Cape mayoral candidates discuss future, past successes of city infrastructure

Ahead of next month's election, the Southeast Missourian asked candidates for mayor of Cape Girardeau identical questions relating to city infrastructure.

Candidates on the April 5 general election ballot are incumbent Bob Fox and Stacy Kinder.

Fox was elected mayor of Cape Girardeau in 2018 and now seeks a second term. Kinder currently represents Ward 6 on Cape Girardeau City Council.

Candidate responses appear in ballot order. Responses were edited for grammar and brevity.

Southeast Missourian: What do you see as Cape Girardeau's greatest infrastructure needs? How would you address them?

Fox: The greatest infrastructure need on everybody's mind is streets. That's the big thing. We passed three sales tax renewals in the last four years: 2018, 2019, 2020. Parks and Recreation Stormwater Tax (PRS) passed in 2018, 2019 was the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and 2020 was TTF6 (sixth iteration of the Transportation Trust Fund).

All of those address infrastructure in one form or another. You see the results of CIP with City Hall and what's getting started at the airport. CIP included another half a million dollars per year for 15 years to augment what's done with TTF. TTF6 was unprecedented because 88% of that money was designated to repair streets, reconstruct streets, sidewalks, and the works. Lord knows we needed it.

We just had a public hearing at the last Council meeting on the Capital Improvement Plan for the next five years. In fiscal year 2022-2023, which begins July 1, there's $17.8 million designated just for street repair. That's unprecedented. It's going to happen, but it happens when we get the money. It's going to drag out for a little while, but people have to realize things are going to get better.

One of my coffee buddies calls me "Pothole Bob" because there are so many potholes out there and the cold, wet weather we've had accentuates it. If somebody sees a pothole, take a picture of it and send it to Public Works. ... They're in the process right now of formulating a five-year plan for asphalt and concrete repairs. It will be done, but it just takes time. You have to be patient.

Kinder: First of all, we have to acknowledge that most people think of our streets when we talk about infrastructure. It involves more than just our streets, but that's a big one. Our Public Works department deals with a whole host of things: trash, recycling, stormwater maintenance, wastewater treatment, water. ...

In talking it through with our city staff, I think the main infrastructure problem is staffing. We can have all these excellent plans in place, and we can even have the funding in place to tackle them, but if we don't have the people actually doing the work to get them done, then that's it. We might as well not have the money.

What we're seeing is, with our current staffing issues in the Public Works department, work is just taking longer. I've been told that what might typically take six or seven days is maybe taking eight or nine. That's a big issue we have to keep an eye on.

If you're elected, the current iteration of the Transportation Trust Fund, TTF6, will end during your term in 2025. In your opinion, should voters be asked to renew it?

Fox: It's been renewed six times. Over those six times, we will have spent almost $150 million on our streets in one form or another. About 60% of that money is paid for by people who don't even live here. They come to Cape Girardeau and spend money on things and drive on our streets, so they should help fix them. ...

We've got to continue this. For our next TTF, I know one new [project] that will be in there will be to finish the southern part of Veterans Memorial Drive. I guarantee you, five years from now, [streets] will be a lot better than they are now. It's vital that we continue this to keep making our streets better.

Kinder: We have found that this is the only way we can expect to take on these large projects. I think our community has seen them work six times now. Obviously, the responsibility is on the city to continue to fulfill the promises we make to the public when we pass these initiatives.

With the price tags for these various projects, we understand and I think the community understands that this is not just something we can pay for annually. It has to come through a well-structured, well-organized, well-funded program.

So, yes. I fully expect we will continue to do this type of funding for these projects.

With citywide staff shortages, what can the city do to get and retain workers to carry out infrastructure projects?

Fox: When we passed the use tax, the first thing staff did was come to us with what we think is a sustainable compensation plan. We can't [carry out the plan] until we get the money. We were a little innovative when we used money saved from unfilled positions and the extra money from sales tax collected during the pandemic to give every employee a $1,500 net bonus before Christmas. That was over $700,000 in costs. That's all we can do now, but our compensation plan starts July 1. On July 1, everybody gets a 5.5% raise. On July 1, 2023, that goes up another 5.5%.

People have to realize we have a limited budget. ... We won't start getting the real use tax money until July 1, 2023. We'll have to collect that for a year to see how much it's going to be so we can budget for the future.

Kinder: One aspect of it [staffing shortage] is the salary structure. We're seeing all sorts of businesses raising their salaries as a way to attract and better retain workers, and this type of work is no exception. I think all of our city departments say people are leaving and going into different kinds of work completely. ...

We spent a good part of last year trying to generate public support for the internet use tax. It passed, thankfully. It needed to pass because the operational budget of our city government was suffering because of the lack of that tax. Where we see that affected this the most is our employee salaries.

All of our city departments are too low in numbers. We can debate which department might be more important ... but it's all impacted. I think we as a city just need to keep that as our huge focus.

Do you think the City of Cape Girardeau does enough to address stormwater maintenance? If not, what needs to be done?

Fox: Our biggest problem with stormwater maintenance is the infiltration and flow problem we had with stormwater getting into our sewer system. Every time we have a huge rain, I hear it all the time: "Is the city at fault for this?"

Well, the system has been there for 100 years in a lot of places, and it's been there for 50 years in a lot of places. People are going to get backups because of the way our system is designed. We have spent a considerable amount of money trying to correct those. We've got another $3 million budgeted out of COVID funds to correct that. But again, it's not something you can just jump into and fix them all just like that. It takes time and a plan.

Kinder: There are always stormwater issues. You can look on the city website and find the PRS2 details, and there are a lot of large projects included in that. I think our city does a great job of keeping a good eye on major stormwater issues. Are there some that are still not being addressed? Yes, unfortunately, there are. It's big, extensive work and we can't address everything 100% of the time at all times.

We're using a lot of money through COVID recovery funds to take on a very important, but very unknown issue we have. As I understand it, there was a study done several years ago that identified a huge problem with our sewer and stormwater system. Too much rainwater or flood water was seeping into our sewer system. Our water treatment facilities were then processing all this extra rainwater in addition to what was in our sewer system.

They determined two main areas of work needed to be done in our mainlines and manholes to the tune of almost $3 million, which doesn't even cover the entire problem but it's a good start.

What infrastructure needs do you think the City of Cape Girardeau does a good job in providing?

Fox: We've done a great job with identifying the structures we've had to replace or renovate. If you look at the last few years, we've built a new police station, we have a new fire station, we've renovated other fire stations, we have a new City Hall and we're getting ready to have a new airport terminal and tower.

Infrastructure wise, I think we're in great shape. The big thing we need to focus on is stormwater issues and streets. ... I'll do my best when we get a five year plan set for asphalt and concrete repair to make the list public so people know what it is and where the repairs are going to happen.

Kinder: I'm very supportive of everything we've been talking about. I think there's a lot of great work and foresight and planning that goes into all this. ...

There's always room for improvement. I think there are some issues we have kind of looming that I think we need to begin discussion about. I think we should start thinking about digital access and connectivity. Everything you read about — business development, expansion and recruitment — hinges on that.

As we look into a future where more and more people need high-speed internet for everything they do, especially as people are working from home, does that need to become a more well thought out part of our city infrastructure? I would say yes.