No Mayor? No County Executive?

[yokes]

caught this article in the news today, I think its eye opening when you look at just how different other areas do things and the success they have. As I've stated before there needs to be wholesale change on all sides of the fence in this area to get us going. Here is a good idea (IMO) for the managemnet side.

Click for full Article

[WNYresident]

Imagine it's the year 2015, and the person running the metro government that includes Erie County and the City of Buffalo has a slew of qualifications, except one: He or she is not a politician but rather a trained professional in the art of running a government and delivering services. So how did she get the job? She was hired, not elected.

My point exactly, SKILLS required in the art of delivering services.

Before i put my foot in my mouth is there one town superivisor/mayor that acutally ever had real business experience. I DON'T consider a paper that says you a lawyer business experience either. I mean acutal "I have owned" or "I have worked for" type experience.

[WNYresident]

This is cool as long as the council itself isn't a bunch of political Puppets for the unions/developers.

The manager's role

Functioning much like a business organization's chief executive officer, the appointed professional manager oversees the community's daily operations and, through a professional staff, ensures the provision of essential services and the effective implementation of the elected officials' policies. He or she uses merit, not political affiliation, as the leading criterion for making all hiring and personnel decisions.

Typically the manager has the clear authority to:

• Hire and terminate all senior officers and staff members.

• Direct and supervise the administration of all departments, offices and agencies.

• Purchase all goods, supplies, equipment and services required by the government, consistent with state and local laws.

• Prepare an annual budget and financial plan for consideration by the council.

• Administer and enforce all contracts involving the local government.

• Enforce all laws adopted by the council.

Managers who are members of ICMA adhere to a strict code of ethics, which requires that they totally refrain from participation in all political activities, including the election of employing officials.

Managers are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the elected officials. They do not have guaranteed terms of office or tenure and are evaluated on their responsiveness to the elected officials and the community as well as their ability to manage and deliver efficient and effective services. They may be terminated at any time if they are not responsive to the elected officials. The cliche among city managers is that they "run for office every two weeks" (at the bi-monthly council meeting).

[WNYresident]

The end of patronage

Under the council-manager form of government, qualifications and performance - not skillful navigation of the political election process - are the criteria that elected officials use to select a professional, non-political, manager. The manager, in turn, uses his or her education, experience and training to select department heads and other key managers to oversee the efficient delivery of services. In this way the council-manager government maintains critical checks and balances to ensure accountability.

Removing the chief administrator and senior executives of local government from the political process ensures that governmental services are delivered based upon need and the overall best interest of the community and not political influence. Simply put, this eliminates the "to the victor belongs the spoils" system of governance that hearkens back to the days of Andrew Jackson.

[morphinebrian]

what about accountability?

don't you think that the manager could be a political hack as well, getting his/her friends on one side of the leg, to hire him/her.

the article states other successful areas that implement this system, but, a lot of those areas are successful for other reasons that have nothing to do with the political system. austin, tx, for instance, is successful for the abundance of available land within city limits, a major university inside the city, etc.

[citymouse]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by morphinebrian
[B]what about accountability?

don't you think that the manager could be a political hack as well, getting his/her friends on one side of the leg, to hire him/her.



That is exactly what would happen here.
In practice we have no Mayor or County Exec. now. Just two buffoons that have the title and draw the pay. There is no leadership from either one. Masiello is the worst of the pair but the other guy isn't much better.

[morphinebrian]

but at least we, the people, have the ability to hire/fire the mayor, county executive directly. with a manager system, everything would become backroom political deals.

[Night Owl]

I have never heard of this type of managed government. Maybe having a 'by-the-book boss' to run the city could have it's advantages. I'm seeing this in the light of a retail store manager to get the sense of similarity. I'm still going to have to research more of this to give a total opinion.

I do have a question, which may not be related to this, but I have to ask anyway.

Aren't 'management' positions non-union workers? I heard a lot of how the management of Oneida (Buffalo China) was able to maintain their jobs through some sort of takeover process while the unionized employees were all let go.

[Curmudgeon]

Perhaps we can get a group of people to run the city/county.

A group of people with histories of being in business and managing large organizations.

A group that is free from the influence of unions, developers, or any other special interests.

A group that doesn't have to worry about running for office and geting tossed out by those special interests when they don't give then what they want.

What shall we call this group?

Who about a CONTROL BOARD.

What? we already have one? Oh, that's great. I guess we got what we needed....

[Night Owl]

I was talking with someone the other day on this topic and he gave an opinion that I thought I'd share.

(to paprphrase) In having 'managed' government, we lose the most important thing, our representation of choice in a free country. We will no longer have democracy, it's a violation of our right to a free government, and it's taking away our freedom of speach rights.

He fears there will be taxation without representation.

Any thoughts?

[WNYresident]

We got that now. I know i didn't have any representative of mine sign labor contracts that didn't have caps on pension fund contributions and/or health insurance cost. I wouldn't do that with my own employees more or less expect any representative of mine to do the same. I never realized the spot our elected officials put us tax payers in.

I could see a SLIGHT change in cost but not unlimited what ever it cost type benefits.

[Publius]

Originally posted by Night Owl

In having 'managed' government, we lose the most important thing, our representation of choice in a free country. We will no longer have democracy, it's a violation of our right to a free government, and it's taking away our freedom of speach rights.

I think the one issue many people overlook and that the BuffNews did effectively illustrate is the fact that elected county legislatures or any elected executive still set policy, effect laws, pass budgets, etc... it's the role of the manager to implement those orders and maintain the day to day work of handling employees, payroll, disciplining and all the rest, not acting as some Maharajah or Erie County.

Those people who say that because a manager acts in an executive role and isn't elected it's a threat to democracy, ignore or distort the fact that the manager is still selected by each of our duly elected legislators. Indirect yes, but who says indirect elections are anathema to democracy? Can you say that Tony Blair is stifling democracy in Britain because no citizen voted for him as Prime Minister? Or what about any President in the last 200+ years who gets chosen by the electoral college?

Finally, what has always bothered me about this argument is the position that the system of Erie County is simply so corrupt that a manager post would be no different than say... a member of the Water Authority. In Niagara County's last search for a county manager, only one resident of WNY was even in the top three finalists. In hiring any registered town, city or county manager, managers are *banned* from political activity, involving oneself in party membership. Lot more than we can say of our current system.

Just my take

[Curmudgeon]

The problem isn't rooted in direct elections of executive positions. It's who WE elect and why WE elect them! WE (the people of WNY) are entirely to blame for the problems we have.

It's a cultural thing and it goes back many generations.

We keep on electing populist/progressive candidates that promise us things that they are unable to deliver (Like Hilary and her 200,000 new jobs - remember?). Election cycle after election cycle, we get the same empty promises and vote for the same type of candidate. When they are unable to deliver, we blame others, like capitalists and brown people in third world countries...

In the City of Buffalo there are so many people work for the city, no candidate would ever get elected who promises real reform of city operations. That's why there's a control board.

To fiddle with the process of how executive positions are filled is to deny the reality of what is occuring: a population that largely refuses to make mature and realistic decisions about how their region is operated.

The fact is, WNY can't operate in the LBJ "great society" mode it has been. The rest of the world just won't tolerate it. Until WE wake up and change, the problems will still be there, even if we randomly pick our next county executive out of the phone book....

[Night Owl]

In hiring any registered town, city or county manager, managers are *banned* from political activity, involving oneself in party membership. Lot more than we can say of our current system.

This would put an end to political parties for a specific position- ie. county executive, mayor ect. Would my friend be correct in saying our rights of democracy would be violated with a managed government?

Like I said before in this thread, I haven't heard of managed governing and I'm trying to gather as much information as I can before rendering an educated opinion.

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Curmudgeon,

All around, excellent reply post