The Cape Girardeau City Council Wednesday gave first reading approval of an ordinance that will place on the Nov. 2 ballot the question of whether to legalize riverboat gambling in the city.

The measure now awaits final approval July 19, and it's unlikely any effort will be made to thwart final passage of the ordinance.

The ordinance is the result of a successful petition initiative by gambling proponents following riverboat gambling's defeat here June 8. In that election, voters rejected the measure 5,506 votes to 4,940.

Mayor Gene Rhodes explained Monday that state statute sets the number of signatures required to force a ballot issue, and the city must put the gambling question before voters in November.

Proponents of riverboat gambling on June 21 presented the council with petitions bearing more than 3,700 signatures of registered voters supporting another vote on the issue. In order to force an election, 2,254 valid signatures were needed.

About 20 people attended Wednesday's council meeting to witness the outcome of the matter. At least one proponent said after the meeting that he feared a "last minute" effort by some council members to derail the ballot issue.

Council members Melvin Gateley and Mary Wulfers were vocal opponents of riverboat gambling when it was on the ballot in June.

Despite the contentious track record of the issue, the council Wednesday unanimously approved first reading of the ordinance.

In other business, Police Chief Howard Boyd and Fire Chief Robert Ridgeway urged the council members during their study session to prohibit a local entrepreneur from painting address numbers on curbs in front of homes in the city.

Ridgeway said many property owners are paying to have the addresses painted on the curb while refusing to comply with a city law that requires four-inch numbers affixed to the front of properties.

The fire chief said that the curb designations give home owners a "false sense of security" that they're complying with city law.

Ridgeway said the law enables firefighters, police and ambulance crews to respond quickly to emergencies by more easily identifying properties they're dispatched to.

"It's vitally important that we have those numbers on the front of the building," he said.

Boyd said proper address identification is a must for the successful implementation of the city's new "enhanced 911" emergency telephone dispatch.

"People are having these numbers painted on curbs and not posting them on the house," Boyd said. "The problem is, if there's a car parked at the curb or the numbers are covered with snow or leaves, you can't see them.

"These people need to know that just because they have their address painted on the curb, they're not in compliance with the ordinance," Boyd added.

But Councilman Melvin Gateley said the curb designations are a novelty and the city should "be more concerned with enforcing the ordinance.

"I think this is just another thing that we're harassing the people of Cape Girardeau," Gateley said. "Even if we don't permit this, there's nothing magic that says the numbers will appear on the house."

The council took no action on the matter after the curb-painter, Chris Cole, failed to appear at the regular meeting.

In other action, the council:

Approved a contract with J. Stuart Todd Inc., architects, for an architectural review of the St. Vincent's Seminary property.

That action will give the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation the green light to continue negotiations to purchase the property.

Foundation members hope to buy the site and convert the seminary into a museum and Civil War interpretive center. The city will pay half the cost of the $17,480 architectural study, which is intended to determine the feasibility and cost of renovation.

20Appointed Paul Gilbert as associate municipal judge to preside over cases to which Municipal Judge Ed Calvin is unable due to conflicts of interest or when he's unavailable.

20Voted 4-3 to abolish the Citizens Personnel Board, which considers appeals from city employees with regard to firing, demotions and suspension without pay. The board has heard no appeals nor met since December 1989, but Rhodes, Gateley and Councilman Doug Richards said they wanted city employees informed of the change before scrapping the board.

City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said a notice would be sent to city employees with their paychecks Friday.

Approved a motion to spend $12,000-$15,000 to purchase equipment and supplies for the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau. The city recently assumed operation of the bureau, which likely will be moved from the Chamber of Commerce building to a commercial building at the corner of Mt. Auburn and Kingshighway (1707 Mt. Auburn).

20Approved a contract with Sides Construction Company in the amount of $23,500 for replacement of the ceiling at the A.C. Brase Arena Building. Sides was the lowest of three bids, including Drury Supply Co., $23,733, and Miller Drywall Co., $24,000. The engineer's estimate for the work was $20,730.

20Appointed David Alberson, a local architect, to the city's Board of Appeals.

Gave initial approval to a law prohibiting parking on the east side of South Hanover Street from William to Good Hope.