CITY COUNCIL APPOINTS 8 STUDENTS TO NEW ADVISORY BOARD ON YOUTHS

The Cape Girardeau City Council has decided it will seek help from experts on community matters involving youths: Council members unanimously passed a resolution Monday night appointing eight students to an advisory board to the Council.

Ben Edwards, Matt Fisher, Jean Meyer and Thuy Ha, all from Notre Dame High School; and Christy Hey, Holly Brantley, Neal Totton and Caroline Giles, all from Cape Girardeau Central High School, were named to the advisory board.

The students were informed of the resolution at school on Tuesday. They will receive written notification of their appointments soon and will begin to receive agendas in advance of Council meetings.

"We're taking this very seriously," said city manager Michael Miller. "We'll encourage them to either attend meetings or call up their council members and voice their views."

Interestingly enough, the appointment was the result of a resolution passed by the student city council held on April 9 as a part of Optimist Youth in Government Day. The activity is an annual event that allows area students to see how government works firsthand by shadowing public employees in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

The students on the mock city council unanimously passed a motion "that the Cape Girardeau City Council consider appointment of this year's Student City Council members, mayor and city manager for a term of one year as an advisory group or commission, to be called upon for advice or feedback when there are matters concerning the youth of the community".

Thomas M. Meyer, chairman of the event, said he thought the adoption of the resolution was a major step for Cape Girardeau youths.

"This is an entirely new forum to my knowledge," Meyer said. "It's a big plus for Cape Girardeau to recognize the advisory potential in their students."

Meyer said the students were impressive during the Youth in Government Day and he thought they would do a good job representing the youths of Cape Girardeau. He said their input would be useful on a variety of issues, including how to improve weekend traffic on Broadway, how to increase the number of voters under the age of 21, and how to make the best use of city parks and the Osage Centre.

"I think it's a win-win situation," he said. "I can see this thing becoming very involved very quickly."

Miller and Meyer said the work of the advisory board will be a work in progress for the first year. Meyer said the students will probably meet with city officials to devise a job description to help guide them.

"Because it's the first time, we'll have to feel our way around and see how effective it is this year," Miller said. "Either we'll decide to continue it as it is or make adjustments to it after that."