Group plans federal suit regarding CID assessment

A self-taxing district in Springfield's center city may soon be the subject of a federal lawsuit.

Dudley Martin, an attorney representing a group opposed to the implementation of a Community Improvement District in center city, said he has drafted a complaint to be filed in U.S. District Court in the next three weeks.

Martin represents Citizens for Fairness and Due Process, a group that opposes certain key components of Springfield's CID law, approved by City Council Sept. 7.

"We are saying that the City Council violated the CID act of Missouri, the Constitution of the state of Missouri and the Constitution of the United States. We are asking the court to declare the CID as organized void, to enjoin its operation and to reimburse the aggrieved property owners their legal fees," Martin said.

As the Citizens for Fairness and Due Process prepares its court action, the CID steering committee is preparing a slate of candidates for a CID board of directors. The steering committee is acting as a nominating committee to prepare a slate of potential board members to be considered by City Council at its Dec. 13 meeting, said Allen Casey, steering committee chair.

Five downtowners are already on the slate that will be submitted to council. The remaining six will be selected by the nominating committee. The five members already on the slate were appointed by three downtown groups, the Special Business District Advisory Board, the Downtown Springfield Association and the Urban Districts Alliance.

The CID business plan states that each of those groups will appoint members to the board. The SBD Advisory Board, which will cease to exist once the CID is in place, appoints three members to the first CID board.

City Council will either approve the slate as recommended or deny it, said Mary Lilly Smith, the city's economic development manager. Prior to council action, the nominating committee will have to narrow the field of candidates, which now stands at 31. To do so, each candidate will be asked to fill out one of the city's standard application-for-service forms, Casey said.

"To give us a little more to go on, we're going to use the forms the city uses when it is considering people for its boards, such as Planning and Zoning," Casey said.

The committee is set to meet again Nov. 16 to consider the list of candidates.

As things stand now, the city is set to begin collecting the special CID assessment in January 2001, but services for the district are to begin in July 2000, coinciding with the start of the city's fiscal year, Casey said.

Martin said the opposing group has collected nearly $8,000 to challenge the CID law. Bill Graham, who is president of the citizens' group, said the group has adequate funds to proceed with its lawsuit.