Mayor runs island, not City Council | Letters | May 15

Published 11:45 am Friday, May 15, 2009

I read with interest the various opinions on the change in form of government.

During the time I have been involved in island politics, including four years on the City Council (2002-06), I have seen mayors and councils spend more time in conflict than in collaborative efforts.

Perhaps it’s the personalities, but I really think not.

Municipal Research and Services spends lots of time discussing the often contentious nature of mayors and councils. The agency notes that in small cities like ours, conflicts over staff and access to staff are common.

Since the mayor has complete control over staff and what it is allowed to do, including the city administrator, the mayor also has considerable control over what a council can and cannot do.

A council cannot require the mayor to staff a non-state mandated commission or even provide staff to help write legislation that the council might want to pass.

Thus, council members and citizen commissions that might want to pass legislation opposed by a mayor are completely at the mayor’s mercy.

All the mayor has to do is tell them that their staff simply doesn’t have the time, and that happens more often than citizens probably know.

The mayor decides what positions to fill, how money allocated by the council is spent, and the form and content of information given to the council.

A council might want a study done on water resources and fund that study, but a mayor doesn’t have to have the study done. The mayor decides, for example, the form and content of financial information provided to the council and the public.

Thus, the mayor-council form of government in a small town like ours, where the council doesn’t have its own staff, is not really one of checks and balances. The mayor has significantly more power than I think most people realize.

I see three strong advantages to the council-manager form of government.

First, if the council is not happy with the way directors are doing their jobs, or the information they are getting, they deal with the manager directly and work with the manager to make changes.

Second, if the people are not happy with the way things are going in City Hall, they can elect new council members – every two years – who will then instruct the manager to make needed changes.

Third, the council is responsible for hiring and firing a manager, thus giving them and our citizens more control over how the city is managed.

Much has been said about the “problem” that our active citizenry causes for our city government. We are blessed to have so many people willing to watchdog our government and be involved in what our city is doing.

However, I have yet to see where the mayor-council form has worked for us.

If a mayor is not doing the job they were elected to do, we have them for four years.

If a council is not doing the job, their composition is up for change every two.

Citizens will have much more power to make changes and to be involved under the council-manager system, making it a better system for Bainbridge Island.

Debbie Vann

is a former City Council member and resident of Bainbridge Island.