VOTERS WILL DECIDE ZONE REPRESENTATION ISSUE

Cape Girardeau voters Tuesday will choose whether to amend the city's charter and switch from at-large city council election to zone representation.

A petition drive earlier this year secured sufficient signatures to place the charter amendment on the ballot.

Voters will decide whether to elect councilmen from six zones. The mayor would continue to be elected at large. The proposed zones would be comprised of the original boundaries of the following city voting wards as they existed in 1989:

Zone 1: Wards 1, 3 and 4; Zone 2: Wards 8, 9 and 12; Zone 3: Wards 5, 6 and 11; Zone 4: Wards 2 and 16; Zone 5: Wards 13, 14 and 15; Zone 6: Wards 7 and 17.

Cape Girardeau operated until 1918 under an aldermanic form of government with council members elected by wards. In 1918, the city adopted a city commission form of government.

In that system, council members and the mayor were elected at large, but city operations were divided between council members.

In 1965, voters elected to change to a council-manager form of government, in which council members continued to be elected at large, but city operations were left to a professional city manager.

In 1981, voters adopted a Home Rule Charter, which incorporated the council-manager form of government and at-large elections. Under Home Rule Charter, the city now can pass its own laws and resolutions and isn't bound by state statutes regulating cities.

But proponents of the measure on Tuesday's ballot have complained that sections of town namely the south and east sides aren't adequately represented by the council.

They claim zone representation would ensure that at least some of the council members would represent the interests of those particular areas of the city.

Miki Gudermuth, who is one of the people spearheading the effort, has complained that all but one of the council members live north of Cape Rock Drive.

The council has been split on the issue, and members earlier this month voted 4-3 to oppose the change.

But it's uncertain whether the zone boundaries, which were established based on population of each voting precinct, would be legal even if voters approved the measure.

City Attorney Warren Wells has said the zones would violate the U.S. Supreme Court's "one-man, one-vote" rule, which says the zones must have nearly the same number of people of voting age to assure equal representation on the council.

Wells said this week that if voters approve the charter amendment, the city wouldn't implement the plan until the legal concerns were resolved.

Other potential problems in the initiative identified by Wells include:

The City Charter amendment proposed in the petition contains no provision to establish the time or conditions under which the proposal would take effect or be implemented.

If the proposal is adopted, the council will have to compare the zones for equality as required by the law. If the zone system provides under-representation to some segments of the population, the city could be subject to liability under civil rights laws.

Because the zone boundaries were set according to the boundaries of the voting precincts that were set in 1989, the county clerk's office could be subject to "considerable hardship in administering the election process."

The proposal doesn't include a method of dealing with annexations to the city.

The zones are established as part of the City Charter itself, which means that in order to amend the boundaries to the zones or to address any of the "equal representation" issues that might arise, the council would need to amend the charter. Any new amendments also would require a vote of the people.

Included with the petition was a map of the city showing the boundaries of the proposed zones. But Wells said he's uncertain whether the zone map accurately reflects the designation of the zones by wards as set forth in the measure.