Cape Girardeau city council revises charter proposal

The Cape Girardeau City Council won't allow a few council members to control future city decisions even if most council seats are vacant.

The council voted unanimously Monday night to amend a proposed change to the city charter that would make it easier to appoint residents to fill vacancies until a special or regular election is held.

The revised proposal makes it clear that the council could only scrap the quorum requirement to fill council vacancies when at least four of the council seats are vacant.

In all other city business, four votes would be needed to approve any measure.

The proposal on filling council vacancies and two other proposed changes in the city's governing document require voter approval.

The council's considering putting the measures on either the Feb. 7 or the April 4 ballot next year. But council members stopped short of making a decision Monday night.

The decision may hinge on whether there is a citywide primary election in February, council members said. For that to happen, at least three people would have to run for mayor.

Council members said they could wait until mid-October to get the issue on the February ballot. The council could wait until December to put the charter amendments on the April ballot.

"There's no need to rush," the mayor said.

Ritter helping Red Cross

Councilwoman Marcia Ritter missed her second consecutive council meeting. Ritter, a former nurse and a retired hospital official, has spent the past several weeks helping out the Red Cross in hurricane-damaged Louisiana.

Mayor Jay Knudtson said it's uncertain when she'll return home.

The council voted 6-0 to amend the measure dealing with filling council vacancies.

Knudtson and Councilwoman Loretta Schneider urged the council adopt the clarification.

City attorney Eric Cunningham and several council members said they felt it already was clear that the quorum could only be waived to fill vacancies.

But Schneider disagreed. "It doesn't spell it out," she said. "It assumes a lot of trust."

Knudtson said the charter needs to be clear to the public and future councils. "There's certainly a lot of confusion," he said of the issue.

"We are not looking to conduct business with two or three council members," he said.

Cunningham said the revised wording wasn't necessary. But he also said he wasn't opposed to the clarification. "I have no problem with overkill," he told the council at the study session prior to the regular meeting.

Besides the measure outlining procedures to fill council vacancies, proposed amendments to the city charter would allow the council to raise park and other user fees without voter approval, and revise how the city deals with ethics complaints.

The city still would need voter approval to raise trash, sewer and water fees by more than 5 percent in any year.

As for ethics complaints, the change would allow the council to appoint a temporary ethics committee or immediately forward such complaints to the state ethics commission.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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