SEARCH FOR DIRECTOR IS NARROWED

JACKSON - Board members of the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association have narrowed a list of seven applicants for its executive director's position to three and hope to conduct interviews next week.

Cape Girardeau Mayor Gene Rhodes, who is chairman of the association's board, said the group agreed on three finalists at a meeting Monday afternoon.

They are hoping to schedule interviews for next Monday.

"We are pretty well pleased with our applicants," said Rhodes. "There seems to be a lot of experienced and qualified people, based on the resumes, who applied for it."

At the board's last meeting, Rhodes gave each member copies of the resumes and asked them to come to Monday's meeting with them rated from one to seven.

"We all came back with the first two exactly the same, and the third was agreed to over here," said Rhodes.

"If we can get everyone to come in next Monday to interview, then we can make a decision fairly quickly."

Rhodes said applications came from four states. He added that it is likely that someone will be hired and on the job by June 1.

"We think that we have a good chance of getting a good person hired and keeping things moving in this area," said Rhodes.

The association is a joint effort of the cities of Cape Girardeau, Jackson, and Scott City, the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, and the Cape County Commission.