CITY CANDIDATES DISCUSS ISSUES; SPRADLING CITES NEED FOR TRANSITION

Editor's note:The Southeast Missourian today begins reports on the six candidates for Cape Girardeau City Council. Reports will follow on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Al Spradling III is the only one of three Cape Girardeau councilmen whose terms expire this year to seek re-election.

Spradling said that after four years as a councilman there's too much unfinished business to step down from the council now.

"Basically, I wanted to run again to finish what had been started in the past four years Lexington, a number of sewer projects, storm water plans, and a lot of other issues we've got off the ground but haven't completed," he said.

Spradling, an attorney, was first elected to the council in 1988. He lost a campaign in 1990 to unseat Gene Rhodes as the city's mayor.

Because two-term Councilman David Barklage and one-term Councilman Hugh White decided not to seek re-election, at least two new council members will be elected April 7.

Spradling said it's important to keep as much continuity as possible in the transition to a new council.

"One of the reasons people ought to consider keeping me in office is that I've got four years of experience," he said. "The council will be losing two members and there needs to be some continuity to continue city programs and to pass the knowledge of what those programs are to the new council members.

"Transition-wise it's very important for the whole council to remain cohesive after the election."

Spradling said that although he's "proud to have been part" of the city's accomplishments during the past four years, he knows the city continues to face new challenges, including sagging sales tax receipts and its effect on the budget.

"One of the primary issues is the loss of income that cities are facing and the erosion of sales tax as a funding base," he said. "We need to develop alternative ways to finance city government through more user fees and more self-supporting programs."

Spradling said another key issue will be maintenance of sound infrastructure, including streets, sewers and utilities.

He said the city now has plans for addressing storm-water and sanitary-sewer segregation in the city's south end and to maintain and build streets throughout the city, but a lack of available money prevents the city from completing the work.

The councilman said the city must strike a balance between maintenance needs for existing infrasture and new construction to enhance growth and development.

"One of the issues that's been raised is the improvement of Perryville Road," he said. "That needs to be fixed, but improving that does not help the flow of traffic. It might help safety, but it doesn't improve the flow of traffic around the city.

"So we still have to develop new streets around the city to help improve traffic flow. Perryville needs to be improved, but it's not going to solve traffic congestion.

Spradling said he would support placing a local transportation sales tax on the ballot to fund local street improvements.

"If the people would approve a transportation sales tax, a lot of those improvement projects for existing roads could be done," he said.

Spradling said other issues he intends to address in the next four years include economic development and finding ways to attract new industry to the city; tourism and how to best use the city's tourism and economic development fund from hotel and restaurant tax receipts; likely annexation of property west and north; and parks and recreation improvements.

He said solid waste issues also will continue to be a challenge for the next four years and beyond.

"We're seeing more and more regulation in the area of solid waste," Spradling said. "It's going to be an ongoing problem.

"It's a constantly changing issue with federal and state government passing it on to cities with no money to help fund it."

And although the mandates can be a frustration for the public, Spradling said residents shouldn't expect the problem to lessen in the future.

"People are just going to have to adapt and change," he said. "I don't see it getting any better. The bottom line is, it's going to be a major problem for the next four years and beyond."

Spradling said that his political philosophy is best suited for easing the regulatory burden on citizens.

"My philosophy is the less regulation the better," he said. "There's obviously a need for certain regulations state and federal mandates but as far as my philosophy is concerned, I want to do everything possible to move the city forward.

"I'll work for progressive, open-minded government that's not overregulating the general public, but moving forward to keep the city growing and developing."

Spradling and his wife, Pam, have three children: Bert, 15, Brooke, 12, and Alex, 8.

He is a member of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, Boatmen's Bank Board of Directors, member and past president of the Friends of St. Francis Medical Center and of the Lions Club, and vice president of the Southeast Missouri State University Boosters Board. He also is a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau.

He graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School and Southeast Missouri State University, where he earned a business administration degree with a major in accounting and minor in economics. He earned his law degree from the University of Missouri in Kansas City.