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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:
This city administration without notice to anyone took it upon itself to remove from the small park in front of Maury School the naval gun serving as a veterans memorial. Only vigorous protests by several veterans groups rescued the gun from the scrap heap.
This city administration on its own initiative began negotiations to have the city purchase the Caroline Street "skyscraper" known as Executive Plaza to, of all things, be the city's police station. The symbolism of having the police located in this colossus towering over the city was evidently lost on the administration, and only the vigorous action of a member of the council brought it to a halt.
And this city administration on its own dreamed up a proposal to pay for the Cowan Boulevard extension and overpass that called for a complicated financing scheme involving a loan by the city to be paid back by future annual payments of Virginia Department of Transportation allotments.
In these and other instances, the city administration has shown itself tone deaf to those values and concerns on which the community places the highest priority.
When such a situation exists, it becomes necessary for the City Council to go beyond policymaking and inject itself increasingly into the details of city affairs. This was what led the outgoing council, for example, earlier this year to direct the city via a formal ordinance to install a traffic light at the intersection of Princess Anne and Germania streets.
In the era that began July 1, it may become necessary for the new City Council to involve itself in other issues when the administration is failing to conduct city affairs with due regard for the community's well-being, broadly defined. For example, the city's Public Works Department has been on a steady campaign of cutting down old-growth trees throughout the city; the council may have to step in to curb this unfortunate practice.
A better solution will be for the city administration to become much more sensitive to community values and to work much more closely with the new council, which reflects those values.
To begin with, the practice of failing to have advance consultation between the mayor and the city manager about the agenda for upcoming council meetings should end. It is frankly shocking to learn that neither the mayor nor council members help formulate the agenda for each council meeting.
"We receive the council agenda on Friday night before the Tuesday night council meeting," observed one member before a recent meeting, "and that is when we find out what we will be discussing."
The reverse should be the case. The mayor should decide the council agenda, always, of course, in consultation with other council members, the city manager and his staff, interested residents, and others. Similarly, in such matters as scheduling council work sessions and prescribing the duties of the council clerk, the mayor and council must be the leaders.
Only when both parties--City Council and city administration--understand and respect the roles, responsibilities, and views of each other can the city council-city manager form of government succeed. This little appreciated issue, which affects most other aspects of Fredericksburg's future, should be addressed quickly.
JOHN HOLMFELD is retired from the staff of the science committee in the U.S. Congress.