Cape council looks at revising committee term limits

The Cape Girardeau City Council may revise term limits for advisory board members because of the difficulty in getting people to apply for positions on city committees.

The city staff recommended the city council eliminate the current two-term limit and allow committee members to serve indefinitely.

Councilman Matt Hopkins voiced support for such a move at Monday night's council meeting. But several other council members objected to eliminating term limits entirely.

Councilwoman Evelyn Boardman said term limits "encourage more participation."

Councilman Jay Purcell said term limits allow for "fresh faces" on city committees. "I am afraid with no term limits people won't apply," he said.

The council said it would consider extending term limits to three full-term instead of two and to allow a person to reapply to the same board after he or she has been off the board for at least one year.

City manager Doug Leslie suggested extending term limits if the council didn't want to eliminate term limits entirely. Terms vary for different city committees, but some terms run for four years.

The council asked the city staff to draft a proposed ordinance extending term limits.

Council members said they want to keep the current attendance policy that automatically removes committee members who miss three meetings in a row or four meetings within a 12-month period.

City officials said the attendance requirement has helped assure that committee members attend meetings.

In other action, the council discussed whether to participate in the state sales tax holiday in August regarding back-to-school supplies and computers.

But for the second meeting in a row the council took no action. Mayor Jay Knudtson said the council would await a recommendation from the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce board of directors before taking action in two weeks.

Joyce Hunter, marketing director for Westfield Shoppingtown West Park, said 10 to 12 states offer sales tax holidays.

Hunter told the council that states that have held sales tax holidays have seen increased sales. "It invigorates all aspects of the retail community," she s4aid.

Catherine Dunlap, who directs the Old Town Cape redevelopment effort, said most downtown merchants also favor the sales tax holiday.

A new state law in Missouri provides for the sales tax holiday Aug. 13 through Aug. 15. Under the law, the state won't levy the state government sales tax on specified goods. Cities and counties can choose to levy their local sales taxes as long as they do so by the July 9 deadline.

But Leslie said the boards of aldermen in the nearby cities of Jackson and Perryville have decided their cities will participate completely in the sales tax holiday.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123