Morris is named permanent Cape fire chief; Kangas is promoted

The City of Cape Girardeau has announced the appointment of department heads to lead the Cape Girardeau Fire Department and the city's development services department, effective immediately.

Fire department

Randy Morris Jr., 38, has served as interim chief of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department since Oct. 22, after Travis Hollis departed the job after fewer than 14 months.

"Randy has demonstrated he deserves to be our fire chief," Cape Girardeau Mayor Bob Fox said.

Morris had the "interim" tag removed this week and he has a long tenure with the city's fire department.

A married father of three, Morris has worked for the department since 2004 and has also acted as chief of the rural volunteer Gordonville Fire Department since 2007.

Morris' dad, Randy Morris Sr., retired as a Cape Girardeau Fire Department master firefighter in 2011.

"It's exciting and I'm looking forward to new things," said the younger Morris on Tuesday, who pointed out he is the first internal candidate to become permanent chief of the 69-person department in nearly 30 years, since the tenure of Eugene Hindman, who retired as Cape Girardeau's chief in 1992.

Since Hindman, Cape Girardeau's fire chiefs have relocated to the job from outside the area: Robert Ridgeway, Daniel White, Michael W. Lackman, Rick Ennis and the aforementioned Hollis.

Development services

Anna Kangas was promoted Tuesday as the Cape Girardeau city development services director. She will oversee four city divisions in her new role.Southeast Missourian file

Anna Kangas, 36, was named director of development services for the city, filling a role vacated after Alex McElroy became executive director of the Southeast Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Kangas will continue as the city's point person on the $12.5 million city hall project, which is expected to be completed by October.

She will oversee four divisions in her department: inspections, engineering, planning and geographic information systems.

"It's been a goal of mine to have this position," said Kangas, a licensed architect.

"Anna has stepped up and in combination with others on our staff is making our transformation in development services a reality," Fox said.