QUALITIES OF LIFE: DIVERSITY STILL LACKING ON ELECTED BOARDS

Men, all of them white, make the decisions on the Cape Girardeau City Council.

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education also is heavily male and white.

One black and one woman serve on the seven-member school board.

Statistics compiled by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's Quality of Life Committee show little diversity in race and gender among elected officials in Cape Girardeau.

Sharon Mueller is the only woman serving on either board despite the fact that census figures show women make up 53 percent of the city's population.

Mueller, a dental hygienist, was elected to the school board in April. She is the first woman to serve on the board in four years.

It's been five years since a woman has served on the City Council.

According to the 1990 census, Cape Girardeau had 2,630 black residents. They made up 7.6 percent of the population.

The Rev. William Bird is the only black resident serving on the school board.

Bird won a seat on the school board in 1996, running unopposed.

Bird is the second black to serve on the school board. Johnny James was appointed in 1989 and elected to a regular term in April 1990.

In 1994, J.J. Williamson became the first black to win a seat on the City Council.

The Cape Girardeau businessman served four years before narrowly losing his re-election bid.

When the ward system of electing council members was set up in 1994, supporters said it would improve minority representation on the city board.

But five years after the first ward election, there is no black councilman.

Still, Williamson said he likes the ward system. He said it made it economical for him to run for office.

He said council candidates had to spend more money to run for office when they had to campaign citywide rather than in wards.

Williamson blamed low voter turnout for his defeat in April 1998. Only 398 of the ward's more than 3,200 voters went to the polls.

Williamson would like to see a more diverse council. But that requires blacks to run for office.

"I hope somebody in the minority community will step up to the plate," he said. Williamson said he may run for office again.

Voter apathy remains a problem throughout the city and in the minority community, he said. People who don't vote aren't likely to step up to the plate to run for office, said Williamson.

"We need to get more people interested and more people registered to vote," he said.

Miki Gudermuth, who worked with the "Elect a Neighbor" campaign to establish ward systems, said wards have led to the election of a more economically diverse council.

The recent unrest in the Good Hope neighborhood may prompt some blacks to run for council seats, she said.

Gudermuth said she thinks it is difficult for working women to find the time to run for public office and serve on an elected board.

She said women hold down jobs and also take care of household duties.

Gudermuth suggested civic groups like the Chamber of Commerce need to encourage people to run for the council and school board.

Those serving on the City Council and school board should mentor others to run for office when they leave.

"I think people need to be wooed," she said.

The current ward system has been in operation only five years and in full operation only since April 1996.

Gudermuth said it is too early to tell if the ward system will lead to racial and gender diversity on the council.

"I think we need to give it a little more time," she said.

While there is little diversity in terms of gender or race, Mueller said the school board is diverse in other ways.

"We all come from different professions. We all bring something a little bit different to the table."

Bird said diversity is good for a community. "I think it is going to give us a better quality of life."

He said a more diverse elected body provides a broader perspective on issues.

Bird said many people don't want to serve on the school board. It can be time consuming, he said. Board members aren't paid.

Like Williamson, Bird believes voter apathy is a factor in the lack of citizen interest in running for public office.

Bird believes the community increasingly understands the need for more diversity among its elected officials.

"Times are changing," he said. "People are changing. People are coming to the table. There is a dissatisfaction with the status quo."