Monday, October 27, 2014

City Manager: Letter to the Editor

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

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