CHARTER AMENDMENTS ALREADY IN EFFECT

The 12 charter amendments Cape Girardeau voters passed Tuesday are in effect and merely waiting to be typed into city code.

City Council members will meet Monday to official accept the election results, but the meeting is a formality.

Members of a committee that proposed 10 of the 12 amendments plan to watch how the council handles compliance. Simply getting the amendments on the ballot meant nearly three years' work, said Dr. Keith Russell, a Southeast Missouri State University professor and committee member.

"The election was anti-climactic," he said. "We had been at the forefront of these issues and caught some flak. And I became concerned last summer when it appeared the city council was going to let this go.

"Had we not kept the amendments on the table, they would have disappeared."

Russell said he was pleased the numbers of "yes" and "no" votes differed on each issue, which meant voters considered each amendment and its benefits separately.

The amendment creating an ethics commission was the most controversial from the start, and it received the second-lowest number of "yes" votes. According to the amendment, the City Council doesn't have to appoint the seven-member commission. Five of the seven council members must vote to do it.

Mayor Al Spradling said he didn't expect the council to balk.

"We would probably be impeached if we didn't appoint one," he said.

But voters shouldn't expect any immediate action. The council will have to establish eligibility requirements for the commissioners -- including age and length of residency -- before accepting applications from people who want to serve.

Other amendments already are in effect by ordinance, although they aren't officially listed in the charter, Spradling said. For example, the city currently discloses debt information to the public and keeps an emergency fund, two amendments that passed Tuesday.

Spradling said voters will be affected most by the amendment limiting city officials' terms. It prohibits the mayor and council members from serving more than two consecutive four-year terms.

There may be some different legal interpretations of the provision, City Attorney Eric Cunningham said. Someone may feel they could serve more than two terms if the terms weren't consecutive.

Cunningham said the law won't effect some council members in office until their next election. It will effect Councilmen Melvin Gateley, Jack Rickard and Melvin Kasten, all re-elected Tuesday.

"I don't think it would be legal or constitutional for voters to come along and stop someone in mid-term," Cunningham said.

Other amendments establish a preamble for the charter, establish a residency requirement for council members, prohibit deficit spending, set user fee limitations and require notice of impending lawsuits against the city.