CITY ENGINEER RUSSELL LEAVES TO TAKE JOB IN PRIVATE SECTOR

J. Kensey Russell will resign as Cape Girardeau's city engineer Dec. 27 to take a job with a private, engineering firm.

Russell has worked for the city for nearly 20 years, starting out as a surveyor in April 1976 and working his way through the ranks of the engineering department.

He has been city engineer for about 10 years. He heads up a 15-member department.

Russell will move to Chillicothe in northern Missouri to work for Shafer, Kline & Warren. Russell said the Kansas City-based company is among the top 500 engineering firms in the nation.

Russell grew up in Cape Girardeau and has spent his entire professional career with the city.

Russell and his wife, Mary, have a son.

He graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla with a degree in engineering.

He turned down a job with a manufacturer of fire bricks in Mexico, Mo., to take a surveyor job with the city of Cape Girardeau.

Over the years, Russell has been involved in numerous city projects.

"There is a lot of pipe and concrete all around town, I guess, that one could say I have my name on," he said Wednesday.

But Russell said he is proudest of heading up a city engineering office with skilled personnel and one that has the public's confidence.

In recent years, the city has had a sizable number of sewer and street projects. Some of that work has been farmed out to private engineers.

"We have had consultants working for us pretty constantly for the last several years," he said.

In a letter this week to City Manager Michael Miller, Russell said: "I am not leaving the city due to any negative pressures or dissatisfaction, but due to what I see as a positive career opportunity which came my way unsolicited."