Search continues for new Cape Girardeau fire chief

Cape Girardeau city officials continue to search for a new fire chief eight months after the vacancy occurred.

Mayor Jay Knudtson said the search was delayed by funding issues that were linked to the fee and tax package on the April 8 ballot.

"We made a conscious decision to slow this process down to allow for the election to occur," the mayor said.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected the four ballot issues: a quarter-cent sales, a local-use tax, a monthly storm-water fee and replacement of a 10-cent property tax. The sales tax would have been used to help fund the fire department.

Knudtson said it would have allowed the city to pay a larger salary to a new fire chief, a move that would have allowed the city to attract more experienced candidates.

The mayor said the city will have to spend more than the $62,500 it paid the previous fire chief, Michael Lackman, when he was hired in August 2001. Lackman resigned last August amid a dispute with city manager Michael Miller over management style.

Miller is heading up the search for a new fire chief. He was out of town at a city management conference on Friday and couldn't be reached for comment.

But Knudtson said city officials didn't want to hurry the process, particularly because the city has had a succession of fire chiefs in the past two years.

The mayor said the city didn't begin looking for a new fire chief until earlier this year. Wednesday was the application deadline.

The city has received a number of applications, Knudtson said, though he's not sure how many. All of the applications have been filed with the city manager's office.

The mayor said he expects a new fire chief to be hired later this year.

Assistant chief Mark Hasheider has stepped in as interim fire chief these past eight months. He is among the candidates who has applied for the job.

Miller said in November that Hasheider has done a fine job as interim chief but that the hiring search would include applicants from outside the Cape Girardeau area.

Hasheider said Friday that he expects to see the search process pick up now that the application deadline has passed.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123