COUNCIL OKS BUILDING CODE ON 6-1 VOTE

The Cape Girardeau City Council amended and then approved a property maintenance code Monday night.

The first reading of the ordinance was approved by a 6-1 vote, with Councilman Jack Rickard dissenting.

About 40 people attended the meeting at City Hall, but none spoke about the property maintenance code.

The debate over the code was waged among council members over a series of amendments.

Rickard attempted to remove a listing of the city's building codes from the measure, arguing that such standards were too complicated and too massive. But the amendment was voted down.

Mayor Al Spradling III said Rickard's proposal would have made the code almost meaningless.

Councilman Tom Neumeyer said Rickard's proposal would have eliminated "the guts of it."

The council rejected an amendment by Councilman Melvin Gateley that would have changed the penalty provision, removing a jail sentence for violators. The code allows a maximum of 90 days in jail, a $500 fine or both.

"I would rather have their money than put them in jail," Gateley argued.

"That is pretty drastic really for a civil offense," Councilman Richard Eggimann said.

But Spradling said, "I think it gives some people a little added incentive to do the right thing."

Neumeyer said imprisonment would be preferable to allowing a property owner to get away with faulty wiring that might cause a fatal fire.

The council by a 4-3 vote rejected an amendment that would have allowed city inspectors to enter buildings only with the permission of both the owner and the occupant, except in the case of a search warrant.

Spradling argued that it could be difficult to secure permission from an absentee landlord or a property owner that knows his building violates the code.

Gateley, Rickard and J.J. Williamson voted for the amendment. Melvin Kasten, Eggimann, Neumeyer and Spradling voted against it.

The council deleted a provision that would require basement windows to have rat-proof shields.

Eggimann said there is no need to require rat-proof shields, because there already is a provision that owners keep their properties free of rats.

"This is overkill to say the least," he said. "I wouldn't suggest just because a window is open that a rat would come in."

Several councilmen said they were uncertain just what constituted a rat shield.

Following the meeting, Spradling said the code will provide the city with more leverage in dealing with poorly maintained properties.

But he conceded the code likely wouldn't address the problems of vacant and deteriorating buildings like the old St. Francis Hospital building on Good Hope Street and the Marquette Hotel on Broadway.