Chamber to mull running Cape CVB

Mayor Jay Knudtson isn't endorsing the plan yet, but he wants the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce to look at running the city's Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

At this week's Cape Girardeau City Council meeting, Knudtson told the council he has asked the chamber to look at how feasible it is for it to run a group that has been under city direction for years.

Knudtson said the city would let the chamber run the CVB, charged with bolstering tourism in Cape Girardeau, and pay the chamber to do so. He said the chamber would be under contract to run the CVB. Knudtson said he thought of the idea after CVB director Terri Clark-Bauer recently left the post. He said the city could likely save the cost of the executive director's salary as well as put the job into the hands of experts who know how to do it.

"I feel passionate about this," Knudtson said. "The city's function is to do the best job it can to supply services, but that isn't necessarily the job of the CVB. It doesn't lend itself to the aggressiveness and marketing that allows CVB to do what it does."

Chamber president John Mehner said it could be a positive move. "We have to make sure we're on the same page," Mehner said. "There are a lot of things to look at." Mehner said if the council wants him to take it to the board, he will.

Councilman Matt Hopkins said he thought it was an idea worth studying.

"The chamber is already our ambassador to the world," Hopkins said. "They're experts on everything that the CVB already does."