With the General Elections taking place in a week, two of the candidates had a chance to answer questions from the public and make their cases on why they should be Mayor of Cape Girardeau.
On March 28th, current Mayor, Bob Fox, and opposing candidate, Stacy Kinder, gave their thoughts and voiced their opinions at the Mayoral Debate on a variety of topics, including infrastructure improvements, public safety, city employee recruitment, and budget concerns.
The event was hosted by the Cape Girardeau Downtown Rotary Club, as well as the Cape Girardeau Public Library.
Running for his second term, Bob Fox addressed the issues Cape Girardeau is facing. To him, one of the biggest issues is making sure there are enough workers. He’s hopeful that compensation will help attract workers from both in and out of Cape Girardeau.
“Right now, our biggest focus is just trying to hire enough people in every department. We’re hopeful that when our new compensation plan starts in July, that’ll be some help. You know, it costs less to live here, our taxes are lower. We’ve got to look at the big picture to draw people to Cape Girardeau”
Ward 6 City Council Member, Stacy Kinder, is running against Fox for mayor. The two have worked together, and during the debate, Kinder had stated that she and Fox agree on a majority of issues relating to the city they work for. If elected, Kinder wants to focus on Cape Girardeau and make sure that there is proper funding to operate the city, as well as meeting directly with community leaders to discuss their concerns and find solutions.
“Addressing public safety and infrastructure needs. The first and foremost priority I have there is in making sure that our operating budget is able to provide for well-trained, well-paid staff that can do the essential work that we need”
Brought up in the debate multiple times, was the proposed Cape Girardeau Marina, the feasibility study and funding for the project, if it were to be approved.
The General Election will be held on April 5th. On the Cape Girardeau ballot, voters will decide on the next mayor of their city, as well as school board and city council members for wards one, two and six.
Along with Fox and Kinder, Michelle Latham was been approved as an official write-in candidate, however, she did not speak during the debate.
The debate lasted from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. You can listen to the debate in its entirety here.
