Business Notebook: First Friday Coffee features Q&A session with city leaders

The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee held Friday at the Isle Casino Cape Girardeau featured a question-and-answer session with chamber president and CEO John Mehner and Cape Girardeau Mayor Harry Rediger.

The questions asked by businesspeople in the audience ranged from an update on the business park and police station in Cape Girardeau to the promotion of Small Business Saturday and bringing more festivals and tourism to Cape Girardeau.

Highlights of the Q&A included the following:

* Rediger said the need for a new police station is desperate, and he believes the police station does need to be a new building and not a repurposed building. A couple local buildings considered to be repurposed for a police station, including the old federal building at 339 Broadway, were "not good" in his opinion. The mayor said a "major statement" regarding the police station will be made this week.

* Mehner said an announcement of the business park's first tenant is coming soon. The business park is to be at the Interstate 55-East Main Street/LaSalle Avenue interchange.

* After the Community Advisory Group was formed and met for the first time and after meeting with individual stakeholders, Mehner said, "We are much further along than we've ever been" in 66 Corridor progress.

Old Town Cape photos chosen for calendar

Photos Old Town Cape submitted to Missouri Main Street Connection were chosen for the Boys on the Block 2014 calendars that feature Main Street communities from across the state of Missouri.

Old Town Cape and other Main Street communities in Missouri earlier this year submitted two photographs that featured historic buildings in downtown districts as a backdrop for local male personalities, according to a news release from Old Town Cape.

Old Town Cape chose to feature the Southeast Missourian building, 301 Broadway, in a photograph with Cape Girardeau police officer Joseph Hann and Cape Girardeau firefighter Jamie Hann, the release said. The other photo featured the Julius Vasterling building that houses Merci, 637 Broadway, with four fathers and their sons: Charles and Warren McGinty, Trent and Clark Summers, Joey and Brady Keys and Matt Davis and Payton Beussink.

Attendees of the Missouri Main Street Connection Conference in July were asked to vote for their favorite photos, and both the photos submitted by Old Town Cape were among the 12 included in the black-and-white calendar, the release said.

The calendars are $10 and may be purchased at Merci or the Old Town Cape office, 418 Broadway, and all proceeds benefit downtown revitalization. For more information, call Old Town Cape at 334-8085.

Harper to present information on Affordable Care Act

Gina Harper, Certified Application Counselor and navigator with the East Missouri Action Agency, will present a one-hour general information presentation on the Affordable Care Act, including a question-and-answer session on the basics of the ACA, the online health-care marketplace and how to enroll in a health-insurance plan, according to an email from Harper.

The presentation will also include an update on efforts to improve the website and speed up processing time. 

The ACA presentation will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Riverside Regional Library in Perryville, Mo.

CTS Technology Solutions earns awards

CTS Technology Solutions, a unified communications provider with an office in Cape Girardeau, received one of Technology Assurance Group's top awards at STAR CON, which was held in October in San Diego.

Technology Assurance Group, an international organization of independently owned unified communications companies in the United States and Canada, chose CTS as the winner of the Presidents Award for Exceptional Economic Achievement for the fifth year running, according to a news release from the company. The award is given out once a year, and winners are selected based on economic performance and customer satisfaction.

ashedd@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent addresses:

40 S Sprigg St, Cape Girardeau, MO

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO

Interstate 55-East Main Street/LaSalle Avenue interchange, Cape Girardeau, MO

301 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO

637 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO

418 Broadway St, Cape Girardeau, MO

800 City Park Dr Ste A, Perryville, MO

1606 Independence, Suite 1, Cape Girardeau, MO