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Let City Council no longer be dog wagged by administrative tail

Date published: 8/1/2002

THE NEW Fredericksburg City Coun- cil faces a range of issues. Among those less well-recognized is the relationship between the council and the city administration.

In most large municipalities, such as Washington, New York, and Chicago, the elected mayor has the full-time job of being manager of the city. Fredericksburg is among the many mid-sized American cities in which serving as mayor is not a full-time position; rather, the day-to-day operation is delegated to a city manager and his department heads while the mayor chairs the elected governing body, in our case the City Council.

The city-manager concept was introduced in many Virginia cities beginning almost 100 years ago to eliminate the role of elected officials in the awarding of contracts. Instead, cities were to be administered by by nonelected experts who would be above politics and thus ensure that contract awards not be corrupted by favoritism.

For this type of city government to function successfully, two conditions must prevail: The City Council must allow the city manager to carry out the many details of city government without undue interference, and, equally important, the city manager and his team of municipal officials must respond to the policies of the council and to the values of the community as expressed through their elected mayor and council members.

Up until two years ago, the incumbent mayor and a strong majority of the council placed top priority on rapid economic development. In response, the city manager worked closely with the Silver Cos., a local developer, to pursue that objective. Two years ago, however, the community in a citywide election defeated the then-mayor and reelected an "opposition" at-large council member. This signaled voters' rejection of a policy that, while emphasizing economic development, often neglected other priorities.

Since then, there regrettably have been too many indications that the city administration has not been sensitive to the community's call for a de-emphasis on unrestrained economic development and a stronger emphasis on broader community values. In too many matters, this has been a city administration that has acted in the last two years as if nothing has changed:

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Date published: 8/1/2002