Q&A with Cape Girardeau's outgoing mayor

On April 15, the man who has been Cape Girardeau's mayor for the past eight years predicts he will likely do what he has done on many a Monday night -- get in his car and drive toward city hall.

"I'll probably drive halfway down Broadway before it hits me," he said. "Then I'll think 'Whoops, I don't have a city council meeting. I'm not the mayor anymore.'"

It will no doubt be an adjustment for Mayor Al Spradling III, who actually has been making that drive from his law office on Broadway to city hall since 1988, when he was elected to an at-large city council seat. In 1994, voters gave him the gavel and the responsibility that went with it.

It is a responsibility he will relinquish in a little over three months.

Spradling's term expires in April, and term limits prohibit him from running again. On Feb. 5 a primary election will whittle the four men who want his job to two, and voters will select Spradling's successor on April 2.

"With all the candidates out there and the primary in February, it's at the forefront," Spradling said. "You can't help but realize it's coming to the end."

Spradling admits to becoming a bit sentimental as the day draws near.

"I'll miss it," he said. "There's no question that I'll miss it. It's been a tremendous honor."

Much of Spradling's job was pleasant -- serving as the city's ceremonial head, working with other council members to solve problems and implementing plans that he hopes positively affected people's lives.

Some of it, however, was not so pleasant: Dealing with the fallout from the 1999 riot on Good Hope that led to charges of racism against the police department; being named in lawsuits against the city. Even working out intricate details on minimum property standards was somewhat controversial.

"There were difficult decisions," Spradling said. "But it goes with the job."

Life goes on outside a mayor's office. During his tenure as mayor, Spradling's oldest son, Bert, was diagnosed with cancer. His mother died. Spradling himself was diagnosed with diabetes and was forced to lose 50 pounds.

During an interview last week at the law office he shares with his father -- former Democratic state Sen. Al Spradling Jr. -- Spradling was candid and open about all of these issues.Q: What does life after city government hold for Al Spradling III?

A: Not much different than what it is now other than I don't have to go down and meet with the city manager or go to city council meetings. I'll continue to practice law. It will create more time to spend with my family, but I don't see it as a substantial change in my lifestyle.Q: Everyone knows that your father was a Missouri senator. Is there any chance --

A: (Laughing) No! Absolutely not. I have no future political ambitions whatsoever. That's been asked many times, but this was my politics of sorts. It has satiated that desire that I have had. I didn't want to go into statewide politics. Campaigning is terrible, I hate that. Being away from the house and the family that much was not something that I relished. Q: What prompted you to run for city government initially?

A: There were a couple of reasons. I had some strong encouragement from friends and felt there needed to be some change in direction on the council, and I like civic service, and so those two items together got me interested in running.

Q: As a council member, you ran against then-Mayor Gene Rhodes in 1990 and lost. Did you learn from that and why did you run again four years later?

A: Nobody is successful every time they run. You learn campaign techniques and you learn what went wrong. I continued to have support and encouragement to do it one more time. I don't worry about one defeat. I play enough games and golf where you don't win every time you go out there, but that doesn't mean you quit. Q: When you were elected mayor in 1994, you said it was time to change the way the city was governed. Did that happen on your watch?

A: I think we had significant change. There were a lot of things that happened in 1994. We ended a period of turmoil that the council was going through. One of my goals when I was running was to try to terminate the animosity that was going on and it took a good council to do that. We all got together and worked together and that was the key to it. That hadn't been happening before.Q: Another campaign theme for you was changing the tone of what you considered a "divisive" council. Why was there turmoil, as you put it, and what did you do to change that?

A: I think part of the problem was we had too many self interests. We had some issues that created a lot of divisiveness and we had personality problems.Q: You and the rest of the council in fact reprimanded Mayor Gene Rhodes for a breach of public trust.

A: He had not disclosed some business relationships he had that were bidding for city services. That was a pretty significant breach. But once the council got elected in '94 and the subsequent councils were elected over the several years since then, the purpose of the group has been to do something good for the city. It has not been personal interests at stake, whether it was business or otherwise. While we're not always harmonious -- we have our differences of opinions, we have our different philosophies, we haven't always agreed on everything -- we have worked in a more comprehensive manner for the city. Q: Ballot issues for a transportation sales tax had failed in the past, but you brought one up in 1994 and it passed the next year. What has that meant for the city?

A: We failed on two occasions. One, in my opinion, was caused by the complete failure of the city government to support it. We had a completely deteriorating infrastructure in town. Sidewalks, streets, bridges, and we had no money to replace it. We heard enough complaints about the potholes, and we had some gravel streets that need to be redone, but we didn't have the money to do it. In 1995, though, the city was behind it and we went out and sold it. That's what made the project go. We could not have put our system back together again without it. We could not have improved some of our terrible streets -- Perryville Road, Broadway, Hopper.

Q: When they were implemented, you called the ward system and term limits an experiment. How has the experiment fared?

A: I think it's failed. I think the term limits have always been a bad idea. I've always been opposed to term limits. I don't think anybody should be artificially kept out of office because of a number. If the voters want somebody out, they vote them out, but to artificially terminate someone is just bad politics. We've lost some good people in this city: Mel Gateley, we're going to lose Tom Neumeyer and Butch Eggimann, all those people have been termed out. And Doc Kasten, too. These are the first casualties of term limits.

The ward system was a knee-jerk reaction to a group of people in town who were dissatisfied with what they felt government was doing for them. But it has had its failures, when you look at Mr. Ruetzel, who was disqualified from running because people who didn't live in his ward signed his petition. People don't know which ward they live in or who their councilman is, for the most part, though some do, I guess. I don't think wards are something this community needs.

Q: What are some things you did as mayor that made you proud?

A: I think the first would be the trust fund for street improvements. I also would point to the harmony that the city has had, and I don't take credit for all of that. But I think the harmony we've had on the council while we expressed our ideas and our disagreements. We don't have the bickering and the fighting and the general distaste that was occurring from '88 to '94. I think the city is much better for that.

Q: What didn't happen that you would have liked to see happen?

A: I really don't know that there's anything that I can point to other than the development of Nash Road. I wish we could have accomplished that sooner, and I wish we could have gotten that part of town into the city. Zenair was something of a disappointment to me that it didn't happen, too.

(Editor's note: In 1999, Zenair aircraft company announced it would put a plant at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport but abandoned its plans later that year after financial difficulties.)

Q: You were also mayor during some troubling family crises. How did you listen to people grouse about sewer rates and contemplate road projects while you were dealing with these other things?

A: I guess I would have to give some credit back to my parents. They taught my brother and me some solid, strong values. I think part of that was listening. I've spent a lot of time listening. I don't necessarily have to talk a lot, I try not to. The city's important, my family's important. I have a lot of faith. We prayed and God took care of it.

Q: Make some predictions for us. The River Campus. The Marquette Hotel. The next mayor.

A: The River Campus will happen. One way or the other it's going to happen, and the city is going to be a part of it. That is the gateway to Cape Girardeau from the east. We would have the river campus, the bridge, the whole setting that is going to happen and it will be just a tremendous view when you come into Cape Girardeau from Illinois. If we're disappointed with what happens with the Supreme Court in Jefferson City, we've got to make it happen. Retool, bring it back before voters if that's what has to be done, but we have to be a part of that.

The Marquette is another issue that I don't have an answer for. If this last effort with making it into some sort of office building does not occur, there's not much life left in that building. While I hate to see it torn down, it cannot continue to deteriorate. Something has to be done with it. Ultimately, within the year, if we don't have something in place, I predict it will have to come down.

The next mayor? That I don't have any prediction for. We have some good candidates and I'm happy we've been blessed with some good candidates for that job.

Q: What was the most difficult decision you had to make as mayor?

A: The Taste Lounge was a difficult decision. You hate to ever have to shut down a business, and God knows we gave them enough chances, that was a very difficult decision. Ultimately, it was the right decision. But it was difficult.

Q: What qualities should the next mayor have?

A: First of all, patience is one and the ability to make a decision is the other. The mayor in Cape Girardeau, and a lot of people don't understand this, is not much of a position in terms of strength. You preside at council meetings, you have one vote, you're the ceremonial head of the city. That's all you are. You're not a strong mayor like you think of in St. Louis or New York or other cities. So what you do need to be able to do is go out and represent the community. That means ribbon cuttings. Making speeches to groups that are coming to town. Welcoming whatever convention is coming here. There are hundreds of conventions and meetings, during the day, on Saturdays. Doing those things that show off the city and let people know they're welcome to the community. That's one of the things that is extremely important, more so than running a council meeting. You have to be an ambassador.

Q: Will you maintain an active voice in the community?

A: I don't plan to shy away from going to city council meetings if there's an issue I feel strongly about. I plan to be a strong advocate for the next Transportation Trust Fund ballot issue. When I don't go, I'm sure I'll watch the council meetings on TV. I'll criticize the new mayor, whoever he is, but I'll never tell him.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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