NEOSHO, Mo. —
Neosho city officials have proposed replacing the Neosho Transportation Development District with a Community Improvement District, but they haven’t heard from anyone with the TDD about the idea.
Officials at Tuesday night’s Neosho City Council meeting expressed their frustration with what they said was a lack of communication with TDD representatives about the proposal.
The TDD board met Wednesday, but there was no information immediately forthcoming after the meeting from Chairman Jim Cummins.
Mayor Richard Davidson said Tuesday night the CID would be able to pursue the projects that the TDD is pursuing now, but also a wider scope of projects.
The state defines a CID as a political subdivision or nonprofit corporation organized to finance a wide range of public-use projects.
City Attorney Steve Hays provided an update to council members on Tuesday. He said the CID could complete all the projects the TDD has planned and more.
“We need to hear from the TDD board,” Hays said. He said the judge at a recent court hearing had directed the city and the TDD to work together to resolve their legal dispute.
The city filed a court petition that could end the TDD. It contends that because the district’s boundaries were established to not include any residential property, there were no resident owners qualified to vote in the election creating the district. Associate Circuit Judge Kevin Selby has set an Oct. 29 hearing on the matter.
The city had also challenged the July 16 election of a TDD board member, with the judge ordering the election to be redone, without participation of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, which governs the Missouri Department of Transportation.
The judge’s order prohibited the TDD board from taking any actions except collecting its half-cent sales tax, completing a traffic signal project at U.S. Highway 60 and Kodiak Road and conducting the election.
“We’re not getting calls back” about the city proposal, Hays said. “We would like some idea what they’re thinking. Right now, we don’t know.”
Mayor Richard Davidson and Councilman Charles Collinsworth said that a CID would be more accountable to residents, with some or all of the board members appointed by the city.
“The city’s CID proposal has got a little bit of everything — economic development, transportation, safety,” Collinsworth said. “With the TDD board there’s no transparency, no accountability.”
Councilman Steve Hart said he also was frustrated with the TDD board.
“With the TDD, it’s always been their way or the highway as far as this council’s concerned,” Hart said. “I find it sad for the people of Neosho.”
Davidson said after the meeting that among the projects a CID would address that the TDD has placed as a low priority is a safety concern related to school bus traffic around Neosho Middle School.
The TDD attorney was contacted about the city’s proposal on Aug. 30, Davidson said in an email exchange with the Globe.
The TDD board met on Aug. 31, issuing a statement after the meeting that the board had arrived at a proposed solution that would be discussed with the city attorney. The statement did not outline the proposal.
Davidson said the city wasn’t aware of any proposal from the TDD board.
Multiple Globe calls to Cummins’ home and office were not returned Wednesday. Two emailed requests for comment also were not answered.
A CID would require a vote of the property owners located within its proposed boundaries. Davidson said it also would be financed with a half-cent sales tax.
City budget
The Neosho City Council on Tuesday approved its fiscal year 2013 budget, with revenues of $17.2 million and spending of $16.8 million. That compares with the current budget, as adopted, with revenues of $17.4 million and spending of $17.3 million.
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