Scott Meyer reflects on historic tenure as Cape Girardeau city manager

Scott Meyer, who has been chief executive officer of Missouri’s 16th largest city for longer than anyone else since the job was created in 1966, is about to step aside for Kenneth Haskin, the first African American city manager in Cape Girardeau’s history.

An open-house retirement event celebrating Meyer’s 12 years at the helm was held Thursday at Osage Centre.

The Southeast Missourian sat down this week with Meyer, 60, to reflect on his record-setting tenure at City Hall.

What has been most satisfying about your tenure?

We were able to embrace and enhance the idea of Cape as a regional hub — that being a hub was important to our future. Although the city has 40,000 residents, more than 90,000 come here every day to work, shop, go to SEMO and visit the two hospitals and Doctors’ Park. We were able to grow the hub we already had with getting Missouri’s 13th license for a casino, which in turn was a catalyst for downtown revitalization. Through our efforts plus those of Old Town Cape and the commitment of individual merchants, downtown has reshaped itself into a regional draw.

Scott Meyer speaks at a news conference after Mayor Jay Knudtson, right, announced Meyer was chosen to be the new city manager for Cape Girardeau in 2009 at the Osage Community Centre.Southeast Missourian file

I’d be remiss not to mention the work along Broadway Street, the Business Park at Exit 102, the growth of Cape Splash, the establishment of the SportsPlex, the weekend tournaments at Shawnee Park Complex and the various sports leagues, which draw people from all over.

With the SportsPlex, by the way, we have a year-round venue, which also enhances our regional attractiveness.

Tax-increment financing (TIF) has been a real help with, for example, the Marquette Tech District.

The new police headquarters, the remodeled fire stations, the wastewater treatment plant — and the work being done on the new City Hall and a future new terminal building at Cape Regional Airport — are all part of the big picture “regional hub” idea being brought to fruition. I’m glad to have been part of this.

Robert Harris, advisory board member, cuts the ribbon at the dedication of the Shawnee Park Community Demonstration Garden and Urban Orchard on July 20, 2015 at the Shawnee Park Center in Cape Girardeau. City manager Scott Meyer is at far right.Southeast Missourian file

Our hospitals, the developers who do business with the city and the university all have been great to work with as Cape expands and grows.

Your biggest concern as you depart?

Our regional hub advantage has eroded somewhat from a financial perspective due partly to the online shopping that exploded during the pandemic. We’ve seen a flatter growth line in our local sales tax proceeds as a result — as contrasted with the rising bar graph we see in revenue from the hotel/motel/restaurant tax. The anemic growth in our reoccurring revenue, the flat sales tax over the last decade or so, has made it especially difficult to be fair to our employees in terms of compensation. The Hancock Amendment limits our increases. We’ve had years where general revenue was projected to go up 1%, so we found ways to be more efficient and effective but fiscally we’ve had to make difficult changes. Health insurance for our employees has been volatile and inflationary but we’re self-insured so we’ve been more fortunate than some. The mayor is right when he advocates — as does the rest of City Council — for a ballot initiative this November to get an internet sales or use tax established now that Wayfair legislation successfully passed in the Missouri Legislature. We’ve got to recoup money from online retailers like Amazon, who use our streets and expect response from law enforcement but contribute nothing currently to our bottom line. Our bricks-and-mortar businesses in the city do support our revenue and they’re at a disadvantage. This needs correcting and I hope our voters agree.

The city had a cyberattack in January 2020 just before the pandemic , which your most recent year-end letter mentioned prominently.

We bought cyberinsurance two years prior at the initiative of our then-finance director, which was fortunate. Without that insurance, the city really would have been hurt. As it was, the deductible was pretty large. That whole experience was quite a learning curve.

What is your biggest regret?

City manager Scott Meyer speaks as Mayor Harry Rediger listens at the dedication of the new solid-waste transfer station May 23, 2016 in Cape Girardeau.Southeast Missourian file

I wish I had done a better job bringing our different city departments together. I would like to have had more of a “one Cape” culture and I don’t think we got there. Yes, we’ve talked about it and had some training but (our departments) still operated somewhat siloed. Departments do have their own identities and you don’t want to wipe that out, of course. Maybe Dr. (Kenneth) Haskin will do a better job at this.

The Confederate monument controversy in Ivers Square rocked the city for awhile in 2020.

Yes, it did, and I’m proud on how we dealt with it as a city. We faced the issue and didn’t deny it. Because it was a deliberate process and people got to express their opinions in multiple forums, we didn’t have the problems some other communities had. No one defaced the monument or tried on their own to take it down. It’s gone now and I’m proud of how we handled the matter.

In your final City Council meeting earlier this week, you mentioned the importance of your personal faith.

I was born and reared in a church in Stotts City, Missouri, and by the third grade, Dad and Mom decided to move us to a Methodist church in Aurora, Missouri, between Springfield and Joplin, where I went to high school. I’m 6-foot-5 and played center on the Aurora basketball team before going on to the University of Missouri-Rolla. I also played the trombone and our band played in the Orange Bowl and Rose Bowl parades. I got saved in high school when I was 17. When I accepted Jesus, it meant I gave Him control of my life and knew I was saved from all my sins. Christ guides me every day and His grace is greater than all my mistakes. Today, my wife Susan and I attend Cape Naz or the First Church of the Nazarene in Cape.

After a pair of ceremonial scissors were too dull to cut through the ribbon, Cape Girardeau city manager Scott Meyer, far left, drops his side of the tape and lets out a cheer to mark the opening of the Capaha Park Splash Pad on June 15, 2020, in Cape Girardeau.Southeast Missourian file

What’s next for you?

We’re still trying to figure that out. I’m not going to stop working. Susan’s parents moved here to Cape and we’re going to stay because they’re here. Our oldest son, Jacob, lives and works in Colorado and our younger son, Josh, is an assistant coach for Cape Catfish.