Cape council to discuss fire, safety issues

The Cape Girardeau City Council will meet a little earlier than usual Monday.

Council members and staff will gather at 3 p.m. for a special study session to discuss public safety.

The meeting was recommended to bring everyone on the same page about fire and safety issues, particularly discussion of a new police station.

In July, the council approved an ordinance accepting transfer documents for a facility at 2530 Maria Louise Lane, near Arena Park, which could become the future home of the police department.

The city negotiated an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the city, at no cost, to assume ownership of the facility that served as a Navy Reserve Center until it was transferred to the Army in 2007. It has been vacant since last year.

FGM Architects of Illinois was contracted to evaluate needs and options for the police department's future home. A budget of $11 million is available for the project.

The public-safety discussion will conclude at 5 p.m. A recap of the session will be discussed before the council continues with the rest of its meeting.

As for the regular session, the main item on which the council will vote is the repeal of the Girardeau Goes Green Advisory Board.

The board was approved by the council in 2009. Its purpose was to study city operations from an environmental point of view and make recommendations. Over the years, the board was involved in efforts such as switching some city streetlights from conventional high-pressure sodium lights to more efficient LEDs, adding bicycle lanes and planting native wildflowers in public areas.

Mayor Harry Rediger said at the last council meeting, some beneficial suggestions have come from the board, and city staffers have worked with them to implement changes when possible. The problem, he said, is the group seems to have hit a dead end.

Girardeau Goes Green members have discussed with the city about possibly adjusting its charter to allow for more input in decisions such as bidding and construction projects, but neither council nor staff felt comfortable with the group going beyond the scope of power in the existing charter.

"I think ... they're running out of things, so now, they're reaching out further ... and staff has really been very diligent in working to be more environmentally correct," Rediger said. "So I think that has kind of evolved, not necessarily to their fault."

Council members agreed they would welcome the group as an organization operating in the community, rather than as a city commission.

If the council votes Monday to repeal the board, city staff would work with Girardeau Goes Green members to establish a not-for-profit corporation and obtain state and federal tax-exempt status "that will enable their organization to advocate, raise funds and support the areas they wish to support throughout the region," said a staff report.

srinehart@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

2530 Maria Louise Lane, Cape Girardeau, Mo.