By Merrie Spaeth, KERA 90.1 commentator.
Dallas, TX – Both candidates for mayor have said it's time to re-examine whether our council manager form of government with its career manager is right for Dallas. I agree.
First, some background: the idea of a city manager began in the early 1900s as a reform because city politics everywhere were so corrupt. The idea was to separate decisions - such as whether to raise taxes or where to put the train tracks - from implementation. That was supposed to remove the opportunity for graft and corruption. And it has worked well, in fact, so well, that about half of us who live in cities have what's called the council manager form of government.
Well, if it's so great, why are people - including me - saying it's time to go? First, the concept, that the city manager is only an administrator, is a fiction. As candidate Laura Miller has put it, we hold the elected officials accountable, but it's actually the bureaucracy, which answers to the city manager, which decides what to do - or, what not to do, which is why so many basic city services don't get performed.
Where does the mayor fit in? Professor James Svara calls the mayor of council manager cities "the most misunderstood leadership position in government." No joke. He adds that these mayors have almost no powers and must lead by initiating policy, education, team building - lots of things we hear Laura Miller and Tom Dunning talking about - but most of all, as a 'policy advocate.' That is, it's a bully pulpit.
Is that all we want of a mayor? Can we continue to deceive our citizens that the council members, and the mayor, are in charge, when they are close to figureheads? I'll give you an example of how intimidated council members are by the city manager. A former Dallas city manager, who shall go nameless because I'm scared of this person, too, used to scream and yell and use profanities. Did you ever hear about this? Probably not, unless you're a city hall insider. Because the council members (and this was before Ms. Miller was on the council) knew that this manager would isolate them if they spoke out.
If I'm so critical of the council-manager form of government, why is it so popular? Well, graft and corruption are very real problems. Can you spell C-h-i-c-a-g-o?
I think it's time to see if we can combine a strong mayor, an elected council, and good government. What helps provide clean and effective government? First is to turn over your elected officials - term limits - thank heaven we already have them (if we only had it at the state and national level). That's really more important than campaign finance reform. And, just as companies need to re-invent themselves periodically, so do governments. And we have sunset laws for some legislation on the theory that they had to be rethought and re-authorized. We should apply the same philosophy to government.
As far as I can see, it's twilight for our current form of government. Maybe it's not time for it to go. Maybe the risk of corruption is too great. But it is time for a vigorous discussion?something both Laura Miller and Tom Dunning seem willing to do.
Merrie Spaeth is a communications consultant in Dallas.