|
The
<br />
<br />council-manager
<br />
<br />relationship:
<br />
<br />What works
<br />
<br />When [ went looking for infbrma-
<br />lion ,m council-manager relation-
<br />ships, this material was fairly easy
<br />to 'f]ncl. Countless articles, check-
<br />lists, and suggestions deal with this
<br />subject. Much of the information
<br />focuses (2n how to handle problems
<br />in the reladonship, while some
<br />sources arc preventive in their
<br />intent a~d alert you to potential
<br />problem areas.
<br /> Only two articles mentioned
<br />what [ bdicve is one of the two
<br />main cattscs of u'onble in the coun-
<br />cil-manager relationship: its boss-
<br />subordinate nature. One of my
<br />sources, ~:l~e ¢2:xas Department of
<br />[{ousing and Community Affairs
<br />"Guirh: [bt Cotmcihnen]bers,"
<br />s~:ate'~ explicitly, "The city staff must
<br />~ ecogmze that fl~e council is boss."
<br /> ~Ihc otlmr cause - unrea]istic
<br />expel:rations - is implied in some
<br />of ~:hu sources [ read, but it is not
<br />emphasized.
<br />
<br />f',Ay prernis~
<br />Problems l)ctwcen a manager and a
<br />council are a t"act of liff¢ and should
<br />be expected. They will occur tbr
<br />many masons, with the most com-
<br />mon being the basic character of
<br />i)oss~subordinatc interrelations.
<br />()tlmr reasons might include p~r-
<br />sonalities, issues, communications,
<br />situations, the tuning of an event,
<br />regulado~s, and/or politics, but
<br />dncsc, too, directly aflbct the boss-
<br />c-mployce fi;~mcwork and the /nall-
<br />u ~(:r'~ expt,ct;~tions o[ the council.
<br /> 15,~th dm manager and council
<br />should uxpcct ;u~y or ail of these
<br />dt'r:tu~.sl:aut:{/5 ;t~i(.[ the resultant
<br />problems, and any problems
<br />sh.oJfld be: ]~;mdled accordingly.
<br />~i t:}mv cumx~t be handled, the
<br />
<br />u[~c relaLionsJ~ip.
<br /> I~u:4ar(ilc~,s of the outcome, I
<br />ixdi(:vc :;u(:h l)r,)blems can be
<br />',~',r-~,r'tl'(' l})v l.wo situations
<br />(!i~ euth, ,:outroih:d by the manager:
<br />
<br />The manager forgets who's boss[
<br />
<br />The manager's expectations of
<br />the council-manager relation-
<br />ship are too idealistic and theo-
<br />retical.
<br />
<br />The boss-subordinate perspective
<br />The boss
<br />No matter how local government
<br />managers look at their positions,
<br />they are hired and fired by the
<br />council. As then ICMA Executive
<br />'Director Bill Hansel explained in
<br />an article in Public Management way
<br />back in February 1987, "a strong
<br />point of the council-manager form
<br />of government is that the manager
<br />is assigned certain powers by char-
<br />ter or legislation."
<br /> But if at any time the council is
<br />dissatisfied with the manager, it can
<br />terminate the relationship. This
<br />simple fact makes the council the
<br />boss. This sounds quite simple, and
<br />it is. Sometimes, howeveq man-
<br />agers forget this simple fact for a
<br />variety of reasons. City or county
<br />tnanagers may:
<br />
<br />have more experience in city or
<br />county government than do
<br />most councilmembers.
<br />
<br />have more tenure with the local-
<br />ity than the mayor and/or most
<br />members of the council.
<br />
<br />· have more knowledge of the
<br /> community's projects or issues.
<br />
<br />· do not always agree with the
<br /> mayor and/or council.
<br />
<br />know that they have the ICMA
<br />or a state association's code of
<br />ethics on their side. (They are
<br />right in this belief, but other
<br />factors do exist.')'
<br />
<br />The mayor and council are
<br />elected officials representing the
<br />citizens of the community. Most
<br />
<br />councilmembers expect to have
<br />some impact on the city through
<br />regulations, planning and budget-
<br />ing. They may not fully understand
<br />a councilmember's role in the
<br />council-manager form of govern-
<br />ment when they are first elected,
<br />and they still may not understand
<br />it after serving for a year or two.
<br /> They may not even understand
<br />how local government works. But
<br />they certainly see the boss-subordi-
<br />nate structure: it is a basic consid-
<br />eration that permeates employment
<br />in the private sector, too. They do
<br />expect to have authority over non-
<br />elected city officials. Their basic
<br />understanding of government is
<br />that, in a democracy, the elected
<br />officials control the appointed offi-
<br />cials. They may not know precisely
<br />how this is done, but they do
<br />expect to have this power.
<br /> Of course, from the manager's
<br />perspective, councilmembers may
<br />have idealistic or unrealistic expec-
<br />tations, like the belief that the
<br />council-manager relationship is
<br />stilly a boss-subordinate condition.
<br />If a council adheres to viewing the
<br />relationship in strictly a boss-
<br />employee mode, I believe that the
<br />council-manager model cannot
<br />work at its optimal level.
<br />
<br /> The subordinate
<br /> The local government manager is
<br /> the "underdog" in this scenario
<br /> because the individual is hired and
<br /> fired by the council and is account-
<br /> able to it. Though the council only
<br /> holds power as a group and not as
<br /> individuals, the manager's job is to
<br /> follow its directives and implement
<br /> its policies, advising it on the pros
<br /> and cons of its directives and sug-
<br /> gesting policy changes.
<br /> When their councils make the
<br /> final decisions about implementa-
<br /> tion, however, managers must fol-
<br /> low those directives. If they do not
<br /> agree with the directives, then they
<br /> can make a decision: disagree and
<br /> implement the decision; or dis-
<br />
<br />MICHIGAN MUNICIPAL REVIEW, April 2003
<br />
<br />
<br />
|