An Editorial...Group Wants Government Changed
Anti-government forces, beaten in their attempts to oust the government through lawsuits and a Grand Jury investigation, are now serving notice of their intent to circulate a petition to change the city form of government.
Sounds like a foreign news item. But it isn't.
Mayor Carolyn Nuckolls has been served with a copy of an initiative petition calling for a special city election to change the Grove city government to a Strong-Mayor-Council form, from the current Council-Manager form.
Two of the proponents are Benjamin Wall and Thomas R. Melton, both of Grove. The third signature is unreadable. The first step is getting enough signatures on a petition to force an election to approve a change in the city's form of government.
The petitioners would then call for a special election to elect a Mayor and the city manager would be ousted. This system of government is normally used in large cities where councils typically number 12-18 people instead of five, as in Grove. Under this system the Mayor appoints department heads and other officials, has the veto power over city ordinances and frequently prepares the city budget. Council duties are not as important as in the council-manager form of government.
All of this would take about 4-5 months. The next council election is 10 months away, when three seats will be up for grabs.
Under Grove's current form of government, Manager-Council, the council makes the city ordinances and sets policy but hires a paid administrator, a city manager, to carry out its decisions. Council activities, however, have been limited by Oklahoma Statutes. The theory behind this form of government is that the increasing complexity of urban problems requires management expertise not often possessed by elected public officials. The answer has been to entrust most of the executive powers, including law enforcement and provision of services, to a highly trained and experienced professional city manager, according to the California Law Center.
Of the top 30 cities in the nation, eight use the council-manager form of government, the rest use the Mayor-Council type. These cities have populations of a half-million citizens and up, with large budgets. Small towns typically use the manager-council form which provides for greater checks and balances as the council plays a greater role in government.
It boils down to whether you trust the council to hire the right person as manager, or you trust the people to elect the right Mayor, even one who has no experience in running a city.
Sounds like a foreign news item. But it isn't.
Mayor Carolyn Nuckolls has been served with a copy of an initiative petition calling for a special city election to change the Grove city government to a Strong-Mayor-Council form, from the current Council-Manager form.
Two of the proponents are Benjamin Wall and Thomas R. Melton, both of Grove. The third signature is unreadable. The first step is getting enough signatures on a petition to force an election to approve a change in the city's form of government.
The petitioners would then call for a special election to elect a Mayor and the city manager would be ousted. This system of government is normally used in large cities where councils typically number 12-18 people instead of five, as in Grove. Under this system the Mayor appoints department heads and other officials, has the veto power over city ordinances and frequently prepares the city budget. Council duties are not as important as in the council-manager form of government.
All of this would take about 4-5 months. The next council election is 10 months away, when three seats will be up for grabs.
Under Grove's current form of government, Manager-Council, the council makes the city ordinances and sets policy but hires a paid administrator, a city manager, to carry out its decisions. Council activities, however, have been limited by Oklahoma Statutes. The theory behind this form of government is that the increasing complexity of urban problems requires management expertise not often possessed by elected public officials. The answer has been to entrust most of the executive powers, including law enforcement and provision of services, to a highly trained and experienced professional city manager, according to the California Law Center.
Of the top 30 cities in the nation, eight use the council-manager form of government, the rest use the Mayor-Council type. These cities have populations of a half-million citizens and up, with large budgets. Small towns typically use the manager-council form which provides for greater checks and balances as the council plays a greater role in government.
It boils down to whether you trust the council to hire the right person as manager, or you trust the people to elect the right Mayor, even one who has no experience in running a city.
posted by Editor | 3:31 PM
1 Comments:
Enough already from Wall, Melton, et al. These guys are wasting our time and money on their personal vendettas. The city is moving beyond their "old school" ways and their trying to drag us back to the stone age. Maybe it's time for them to find a new place to live.
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