COUNCIL: CHARTER REVIEW PANEL SLATED FOR APPOINTMENT

The Cape Girardeau City Council tonight is expected to appoint a Charter Review Committee to review the city charter and recommend possible changes with the document.

The council voted in January to appoint the committee after Chamber of Commerce representatives suggested such a citizens group might be needed.

Chamber officials said they feared a new ward election system, approved by voters in November, might have an impact on the city charter. The city charter serves as the city's "constitution."

The chamber also recommended that as many members of the city's original Charter Commission as possible ought to be appointed to the review committee.

Citizens who have applied for the appointment include: Peter Bergerson, Sandy Bonner, Ora James Gibson Jr., Peter Hilty, David Kaelin, Evelyn G. LeGrand, Keith A. Russell, Paul Stehr, Donald Strohmeyer and Debra Willis.

In other business, the council will hold a public hearing and consider first reading of an ordinance granting a special use permit to move the Greyhound Bus Station to 305 N. Frederick.

The bus station has moved several times in the past three years. Most recently, it's been situated at Don's Store 24, on the corner of Sprigg and Morgan Oak.

The proposed new site is Fill-Up Mart at the corner of Frederick and Bellevue. The property now is zoned commercial.

The city's Planning and Zoning Commission Feb. 10 recommended approval of the permit.

Gerald Martin, Greyhound manager, requested in a letter to City Manager J. Ronald Fischer that the council give emergency reading to the ordinance.

He cited several reasons that the company wanted the bus station moved as quickly as possible, including to better service students at Southeast Missouri State University.

He also said that at the new location, the Greyhound buses will "have room to service the people without parking on any street."

The council also will consider a resolution to apply for a Community Development Block Grant totalling $734,500 for a $900,000 project in southeast Cape Girardeau.

The project includes rehabilitation of about 70 homes, water line improvements, and street improvements in an area that's primarily occupied by low- to moderate-income property owners.

Other agenda items for Monday's meeting include:

Consideration of a resolution declaring it necessary to extend Minnesota Avenue from Shawnee Park south to Southern Expressway. The resolution, if approved, would set March 15 for a public hearing on the project and $141.50 per front foot as the maximum cost to be assessed to abutting property owners.

A resolution authorizing a demolition contract with J.W. Strack Construction for condemned structures at 1118 Merriwether, 540 S. Frederick and 426 Good Hope.

20An appointment to the Historic Preservation Commission.

20The request of Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation for funds to conduct a study on the feasibility of purchasing and renovating St. Vincent's Seminary. The study is expected to cost about $10,000, and council members Feb. 15 tabled the matter until they could garner additional information from representatives of Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation.