Cape Councilman Bowen to resign, take position with Florida university

Cape Girardeau City Councilman Wayne Bowen will resign from the council this summer to take a position with a Florida university.

The timing likely will allow the council to appoint someone to fill Bowen’s unexpired term rather than hold a special election, city attorney Eric Cunningham said Thursday. Bowen’s term ends in April 2018.

Bowen, who chairs the history department at Southeast Missouri State University, has been hired as director of interdisciplinary studies and a history professor at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando.

“It is a full-time administrative position,” he said. “I will not be teaching classes. I will be managing the interdisciplinary major, which has between 600 to 700 students on the campus.”

UCF is the second largest university in the nation by enrollment with more than 60,000 students, which includes those enrolled in online courses, Bowen said.

“The campus by itself is larger than Cape Girardeau in population,” he said. “It is a huge place.”

The Ward 6 councilman said he is looking forward to the administrative job.

“I have been teaching for 20 years, so I am open for a change,” he said.

Bowen said he will start his new job Aug. 1. He added he expects to remain in Cape Girardeau until the end of July.

“I will stay on the council as long as possible, certainly to the end of July,” he said.

Bowen said he informed city manager Scott Meyer and council members of the situation earlier this week.

Cunningham, the city attorney, said Bowen has to officially submit a letter of resignation.

Once that is done, the council will have 60 days to fill the position as spelled out in the city charter.

The appointed person would serve until the end of Bowen’s term, Cunningham said.

Candidates for the April election can file for office starting Oct. 24 and ending Nov. 21.

If more than two candidates file for a single position, a primary election will be Feb. 6, according to the city’s website.

Meyer, the city manager, said he expects the appointed person would reside in Ward 6 on the city’s west side, which Bowen currently represents.

Bowen first was elected to the council in a special election in April 2013 to fill an unexpired term and was elected to a full, four-year term in April 2014.

Bowen said he will miss serving on the council.

“Until a couple of weeks ago, I was fully intending to run for re-election,” he said.

“It has been a wonderful experience,” Bowen said.

“I am looking forward to my last budget cycle, reading the budget from cover to cover as I always do and trying to make suggestions for improvements,” he said.

He said he initially ran for the council to support public safety, pushing to hire more police officers and firefighters and improve their pay.

Bowen said more officers have been hired.

“We have improved salaries,” he said.

But he said the city needs to continue “to do more” for police and firefighters.

Bowen said there have been “some frustrations,” and he has been “the lone person voting ‘no’ on things.” Still, he said, he has enjoyed the opportunity to help shape the future direction of the community.

Bowen and his family moved to Cape Girardeau in the summer of 2008.

He said he and his wife, Kendra, and their two sons have enjoyed living in Cape Girardeau, but the upcoming move to Florida is “an exciting opportunity for all of us.”

mbliss@semissourian.com

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401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.