County transit gets first executive director

When Jeff Brune started work as a legislative assistant to the Cape Girardeau County Commission a few years ago, he had to quickly learn the ropes of county government and deal with a variety of matters all at one time. He proved to be adept at his job and stayed on for two years as a full-time assistant after his six-month internship.

Brune was a capable and friendly go-to person for county officials and for members of the public who had questions or concerns about county government and commission operations. Then he decided to go to law school. He returned to Cape Girardeau last year and has just been hired as the executive director of the fledgling Cape County Transit Authority.

In his new post, Brune will be expected to pull together the loose ends of several years of work to make government-subsidized transportation, mostly for the elderly, work efficiently and smoothly. It will be interesting to see how the transit authority improves and expands transportation options for county residents who need assistance. By this time next summer, it would be good to look at Brune's report card and see how it's going.