. Okay. We will jump into a public hearing. We have a public hearing regarding the levying of the annual city revenue tax, public health tax, special business district number two tax for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2027, item number F4, bill number 26-68. This public hearing is now open. Would anyone here to speak in favor or against this public hearing? Seeing none, I will close that public hearing and turn the consent agenda over to Mr. Young.

Bill 2662, an ordinance accepting permanent sanitary sewer easements for properties along South Kings Highway in the city of Cape Toronto, Missouri. Bill 2662, an ordinance accepting permanent sanitary sewer easements for properties along South Kings Highway in the city of Cape Toronto, Missouri. Bill 2663, a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a licensed indemnity agreement in Fulltown, Cape Inc. for a place making sign in South Main Street Broadway in the city of Cape Toronto, Missouri. Bill 2664, a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a performance guarantee agreement for Front Holdings LLC for improvements for Shadow Wood Villa South in the city of Cape Charter, Missouri. All right.

Council, you have the consent agenda before you. I would entertain a motion. So moved. Second. I have a first by Bliss, a second by Thomas. Any discussion? I would add that I will be voting in abstention on 26-64 due to financial conflict of interest. All right, we do have a first and a second. All those in favor, say goodbye by stating aye. Aye. Consent agenda has passed. New ordinances. I'm going to turn this over to Councilman Thomas. All right.

For the first ordinance we are considering, it is Bill number 26-67, an ordinance approving First Amendment to Redevelopment Agreement in connection with the redevelopment of West Park Mall. First reading, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Pulley.

Thank you, Dr. Haskins, Mayor, Council. This ordinance is for the first amendment to the redevelopment agreement in connection with the redevelopment of the West Park Mall. This is regarding the TDD. We have several representatives from the mall discuss the amendment and any questions.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Pulley. I open it up to, I guess we'll start with Mr. Haley, if you want to.

Can you switch to your phone please? There you go, sir. Thank you.

Good evening, council. First of all, I want to thank you for your time. I made a presentation two weeks ago at a study session and went through this in pretty granular detail, had several follow-up conversations. And I know that this has been an issue that you've committed a lot of time and thought and effort to. So we very much appreciate that on behalf of the ownership group. I will go through this fairly briefly. A lot of it is similar to what I did a couple of weeks ago. a few new facts and slides to add in, and I'll point those out. But otherwise, the main story really hasn't changed. Our tagline, we've tried to simplify this as much as possible. What are we here for? No new money, no new process. We're asking for the remaining $5 million in incentive funds to be released, to be used on the project. So those will be documented through invoices that Lisa Mills reviews on behalf of the city and approves those. So this money will have to go into the project. No new money. So this money is already sitting in an escrow account with UMB Bank as the trustee. The money was placed there by the bond investors in October of 24 when we did the original bond offering. And so the money has been sitting there ever since. These are not city funds. They're not being allocated out of the city budget. This is money that's been paid in by bond investors who invested in the project in the beginning. we're amending one paragraph in the redevelopment agreement. It's approximately 40 pages, give or take. And so really all we're changing is one paragraph allows this final tranche of money to be released into the project. Where were we a couple of years ago before you all quite honestly took a chance on us and believed in our ability to move forward with this project. The mall was in bad shape. It was officially declared blighted and the city certified that study. property tax revenue had dropped in half in about six years and sales tax revenue was dropping very quickly so as much as 18 percent just in a single year and so just just really really dramatic declines over the few years before the incentives package was passed so what happened We came to you in early 2024, started the process through the TIF commission, and then moved forward in front of council. We put a group of local investors together. We put a local team together, some of whom you'll hear from tonight, and tried to move this project forward and really make something, what we thought could be something special. And our total, you know, at that point in time, our total project size, you know, we're looking at a project of over $100 million from phase one all the way through to completion of phase three. And so now, a little under two years in, we're at $40 million out of that 107. And so the breakdown of that, $40 million total investment, 140,000 square feet have been renovated. So that's essentially the entire east wing of the mall. And I assume you've driven by, you can see the portion that's been renovated. And we've continued that from the old Macy's box all the way up to the main entrance. And now we've started on the west wing as well. And so... In October 24, the bonds, the bond offering was completed. The total proceeds from that bond offering were 21.7 million that were available to us to use on the project. So far we've used 16.7 of those. So hence the $5 million difference is the 5 million remaining that we're asking to be released into the project. What have we delivered for all of this money? 10 national tenants have signed 10 year leases. And we've done all of that since the bond offering. So in about 21 months. Eight of those tenants are brand new to Cape and brand new to the Mall. Two of them, Barnes & Noble and Old Navy, renewed for 10-year leases, 10-year terms. They were previously kicking along on one- and two- and three-year renewals, quite honestly waiting to see what was going to happen with the property, if anything was going to change or if it was going to continue sliding downward. Ten new tenants, 10-year leases, occupancy rates have gone from 62% when we bought it in 21 to the end of this year, it'll be at 91%. So, you know, pretty dramatic change on that front. One thing I'm sure you've seen this week or last week, I guess, on the news, Boot Barn is one of our new tenants that we've publicly announced. They'll be opening in October, so pretty shortly after. They've been really wonderful to deal with, and we got through that process very quickly, put them in contact with the Sykeston Rodeo Board, and I'm hoping that they'll sponsor some events there as well, and we'll make for a great partnership and probably some great momentum going into their store opening. Again, looking at where we were, our local paper gave a great quote that the mall was a drab, monolithic, concrete structure. And it's pretty hard to argue with that, given the state that it was in at the time that we purchased it in 21. You can see the entire east wing from the main entrance over to the left side on this picture was a little hard to look at. Not a lot going on there. and it looks dramatically different today. So a big change in the number of tenants and just the general appearance of the buildings, all the new facades and new main entries for all of those stores. And we're continuing that all the way across the front over to Old Navy, which is also we're completing their inside out flip now and expect them to be open probably around the same time as Boot Barn is. So maybe a little bit earlier, late September, they'll be open and using the main entry in the front. One of the biggest differences, I think, if you drive by, in addition to just how the building looks, is what the parking lot looks like. It's a massive parking lot, and I think it's hard to understand just how big it is until you get out and walk it on foot. And so, you know, if you had to park all the way at the end of any of these aisles, it's a long way up to the building. And, you know, on the weekend, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sundays, the parking lot is very, very full. AND EVEN AT RANDOM TIMES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, DEPENDING ON WHEN YOU STOP BY, WE STILL HAVE A LOT OF SHOPPERS COMING IN ON A DAILY BASIS. AND REALLY HITTING THAT CAPE AS A RETAIL TOWN SWELLS SO MUCH DURING THE DAY AND ON THE WEEKENDS AND I CERTAINLY FEEL LIKE WE'RE CAPTURING THAT. It's great to look at the building and how much nicer it looks. One thing I want to touch on is what has this actually resulted in? What is this new construction and all this money given to the city? And so we've gone from a little over $2 million in sales on that east wing before we started the redevelopment TO 24 MILLION NOW. SO ANNUALIZED FOR THIS YEAR. DOES NOT INCLUDE BOOT BARN OPENING. AND WE EXPECT THEM TO DO VERY WELL. SO THIS NUMBER WILL LIKELY BE MUCH HIGHER. ALSO DOESN'T CAPTURE BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING AND HOLIDAY SEASON. SO IT MAY WELL BE YOU KNOW, WELL OVER THIS NUMBER. BUT EVEN WITH THE BASELINE, WE'RE MORE THAN 10 TIMES IN SALES IN THE LAST 24 MONTHS SINCE YOU ALL HELPED US START THIS PROJECT AND KICK THIS OFF WITH THE INCENTIVES. I've had multiple of the stores be in the top five nationally within their companies for either store openings or sales. And so that's drawn a lot of attention to CAPE for those things. These retailers, they all know each other. They all talk to one another. The brokers all talk to one another. They know how well these stores are performing and what that's doing for our community. And you can see that. in how many other projects have popped up over town in the last two years. A lot of new tenants, new restaurants, new retail coming in, hotels are being built. It's just really kicked off a huge amount of activity. And again, the retailers and the QSR franchises, they know what the numbers are and now they can see how quickly that has increased with the mall development. The public has also noticed, in addition to the parking lot being packed, Anytime the mall is mentioned in a news story or on social media, we get a huge amount of positive feedback and just a lot of comments, a lot of likes. And some people have mixed opinions about whether social media is good or not, but it certainly is a very quick way to gauge the public's temperature on how they feel about a project. And I think I can confidently say that the response on ours is 99% positive every time it comes up. And so we've been really happy to see not only are people coming to the property to shop and spend money, they're also supporting it through any kind of news stories and spreading that through social media. We have three stores currently in build out right now. And so one of those is Old Navy, one of those is Boot Barn, and then we have one that we haven't been able to announce yet, hoping to be able to do that this fall. And then we're in active negotiations with an additional tenant on top of that. And so they would join the 64 tenants we already have on site, which is sort of a hard number to believe. But with the amount of work that goes into it, there's a lot of businesses. We have 64 separate businesses operating on that property. That results in a lot of jobs. And so we're almost 500 jobs on site on a daily basis. add another 100 plus to that. It would be over 600 on a seasonal basis. Again, this doesn't include Boo Barn, and it doesn't include the additional tenant that we'll be able to announce this fall. And so we expect that number to grow at least 40 more as a result of that. And so those dollars, the salaries of all of those people are being reinvested in our area. You know, they're buying houses, they're renting apartments, they're buying cars, they're going to the grocery store. That money is being multiplied throughout our area. If you take those numbers, the 491 jobs collectively on property, and you look at where does that put us in the area, that would make our site the number six employer in the city. And so you can see right between Jackson and Cape Public Schools, short of the hospitals in Proctor and Gamble, we would be the largest. And that's a, stunned me when I first realized just how many employees we have on site. The construction impact. This is something I didn't mention last time, but I would be remiss if I didn't say the money that's coming from the incentives and is coming from our investment is being used with local contractors and local suppliers. So we have 50 plus local contractors that have been on site. 34 plus material suppliers that have been local. And that list is pretty long, as you can see. So that money is being spent in our community yet again. Where are we headed? We want to stabilize the exterior of the mall, get all of the construction complete on the front. We expect that will be done late this fall. The next phase would be to go inside. Anybody that's been inside lately knows that it still needs a lot of help. It needs cosmetic upgrades, it needs painting, it needs lighting, it needs flooring, a huge amount of square footage, even on the inside in the concourse areas. So that's the next phase. After that, or simultaneously with that, we'll be looking at out parcel developments and probably bringing in some more food options along the out parcels on the outside edges of the parking lot. Another new tenant to announce this fall, hopefully two more, if we can wrap up negotiations with the additional tenant we're working with. A lot of questions about, okay, we're changing a TDD. Have we ever done this before? Is this, you know, it's not something you hear a lot about. It's sort of an abstract concept. Has the council looked at an issue like this before? And so we can say yes. So one of the other main TDDs in town is the South K TDD. This is where Hobby Lobby is located. That's Sherwin-Williams and the car wash and all that's there. First passed in 2017, amended in 2022, and again in 2024, increasing their total TDD budget from about $870,000 to $2.3 million. And so pretty substantial increase given the size of that property. This was an increase in the budget. For ours, we're just asking for the money that's already been awarded to be released. So no increase. What does it boil down to? What is the yes or no vote? Do we want to take this money and put it into the building and be able to generate more sales tax and continue this multiple growth, multiples of growth that we're having, or do we want this money to be restricted and only to be used for asphalt? We of course are biased, but we think the decision's pretty easy. We want to see that sales tax revenue generated. We want to see those additional jobs. We want to see that multiplier effect go through the community. A yes vote allows the $5 million to be released, allows us to continue and complete the construction with the tenants we currently have in progress, treats that money the exact same as every other incentive dollar we've received thus far, and again, allows us to finish the project and generate more sales tax revenue. We've made a lot of progress in a very short period of time. 21 months, it's a little hard to even imagine what we feel like we've accomplished in that time. We're asking you to help us finish out the job. You supported us at the beginning when you were taking a risk on us. Now we've proven that we're going to do what we said we set out to do. We've done 90% of that, and we're asking you to allow us to finish. That's all I have. Any questions? I WOULDN'T GO FAR IN CASE THERE ARE QUESTIONS AS WE CONTINUE TO DISCUSS THIS. I THINK WE HAVE A FEW MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC HERE TO GIVE COMMENTS. I WAS GOING TO OPEN IT UP AFTER YOU FOR ANYBODY IN THE PUBLIC THAT HAS ANY COMMENTS THAT THEY WOULD WANT TO TAKE.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU, LUCAS.

I'LL TRY TO BE BRIEF SINCE LUCAS STOLE MOST OF MY CONSTRUCTION THUNDER. My name is Nick Martin. I know most of you all. And I'm not here to report on planning and zoning tonight. I would like to talk to you guys just briefly about them all. And so my company, Pilot Construction Solutions, was brought on by Lucas and Michael and their team to help manage the design and construction piece of this project. We wanted to make sure that we get one shot at this with all the work, and we did it first class. And I think that they have set us up to be able to do that and be able to showcase some of the local talent in the area. And as Lucas showed on the slide with all the subcontractors consult, we've missed some of the consultants and stuff like that, but the amount of people that local have actually touched this project has been incredible. It's opened doors for them. I've seen people on the construction team go from interns to full-time to raises and got to watch the whole thing progress over a single project, which is really, really neat. We've worked with some tenants that have historically been very difficult to work with on the construction side. And each time we've done that, we've came out and had almost every single one of those tenants, Ross, PetSmart, whoever it may be, come out and say, wow, that was impressive. We work with people all over the country. The team that you all put together here was something that has really helped us learn. And actually, they've taken some of those contractors and subcontractors and are now traveling with them to different build outs and stuff that they're doing in other parts of the country. So it's been very helpful. You know, Lucas mentioned on the local people, we did make sure that at some point that we got to review all bids, all subcontractor bids, talk to each subcontractors, understand that if we had an option between going local or somewhere else, we wanted to keep that money local, and we did. So we might not have always picked the cheapest, but we always make sure we found the best value. other than that i appreciate you guys trust in us allowing us to do this project and continue this project and thank you appreciate it thank you thank you mr martin anybody else want to speak on this matter

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the City Council. Mayor, good to see you guys. I can't speak too much on the past precedent and regarding the TIF. I'm sure every person sitting up here this evening can probably tell me more about that than what I already know. What I can speak to is the impact that it has had on our area in relation to my job. I am a real estate broker. I specialize in commercial and investment properties, and I spend a lot of my time speaking and talking to communicating with out of state, out of town buyers, investors, tenants and developers. And in many of these conversations, the mall project comes up, the success of the mall project comes up, specifically the Ulta, the Sierra, and the numbers that they have generated at those stores. Out of town, out of state investors are aware of this, and some of them are even looking at our region because of this success. And they'll reach out to brokers like myself and other brokers in town, and they have questions. And I think a lot of that credit goes to the developers of the mall, but it also goes to the city council, the mayor and the city staff for supporting these types of projects and these types of initiatives over the last couple years. And what I would like to see is that support continue. Let's keep driving this in the same direction. We've all seen it. There's been a boom and growth here recently, and the mall has been a big part of that. I believe that the guidance from the city council and from the mayor has been a big part of that. So let's keep moving that forward for my own selfish reasons, because it's been great for my business, but not just my business for many business owners in town. This increase in interest in our region has been very beneficial. Whether you're an hourly employee, a salary employee, you own your own business, this growth helps us all. So let's keep moving that forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Fish. Is there anybody else from the public who would like to speak?

Good evening, members of the council. I'm Mr. Mayor. I think most of you know me. And those of you know me know that I'm very passionate about Cape. I love Cape Girardeau. And I really love what's happened to our mall. Before our developers came along, it was dying like a lot of the other malls around the country and in our area. And the trend was very negative. And I don't know if you realize how fortunate we are to have these guys come along because this was a very risky and complicated project. And it took somebody with a lot of vision and imagination and perseverance and tenacity and aptitude to pull this off. And they put together a great team and everything they've done so far has exceeded my expectations. I mean, everything down there is top notch. I know there's been a lot of controversy. I know some people in town have said that they were using taxpayer dollars to fund this. And I feel like I'm pretty knowledgeable about these issues. And from my perspective, no tax dollars have gone to this project. You know, the payments that have been made have come from payments that they made that would have been real estate taxes on the TIF, but they went to the project instead. The CID, the Community Investment District, and the Transportation Development District, the payments on those bonds are made from sales tax paid by the people that shop at the mall. So none of this money is coming out of taxpayer dollars. It's coming from sources that they've created. Those last two taxes are self-imposed taxes. And I might add that I think it would be an injustice to not give them these final $5 million. I know there was some concern about whether it was statutorily acceptable to take the funds that were originally designated for parking lot or road improvements to use for other construction expenses. But I know that Mark Grimm has reviewed this. I've worked with him for many years. He's the bond counselor the city has used for years, and he has confirmed that this is a perfectly acceptable change in the version of funds. So with everything that these developers have done, I think we need to make sure that we help them succeed and not become an obstacle to their success. So I would encourage everybody here to vote yes. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Esner. Is there anybody else wishing to speak on this matter?

Evening Council, Mr. Mayor, Dr. Haskins, appreciate the opportunity to be here this evening. I'm coming to speak as a proud Cape Girardeau citizen. I have no vested interest in this project. No money doesn't help me from a professional standpoint, but truly just as a Cape Girardeau homer for the past 13 years. I grew up 90 miles South, right on the Arkansas border, and mom's a CMO grad, so Cape Girardeau is where we came to shop, you know, back to school, any special holiday. And so I spent a lot of time in Cape Girardeau. 13 years ago, moved to town to start my career, and it had been a few years, since i've been to cape and for the past 13 years i have driven past this property twice daily for the past 13 years and it was shocking how blighted things truly had become to the point where in the areas where I work, we do have to recruit professionals from out of this area, from different states. And I will tell you that in multiple marketing and recruiting meetings, um when it was time to do the town tours for at least 11 years i know that we purposefully never took anyone through the intersection um there of william and mount auburn you know i don't know this to be fact but i have to think that is the biggest thoroughfare in the region i mean uh and and Truly, it was a turnoff. And so from that standpoint, one, I stand behind this wholeheartedly. Another issue or a point that I had thought about with regards to this project also speaks to some of the great work and decisions that you have, as a council, have made over the past few years. You know, thinking about sports tourism and what you've done, you know, the sportsplex and now the field renovations at Shawnee and all the tournaments and all that come in, you know, look at what that's done to hotel restaurant. Well, retail has been lacking and that is such a symbiotic relationship. And so I just, again, I'm here with No conflict of interest, just a proud Cape Girardeau citizen and just want to throw my support to this project. So thank you for your time and service.

Thank you, Dr. Moore. Is there anybody else from the public wishing to speak on this matter? Not seeing any, I would entertain a motion. to accept the ordinance. Can we speak a little? We need a motion. So moved. Second. First by Cantrell. Second by Councilman Johnson. And I'll open the floor up for discussion. And I'm actually going to jump the gun here, if you don't mind. Go right ahead. I ended the last discussion two weeks ago. So I figured I'd just begin this one. And I ended it last time by stating, you know, given a little insight of how I as a councilman have make my decisions. And, you know, I feel very strongly personally that we, to be an effective elected official, you need to have certain guideposts that guide how you make the decisions. And the two most important for me are, is it the wisest use of taxpayer dollars? Everything that I consider. And then the second is, how do the citizens of Cape benefit from my vote? So there's a yes or a no. How does a yes vote benefit the citizens? How does a no vote benefit the citizens? And to me, it has to weigh in favor of whatever way I go. So last week, and in this presentation, or not last week, two weeks ago, last meeting, and in this meeting, that was, you know, very clearly, I was given a laundry list of reasons and data of what the benefits to CAEP is of my yes vote. And as I alluded to at the end of my comments last meeting, I struggled with how to come up with the benefits of a no vote. And by making that statement, I almost was challenging people in the public, because that's what, if you know me, I want people to come up and have a discussion with me. Tell me what the benefits of a no vote are. And I did not get any from anybody other than essentially competitors of the mall developers saying we need to make life difficult for the mall guys. And so I asked that, why? What do we benefit from that? I don't want to be the city council that starts the city of Cape down the path of making life difficult for developers. You know, I would hope for the opposite, that we would want to welcome the developers, that we would support them, that we would show them that we want them to succeed because as they succeed, we succeed as a city. If we start shunning investors and developers and unnecessarily making their lives hell, I mean, that reputation gets out. People won't want to invest their dollars here. development will halt, slowly halt. And that's how once thriving communities become, they die on the vine. And that is not a path that we wanna go, especially given all the hard work that we've, our development team and Mr. Pooley and Dr. Haskin and staff have done with developing those relationships with our developers across town. So why would we even shun these investors? Our city is driven by sales tax. We sit in meetings talking about how do we increase retail? We need to increase retail because we as a city are driven by that sales tax. And in a time when the sales tax nationally is going down, and we as a city, thankfully, are a flat line, thank goodness for the developers, such as the mall developers, but all of the developers across town that go out on that limb and take a risk to increase the retail options in our community. Let's not forget that this, as was said, this property was sat in receivership for five years. The sales tax revenue generated by this cornerstone retail property in our community was decreasing by 12% every year. If that would have continued on the trend and these gentlemen wouldn't have invested in it and done what they did, we would have this year been below $50,000 generated by that in sales tax revenue for that whole property. This is back of the envelope math, so take it what you will, but it's given public information, so it'd be below 50,000. Six months into this year, instead of making 50,000 on the year, six months in, we have surpassed that to the tune of five times over what we would have gotten, and that is after giving back the incentive money that the gentleman, that they would have gotten. This is our net that we get as a city, five times what we would have gotten otherwise. Six months in without back to school shopping, without holiday shopping, without three new national tenants being built out. So I'm no mathematician and I can only hope as a citizen that you're going to 10x, 15x, you know, what the projected would have been. And that's real money. That's hundreds of thousands of dollars. If they were to 15x what would have been projected, if they would not have taken this on and taken on this project, that's almost a 5% increase in our total sales tax that goes towards our general fund. So we got a 5% bump. by what they do. And that's year over year over year as they continue to invest in this property. So gentlemen, I just say we should be thanking you and hoping that you continue to take that money to its best and wisest and most valuable use. And to me, that is what this is about. This is a need that you guys identified before the bonds were even issued. You guys supplied me proof of that. You guys addressed this and it was our council and our independent council, Mr. Grimm, had even offered up the option of afterwards doing an amendment to the development agreement. This is not uncommon. I then went and asked the staff, you know, I feel like since I've been on council, we have amended redevelopment agreements. And I, yes, there were multiple. I went and looked up. There are multiple times we have, we have went back and amended development agreements. but this one's different because every other time they were actually asking for more money to be reimbursed by the incentives. They are not asking for more money. They're just asking for existing money that we have approved to be able to be used for the wisest and best use that would generate the most sales tax revenue, keep the momentum going so that we can keep that property flourishing and therefore the rest of the community flourishing. And to me, that's a no brainer. So, I look forward to your continued investment in the community, your continued investment in this property, not only to the benefit of us financially as we sit through our budget workshops, but also for the quality of life of our citizens of Cape, our citizens that have that as an outlet to go shop to, that they don't have to travel elsewhere. They can stay here. But then other people in the region for our visitors that come here, for the sports tourism, for their tournaments, for their events, that they have a place to go, that they have a place to shop, that they recognize CAPE as that leader in retail and experience. And I think that's what we need as a community. So kudos to you guys. I look forward to hopefully approving this so you guys can keep the momentum going.

Yeah, as normal, well said, Councilman Thomas. Between yourself and Lucas and the public, a lot of the bullet points that I was going to make have already been made multiple times, but I would come at this at a different angle. Obviously, I was not on council when this stuff started. I was a business owner, and for those of you that are in the room that know me that know A TARANIZED STORY. THE TEA HOUSE WAS DREADFUL. IT COULD HAVE BEEN BLIGHTED, I'M CERTAIN, IN THE MID-TEENS. WE WERE STRUGGLING TO KEEP OUR DOORS OPEN, LITERALLY. AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN I HEAR THESE SMALL GUYS, I DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE, IT DIDN'T MATTER WHO THEY WERE, AND THEY'RE GOING TO GET THESE TAX INCENTIVES AND, OF COURSE, I DON'T KNOW WHAT I DON'T KNOW, SO ALL THIS TAXPAYER DOLLARS IS GOING TO OPEN THIS MALL, REINVEST THE MALL AND ALL THIS NONSENSE THAT I'M CERTAIN A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE HEARD. and and and i kind of believed it because you know you don't do your own research till you really need to right um at least i'm speaking for myself on that and now moving forward to this position in this council position um i don't like the way sausage is made but i love the way it tastes i love the way it tastes so i don't like this type of stuff nobody was knocking on our door and we couldn't keep it open hey brian and tyra would you like some incentives to keep your doors open didn't happen so there's a lot that goes on in life and in business that is messy and you may not like it but it's necessary and if i could make just one point that's been made now five years of receivership and if you don't know what receivership means that's when a neutral third party is controlling all business activities because the owners are unable to pay debts to a secured creditor So for five years, this blighted, monolithic, whatever that said, Lucas, was there. I came here in 98, and, man, to go to college, and it was, as Dr. Moore pointed out, it was a flagship. I mean, it was a destination. And then to see it go to where it went and be in receivership for five years when somebody else could have stepped up and took the investment on, they passed. Okay, so from a business owner that has been at the bottom and to turn and to understand that what is necessary has happened, we need to continue to allow these guys to use this money to better this for the entire community and other business owners as two of us, three of us sit up here on this council. I'm an unequivocal yes, I can't thank you enough for what you guys have done and I hope you continue it. And, again, don't like the way sausage is made, but it tastes, and that mall is tasting really darn good right now.

Well, I'm just disappointed I spent 45 minutes making notes that everybody's covered. Could have hit a few golf balls or something. Here's a couple of things maybe that haven't been talked about, and I may be redundant on a few, but I'll be brief. That property, part of that property, was our backyard growing up. we had cattle on that property where the parking lot is. And so when they built that, it was kind of personal. And it was a flagship. That was the place to go, because you didn't have online shopping. So I mean, that place was packed. And that's where we spent some high school nights, because that's where the girls hung out, right? And I will tell you, it was going nowhere. The property sales tax were out of adrenaline, and so was desire and interest to go there. The council voted six to one. I was just coming on board when this was going on. There was a lot of opposition and controversy as I came in and just sat and watched this, thinking, why do I want to get into that? But they took it on the chin. the council did, voted six to one, and I think it was a great decision. And I've been told it was unprecedented. This isn't, obviously, as they've demonstrated. Large projects like this, this is one of the things. We did a house renovation, so I can't even imagine a large project like this trying to guesstimate pinpoint dollars and stuff to different to certain pots when it's this when it's a monstrosity in our little house renovation my wife decided she wanted to Viking ovens instead of one so boom if you know anything about Viking ovens that just blew that whole estimate out of the out of the water, right? And so I can't even imagine at our little projects that we can all relate to and understand how they start off at 50,000, now they become 60,000. It happens when your wife says, I want that. All right, so anyway, I can understand the need to amend this project. Also, Mark Grimm, He's a hometown boy. I graduated with Mark and John, his twin brother. And I don't know if you all know, he is our legal counsel for anything money, right, and incentives. And I don't know if you knew this. I looked it up a little bit. He is a, since 2003, he has been on the best lawyers of America for public finance. Now, I'm not touting Mark Grimm here, but I'm saying I think that's a pretty credible source to go to because my concern was, are we violating any statutes or laws? Is it the best for Kate, and are we doing anything that we're going to get litigation on? And those were the two of my biggest considerations and concerns. And he put my conscience at ease on that. The sales tax collected. I mean, when it comes to dollars, we all need that sales tax. And what drives that? Public sentiment that Mr. Thomas talked about. 95% of the people I talked to And some of them are here in this room that I have a great deal of respect for, because they've been in this show a lot longer than I have. All of them were positive about this and saying, yes, whatever we can do to make them successful, because if they're successful, we're going to be successful as a city. So that's what I run. And then just lastly, the ripple effect, what Dr. Moore had talked about. There's things that different professionals, different aspects of life that you're in, that your neighbors are in, that everybody has a different opinion, but it's usually based upon how it's going to impact them. And I just don't see any negatives in this at all. I see the positives, being able to drive through that intersection now and point something out. I know I told you this before. My wife and I were going to Sam's for something, and I saw how busy the parking lot was. I thought they were giving something free away. So I was like, let's go check it out. And we just walked through the mall, just to walk through the mall that we hadn't done in years. I mean years, since our kids were shopping at that mall. overpriced kid's clothes store, right? And it was pretty fun and amazing. So kudos to everything that's going on, everything that you're doing, and I just know this is going to be a win-win for you all and for us.

Thank you. Yeah, I'd like to just piggyback on what they've all said and thank the developers for their efforts. I think it's pretty clear the track record and what's been done and I think has been amazing. One thing we keep talking about is the bonds, the bonds and bonds, but the developers have put their own money into this too. So, you know, it's not like it's just the bonds and everything. And the other thing is we talk about this $5 million and moving it from one pot to the other, but it's all part of the development. And frankly, I'd rather that money go to putting in new businesses than paving a parking lot. New businesses generate sales tax. The way I look at it, that $5 million, the city is going to recoup far more over the years in sales tax revenue than that $5 million. From any math standpoint, I think it makes perfect sense for us to do this. And I'm looking forward to the project moving forward.

Any other comment? Without that, we have a motion on the floor to accept the ordinance. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay.

Nay.

EYES HAVE IT, AND THE MOTION CARRIES. I'M GOING TO HAND IT OVER. I WILL BE VOTING.

MY VOTE WILL BE AN ABSTENTION DUE TO FINANCIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST. I SHOULD HAVE JUST STAYED AT HOME. GOD. ALL RIGHT, LET ME WAKE BACK UP. JUST KIDDING, GUYS. I WILL SAY CONGRATULATIONS, EVERYBODY IN BOTH. All right. Bill number 26-65, an ordinance read adopting sections 2-90 to 2-97 of the City Code of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, related to conflicts of interest. First reading, City Clerk Gail Conrad.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. This is an ordinance that comes up biannually before the City Council. The state statutes require that any political subdivision with an operating budget of over $1 million must have a provision for disclosing of conflicts of interest and financial disclosure. Under the statutes, we can follow the state statutes or we can adopt our own policy. If the council so chooses, they can establish their own method of disclosing conflicts of interest and substantial interests. We have, the city has adopted its own procedure, which is what is before you. It mirrors the state statute and it also has a few other provisions that were changed two years ago relating to candidates. So it also includes candidates as well as elected officials. Again, this has to be adopted biannually and submitted to the Missouri Ethics Commission.

What were those changes from two years ago? Because I have some gap or missing.

The state statute has certain provisions relating to failing to file in fee, what do you call it, fines, if you file within a certain period of time. That was changed, as well as including that candidates, making it very clear that candidates are also included, candidates running for mayor and council are also included within the provisions of disclosing conflicts of interest.

Perfect.

Any further questions?

Any questions? Thank you. Is anyone here to speak in favor or against this? Seeing none, I would entertain a motion. So moved. Second. I have a first and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, signify by stating aye. Aye. All right. Ayes have it. Excuse me. Bill number 26-66, an ordinance amending and adopting new sections of Chapter 7 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Cape Jordan, Missouri, related to vacant structures. First reading, Mr. Pooley.

Thank you, Mayor, Dr. Haskins, Council. This ordinance is related to the vacant buildings. We have had two study sessions on this ordinance, the last two meetings themselves. This ordinance and the purpose of the ordinance provide an effective monitoring and routine inspection of derelict commercial vacant buildings and structures that due to housing code violations may endanger the life, limb, health, property, safety, or well-being of the general public. This ordinance shall apply to all commercial buildings that have been vacant for more than six months and are subject to housing codes. Under the proposal, the property only is eligible if it meets three criteria. Is it commercial? Residential structures are excluded. Has it been vacant for six months? and it has one or more housing code violations, including property maintenance, building, fire, health, and nuisance violations. If all three conditions are met, the building officials may register the property as a vacant commercial buildings. Any questions?

Trevor, thank you. Council, we have a, I would entertain a motion. Sorry, tongue-tied. I would entertain a motion.

Second.

All right, I got a first by Randall, a second by Bliss. Any discussion, Council? I know we've talked about this a lot.

Well, I would like to say, given when I first got on the City Council, I raised this issue, and I am so glad to see that we're finally getting this measure I think this will address the problem where we have property owners who have not really tried to keep up their property or sell it. And I think this particularly will be really good for the preservation of our downtown. So I enthusiastically support it.

I echo that as well as just once again thanking staff and thanking all the stakeholders involved in the community. This is an example, a perfect example of how this comes together. It was a known issue and it wasn't an easy one to address and there were solutions and then there were other stakeholder groups that would come through and then there was revisions and so kudos to all the staff that was involved in this. I know there was a cross-departmental effort, so great job. Yeah, as we're making,

great efforts and strides and and making the city better and improving to include everything from our security forces and fire department, police department, to where you shop and the building. These to me are, these things are coffee stains. People, you overlook them. You get so used to seeing them that they just become part of the environment. This resolution or this ordinance here is gonna help remove those coffee stains. Great job on this, Mr. Pooley.

Thank you. Okay. Council, you have a first and a second. All those in favor, signify by stating aye. Aye. All right. Bill number 26-68, an ordinance providing for the levying of the annual city revenue tax public health tax special business district number two tax for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2027. First reading. MS. KILHOFNER. HOW ARE YOU DOING? ONCE A YEAR, SHE SAID.

APPARENTLY LISA GOES ON VACATION ONCE A YEAR. THANK YOU, MAYOR AND COUNCIL. ONLY ONCE. AND I DID NOT CALL HER TODAY. SO SOMEBODY ELSE DID, THOUGH. Okay, every year council is presented with an ordinance establishing the tax levy rates for the current fiscal year. The public hearing ordinance are completed in accordance with statutory requirements and the proposed rates are computed using the formulas and limits set by state statute and constitution. The proposed rates being presented are based on the county assessor assessed values for real and personal property. And the final tax rates will be established after the County Board of Equalization completes its review of property assessments. We expect to have the final numbers prior to August 15th. At this time, we do not expect a significant change in the proposed rates. So to satisfy the city's annual requirement for establishing property tax rates, I am presenting the proposed tax levy rates for the fiscal year ending June 30th of 2027. The pro forma calculation and computed rates per $100 of assessed value are 0.3055 for the general fund, 0.0572 for the health fund and 0.73 for the downtown special business district. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE AVERAGE PROPERTY OWNER? FOR A HOMEOWNER WITH A RESIDENCE VALUE OF $200,000, THE ANNUAL CITY REAL ESTATE TAX WOULD BE APPROXIMATELY $137.83. IN ADDITION, THE CITY PROPERTY TAX ON PERSONAL PROPERTY IS APPROXIMATELY $12.09 FOR EVERY $10,000 OF ASSESSED PERSONAL PROPERTY VALUE. With this, the city has budgeted approximately $2.4 million in property tax revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30th of 2027. That was it. bridget do we anticipate any changes no we do not actually the the calculation the change we didn't have an assessment year this year that was last year right so we actually the calculation is um from last year to the proposed for this year is really in the hundreds of a decimal point um so it's very small and we So the preliminary numbers is an increase in real property of about six-tenths of a percent. Personal property valuations went up about three percent. So on the real property, we already are only seeing about a six-tenths of a percent, and we don't expect much change, if any.

Okay, thanks. OK, Council, you have a first and a second. All those in favor, signify by stating aye. Aye.

Did we? We didn't do that in public appearances.

Oh, sorry. Yeah, that's right. Back up here. Is anybody here to talk in favor or against this ordinance? All right, seeing none, then I'll try that again. I would entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Second? Second. All those in favor signify by stating aye. Aye. All right. Long way about it. All right. Appointments. I have an appointment, a mayor approval appointment for Jordan Drury to be on the Board of Adjustments. Does that require a VALIDATION, GREG, MR. YOUNG, OR IS THAT JUST... MOTION TO APPROVE.

I WOULD... MOTION TO APPROVE THE APPOINTEE. SECOND.

FIRST AND SECOND. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SIGNIFY BY STATING AYE. We have other business. I'm going to jump in real quick, and I just got this before the meeting. Roger's still here. There was a travel magazine today that just ranked the most beautiful city in each state, and Cape Girardeau was listed as the most beautiful state in a magazine called Travel Magazine online, I believe. And so it was hot off the presses, so to speak, from Roger when I first got here, but I wanted to mention that. Yeah. So more to come on that. Appearances regarding items not listed on the agenda. We have Glenn Becker from 1526 William Street has signed up to speak. Mr. Becker. Please give us your name and address and you will have the allotted time.

It shouldn't take too long. My name's Glenn Becker. I live at 1526 William Street here in Cape Girardeau. Been here as a resident for about 25 years. Also, I've had this property for at least four years. And what happened on July 9th and the 10th is why I'm here. And then accordingly afterwards, around five to 10 days afterwards, I got ahold of Alliance, which was, they took care of the sewer system. And first they sent two people out. Then he said the superintendent would say something of what we could do to improve the damage that was done to my property. And also what was happening down through the street. If you have a, The map that's on there, you can see where I'm located at, down there, and that's right down here. It was actually, it's upside down. This is where my house is on Missouri and William. And right there, there's five sewer systems going down because I'm at the bottom of the hill. So I'm getting a lot of the water and so on coming down. I've lived there for four years, and it's never happened again or ever before this on July 9th and 10th. But I went to the superintendent's office alliance, and also two of their people came down, talked to me, said that they would have something done or talk to the superintendent, and he would come back and talk to me. So that's why I'm here talking to you. because he's never contacted me. I wanted to ask him if he could clean out the sewer lines that maybe because of sediment in it is what's backing up the ditch in my yard, which was created by the city evidently when they were doing that street, because even my driveway is slanted to where it comes down into that ditch and then goes into a sewer hole. Well, because that was backed up and came five feet from getting into my house. I knew something was different and something was wrong. So all I'm asking is for the city or the mayor, someone to talk to him. and have him come and talk to me. That's all I want so that I can see if they'll at least do some maintenance.

Mr. Becker, I can do even better than that. Casey Brunke, the head of our public works department is right back there. And when we finish up, you have a conversation with her tonight and she can talk to you about it. Alliance handles our water, our drinking water. Casey is, and our public works handle our stormwater and sewer. So have a conversation with her right after that. And we'll, we'll see what needs to be cleaned up over there. Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you very much.

All right. Council. Okay. So I would ask for a motion to adjourn. Well, I need a motion to convene the closed session pursuant to RS Missouri section 610-021 for legal actions and litigation and confidential communications with legal counsel. So moved. Second. I have a first by Thomas, a second by Cantrell. All those in favor, signify by stating aye. Aye. All right, we are adjourned.

Get out and vote.