STATUS STILL UNCLEAR FOR LICENSE OFFICES IN CAPE, JACKSON

The status of Missouri Department of Revenue license fee offices in Cape Girardeau and Jackson is still uncertain. Aides to Gov. Mel Carnahan are deliberating over what to do with the 165 patronage offices around the state.

Since Christopher Bond was elected to a second term in 1980, the offices in these two neighboring cities have been operated by the respective chambers of commerce. But now, with a new governor and one from a different political party than Bond and former Gov. John Ashcroft the status of the offices is up in the air.

Traditionally, fee offices have been given to some of the governor's most loyal supporters.

"We have not heard anything on the bureau," said Bob Hendrix, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. "We wrote a letter to the governor and the new revenue director and asked for the contract again; we have people working on it for us."

Hendrix said the chamber has filled out background information forms that are required by the Department of Revenue in reviewing potential applicants.

Said Hendrix: "I think we've made a good case for it. It is one of the lowest offices in the state on rejects. We just run a darn good office; they have never had any trouble with the office down here."

Rich Lamb, manager of the field services bureau for the Department of Revenue, is in charge of reviewing applicants for the offices. But the final decision rests with Carnahan.

Lamb said anyone who asks for an office is sent the forms for a background check and that information is supplied to the governor's office.

So far, Lamb said about 40 offices have changed. "It is all being looked at on a case by case basis," Lamb said.

He pointed out that about 20 of the offices were operated by organizations and about 13 of those by chambers in the previous administration.

From a practical standpoint, Lamb said the changes will occur slowly because of the time it takes to train new personnel that will operate the offices.

"There are training sessions the new fee agents have to go through, and they are held every other week. The maximum occupancy for each session is 10 new fee agents," said Lamb. "That means we can train a maximum of 20 new agents a month."

Rick Althaus, chairman of the Cape County Democratic Central Committee, said the committee has no plans right now to meet and consider recommending someone to operate the offices in this county.

Some Democratic committees have made recommendations to Carnahan, however, the governor has only taken them under advisement and has not followed the recommendation in every case.

"We have not heard anything at all, just some rumors," said Althaus. "We don't have a meeting planned to talk about it, but that doesn't mean we might not schedule one later."

Like the Cape Girardeau chamber, the Jackson chamber has also asked the governor to be retained as the fee agent.