COUNCIL PICKS MANAGER; MICHAEL G. MILLER CAPE'S NEW CITY MANAGER

The Cape Girardeau City Council is expected to name Michael G. Miller as the new city manager today.

Miller, 58, is a management consultant from Ferguson who previously directed city governments in Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota.

Mayor Al Spradling III is scheduled to announce the hiring decision at a press conference at 4 p.m. today at City Hall.

Spradling said Sunday that the hiring decision was unanimous. The mayor refused to say who was hired, but other sources confirmed it was Miller.

Miller declined to comment Sunday when reached at his home.

Miller was chosen from among five finalists to succeed J. Ronald Fischer, who retired as Cape's city manager on July 27. Fischer ran the city for seven years.

Over the past 30 years, Cape has had four city managers. Miller would be the fifth.

The five finalists visited Cape Girardeau over the past several weeks. The last of the finalists was interviewed Thursday.

The council selected Miller during a closed-door meeting Saturday morning at City Hall that lasted a little over an hour.

Spradling said the council narrowed the list of five finalists to two before making its final choice.

Spradling said he telephoned the candidate chosen Saturday and discussed contract terms, including salary. By Saturday afternoon, the candidate had called back and accepted the job.

Spradling said contract terms would be announced at the press conference.

A native of the Catskill Mountains in New York, Miller has lived in the Midwest for the past 30 years.

Miller currently operates a one-man consulting company that helps cities organize management teams and set goals.

His last stop as a city manager was in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. He managed the city for nearly five years, from April 1989 to November 1993.

As city manager in Ferguson, Miller literally helped open windows that led to better rapport between city staff and the public it served.

"Clerks stood behind these windows with round holes in them; the kind you see in banks," he said in an interview Aug. 2 during his visit to Cape Girardeau. "The public felt distanced by the windows but the staff felt they needed them to block the cold air during the winter."

Miller's advisory team decided sliding windows would accommodate both the staff and the public.

Miller served as city manager of Slater from 1962 to 1966; Vermillion, S.D., from 1966 to 1970; Maplewood, Minn., from 1970 to 1978; Council Bluff, Iowa, from 1978 to 1986; and St. Joseph from December 1986 to August 1987.

During his visit to Cape Girardeau, Miller said he prefers historical cities. "Those kind of towns have character," he said.