Councilmember Margaret Morris (First Ward) suggested that, given the mayor and mayoral aide are now both full-time positions with salaries totaling $130,000, it might be time to consider restructuring city government and think about having a city manager instead of a mayor. Councilmember Vicky Daskaloudi (Fifth Ward) similarly suggested that a committee be created to explore other ways of structuring city government. In the past, Daskaloudi has suggested reducing the number of councilmembers to five--one from each ward instead of two from each ward.
Council president Tom DePietro said he had always thought a charter commission was needed to think about other structures, but he warned, "A city manager is not quite the silver bullet that people think it is." He went on, "It has definite, in my opinion, anti-democratic implications. You don't trust the election process to bring in someone who can competently do the things a city manager does. Do you think a city manager somehow has some kind of magic sense of how to manage things? It doesn't really work like that. But that's my opinion now. I could be convinced otherwise. In any case, it would also take a referendum."
The videorecording of the meeting can be viewed here.
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Why is Depietro giving his opinion? Why does he think anyone cares what his opinion about this is or how it is helpful? It doesn't matter what he thinks. Already doing his best to trash the idea. He talks too much. Always.
ReplyDeleteWho suggested we needed a "Silver bullet," Tom? No one did. How about a professional rather than a Mayor with zero qualifications or experience managing anything and his hand picked random guy who may or may not have the ability to manage. We just want better, Tom, not a silver bullet. There's too much at stake to continue as is. Plus, plenty of other municipalities go the manager route and do just fine with it. They weren't looking for a silver bullet, either. B Huston