STATE SEEKS SITE IN REGION FOR VETERANS CEMETERY

The Missouri Veterans Commission is seeking site proposals for a state-run veterans cemetery in Southeast Missouri.

The commission began soliciting proposals from communities last month and will continue accepting bids until July 1.

The commission is also seeking a site for a cemetery in northeast Missouri.

Sites already have been chosen for veterans cemeteries that will serve the southwest and west-central regions of the state. Those cemeteries will be built in Springfield and Higginsville, respectively.

Legislation approved in 1996 authorized creation of a system of state veterans cemeteries. Construction of the four cemeteries will cost between $3.5 million and $4 million each. Annual operational costs once the cemeteries are open will total about $400,000 per site.

Ron Taylor, director of services and planning for the Veterans Commission, said once the cemeteries are open "about 90 percent of Missouri's veterans will be within 75 miles of a veterans cemetery."

Missouri is home to more than 580,000 veterans. As the veteran population ages, the number of deaths continues to increase. Veteran deaths are expected to peak around 2010.

Currently, burials are being performed at only one federal veterans cemetery in Missouri -- Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. National cemeteries in Springfield and Jefferson City have already reached capacity.

The application period for the final two state cemeteries will be much longer than the first round of site selection, which was somewhat rushed in order to move the project forward.

"By allowing them until next July, it gives communities that are interested time to look into the possibility and come up with a proposal," Taylor said.

The commission will study each proposed site and hopes to make its selection by the end of 1998 and secure funding by 2000.

Preference will be given to proposals that provide land for the site at no cost to the state. Land for the Springfield site was donated by the city, while the Higginsville site was already owned by the state.

Proposal must meet federal standards, which call for a site to serve a significant number of veterans, have reasonable access to roads, utilities and communications service, and be usable for burials.

Taylor said the commission has not yet decided whether to proceed with both projects simultaneously once sites are chosen. It may instead decide to pursue the site in Southeast Missouri first, following up with the northeast Missouri site a year later.

A design consultant has already been chosen and funding secured for the first two cemeteries. If all goes well, Taylor said they should be open by late 1999.

"Our goal is to have all four open by the year 2002," Taylor said.

The federal government will pick up half of the tab for the cemetery project, with the state contributing the rest.