Press release issued this morning by Republican mayoral hopeful Ken Johnson's campaign manager:
Ken Johnson Announces Campaign to Put City Manager Issue on Fall ’08 Ballot, Pledges Not to Apply for Position.
Bristol mayoral candidate, Ken Johnson, announced today that his campaign intends to obtain signatures to put the city manager issue on the fall ’08 ballot and promised not to apply for the new position.
“The people have a right to vote for their form of government,” Johnson said. “If the charter revision commission does not recommend a change to the city manager system we will launch a door to door campaign to gather signatures.” he said.
Other Bristol residents including prominent businessman, Craig Yarde, have advocated a change to city manager. Johnson wants city hall to know that it is a sentiment shared by many Bristol residents.
“People are fed up with the way things are run around here and deserve to have their voices heard.” Johnson said. “Our ballot initiative will give people that chance.”
“The politicization of the administration of city affairs and the short election cycle distracts the mayor from conducting business efficiently.” Johnson said. “The short election cycle coupled with partisan bickering with the council once the mayor is elected is a recipe for disaster,” Johnson added.
The solution to this problem, Johnson said, is to change Bristol’s charter so that the administrative power is given to a city manager appointed by the council. “The council-manager system combines the strong political leadership of an elected city council with the managerial experience of a qualified city manager educated in public administration,” he said. “The manager would essentially be the CEO of the city.”
“This change will allow members of the city council to focus on their duties as council members and not their campaigns for mayor,” Johnson said.
“I promise not to apply for the city manager position and urge my opponents to do the same,” Johnson added. “I am running for mayor to do what is best for Bristol, not to advance my own career.
“A city manager would be very responsive to the needs of the people because he or she could be fired by the council for poor performance at any time,” said Johnson.
Johnson said that the city manager system could help Bristol’s economic problems. “A study published in Public Administration Review concluded that cities run by managers had more strategic planning and business attraction programs than cities run by mayors,” he said.
Johnson said there still could be a mayor under the new system, whose duties would be largely ceremonial.
1 comment:
It's interesting that no one has commented on this "story". Perhaps that's because jumping on a bandwagon is not terribly exciting.
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