City council members approve final payment for City Hall construction

Cape Girardeau City Council members voted unanimously at Monday's meeting to approve final payment to the contractor for the construction of City Hall.

The construction on the new City Hall -- located at 44 N. Lorimier St. -- broke ground in June 2020 and was completed around 18 months later. The project was approved by voters in 2019 as a part of the Capital Improvement Sales Tax extension, which also included improvements to Cape Girardeau's sewer system, streets and airports.

The new building was finished by Jackson-based contractor Penzel Construction for nearly $12.6 million. It included connecting the Common Pleas Courthouse and Carnegie Library in order to provide office space for numerous city departments.

Penzel also completed $1.7 million in renovations to Spanish Street and nearly $750,000 worth of improvements to Lorimier Street.

Also at the meeting, Casey Brunke, the city's assistant public works director, gave the first reading of the ordinance adopting the new city ward map created using the 2020 census.

The map, which was designed by the city's geographic information systems coordinator Teresa Heifner, if approved by council members at a future meeting will result in a reduction in Wards 2 and 6, in order to bolster population in the other four. The map was constructed with a target population of 6,587 per ward.

In an interview with the Southeast Missourian in June, Heifner said she made three versions of the map. The final version was the most balanced, maintaining relatively even populations and clean borders, Heifner said.

At the meeting, Mayor Stacy Kinder, council member Nate Thomas and city manager Kenneth Haskin praised the efforts of those who worked on the map. It was not an easy task and one taking countless hours and a lot of juggling to complete, they said.

There was time at the beginning of the meeting for a public forum on the new ward map, but no one chose to speak.

In other business City Council members voted to:

• Authorize the city manager to execute a release of lien on a property located at 900 S. Ellis St.
• Authorize the city manager to execute a license and indemnity agreement for alley improvements between South Sprigg and South Frederick streets with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.
• Approve a resolution of support for MACO Development's proposal for grant funding to renovate Heritage Manor Apartments.