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<br /> <br /> <br />council's formal applicmion. <br />Cape Girardeau would ask for <br />S 1.6 million in federal and <br />state money to buy a total 01'66 <br />homes: 38 in Red SIar. 15 in <br />Meadowbrook, II in Smelter- <br />ville. and 2 in Highway 177. <br />Eftink had even calculated the <br />ongoing cost to the city of <br />maintaining Ihe lots after the <br />houses were demolished; it <br />would cost the city S 13,000 a <br />year to mow the lots, and the <br />city would lose $1.000 a year <br />in real estate taxes. Since the <br />houses occupied an area thaI had <br />tlooded 15 times in the last 20 years. <br />those projecIed cosIs were accepIable. <br /> <br />The only debate on Ihe matter <br />involved wheIher or not the ciIy itself <br />should dip into its own funds to help <br />tinance the buyou!. The assumption on <br />Ihe part of some councilmen was that <br />such an offer might help the applicaIion <br />gain approval on the state level. <br />However, Chauncy Buchheit, of the <br />SouIheast Missouri Regional Planning <br />and Economic Development Commis- <br />sion (SEMO) reminded the council Ihat <br />such local funding was not necessary to <br />gain approval. On this advice, the <br />council decided to submiIthe applica- <br />lion without the offer of local funds. t ] <br /> <br />That decision was Ihe only <br />part of the buyout Ihat drew public <br />criticism. An August 16. editorial in <br />Ihe Southeast Missourian praised the <br />buyOUI program but criticized the <br />decision not to offer city funds in iIS <br />implementation. The editorial said <br />"that to do otherwise smacks of the <br />kind of free handout that has PUI the <br />federal governmenI in the red ink mess <br />IhaI it is in. . . II should hurt a little to <br />lake these government handouts". <br /> <br />On October 17. Ihe Southeast <br />Missourian reported that Governor <br />Carnahan had approved the ciIy.s <br /> <br />Page 22 <br /> <br />Buyout area in Cape Girardeau <br />helps relieve city congestion. <br /> <br />application and would submit it to Ihe <br />Federal Emergency Management <br />Agency for tinal approval. Unfortu- <br />nately. Ihe Governor had noI approved <br />the whole $1.6 million amounI, but <br />instead had given Cape S 1.2 million. <br />S742.000 would go to buy the houses <br />and $450,000 10 relocate residents.]2 <br />The state had reduced Cape. s request <br />because in 1995 it had only $4 million <br />dollars for Ihis buyout cycle instead of <br />the nearly $100 million thaI it had to <br />spend in 1993. and the S4 million <br />needed 10 stretch in order to help oIher <br />communities as well.]] <br /> <br />The amount of money Ihe <br />Governor had recommended would <br />cover the purchase of only 49 houses in <br />Ihe Smelterville and Red Star areas. <br />Those in Meadowbrook and Highway <br />177 had been dropped because Ihey sat <br />higher on Ihe tloodplain and had not <br />been as severely damaged.]4 The town <br />of Commerce. some twenty miles <br />south of Cape. was in much greater <br />need of bUYOUI funds, and therefore <br />goI $1.756.707 10 fund iIs buyou!.l5 <br /> <br />Still, $742.000 would go a <br />long way toward ending the damage <br />from nooding in Cape, and officials set <br />10 work to implement the buyou!. On <br /> <br />December 21, the city coun- <br />cil held a meeting in Ihe <br />basement of Ihe Red Star <br />Baptist Church to explain the <br />buyout concep!. More than <br />100 residenIs showed up. <br />Officials from SEMA and <br />SEMO were there to tield <br />questions. Al Ihm meeting <br />Ken EfIink revealed that <br />there was only enough mOIl- <br />ey to buy 50 houses, and Ihat <br />these would be purchased in <br />sIrict accordance with the <br />degree of damage each <br />house had sustained. In other words. <br />the properties that were damaged the <br />most would be the first bough!. If a <br />homeowner refused an offer, then IhaI <br />money would be used to make an offer <br />to anoIher homeowner further down <br />the lis!. The process would continue <br />until there was no money leti.]6 <br /> <br /> <br />The problem remained of <br />getting the informatioll about the <br />buyout disseminated in Ihe mosI <br />elfective way possible. Many people in <br />southeast Missouri had a rural suspi- <br />cion of the governrnenI, and Ken Etiink <br />realized that many homeowners would <br />noI Irust a formal letter thaI explained <br />how the government was witting 10 buy <br />their damaged property. He, therefore <br />committed himself and his staff to <br />personally visiting with each potential <br />candidate, explaining the huyout pro- <br />gram face to face, and even transporting <br />the potential seller around town to view <br />potential and affordable homes outside <br />the tloodplain. This approach lessened <br />peoples' mistrust and Eftink specu- <br />lates. might have informed potential <br />sellers who were funcIionally illiIerate. <br />In any event, the buyout program began <br />to expericncc a high raIc of succeSS.17 <br /> <br />Beside the personal approach <br />that Etiink proposed. the Cape <br />Girardcau program had other '.uscr <br />friendly'. aspecIs. The SalvaIion Army <br />