CITY COUNCIL REORGANIZES; TALK WITH SCHOOL NEXT ON AGENDA

It took less than 15 minutes for the Cape Girardeau City Council to reorganize after the recent election when two new council representatives, from wards 4 and 5, were elected.

About eight people gathered Friday afternoon in the council chambers to watch as City Clerk Gayle Conrad administered the oath of office to new council members Matt Hopkins, Hugh White and Jay Purcell.

Hopkins in the only truly new member of the council, since White formerly served on the council and Purcell was re-elected to his post.

The first task for the new members is a getting acquainted with the workings of the city. City Manager Michael Miller provided them with a packet of information.

The next order of business for the council will be a joint study session at 5 p.m. Monday with the Cape Girardeau Board of Education. The meeting will be held at City Hall.

The two bodies meet regularly to discuss issues of infrastructures and streets, said Mayor Al Spradling III.

With the passage of an $18 million bond issue to build a new high school and construction of a new vocational school, the meeting is a chance to talk about progress on those projects, he said.

The Area Career and Technology Center is under construction along Silver Springs Road near South Kingshighway. The high school also will be built along that property.

Nothing that will come up in the meeting is unknown to either group, Spradling said.

Mark Lester, city engineer, has written a report outlining plans for the water line designs and sewer connections in the southern portion of the city. The city is paying for sewer connection as part of the $8 million sewer revenue bond approved in February.

Street improvements would be the greatest cost to the school, Lester said in his report. The tentative costs would be $220,000 for improvements to Southern Expressway and Silver Springs Road.