MILLER QUITS CVB POST

Mary Miller resigned Monday as director of the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau amid continuing concern by CVB Advisory Board members and city officials over the high turnover of CVB employees.

Miller submitted a brief resignation letter to the city manager. In it, she said she resigned to "move on to other horizons."

Miller said Tuesday night that she wanted to simplify her life.

Miller said she did a good job of running the CVB since it came under city control in 1993. She was hired in July of that year and started work in August.

The CVB has done a good job of advertising the Cape Girardeau area and its attractions, she said. "Hotel and restaurant revenues are up," she said.

Eleven people have left the office since Miller was hired as director five years ago, former employee Patricia Wischmann said.

Wischmann worked under Miller for five and a half months. She resigned as group sales director for the CVB on March 17.

"Some have been fired, and the others have retired early or have resigned in frustration," Wischmann wrote in a letter to advisory board and City Council members when she resigned last month.

"One cannot function as a team player when there is no team," she said.

Wischmann said in her three-page letter that city leaders had ignored the problem and turned a deaf ear to the complaints of former employees. Wischmann said Miller harassed employees and created an atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion.

She said the bureau didn't operate smoothly. Grant files were lost, and projects went unfinished, Wischmann said.

Former employees complained that Miller was a difficult boss, who played one employee often against another and gave little direction to employees.

Miller said she didn't take the criticism of ex-employees personally. She said most of them left for higher paying jobs.

City Manager Michael Miller said the resignation occurred with the city's blessing. The two Millers aren't related.

"I think we have come to a mutual understanding it was time to move on," Michael Miller said Tuesday.

Mary Miller has been on sick leave since last week. Miller will remain on sick leave until her resignation officially takes effect on May 1.

Walter Denton, administrative assistant to the city manager, will supervise the bureau until a director can be hired.

Michael Miller said he hopes to hire a replacement for Miller within 60 days.

He said the city needs a director with a positive attitude and an ability to work with groups and the city staff. Michael Miller said he hopes to hire someone with experience in marketing and tourism.

"Anybody in management is aware you are not going to make everybody happy," she said.

Miller said that she and her husband plan to stay in Cape Girardeau. "I am going to remodel the house and take some time off and visit with family and relatives," she said.

Miller managed the Cape Girardeau Country Club for eight years before being hired for the CVB post by then-city manager J. Ronald Fischer.

Wischmann said Miller didn't have the marketing and tourism background needed to manage the CVB. But Miller said she felt her past 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry had prepared her for the job.

Michael Miller said she has been a positive ambassador for the city.

Mayor Al Spradling III said advisory board members and Miller had their differences. Some board members felt the office wasn't functioning like it should, the mayor said. "I am sure there was a lot of pressure on her," Spradling said.

The mayor said she had a high-profile job. "You are always subject to a lot of criticism from that standpoint," he said.

Gary Bunting chairs the CVB Advisory Board. He said board members have been concerned about the constant turnover of employees.

He said it is difficult for the bureau to market the city and promote tourism if there is a constant turnover in staff.

"When you have that many people leave, your major tourist attraction is sour grapes," he said.

Miller never implemented a solid marketing plan or provided tourism and convention statistics as had been requested by the board, Bunting said.

He said Miller didn't tell the board that she was resigning. Bunting said the bureau was already shorthanded before Miller resigned. Wischmann left. Another employee is on maternity leave.

Bunting said that leaves day-to-day CVB operations in the hands of the bureau secretary and volunteers. Tracey Glenn, the city's public-awareness coordinator, is also helping out. Her office is in the CVB building on Broadway.

Board member David Ross, who manages the Show Me Center, praised Miller. He said some of the complaints from former employees were unfounded. "I think she did an excellent job," he said.

Ross said Miller has a great love for Cape Girardeau. Ross said the community will miss having Miller at the helm of the CVB. "It is just a sad, sad thing."