Letter to the Editor

Reorganize county government

To the editor:

Being a 36-year resident of Cape Girardeau County, I am embarrassed by the way the Cape Girardeau County Commission is acting. Our elected officials need to understand they work for and represent the people of the county, and we must hold them accountable.

I do not appreciate the unprofessional manner in which commissioners have conducted recent business. Cape Girardeau is a first-class county, and it's time commissioners realize this and stop acting like children.

It is time we consider a change in the way the county government is organized and how it conducts business. Several first-class counties have adopted a county executive model, which divides legislative and executive authority between a county council of seven to eight members and a county executive. The council makes the laws, while the executive carries them out.

In this model, the council positions would not be high-paid jobs. The commissioners would be public servant positions similar to a city council. The county executive would be the only full-time paid position.

For the county and its citizens to prosper, all county and city officials must work together. It takes a team working toward the same goals to become great and to maintain greatness. Narrow-minded thinking holds progress back. We are not Mayberry anymore and never will be again.

I hope companies looking to locate in our county do not see such behavior. You only get one first impression. Don't mess it up for the rest of us.

DUANE STATLER, Jackson