CITY, COUNTY OFFICIALS TO MEET FOR FIRST-EVER JOINT TOUR

In an effort to learn more about their neighbors, the Cape Girardeau City Council and Jackson Board of Aldermen will meet for a joint tour of their respective cities today.

It is the first time for such a tour, although each council usually tours its own city buildings about once a year.

Meeting together, along with members of the Cape Girardeau County Commission, helps representatives of both governments familiarize themselves with the other city, said Cape Girardeau City Manager Michael Miller.

"They'll see the high points," he said.

The tour, which begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends about 3:30 p.m., starts at Interstate 55 and U.S. 61 where the two cities meet.

Among places to be visited are the new East Main Street, industrial park, and power plant in Jackson. In Cape Girardeau, the tour includes the Regional Airport, the fire safety training site and police firing range, water plant and recycling center. Both city halls also will be visited..

The tour is less formal than any of the joint meetings the Cape Girardeau council and Jackson board have held in the past two years. "We hope they'll get to know each other," Miller said.

There isn't any underlying reason for the tour other than just gathering information, he said. It's a chance for the government bodies to "solidify that bond we've gotten between the two cities."

Both mayors agreed that working together is good.

"Not in any way is there an interest in combining," said Jackson Mayor Paul Sander. "We want to work together on issues that affect both communities."

Some of those issues came to light during the first joint council meeting in 1998, when common issues were discussed. They were access to cable channel 5, annexation, local road projects, joining city water systems in case of emergency and an east-west highway.

Countywide zoning, a new juvenile detention center and joint transportation issues also have been discussed, said Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III. "They are issues that we all have in common," and meeting together gives people a chance to discuss how to handle them or resolve problems, he said.

Working together on joint issues particularly helps when dealing with state grants and agencies, Sander said.

The idea for the joint meetings began when Sander and Spradling met regularly with Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones.

TOURING THE TOWNS

Representatives from the cities of Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Cape Girardeau County will tour local municipal facilities today. Locations they plan to visit:

STOPS IN JACKSON

*Center Junction

*East Main/I-55 interchange

*Industrial Park

*Brookside Park and Veteran's Memorial

*City park

*Water treatment plant

*Recycling center

*Old Cape Road bridge

*Police and fire complex

*Waste water treatment plant

*City hall

*East Main St. extension

*Residential development

STOPS IN CAPE GIRARDEAU

*New vo-tech center and high school site

*Regional airport

*Fire safet training site

*Police firing range

*Transfer station

*Waste water treatment plant

*Shawnee Sports Complex

*University river campus

*Federal building site

*City hall

*Water plant

*University

*Show Me Center

*Public works facility

*Recycling center

*Osage Community Center

*Residential development

*Storm water detention