Without Information on Proposed Project, City Council takes no action on Retail Development Assistance

Without adequate information about the proposal, Crossville City Council did not feel it could approve a request for assistance from whoever plans to redevelop the former Ryan's Restaurant property. 

The matter has been discussed previously but when it came time to take action several council members said they did not have enough information to make a decision.  In addition, some council members complained that the city had no policy or criteria for such providing such help. 

Crossville city council during the June meeting. L-R

J. H. Graham, Rob Harrison, Mayor James Mayberry,

Art Gernt and Scot Shanks. (Photo by Jim Young)

Policy for assisting industrial locations in Crossville include information about the investment size, number of employees and average salary. 

No information about the proposal other than possibly two businesses would locate there and one would use enough water to need a large water tap was discussed at the June work session.  Currently, the property remains listed by the state as owned by the Community Bank of Raymore in Missouri.

Councilman J. H. Graham made a motion to waive the building inspection fee, estimated at $2,700 for the project in order for discussion to take place.  The promoters of the project had also requested waiving the cost of water and sewer taps, a cost that would have totaled about $10,000 according to the pervious discussion.

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Councilman Scot Shanks asked if there was a policy of standard for the assistance and City Manager Greg Wood said there was not for retail developments but he felt one was needed.

Mr. Shanks asked, "Do we know what kind of business this is that's coming in?"

Manager Wood responded, "Yes."

"Can we say?" asked Shanks.

Mr. Graham responded, "No."

Shanks continued, "I don't think I can support this.  I want to see businesses come in but I don't know who we are helping and is it just a competitor to businesses we already have here.?

Councilman Art Gernt said he agreed with councilman Shanks, "I struggle with this."  Gernt pointed out that someone just invested in a nice property on Main Street that really made that area look good without asking for help.  "It seems like it is hard to ensure fairness unless we set some sort of criteria," added Gernt.

Councilman Rob Harrison said he agreed with the previous comments and he felt some sort of policy was needed.

At this point in the discussion, Mr. Graham withdrew his motion on the matter ending the agenda item discussion.

City Manager Wood said the council could work on a policy for such assistance at a future meeting.