Cape Council holds first session with Mayor Kinder holding gavel

New members were sworn in and a new mayor presided over Monday night's Cape Girardeau City Council meeting.

Stacy Kinder, previously the city's Ward 6 representative, was sworn in as mayor at the meeting, along with new council members Tameka Randle, representative of Ward 2, and Mark Bliss, who replaced Kinder as Ward 6 representative. Dan Presson, who won reelection for Ward 1 on April 5, was also sworn in.

Kinder opened the meeting with a few of her own words and explained what she had planned moving forward as mayor in the coming days of her term, including the issues of public safety, infrastructure improvements, economic development, population loss, housing and the city departments facing staffing issues.

"First and foremost, I would like to point out that I'm not the president with vast administrative powers, or even the city manager who is our city's CEO and has the managerial responsibilities of the city," Kinder said. "I believe that a strong collaborative approach will bring huge benefit to the very large issues our city is grappling with right now. I will be very busy in the coming months to help develop pathways for that communication to happen."

Kinder said she has already reached out to officials of the surrounding areas and representatives from U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley's and U.S. Rep. Jason Smith's offices, along with other state representatives, to build relationships and partnerships for the betterment of Cape Girardeau.

"It is the honor of my lifetime to have this role to serve my community as your mayor, and I look forward to working with all of you to make Cape a great place for us all. Thank you," she said.