Rediger: Running for Cape mayor a way to continue life of service

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first of three stories on the candidates for Cape Girardeau mayor. The other stories will appear Wednesday and Thursday.

Harry Rediger didn't pick Cape Girardeau. Instead, he said, it chose him.

The retired J.C. Penney's store manager, now running for mayor, was offered the job here in 1977 after 10 years with the company. Rediger said he thought he would be here for two, perhaps three years, and then move on and continue to climb the retailer's corporate ladder.

Rediger, 72, a native of Lincoln, Neb., was a regional merchandiser of decorative home furnishings in November 1977 when he was asked if he would take over the Cape Girardeau store. He was living in Dallas at the time.

In 1981, he was under consideration for a Kansas City, Mo., store manager job but missed a meeting with the regional president when his father died. "After another year or two, Fran and I looked at each other and said 'what are we thinking?' Things are good here, and it was about '83 or '84 that we decided we would stay."

Now Rediger wants Cape Girardeau to choose him again. On Feb. 2, he will be one of three candidates on the primary election ballot for mayor, along with former city councilman Matt Hopkins and businessman Walter White. The two top vote-getters will face each other in the April 6 general election.

Incumbent Mayor Jay Knudtson cannot seek re-election due to term limits.

The next mayor will inherit a city with stable, if not robust, finances. Issues confronting the next mayor and council will include implementing both the city's Comprehensive Plan and the DREAM Initiative master plan for the downtown, Broadway and Good Hope-Haarig areas. Other items that will be on the agenda over the coming four years include rules governing subdivision construction in areas near the city's borders, annexation and growth and rental inspections.

Last week, Rediger said running for mayor is a way to continue a life of service he's dedicated himself to after retirement. Rediger has been on the city Planning and Zoning Commission for 20 years, was chairman of the Saint Francis Medical Center Board of Directors from 1997 to 2007 and has served on and chaired numerous other local volunteer boards.

His only prior elective office was as a member of the Cape Girardeau School Board, where he was appointed in 1995 and won election to fill out an unexpired term the following April.

"I kind of always wanted to do this, but I wasn't sure I wanted to change my lifestyle, which is going to happen," Rediger said. "I always kind of disliked campaigning and asking for money."

More importantly, Rediger said he's not ready to watch from the sidelines. He's been chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission's transportation subcommittee that prepared the road project list to be submitted to voters later this year. And he's been deeply involved in each of the three previous elections to win approval to finance roads, called the Transportation Trust Fund, or TTF.

Rediger must step down from the Planning and Zoning Commission this year.

"I have kind of chaired that thing all the way through and that is coming up this year," Rediger said. "All of a sudden it became apparent to me that I didn't want to let go of the process of serving the city."

Under the TTF proposal, voters will be asked for the fourth time in August to approve a half-cent sales tax to finance new road construction and road rehabilitation. The tax raises approximately $21 million over its five-year life, and each time it has been resubmitted, its popularity with voters has grown.

As he addressed other issues, Rediger said he feels certain that solving some require an education campaign, while others will require focused negotiations.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission recently was told that imposing subdivision regulations on the unincorporated areas of the county -- a priority for both Cape Girardeau and Jackson -- would require a countywide vote. And with the suspicions rural voters feel about zoning, Rediger said, it is important the regulations be limited in scope.

The city could ask the commission for zoning control over areas within two miles of city limits -- known as peripheral zoning -- but Rediger said he's doesn't want that much authority. Soothing concerns about the city's intention means an education campaign, Rediger said.

"We are talking about subdivision regulations, not zoning and not peripheral zoning," he said. "We are not talking about one or two homes being dotted around, we are talking subdivisions, that is where we have come into problems along with Jackson, with subdivisions not being up to city codes."

Regulating growth on the city borders is important because the city doesn't try to annex adjacent areas without the consent of landowners. "There is no question that is a debatable philosophy, but I am not at this point in the campaign suggesting that we change that philosophy," he said.

One item that may require prolonged negotiations will be beautification of the Broadway corridor. The next TTF proposal will include money for rebuilding sidewalks and resurfacing Broadway from Water Street to Pacific Street. A key DREAM Initiative area, many supporting a revived Broadway want the power lines moved from along the street. AmerenUE has been unwilling to talk about relocating the power lines due to the expense, Knudtson has said.

He hasn't been briefed on past efforts to move the power lines, but Rediger said he hopes it can be achieved while the street work is underway. "All I know is that it is expensive, but if you are going to make the area look right, it has to be done."

Rediger's supporters drew him into the race by forming a committee to urge him to run, said Dennis Marchi, manager of Schnucks in Cape Girardeau. Marchi said he has known Rediger for 25 years.

"He is always on an even keel, he listens to people and he doesn't make quick judgments," Marchi said. "And he works with people very well."

Rediger can be counted on to keep a well-functioning city operating smoothly, Marchi said. He can also be counted on for leadership, he added.

"Harry is a visionary," Marchi said. "He thinks ahead, asking what if we can do this, and plants a seed and all of a sudden it is a great big old tree."

rkeller@semissourian.com

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Cape Girardeau, MO