PETITIONS SUPPORT WARD VOTING; BACKERS HOPE TO CAPITALIZE ON VOTER DISGUST WITH FEE INCREASES

A longstanding debate over whether to elect Cape Girardeau City Council members from wards rather than at large has resurfaced.

Larry Godfrey, an unsuccessful council candidate earlier this year, has initiated a petition drive asking that the council change to ward elections.

"People have been very receptive," Godfrey said Thursday. "It's been very few that would not sign the petition."

He said he hopes next month to bring before the city council 2,000 to 3,000 signatures of voters who favor amending the City Charter to scrap at-large council elections in lieu of ward representation.

City Attorney Warren Wells said the City Charter can be amended by petition.

According to Section 11.06 of the charter, amendments may be proposed by the council or by "petition of not less than 10 percent of the registered qualified electors of the city." There are about 17,000 registered votes in Cape Girardeau.

"We're going to be way over," said Godfrey. "I've been working on it now for about two weeks, and we've got almost 1,400 signatures already. We hope to have 3,000, but we'll take 1,800 or 2,000."

But Wells said the petition must be worded carefully to include the entire amendment and such details as the ward boundaries.

"That's one of the problems of amending the charter by petition," he said. "It has to be very carefully worded everything from the exact wording of the amendment to the effective date it would go into effect."

Godfrey said he was aware of the requirements for amending the City Charter and that he's confident the petition will be valid.

If a valid amendment petition is filed with the necessary number of registered voters, the city council is required to submit the measure to voters. A simple majority is required to approve the amendment.

The issue wasn't prominent in this year's council race, but was a key component of the 1990 campaign, which featured eight candidates who were divided on the question.

Since voters in 1981 adopted the City Charter, which established at-large elections, proponents of ward elections have said the change would insure better citizen representation in government.

Opal McManus, who is working with Godfrey in gathering signatures for the petition, said inadequate representation is a chief concern for many residents of the city's south and northeast sides.

"I'm sorry to say the south end of town is forgotten by the city management," McManus said. "It seemed like when the city started expanding west and northwest, everyone else was just kind of forgotten.

"But we're no different than anybody else who pays taxes in this town, we need to get some representation. I don't want division in this city. I want us to work together, but we want our piece of the pie."

Godfrey said ward representation is "more democratic" than at-large elections.

"With representation of wards, you get representation of your neighborhood," he said. "You won't have four members of the city council from one area, with interests tied to that area."

Godfrey said he has long favored ward elections but was prompted to initiate the charter amendment petition after the council this month raised city trash, water and sewer fees.

"We've been working on it all along, but the council gave us the impetus when they raised all the fees," he said. "I think there's going be a real uproar over that. That's sure helped us in getting signatures."

McManus said it's difficult for senior citizens and low-income residents to afford the fee hikes. She said the key to focusing attention on problems in the city's lower income sections is electing councilmen who live there.

"When you have a doctor and doctors' wife and two lawyers serving on that council, you don't have a leg to stand on," McManus said. "We elected them, and they're supposed to represent us all, not just a part of us."

McManus, who's white, also said the city "badly needs" a black council member.

"That will never happen unless we have a ward system," she added. "We don't want to stand in the way of progress, we're promoting progress.

"The city hasn't got into this mess overnight and it's not going to be changed overnight. But you have to have a start somewhere, and I think ward elections would be a good start."

Opponents of ward elections have said that in a city of Cape Girardeau's size, few people have strong loyalties or ties to a particular zone or neighborhood anyway. They say most council members generally would represent the entire population whether they were elected at large or by ward.

Others have said that in cases where "pet" ward projects were involved, city government would be contentious and inefficient.

But Godfrey said he'd rather address potential ward system problems when they occur than continue under the current system. "I don't think it's any worse than what we've got right now," he added.

Godfrey said he hopes to bring the petition to the council in July.