Councilmen question removal of county services from Cape

A member of an advisory board formed to review options for updates to Cape Girardeau County facilities stopped by Cape Girardeau's city council meeting Monday night to discuss an upcoming public meeting on the matter.

He received a grilling from two councilmen on the possible removal of some county services from the city.

The board is seeking opinions before presenting its final recommendation to the Cape Girardeau County Commission on Jan. 26.

The commission formed the board about a year ago to review three options by St. Louis-based Treanor Architects. They include plans for a new three- or four-story courthouse on the Jackson square and possibly demolishing or renovating the administration building.

Regardless of the selected plan, the county no longer would need to use the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau.

Joe Uzoaru

Some members of the city council expressed concern to advisory board member Dwain Hahs at the Monday night meeting about removing county services from Cape Girardeau. Hahs said the county's satellite offices at the Common Pleas Courthouse annex are expected to remain in place.

While members expressed appreciation of such services remaining available in Cape Girardeau, others debated the merits of moving all court services to Jackson.

Councilman Mark Lanzotti questioned why the committee was tasked with considering options that included only Jackson as a location for county facilities.

"For generations, there have been two courthouses and two facilities, and I think that our prior leaders in the community, both at the city level and at the county level, recognized that Cape Girardeau is a significant population center for the entire county," Lanzotti said in a Tuesday phone interview.

"[Keeping court services in Cape Girardeau] provides access to those citizens in a much more convenient fashion than asking over half of the county's population to drive 10 miles to a location to access their court services," he said. "To me, the numerics were similar in the past as today and by asking the citizens of Cape, or requiring them, to drive that distance out to Jackson to access those court services is not considering the needs of the citizens or customers of that courthouse."

Cape Girardeau County is home to more than 77,000 residents, with nearly 38,000 of them living in Cape Girardeau, according to the most recent U.S. Census data.

At Monday night's council meeting, Councilman Joe Uzoaru also said he did not see the move as "an advantageous use of my tax dollars or my constituents'" and likewise questioned the efficiency of the decision.

Hahs said safety improvements and eliminating the need to transport prisoners were key factors in centralizing court locations.

Hahs also pointed out questions and issues such as those raised by the council were the reason the board was hosting public meetings, including the one scheduled at the Osage Centre from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday. Such feedback will be noted and included in the board's report to the commission, "regardless of the recommendation," he said.

The board is scheduled to present its final recommendation less than three weeks after the public meeting in Cape Girardeau. Given the group has dedicated about a year to considering three Jackson-centered plans, Lanzotti said he's not sure such a timeline of receiving public input is sufficient to consider the possibility of Cape Girardeau as a continued location for county court services.

"It seems a little late in the process to be genuine to think that suggestions of finding an alternative secondary location in Cape would get a fair analysis, since the information we've been provided from the very beginning has only given the committee three choices within a city block at one location," he said. "... To me, it seems like there is not an adequate time for the county commission or the committee members to properly evaluate what is such a fundamental question regarding alternative locations, except one square block north of downtown Jackson."

srinehart@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

1 Barton Square, Jackson, Mo.

401 Independence St. Cape Girardeau, Mo.