CAPE SB 40 BOARD MEETS TO DISCUSS VIP WAREHOUSE EXPANSION

A construction project of almost $1 million to expand a warehouse for VIP Industries should be completed sometime next month, members of the Cape Girardeau Senate Bill 40 board said.

The board, which appropriates annual county tax revenues of over $500,000, met Tuesday evening at the VIP Sheltered Workshop in Cape Girardeau.

The capital improvement to the Fruitland workshop, which is managed by VIP, will nearly double the storage capacity to approximately 40,000 square feet, said Bob Landgraf, board chairman.

The contract was won earlier this summer with a bid of $975,000 by Sides Construction Co. of Jackson, Mo., he said.

The expansion is necessary to handle an increasing level of inventory for the workshop, said Don Hanscom, board treasurer. Materials used by the mentally and physically disabled at the workshop are so crowded in the present storage area that it is almost a safety hazard, he said.

Money for capital improvements, including $92,000 for a large mental canopy for vehicles at the Cape Girardeau workshop, has been earmarked for five years in anticipation of these expenses, Hanscom said.

"It just all came to a head this year," he said.

Ultimately, the board expects the expanded warehouse will generate more contracts, Landgraf said.

Margaret Grant, a mother of a former VIP worker, was one of four members of the public attending the board meeting. She questioned board members about VIP Industries transfer of several disabled workers from its Cape Girardeau workshop to the Fruitland workshop.

Board members, most of whom have handicapped children, said they were aware that the Cape Girardeau workshop has fewer contracts from outside businesses this season. But the transfer of disabled workers was not a question for their board.

"You're asking the wrong people," Hanscom said. "We just provide the facilities."

Hanscom said that the only facilities for the handicapped owned by the county board were the workshops in Fruitland and Cape Girardeau. Any questions about VIP's operations should be addressed to its board, he said.