COUNCIL TO CONSIDER CHANGES IN PROCEDURES

The Cape Girardeau City Council today is expected to adopt new procedural guidelines for its bimonthly meetings.

The new procedures are the recommendation of a committee of Councilmen Melvin Gateley, Melvin Kasten and Al Spradling III.

One of the recommendations is that citizens addressing the council at public meetings have their comments subject to a time limit. There are few other changes in the guidelines, but committee members are hopeful that they'll lead to more orderly and efficient meetings.

Proposed changes in the guidelines include:

Agenda items must be submitted on the Friday preceding a regular council meeting. Any member of the council may move at the meeting to add additional items to the agenda, but such a motion must be approved by the council at the time it adopts the agenda at the start of the meeting.

At every council meeting, a single time will be allotted for people to address the council regarding issues either on or not on the agenda.

Each speaker shall be limited to five minutes, which may be extended by consent of the council.

The typical method of voting by council members is a voice vote, but other methods include ballot or roll call vote. The method of voting is administered by the city clerk, who conducts roll call.

In the procedural guidelines, the presiding officer's responsibilities include to "maintain order and decorum, limit length and repetitive orations, but allow all interested parties an opportunity to discuss and present their position."

In other business, the council will consider a resolution to authorize an engineering design services agreement with Smith and Company for a new Hopper Road bridge.

The bridge replacement is part of a new project in the city's five-year capital improvements program to improve Hopper Road from just east of Mount Auburn Road west to Kage Road. The bridge is situated just east of the Hopper and Mount Auburn intersection.

"The city has been notified by the state highway department that the replacement of the Hopper Road bridge and approaches from the end of concrete to Mount Auburn is approved for funding," said City Engineer J. Kensey Russell in a letter to council members.

"The next step in the process will be to obtain authorization from the Federal Highway Administration for preliminary engineering under this agreement."

The entire Hopper Road improvement is expected to cost about $1.3 million and is slated for completion in 1996. The project includes replacement of the bridge and reconstruction of the route from just west of Clippard School to Mount Auburn Road and the construction of an extension west to Kage Road.

Engineering services for the bridge work will total no more than $42,250 in the contract that will be considered Monday.

The Hopper Road project was added to the capital improvements plan at the request of the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.

Commissioners said the improvement should be a priority because of rapid residential development in the area and a planned annexation of Twin Lakes, just west of Interstate 55 off Hopper.

Much of the bridge replacement work will be funded through the state's "Off-Systems Bridge Replacement Program."

The council also will consider separate resolutions to authorize applications to the Missouri Department of Social Services under the Emergency Shelter Grant Program for two local agencies.

One of the applications is on behalf of Safe House for Women Inc., a local shelter for battered women.

In a letter to council members, City Planner Kent Bratton said he and Housing Assistance Coordinator Steve Williams recently met with Rebecca Payne, director of the agency, who has prepared the application.

"The application will request $16,600 in ESGP funds to be matched by the Safe House for Women Inc. with $16,600 of funds received from the Missouri Department of Public Safety," Bratton said.

The funding will be used to fund Safe House for Women costs for maintenance, insurance, utilities, telephone, furnishings, appliances, staff, and an emergency food program.

"The city is not required to contribute any matching funds for this grant, but as the grantee will be responsible for overseeing the program," Bratton added.

In a letter to Beth Rokckelman of the Missouri Division of Family Services, Payne said the center has operated "usually at capacity," since it opened in November 1991.

"The previous shelter was forced to close because of lack of funding, leaving battered women and their children with nowhere to go, except back home to be beaten, or on the streets," said Payne.

"Out of 114 counties in Missouri, there are only 19 counties with shelter available to domestic violence victims. Safe House for Women Inc. provides the only shelter services to this specific population in a five-county area from St. Louis to Malden."

The other application was made on behalf of the Salvation Army. The application, prepared by Capt. Elmer Trapp of the Salvation Army, requests $30,000 in ESGP funds to be matched by the Salvation Army with $60,000 in cash, $9,500 in in-kind contributions and $6,162 in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds.

"The total project costs are $105,662," said Bratton. "This funding will be used to operate the following Salvation Army programs: rent and utility assistance to keep families together; transient lodging program; emergency food assistance program; and emergency prescription assistance program."

Other agenda items include:

20Public hearings and ordinances concerning three zoning items.

G. Keith Deimund has asked that a lot in Mt. Auburn Subdivision No. 4 be rezoned from commercial to two-family residential; Heisler Development Co. and Six Sisters Co. have asked for a special use permit to erect a 250-foot tower in the 1600 block of North Kingshighway; and Free Will Baptist Church has asked for a special use permit for an addition to the existing church facility and for a sign at 2919 Kage Road in a single-family residential district.

Appearances before the council by: Curt Smith of Vision 2000, to present the agency's year-end report; a representative of the chamber of commerce; Sgt. Carl Kinnison and Sharee Galnore of the Cape Girardeau Police Department to discuss the department's drug and alcohol awareness programs; and Police Chief Howard Boyd to present the 1992 Police Department Annual Report.

Appointments to the city's Historic Preservation Commission, where the terms of Martha Bender, John Boardman and John Schneider will expire. Bender and Schneider have indicated they would like to be reappointed.

A package liquor license for New Venice Gas & Oil, 340 S. Sprigg.

A motion to accept street improvements for Stonebridge Subdivision.

A motion to authorize a letter of intent to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to close the city sanitary landfill.