Mayor says quorum language is unclear

City council may only vote with less than a quorum to fill vacancies.

Imagine a plane carrying five of the seven Cape Girardeau city council members crashes, leaving just two councilmen alive to make all of the city's decisions.

Under the current city charter, the councilmen would have the authority to conduct business in those circumstances to fill vacancies.

But the mayor wants an amendment to clearly state that the council members won't be able to vote on other issues.

Both the existing charter and a proposed amendment eliminate the requirement for a quorum if four or more council seats are vacant.

City attorney Eric Cunningham said the quorum rule only applies when a short-handed council must appoint individuals to fill vacancies.

"You have to have four votes to pass any measure," he said.

But Mayor Jay Knudtson said that exception isn't spelled out in the proposed charter amendment on filling vacancies -- one of three changes that the council wants to put before voters next year.

"It really does appear you are attempting to conduct business without a sufficient number of members," he said.

Knudtson said he wants the amendment rewritten to clearly state that the quorum can only be waived when remaining council members must appoint residents to fill four or more vacant council seats.

The mayor said he doesn't want to submit any charter proposal to voters that would suggest a minority of council members could run the city.

The council may vote Monday night to submit three proposed charter amendments to the voters as early as Feb. 7.

Cape Girardeau is one of nearly 40 cities in Missouri with city charters that govern how those municipalities operate.

The Missouri Municipal League says it's legal in Missouri for city councils to waive quorum requirements when vacancies make it impossible to comply.

That's often the case in small towns where council members routinely resign and board positions are left vacant, said league director Gary Markenson.

It's important for remaining councilmen to be able to fill vacancies, particularly when voters elect council members by wards, he said.

"If my ward doesn't have a councilman, I am not represented," said Markenson.

When the quorum requirement is waived, the remaining council members can't meet behind closed doors in violation of Missouri's Open Meetings Law, Markenson said.

The appointment of city residents to fill vacancies on the council must be done in open session, he said.

Real-estate agent Tom M. Meyer, who chaired a committee that recommended changes to the charter, sees no problem with allowing a minority of council members to act in an emergency.

"If there were a disaster, you need somebody to make decisions," he said.

"We have confidence in our elected officials," said Meyer.

Jefferson City, which has a charter government, allows a minority of council members to fill vacancies. But it requires a minimum of six votes on the 10-member council to pass any ordinance.

Another charter city, Columbia, doesn't eliminate the quorum requirement even in the case of vacancies.

Columbia's charter requires four votes on the seven-member council to pass any measure.

The Cape Girardeau council wants its 24-year-old governing charter changed to allow it to fill vacancies quickly rather than having to leave seats vacant for as long as eight months.

"You could have a ward sitting there without representation for six to eight months," said Cunningham, Cape Girardeau's city attorney.

The council's Ward 4 seat was vacant for more than five months, beginning last October. The Ward 3 council seat was vacant for three months.

Voters in the April election elected new council members to fill those seats.

But during the interim, the council couldn't fill the vacancies by appointment because the current charter prohibits such action within six months of the next general city election.

The proposed charter amendment would eliminate that restriction.

It would require the council to fill any vacancy within 60 days. The appointed councilman would serve until a special election could be held or until the normal expiration of that term, whichever comes first.

The two other proposed amendments would:

* Allow the council to raise park and other user fees by more than 5 percent annually -- excluding fees for trash, water and sewer services -- without voter approval.

* Eliminate the city's permanent ethics committee and require the council to either appoint a city ethics committee to investigate any written complaint or immediately forward the complaint to the Missouri State Ethics Commission.

It takes a simple majority to approve each of the charter proposals.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123