Ward willing to let voters decide

Though Mayor Art Ward says the proposed chief operating officer "falls short" of the idea of creating a city manager, he's willing to let voters decide whether to have it or not.
Ward said he believes the proposed full-time position "only created another level of bureaucracy at an increased cost to the taxpayers."
He said that instead of having a chief operating officer handling day-to-day management of city departments -- a plan motivated in part by concerns that mayors are too busy to do the job adequately - Ward said that giving the mayor an aide might be better.
Ward said that having an aide would give the mayor "the flexibility of deciding the manner of addressing the needs,responsibilities. and commitments of the mayor's office."
Having a mayoral aide "has been bantered about in every administration since" Mike Werner, Ward said, but it's only been tried during Gerard Couture's two-year term in office starting in 2003.
Couture hired state Rep. Kosta Diamantis, a Democratic ally, to serve as his $25,000-a-year part-time aide, a move that soured some politicians on the concept.
When Bill Stortz took office after Couture, the part-time aide post vanished. It's no longer in the budget.
Though Ward doesn't want to see a chief operating officer at City Hall, he's ready to approve the Charter Revision Commission's recommendation in order to let voters have the final say.
"I don't have any reservation about this concept going forward in order that the populace has the final decision," Ward said.

*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com