Cape Girardeau City Council met via Zoom on Monday with seven semi-finalists for the city manager job being vacated in June by the retiring Scott Meyer.

Fifty-six people made application by the city's Feb. 28 deadline, Mayor Bob Fox said.

Meyer will depart after leading Missouri's 16th largest city for 12 years, making him the longest-tenured manager in municipal history.

"There were so many candidates who were top-tier and it's hard to (evaluate) without talking to them and meeting them," Fox said.

The city's hiring consultant, Mark Peterson of GovHR USA, will meet with the City Council on April 5 in closed session, since it is a personnel matter, to review applicants' qualifications with an eye toward selecting three to five finalists for the position, Fox said.

Finalists will come to Cape Girardeau on April 14, 15 and 16 for in-person interviews, a tour of the city and meetings with municipal staff, he added.

Bob Fox

"If needed, we've also set aside April 26 and 27 if we decide a second interview with anyone is warranted," Fox said.

A hiring decision, Fox said, is anticipated in early May at the City Council's first meeting that month.

On several occasions, Fox has called the choice of a city manager "the most important decision a city council makes."

In a nine-page full-color recruitment brochure, prospective applicants were informed the city has 498 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees and a $59 million annual budget.

The estimated city manager yearly salary, according to the prospectus, is $155,000 to $165,000, with residency in the city required within six months of the start date.

Applicants, according to the brochure, should have at least seven years of "increasingly responsible managerial experience in local government," adding a postgraduate degree in public administration or a related field of study is preferred but not required.

Additionally, according to the literature, "the ideal candidate" will have prior experience either as a city manager or city administration.