Cape council eyes April election on charter issues

Cape Girardeau voters could decide next April whether to approve three proposed changes to the charter that governs city government.

The city council decided Monday night to put the three charters issues before voters no earlier than the April 4 municipal election, but stopped short of making a final decision.

The council said it would wait until December to decide whether to put the issues on the April ballot.

Council members said they don't want to hold a special election early next year because that would mean an added expense for the city.

A charter committee proposed three changes to the governing document. One measure would allow the council to appoint residents to fill vacancies until the next regular or special election.

A second measure would allow the council to raise park and other user fees without voter approval. Voter approval still would be needed to raise water, sewer and trash fees more than 5 percent in any one year.

A third measure would scrap the city's permanent but little-used ethics commission and replace it with a new system that would allow the council to appoint a temporary committee to address a specific complaint or immediately forward the complaint to the state ethics commission.

Council members in previous meetings had voiced support for the three measures.

But Mayor Jay Knudtson said Monday night it might be hard to convince voters to approve the fee measure and scrap the current system of handling ethics complaints.

Knudtson said voters likely will oppose giving the council the power to raise fees.

Councilwoman Evelyn Boardman said it could be difficult to make the fee issue clear to voters.

Knudtson said even the ethics issue could be a hard sell. "No matter how we frame it up, it is perceived as the council trying to eliminate a watchdog," the mayor said at the study session prior to the regular meeting.

Councilwoman Marcia Ritter said an April election would give city officials more time to educate voters on the three charter amendments.

But Knudtson said it's unclear just how much of an election campaign city officials will mount.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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