Donna Jefferson, the publisher of Chesapeake Family magazine has sent in a piece concerning the city manager issue which I have posted below and have provided a response in which I try to address her questions.
Hi Paul,
I'm wondering what the heck the City Administrator does. Wouldn't he be the go to guy for day-to-day city operations? Does Annapolis need both a city manager and a city administrator? Isn't that duplicating jobs?
I haven't commented on the city manager issue yet but clearly the running of the city is not being well attended to and I'm not convinced that a city manager is the answer when it seems to be there are already people employed, aside from the mayor, who should be responsible for the daily tasks. What is the real problem? Can anyone supply the answer? Is Ellen too controlling that she wants to put her stamp of approval on every little thing (I doubt this to be the case)? Or is the city employing people who aren't doing their jobs? Are there a few key people who aren't up to par and Ellen just won't fire them? I've been running my own business for almost 20 years now and know that it is essential to get the right people working in the right jobs or you have nothing but problems.
There have been so many mistakes over the last few years, the market house and police station just to mention two. Not getting paychecks out to employees is a basic function that should be a no-brainer. While Ellen is ultimately responsible, she didn't make those blunders by herself. I would imagine she had plenty of help and advice. Who?
Annapolis residents want a quick solution to what is probably a very complicated problem and I'm not sure a City Manager is the answer unless we can figure out what the real problems are.
Thanks
Donna
Donna Jefferson
Publisher
CHESAPEAKE FAMILY
929 West Street, Suite 210
Annapolis, MD 21401
Publisher
CHESAPEAKE FAMILY
929 West Street, Suite 210
Annapolis, MD 21401
TEL 410.263.1641 X200
FAX 410.280.0255
FAX 410.280.0255
Home, Health & Living for Today’s Parent
Dear Donna
These are all good questions and I appreciate that you have posed them to CP.
There are several differences between a city administrator such as we have now, and a city manager, which many of us desire. They are however, mutually exclusive. Nobody intends to have both--it is an either/or proposition. The major difference is that the city administrator serves at the pleasure of the mayor while a city manager will serve at the pleasure of the council. Sparing the detail, one can see why this is a major difference. A city manager form of government separates politics and policy from management and operations. A city administrator allows for politics and management to mingle. In a city manager form of government, the manager, in concert with council, is responsible for preparing the budget, which will then be modified, amended and approved by the council, which will include the mayor of course. Currently the mayor both proposes and then votes on the budget. And yes, the manager would be the go-to person for day-to-day operations and THEORETICALLY the current city administrator would be the go-to guy as well, but he is serving as the acting director of public works.......
In regard to the many complicated questions in your second paragraph, please keep in mind that this is not exclusively about or in response to the current mayor or her administration. Thousands of cities employ city managers, but in my opinion, there are a few main reasons why this is preferable to a mayoral form of government. One--they mayor is elected on popularity and rarely had the managerial or executive or public administration experience to manage the affairs of a complex bureaucracy while a manager does. Two-the manager form is more likely to base decisions and actions on managerial needs and functions and not on politics--perhaps not perfectly, but certainly it is more likely than not. Three-this returns power to the council and maintains a crucial form of checks and balances which we have been sorely lacking for years. Furthermore, department heads currently report to the mayor (and possibly the city administrator too--but he serves at the pleasure of the mayor) a political figure and as stated above, one not necessarily versed in budget, finance or administrative skills. Whether department heads are good managers or leaders is not the issue, but the issue is whether they are well-led and well-managed.
As for the third paragraph, decisions made in this administration are based on whatever suited the mayor the day they were made. From where does she get help and advice? From her buddies, the people she appoints and maintains, and from whatever idea bit her in the butt that morning but I can tell you from a lot of experience that it is not from listening to those that know more than she does. That's about all I can tell you.
Finally, you write, "Annapolis residents want a quick solution to what is probably a very complicated problem and I'm not sure a City Manager is the answer unless we can figure out what the real problems are." I believe it is quite clear what the problems are and I don't think anyone sees this as a "quick solution" as it has been studied, debated and considered for many years and as stated above, it is working in thousands of cities, most of the cities in Maryland in fact have city manager forms of government. The current mayor is very controlling and spends much of her time on horses and trees and sister cities and nobody can stop her. If a city manager were incompetent, a majority of council members could terminate the contract thus perhaps sealing the fate of the manager from ever being hired elsewhere--except in the case of Ellen's hand-picked pal Mike Malinoff, former city manager of Newport, RI for whom she created a brand new department. And I would imagine she does listen to him a good bit, which may very well be part of our problem here. The other problems are hyper-politicization of everything, no clear controls over leases, contracts or budget, ineptitude, mismanagement, callousness and arrogance, appointment of under-qualified people as political favors....shall I go on?
And remember, the petition currently circulating is about taking it to vote, not about whether you support the change or not--but whether you support taking it to the people. Please visit abccitymanager.org for more information and thanks for writing and thanks for putting out Chesapeake Family every month!
Please send comments, subscribe, share with your friends, and support our sponsors.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment