You Say You Want A Revolution: Redux
Photo by Sharyn Brunner via Flickr
Well, you know.
We all want to change the world.
Before you read on, take a gander at my recounting of a Buffalo mayoral debate held in August 2005.
Buffalo City Councilman Joe Golombek is concerned that Buffalo’s current form of government has been in existence since 1927, and it hasn’t exactly set the world on fire with excellence. At least, not since Buffalo’s mid-20th century heyday.
Golombek invited Darnell Earley, the city manager for Saginaw, MI, and incoming President of the International City/County Manager Association, to speak to the media, city government, and the people of Buffalo about the possibility of adopting a manager/council form of city government.
Golombek, together with Jimmy Griffin, first proposed a city manager back during the Masiello days. The proposal went nowhere, but he’s determined to try and get needed changes to the city charter before Buffalo voters sooner rather than later.
Earley stresses that in order to reform how government is managed, you have to introduce merit and professionalism. Instead, the system we have now invites patronage, nepotism, and “pay to play”. A full-time, professional city manager handles the day to day operations of a municipality, enabling the mayor to become more of an ambassador for the city.
Think of Buffalo and Erie County, and you think of our deeply divided politics. And that’s just in the Democratic Party. The hyper-political environment extant in both governments breeds a lot of stuff, but little of it is positive. While there’s nothing wrong with partisan politics, when it comes down to actually managing the city, what experience do our elected officials have in actually doing that? Earley likened Buffalo to a corporation with a $500 million budget – which it technically is. We entrust the executive branch to Byron Brown, who went from the city council to the state senate, managing a staff in the single digits all along the way. Then, when he becomes mayor, all of a sudden he’s managing thousands of people, and hundreds of millions of dollars.
What if the city could hire an experienced, credentialed professional to do that?
Earley explains that, as city manager, he is on the front lines 24/7, handling the concerns and needs of city officials, citizens, and city departments as they come, without regard to partisan politics or turf. His performance is tracked and measured. His knowledge base includes training and education in public administration, government finance, the law, economics, business development, and human resources.
The only issues are service-oriented. Not political.
Although you would retain a political system to set policy, it would be the administrator’s job to run things – the nuts and bolts of it. There are three competing dynamics under a city manager system; political, administrative, and community. Under our system, the political and administrative are joined, and that causes a lot of our problems. Do our elected officials have to adhere to any ethical standards or receive continuing education? An ICMA-trained manager does.
In order to do this, a referendum must be held. A vote by 5 councilmembers brings one about, and if the mayor vetoes it, 6 total votes on the council are needed.
Back when there was talk of hiring a county manager, one of the big concerns had to do with candidate selection. Earley explains that municipalities retain headhunters to find qualified candidates, and the mayor and each councilmember get one vote.
But remember when the city hired someone to manage CitiStat, and she didn’t last long in part due to the political atmosphere in City Hall? One of the changes to the charter would make it a misdemeanor for elected or appointed political officials to interfere in the city manager’s day to day operations. That means a department head can’t try and strong-arm the city manager to do anything or hire anyone based on political backscratching or other reasons. It would be a crime.
OK, so let’s say the city council passes this, and the referendum is put before the people. You can imagine that loads of unions and special interests will balk at a system that doesn’t play favorites. They’ll mount a massive anti-manager advertising campaign. Personalities in government may join in. While certainly some people or groups (Carl Paladino? Responsible New York?) could potentially advocate for the proposal, it’s important when doing so to avoid criticizing individuals and naming names. Instead, promote the ideals of reform, progress, a better way to run the city free from political failure and favoritism.
Audio from Earley’s remarks to members of the media before we ordered lunch:
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UPDATE: I said I’d weigh in after you guys did. All 8 of you.
I think a professional city & county manager is an idea whose time has come. Buffalo and Western New York are so hyper-politicized that when people try to do the right thing, vultures from the other side are waiting to gnaw on their dead carcasses, if they’re not actively participating in the killing. In the county, it’s Repubs vs. Dems. In the city it’s Hoyt – Lenihanistan vs. Casey – Pigeonistas.
It’s all fun and games until someone actually has to run a government.
And then what? What is the skillset that an elected politician brings to the table that enables him to operate a billion-dollar business like county government or a half-billion dollar business like the city? Yes, Chris Collins has run companies, but he’s run into some obstacles due to the fact that when you run a privately-held company, you’re the king. When you run county government, you’re co-equal with the legislature. Byron Brown was a legislator who ran a small staff with a small budget when he was on the city council and in the state senate. If you’ll recall, the only legislation he ever submitted in the senate had to do with re-naming some streets.
By using a professional manager in addition to an elected figurehead mayor, we can ensure that politics becomes a de minimis part of the overall governmental equation. By hiring a certified, trained, experienced professional, decisions relating to the operation of city government are done through objective criteria. Demone Smith’s outbursts about bonding issues would no longer happen. Yes, there would be a cost involved, but overall the savings derived from having someone at the helm who actually knows what the hell he’s doing would offset it.
If you combine an effective use of CitiStat (we don’t have that now – it’s just a dog & pony show) with a professional city manager, you get measurable results that will be evaluated on a continual basis.
On the county side, I don’t see the point of a County Executive as a “figurehead”. There’s just no point. Although I think county government needs extinction rather than reform, by subtracting politics and personal political or financial interest from the equation of running the county, we get less nonsense. Seriously, the county only controls a very small portion of its annual budget anyway. We pay a great many people a great many dollars to decide how to spend 10% of its annual budget, the remainder being pre-ordained. Think of it this way – there seems to be zero political will in county government right now to implement performance-based budgeting. This despite the fact that the people of Erie County overwhelmingly voted in favor of it in 2007 when the charter was revised. If we had a professional city manager, the law would be implemented. Now? It’s a political pain in the ass and no one feels like doing it, so it doesn’t get done.
I am sick and tired of elected politicians having to concentrate more on donor constituencies rather than actual constituencies. A professional manager does not have that concern.
As a final selling point, the fact that political interference with the manager’s duties becomes a punishable crime guarantees that politics stays out of governing.
Both the county and the city need to take a step back, look at our governing situation with some detached objectivity, and realize that professionalism and accountability is what’s needed here. Not worrying whether, at the end of the day, the winner is Pigeon, Lenihan, or Domagalski.
16 Comments
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I’ve seen studies on this and it would most certainly be a positive change. However, there’s a fat chance of this happening considering the political culture embedded here.
I don’t know that it would help much. The citizens of Buffalo favor intrusive and oppressive governments. It seems that a city manager would just make all of that intrusiveness and oppression more efficient.
City/County Manager system was born in the South, Actually in Stafford VA in the 20’s. Many Southern counties and cities have this system.
I saw a comment on Reform NYS that said the City Manager system promotes regionalism. Can’t see how. My county in NC has a County Manager and a Board of Commissioners. The City of Lincolnton has a City Council, a Mayor and a City manager. Both city council and county commissioners work well with the professional manager.
Best part of this system for Buffalo would be that they could hire an experienced, educated, professional government manager from another part of the country that has NO TIES to the Buffalo/Erie County Democrat Machine, that has held power over the area for over 50 years. The Manager is beholden to no person, lobbying interest or special interest group.
So instead of the Mayor and members of the Common Council filling thier pockets with campaign cash from groups that would just as soon see the city crumble so long as their cash cows remain sacred, perhaps some honest people could be put into office that would have to get any pet projects past the manager.
I’ve known Joe Golombek since before he went to grade school, he lived around the corner from me in Riverside, and still lives in the same house. He’s one smart guy, and always has been.
I’ve corresponded with him regularly over the past 4 years, and one thing I know for certain–he loves the City and truly has its best interests, and those of the people in his district at heart.
It’s way past time the citizens of Buffalo listened to a voice of reason, and I think right now that voice belongs to Joe. God knows you’ll get no reason out of the Mayor, or the Mayor before him.
I think that the biggest concern about something like this is that we add another layer and another salary. We’ll probably have to staff the Manager’s office…add more payroll and benefits. Sadly, we currently pay someone to manage the city and the county. They just don’t do it well.
What would the mayor’s job be in this arrangement?
Re adding another layer of management, perhaps this would be offset by greater effectiveness or efficiency in other areas.
Re the unions, we don’t know how they would see this. They might prefer dealing with someone who doesn’t have a personal agenda or personal vendettas. A system that plays favorites also plays non-favorites.
This would be a massive improvement. By far the biggest impediment to progress in Buffalo is the ineptness of government. Poor public management = bloated union contracts, gridlock on development, streets that can’t get paved or plowed, and suburban waterfront hotels. Joe Golombek is right – let’s do it.
This could be a way to try to bring back more professionalism in running government. In My Fair City, we had a city-manager form of government until we switched to a “strong mayor” system about 25 years ago. As it turned out, the first one elected mayor was the former city manager, and he pretty much ran things the same way. And that set the tone which the two successor mayors have largely followed, thank God. That’s the closest firsthand knowledge I have of what a city government would look like under a city manager, and it looks good to me.
It would be interesting to see how this might play out in a mayoral election year. As far as getting citizen support (petition or ballot initiative), it strikes me that Kevin Gaughan would be the most likely to rally his ground forces to the banner and help with that. But what about Mickey Kearns, if he runs for mayor — would he advocate for eliminating an office he’s striving to be elected to–? What if he were to make a bargain with voters: if I’m elected your mayor, and Council votes to hold a referendum, I’ll approve it — and even support it (or not oppose it) — even if it means the elimination of my job–? In other words, a vote for Mickey is a vote to hold a referendum on a City Hall housecleaning–?
Given the ambivalent-at-best view Buffalonians have had toward City Hall ever since I’ve known anything about the city (going back to tail end of the Griffin years), it would be hard to imagine Buffalo voters not overwhelmingly pulling the YES, DAMMIT!! lever for anything presented to them as an opportunity for significant change, despite what any union boss, political crony, or TeeVee ad tries to tell them to the contrary.
Pundit, ya think–?
Hank — every reason you give is a reason the pols and unions won’t let it happen.
As far as deciding the mayor’s role under the new system? Let him do the only thing he does now — model business suits.
“We entrust the executive branch to Byron Brown, who went from the city council to the state senate, managing a staff in the single digits all along the way. Then, when he becomes mayor, all of a sudden he’s managing thousands of people, and hundreds of millions of dollars.”
BP – you do realize that people have been making the same comment about another insufficiently-experienced national elected official? Based on the same types of rookie mistakes? If only Buffalo had its own six-week stock market plunge of 2,000 points, the comparison would be pretty much complete. Oh, wait–20,000 vacant houses make the same point.
Thanks for your additional .02 Alan. As usual when it comes to local issues, we’re on the same wavelength.
As Ross Perot said in 1992—Just because you can run a convienence store, doesn’t mean you can be CEO of Wal-Mart.
That quote pretty much sums up the Byron Brown Administration. Led by an inexperienced, empty suit—who was elected with much more emphasis on the level of melanin in his skin, rather than his executive experience.
For Donn Esmonde’s column before the last mayoral election with banner “It’s Time Buffalo had a Black Mayor”—He should take Sen. Grassley’s advice—Bow before the people and say he’s sorry, or just go jump off a nice tall building or the like.
One must also question the intellect of the majority of the 33% of registered voters who actually BOTHERED to go vote in the last Buffalo Mayoral election. Somehow I think that mirrored the African American turnout in the last presidential election.
The city that is the county seat where I live has about 20,000 total residents—Mayor is a part time job that pays about 20K a year, and there was a 65% voter turnout on a cold and rainy November day.
Anyone that has more than 10 brain cells up there needs to realize that professional management of both the city and the county is the only way to bring some sense of order to the constant political rhetoric that causes the gridlock and the senseless spending.
Alan’s statement: “that professionalism and accountability is what’s needed here. Not worrying whether, at the end of the day, the winner is Pigeon, Lenihan, or Domagalski. ”
—That’s the biggest and best mouthful I think I’ve ever seen you write.
Thirty miles east on the thruway http://www.batavianewyork.com/city_manager.html...
That’s a small example but may be useful for study.
You’re right on about the county. Most of it’s functions are to administer state mandated programs. I believe we explored how the old board of supervisors worked prior to 1960 a few years ago and there wasn’t much discussion or commenting. That may be something to discuss again.
Buffalo’s heyday was in the early 20th century. It was pretty much downhill after McKinley was shot.
“It was pretty much downhill after McKinley was shot.”
Ain’t that the truth.
We still have the market on meat heads who have to scream “BUFFALO” at every concert, funny I never have to endure anyone yelling Rochester at concerts there.
‘“It was pretty much downhill after McKinley was shot.’
Ain’t that the truth.”
No – no it isnt. Buffalo experienced much of its population growth in the 50 years following McKinley’s death. Not too much of a curse if it takes 5 decades for its effects to be felt. Of course, population is just one measure.
City manager theory is a mirage. All it does is add another layer of bureaucratic staff. Staff that is not accountable to the voters but rather the political bosses that hire them. It dramatically decreases democracy and further instills the current status quo of government existing for the benefit of the city employees and not the citizens.
Look at the schools. There is a Supt, but everone knows that Tom Runmore andthe BTF run the Buffalo Schools and reap the financial benefits of it.
WNY’s problem is the myriad of bureaucracy and public employee fiefdoms. Our elected officials do not have the power to make any of the structural changes we need without the blessing of downstate legislators who are controlled by the public employee union bosses.