Charter chat 2

After Tuesday's story on plans to learn more about what it would take to charter Cape Girardeau County, I got a call from Ed Hillhouse, Franklin County presiding commissioner, now midway through his second term.

Hillhouse is also a retired school superintendent and uses his own education — he majored in political science at Mizzou — to teach college students.

While campaigning for the commission, he said, people asked what he thought of converting frank County form the three-commissioner form of government to a constitutional-style charter government.

Basically they were asking how he'd like to see his own job go away.

"I told them, 'If you can show me an alternative form of government that is more representative, I'll be the first one to vote to do away with my job," he said. "That wasn't the thing I ran on."

Though Hillhouse said his county's government works "pretty good," he added "We're a growing county ... we need to be looking at something."

In Franklin, cities make up less than 5 percent of the population of 100,000, he said.

Highway 44 runs through Franklin and the county abuts St. Charles, St. Louis counties, which have already adopted constitutions, and Jefferson County, now in the fourth attempt to adopt a charter.

Jefferson's District 1 commissioner Ed Kemp suggested a charter government is baloney. But he also said, ""If you want to live in a rural setting and want to be left alone you're not for charter. If you don't mind following a bunch of rules and regulations and having people tell you what to do, or want to be able to call and complain because someone's playing loud music late at night, you want a charter."

Hillhouse thinks the voters should have the option of a charter, because of the inherent flaws in a three-commissioner form of government, starting with the fact that the trio holds executive. administrative and judicial power.

"Theoretically, you could have a presiding commissioner and a 1st or 2nd district commissioner who could literally be neighbors," he said. "If the people elected favored a certain area or issue, everything's cut and dried. Wouldn't it be better to look at something more on the order of different regions throughout the area, for instance, seven areas drawn according to population? Then you have more voices for different regions, different. areas. It's what I looked at when I made the recommendation."

He also said people in certain jobs need training in that area.

"We're operating a $60-some million budget. You need to know the difference between one-time money and recurring money, the categories it goes into.

While the old saw "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" seems to apply to his commission, Hillhouse said there's another consideration.

"It's not broke, but do you wait 'til something is broken, instead of anticipating? We do know growth is coming. There is a better way. Is it not our responsibility to look and consider it? Yes. Obsess over it? No," he said.

"You need to be looking at the big picture and down the road, not just what are we going to be doing tomorrow and be not reactive, but proactive."

Sitting and doing nothing, he said, is not an option.

So what do you think — does the three-person commission system work just fine and need to be preserved?

Does Cape County need a constitution — which would also likely include planning and zoning?

What aspects should the Jackson and Cape chambers of commerce consider as they do their fact-finding on changing Cape Girardeau's form of government?