Dear Interested Citizens:
We have spent much of the past two years talking about moving to a city
manager form of government. On Saturday a friend sent me a link to a video done
in Michigan about the benefits of a city council-city manager form of
government. It says in minutes what we have been trying to say these past two
years.
Please watch it. Please share it with others no matter their position on
the issue. It is important that everyone understand what we are seeking for
Cambridge and the benefits that will come with having a city council-city
manager form of government.
The only things that I saw in the video that were different about our story
in Cambridge are these:
1. They do a comparison between a "strong" mayor form of government and a
city council-city manager form of government. The current form of government for
Cambridge is what is called a "weak" mayor form of government. The commissioners
in Cambridge are the strong part of our governmental structure. In my view this
difference only shows how much better our proposal is because it brings the
mayor and commissioners together to develop the vision for the city rather than
possibly placing them at odds with one another.
2. The video talks about cost savings because the salary of the full time
mayor in Michigan would be moved over to pay the city manager. As we do not have
a full time mayor who is paid a full time salary, there would be no savings in
salary as we are not proposing that the salary of any elected official be
reduced. The savings come, as explained in the video, by a better run and more
efficient government that is managed by the city manager.
submitted by Steve Rideout
No comments:
Post a Comment