HomeMy WebLinkAboutRoysCorrespondence
Enclosed is the rough draft of the "White Paper" for Item 4 a. I am not sure
what a White Paper consists of but I want to be clear that before anything is
released as the position of this committee (which is the unsigned paper
containing the present policy of an agency) we should first have our
consultanCs view and also should be confident of all the facts on which we
rely.
"White Paper" for Item 4 a: Mayor/Council/City ManagerNeto
Having volunteered to write a "White Paper" on this subject, I took
about two hours this morning and came up with this rough draft.
MAYOR AND COUNCIL Under the present charter, all powers of
this city are vested in an elected mayor and in a 6-member elected city
council. The mayor presides over the city council and can vote only to break
a tie.
VETO The present charter purports to grant the mayor authority to
veto any ordinance, ''measure'', or "resolution" when passed by the council,
and the council may over-ride the veto by a 2/3 vote. A 2/3 vote consists of 4
of the six councilors, which is ordinarily the same as the simple majority
required to pass the ordinance in the first place. Therefore the votes to over-
ride being already committed, the veto is rare, and so far as memory of the
people involved, has not been used in Ashland. However, the question will be
dealt with below.
ELECTED MAYOR AND "CITY ADMINISTRATOR" To exercise
the administrative (executive) power of the city the city council is specifically
authorized by charter to appoint a city administrator. However this same
charter also provides that the elected mayor is
"the executive officer of officer of the municipal corporation and shall
exercise careful supervision over the general affairs of the city and
over appointed officers" ;
and, further,
''that the mayor may remove any appointive officer at any time."
Thus a person in the position of the city administrator must be
responsible to the council for the administration of the entire city but lacks
the no authority to carry outthat function. This unity of command issue
needs to be resolved.
NEED TO RESOLVE CONFLICTS. These conflicts and
contradictions in the charter cause impossible problems and the following
simple changes are proposed in order to simplify the city charter and to
clarify it.
PROPOSED CHARTER (adapted from the League of Oregon Cities)
Model. Under the proposed charter all the powers of the city are expressly
vested in a city cOWlcil consisting of six elected councilors and an elected
mayor. Thus the mayor is part of the council. The mayor presides over the
council and has a right to vote on all matters properly before the coWlcil, and
is the political head of the city government; this is because the mayor
controls or strongly influences the agenda. Thus the mayor has no executive
power except as part of the city council. There is no provision for a mayoral
veto in the draft so far proposed. However, the power to veto by the elected
mayor is traditional in cities and could be included if properly limited. This
will be dealt with below. (See footnote below)
CITY MANAGER. The proposed charter provides for the
appointment of a city manager, who is charged with the responsibility of
carrying out in detail all the powers and ftmctions of city government and city
enterprises, in accordance with policies set by the city council, and by the
provisions of ordinances and state law. In the modern world this covers a h a
very wide range of skills, knowledge and ability, and such a person must be
appointed by the council on the basis of the ability to supervise officers and .
employees. Widely varying personnel must be supervised: police, planning,
building, utilities, airports, fife protection, engineering, fiscal records, and the
planning construction and care of public facilities.
Thus the city manager must have the authority necessary to accomplish
the ftmctions for which he has to assume responsibility.
But the city manager under this proposed form of charter may be
terminated by the city cOWlcil at any time by a simple :::9~ Vol This
example of checks and balances is key to the power oflocal officials elected
by the people (This carries a price tag. A professional city manager can be
expected to negotiate a contract providing for reasonable compensation for a
no-fault severance before he moves his family to Ashland).
Roy Bashaw
Footnotel:The veto. Thing. However it is possible for an ordinance to be
passed by a minimum quorum (dermed as the mayor plus 3 councilors) and a
minimwn vote ("a majority of the members of the council present at a
council meeting") and still not have the built in 4-member over-ride vote/(
VIIT-9 , IV3). But if the veto is retained, the kinks need to be taken out. For
example the veto has to be clearly limited to legislative acts;
'Footnote 2. This paper has been written in reliance on:
Present Charter: Art IV, See 3,4
Art VIII Sections 1,2,47,8
Art XIII Sections 1,3
League of Oregon Cities Model
Chapter III, Sections 7,8,12,13
ChapterVm see 33
\\