Cape City Council scraps residency for judge

A divided Cape Girardeau City Council scrapped the residency requirement for municipal judge, backing a closed-door decision last month to hire an out-of-town lawyer for the post.

The council voted 5-2 Monday night to give final approval to the ordinance despite objections from local lawyers and residents who said there was no need for the council to hire a lawyer from East Prairie when the other three candidates all lived in Cape Girardeau and were qualified for the job.

Council members Marcia Ritter and Evelyn Boardman voted against changing the ordinance. Councilman Hugh White said he voted for changing the ordinance because four of the seven council members had voted to hire Teresa Bright-Pearson as the next municipal judge.

Mayor Jay Knudtson -- who supported the change along with White, Matt Hopkins, Charlie Herbst and Jay Purcell -- said the council in past closed sessions hotly debated whether to scrap the residency requirement.

Herbst said it would be wrong to require the judge to live in the city when an estimated 40 percent of city employees don't live in Cape Girardeau, including many members of the police department.

The vote came after five people, including three lawyers, urged the council to keep the residency requirement.

Al Spradling Jr., the father of former mayor Al Spradling III, said the council doesn't need to go outside the city to find a "police judge."

Spradling said the council could have saved money by hiring the other finalist, Mercedes Fort. He said she would have taken the job for the current $36,500 rather than the $49,000 that will be paid Bright-Pearson for the part-time job that involves holding court two days a week.

Bright-Pearson is scheduled to begin her new job on Oct. 1.

Spradling questioned why the council should pay so much money for a part-time job.

"We are talking at most 16 hours a week," he said.

"Politically, it is the hottest potato you are going to touch this year," he told the council.

Spradling argued that if the council scrapped the residency requirement, it would have to take another vote on hiring Bright-Pearson to make it legal.

But Knudtson said after the meeting that the council doesn't plan to take another vote on the hiring issue. The mayor's comment came after he conferred briefly with city attorney Eric Cunningham.

Pat McMenamin, a Cape Girardeau lawyer, said that none of the three local lawyers who applied for the job had any idea that the council would offer a salary of $49,000. Had it been advertised, even more local lawyers might have applied, he said.

Cape Girardeau resident James Coley said the council's actions on this issue will add to the public's lack of confidence in city officials.

Bill Reynolds, Cape Girardeau resident and county treasurer, said city employees should be required to live in the city limits.

Kim Price, the current municipal judge who is leaving for a job with a local law firm, told the council that the new salary isn't out of line because the judge has to handle over 14,000 cases a year and be on call 24 hours a day to sign arrest warrants.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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