Reitzel easily wins Cape County public admin

Republican Lisa Reitzel, a nurse from Delta, will be Cape Girardeau County's new public administrator, winning 69 percent of the vote in Tuesday's general election.

Democrat Mary Cotner, 62, a physical therapist assistant, received 10,483 votes to Reitzel's 23,648 votes.

Reitzel, 44, beat out 12 other Republicans in the August primary.

"It's been a long road since I started in February," Reitzel said after learning she'd won Tuesday night. "It's been a lot of hard work."

The county's current public administrator, Phyllis Schwab, did not seek re-election after more than 10 years of holding the office.

The job, which pays $72,000 annually, requires serving as a guardian or conservator for about 150 county residents who suffer from physical or mental conditions severe enough that they lack the capacity to meet their own basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter or safety. Those in the administrator's care are declared incapacitated by a probate judge.

Cotner said she knew it was going to be difficult race going in, with Cape Girardeau County having a Republican majority.

"I thought hey, I'm going to try it. I have the experience. But experience wasn't the forerunner of it; it was the politics that won it," she said.

mmiller@semissourian.com

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