'Visionary' Cape Girardeau city planner Kent Bratton dies

Kent Bratton, who served nearly 20 years as the City of Cape Girardeau's city planner, is being remembered by those who knew him well following his death Thursday, April 27, at 81.

"(Kent) was the repository of all things planning and of historical and archival knowledge of the city," said Charlie Herbst, associate Cape Girardeau County commissioner, who served on Cape Girardeau City Council from 2002 to 2010.

"(Bratton) would lay out in his mind what the city could look like, where streets would go or would speak up about where they shouldn't be because he knew so well the lay of the land. He was always thinking out loud, (and) there's no doubt city personnel continued to call him after his retirement. He loved the city," said Herbst, who formerly represented Cape Girardeau's Ward 2.

"Kent Bratton was the behind-the-scenes guy, whom I referred to as 'the man with a plan,'" said banker Jay Knudtson, who served as Cape Girardeau mayor during Bratton's final years on the job. "He had a special ability to connect the dots of Cape's roads and future roads. I think it's fair to say he was the mastermind behind infrastructure in the city. He had a wonderful way to bring forth proposals and ideas and let the mayor and City Council believe it was their idea and allow us to take credit for it."

Bratton, born and reared in Dodge City, Kansas, is credited with fostering Cape Girardeau's transition from purchasing water from a supplier to operating its own municipal water system in 1996.

"If you can't control the water system, you can't control anything," Bratton remarked at the time.

Bratton, the second-born of three children, understood adversity at a tender age, having endured 13 corrective surgeries for a cleft palate.

The native Kansan studied geology at Fort Hayes College in Kansas. Later, Bratton earned a master's degree in the same subject at Southern Illinois University.

Hired by the city in 1988, Bratton refined and implemented ideas in Cape Girardeau's first comprehensive plan.

"Veterans Memorial Parkway was one of his inspired ideas," said Herbst, who added a coda in reflecting upon the life of a dedicated municipal official.

"He was absolutely a visionary of what Cape Girardeau could be, and gave a lot of guidance on the Transportation Trust Fund projects, on where the best bang for the buck would be," he said.