Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for December 16, 2006 FIDDLING...

...while Cairo burns!

I have avoided comment on this situation in the past...simply passing along the various derogatory articles in the various local media. There was no need to add anything. Those articles made all of us - ALL RESIDENTS OF CAIRO - look like fools. As the one city council member who regularly DOES attend city council meetings has remarked on more than one occasion...Cairo is the "laughingstock" of the area.

Both sides seem intent on "positioning" themselves for the 2007 city elections...entrenching their positions...playing the "blame game".

Somehow, I fail to recognize how either side benefits in their various bids for election or re-election.

You have a leader...without followers, publicly castigating the very people whose support is needed to enact ordinances for economic development. I don't care how great your "vision" or your plans are, if you can't convince people to support them...they - and you - fail.

You have council members who refuse to attend council meetings, citing as their reason(s) the futility of working with a dictator and/or that they don't get paid for NOT attending meetings. If you will only attend meetings depending on who the mayor happens to be, why should I vote for you...not knowing at the time who the mayor will be?

After four years of mud-slinging and open warfare, "We, the People" are being asked to pass judgment...and chart the course for the future of Cairo. One thing that all of us - office holders and voters - can agree upon...Cairo cannot survive the "same old, same old". Drive through town...especially the "downtown business district" - CAREFULLY. Avoid the barricades...don't get hit by falling bricks. Downtown "stands" as an appropriate symbol of the past four years...the perfect setting for "Cairo Wars". Looks like a scene right out of the nightly news.

As I make up my mind on whom to support in the next city election, I need to know that the person I vote for will "show up". That's the bottom line! That's what you were elected to do! As they say..."Lead, follow, or get out of the way!"

I also need to know that you will have an open mind and work for the improvement of Cairo...regardless of your personal "agenda". This is NOT about you!

You don't have to be a "rubber stamp". Express your opinion...or better yet, the opinion of the residents that voted you in as their representative! Take a stand for what you believe in and vote your conscience. BUT. then, move forward!

If the outcome was not what you wanted, continue to raise constructive criticism...offering an alternative should the enacted policy fail. HOWEVER...do NOT go out of your way to insure the failure of that policy! To do so is a clear indication that you are NOT working for Cairo...you are working for YOU. Cairo's long declining history has had more than enough of THAT!

All right...for what it was worth, that was my two cents.

Here is the latest edition of "As the City Churns" from the Southeast Missourian...

Cairo unable to move on agenda for development

By Rudi Keller ~ Southeast Missourian

CAIRO, Ill. -- A special city council meeting called to enact an agenda for revitalizing this impoverished town failed to attract enough members Friday to do business.

After taking the roll -- only one of the six council members showed up for the meeting -- Mayor Paul Farris outlined the stakes for his town and criticized council members unwilling to meet to discuss his proposals. The four agenda items included a $100,000 grant for rebuilding sewer lines, a grant agreement for demolishing derelict properties, a route for heavy trucks and steps needed to move forward with a tax increment financing district.

"If this doesn't happen, this town is finished," Farris said. "We are in critical days."

The sewer upgrades and truck routes are part of a package of improvements to support a biodiesel plant announced for Cairo in August. The plant, which would produce 60 million gallons of fuel each year, is a joint project of Renewable Energy Group of Ralston, Iowa, and Bunge North America Inc., which operates a barge terminal in Cairo.

When announced, promoters of the plant predicted a fall groundbreaking ceremony. So far, no dirt has been moved for construction.

Farris accused the council, by skipping the meeting, of being a reason why the sewers are in bad shape. "We all know the condition of the sewer systems in the city of Cairo," he said. "They are collapsing."

The sewers must be repaired for completion of the truck route that will bring the raw agricultural products to the new plant and move the finished fuel, Farris said.

The biodiesel plant would be at the north end of the tax increment financing district. The new district runs the length of Cairo along the Ohio River, taking in most of the old industrial area of the town as well as the generally vacant properties of the once-thriving central business district.

Tax increment financing, or TIF, designates a major portion of new tax revenue from development to repaying private developers for the costs of construction. The agenda item for Friday would have created a registry of interested parties, allowing the political subdivisions with a stake in the tax revenue to have a voice in the overall plan for the district.

"This is a tool that can open up an additional incentive for people," Farris said.

Contacted later in the day, Councilman Bobby Whitaker said council members didn't take part in the meeting because Farris won't compromise on how to approach the problems. All of the items on the agenda are needed, he said, and the council has approved similar actions only to see them vetoed by the mayor.

"Why should we pass things just to suit him?" said Whitaker, a candidate for mayor in the 2007 elections. "He wants to treat us like children."

One sticking point, Whitaker said, is the council's insistence a designated member must agree to executive actions taken after the agenda items are approved as city policy.

"It is just a check-and-balance system where the council is informed of what is being paid and what is not being paid," Whitaker said.

Failure to pass the measures proposed Friday, Farris said, endangers the biodiesel plant and would send a message to other potential developers that there is little hope of finding a warm reception in Cairo.

The president of the Renewable Energy Group, Nile Ramsbottom, said his company is still committed to making the plant a reality in Cairo. "We are working hard to yet see something happen this fall," Ramsbottom said.

In addition to the biodiesel plant, which is slated to cost $60 million and create 30 permanent jobs, Farris acknowledged rumors about plans for another major industrial projec but said it isn't credible at this time.

There has been talk of major land purchases just north of Cairo, he said, but as far as he knows, no land has changed hands. The project being discussed, he said, is a coal gasification plant.

Compared to the biodiesel plant, city attorney Patrick Cox said, the coal gasification plant has a "lower level of viability." The developer shopping the idea around, who he declined to name, hasn't been able to prove adequate financing to move forward.