Utah’s Mayors = Figureheads?
According to Mayor Joe Thomas, most mayors in Utah are there for ribbon cuttings and to talk up the city, but they lack any real authority to make meaningful change. One of the major eye openers for Thomas was coming to the quick realization that what most citizens don’t realize is that their local city is really (first and foremost) controlled and run by city employees and secondly (but here again city employees have an undue ability to control) city councils and that the mayor has little ability to be a true executive.
Thomas did not recommend anything specific, but generally felt that reforming the system to put more control in the hands of the mayor, especially as it pertains to city appointments, could provide a significant check to overzealous city councils and city employees. He noted upwards of 15 separate conversations with city employees who in Joe’s first couple of weeks each pulled him aside to “remind” him that his role was to be above all else the lead advocate for the folks on the city’s payroll. Thomas remarked that he made 15 enemies in those first few weeks when his response was that he was the advocate of the citizens first.
I don’t know that I agree with all Mayor Thomas feels should change, but he provided some great food for thought during our monthly Sutherland Blogger Briefing. I’m interested to see on the Bloghive other reaction to Joe’s comments.
Jobu said,
July 9, 2008 @ 1:24 pm
Thomas is right. City managers and city staff run cities. Those who know the budget make the rules. Mayors and councilmembers generally don’t understand the budget.
A similar situation exists in school districts. The superintendent and the business administrator make the calls. The school board members are totally clueless and just follow the direction of the superintendent who takes his orders from the union.
Cameron said,
July 9, 2008 @ 2:38 pm
Great briefing this month Lyall.
While Mayor Thomas was talking I couldn’t help but think about something I’d read or heard years ago about private sector businessman types having a difficult time transitioning to public office. Government is set up far different than a private company is. In businesses that Thomas owns he can hire and fire, take risks and make decisions by himself because he is the owner - the sole decision maker. But government has much more division of power. That’s why there’s so much politics involved in every decision. I know the Mayor wants more executive power, and perhaps he’s right, but I think the system was set up specifically to keep power out of a single executive’s hands.
I liked more what he said about participation. The more people are involved and asking questions the less likely people like Thomas will be frustrated. It seemed to me that this was the solution to his feelings of powerlessness, rather than just increasing the power wielded by mayors.
Lyall said,
July 9, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
Cameron,
You bring up a great point about the difference in leadership necessary in the public sector v. the private sector. Jim Collins (author of Good to Great) has spent some time on this and he makes this distinction:
Connor said,
July 9, 2008 @ 4:48 pm
My thoughts from today’s briefing:
http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/inertia-vs-incentive-the-goverment-conundrum
I enjoyed the Mayor’s discussion of consequence vs. results in Deming’s law. It seems like he’s been banging his head on the wall for the past few years. I wonder how different Spanish Fork would be if he ran for and won a seat on the council, thus making a majority for those that want “change”.
Reach Upward said,
July 9, 2008 @ 5:50 pm
My city has a part-time mayor. The current mayor is now retired, but he (like many past mayors) worked his own regular full-time job during his first term. Let’s face it. That kind of position simply doesn’t have the kind of time in the budget and in the inner workings of the city that the full-time employees do.
On the other hand, the mayor has a certain amount of power to represent the voters of the city. We have five council members. The mayor says that most of his ability to change anything rests in his ability to get at least three of them to vote for any proposal he has. His job is then to inform council members, carry out what the council decides, weed out problems that surface, and attend to ceremonial duties.
Obi wan liberali said,
July 11, 2008 @ 3:48 pm
I think it depends on the dynamics of the mayor and city council. Ideally, the mayor should be the CEO of the city, and the Council should be the board of directors. An assertive mayor can lay out clearly to his council what his proper role is and what theirs should be, and should push back when council members intrude unnecessarily into the administrative side of the city. As for city employees, it is true, that their institutional knowledge gives them a leg up on the mayor. But a good mayor, will know how to ask the right questions of subordinates and will work to bring into city government people who share that mayor’s vision, who also have the competence to implement that vision.