Agenda - Charter Commission - 01/28/1999

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION PAGE 5 The chief functions of the council in a strong mayor-council plan are: to legislate and set policies; to p~s budgets and bond issues; and to review mayoral and administrative actions. All of these features can vary under city charter provisions. CounciI~manager The council-manger form can be used by both statutory and home rule charter cities. In Minnesota 16 ~tatutory cities operate under optional Plan B which is the council-manager form of goverr~ ent. Only statutory cities with a population greater than 1000 may adopt plan B. Of the, charter cities, 30 have adopted the .council-manager form of government. The council-manager form is probably the fastest growing form of local government in the United States. [More than one-third of c~tms w~th a populat~0n over 5000 have managers. The basic features of the council manager plan are as follows: the citizens elect a council; the council th~n selects a chief executive, known as the city manager. The manager is responsible to!the council for all administrative duties, including hiring and firing of employees, supervision of.all administrative departments, and the preparation and enforcement of the budget. The manager has indefinite tenure and is subject to removal by the council Under the cour~cil-manager form, the council has policy making and legislative authority, but administration of the government is the city manager's responsibility. The manager is directly respbnsible to the council. A city manager has indefinite tenure and is subject to removal by the council. The manager appoints department heads, usually without council approv, al, although a charter may change this conventional format. · Commission The commission form of organization is available only to home rule charter cities but is no longer use~t by any city in Minnesota. The city of Hutchinson was the last city in Minnesota to have a commission form of government. Hutchinson abandoned that form in 1987. Under the commission form, each of the elected councilmembers is responsible for a particular administrative department so that, in addition to duties as a legislative official, the council member is also a department head. The mayor, with minor exceptions, has the same powers and duties as councilmembers. The council, as a whole, is responsible for administrative icoordination and for the formation of legislative policy.