Starkville needs a new form of government.
Presently, Starkville has a “code charter,” or “mayor-board of aldermen,” form of government. This is also commonly known as “weak mayor.” In this form, the mayor presides over the board of aldermen, which is the policy-making body of city government.
The “code charter” form is, however, ineffective in the changing times. Recently, the SA has participated in a petition drive to change the city government to a “mayor-council,” or “strong mayor,” in which a city coucil will replace the board of aldermen and take on legislative powers, while the mayor will have the executive power to carry out the decisions.
The “code charter” government has worked here in the past. In it, all the administrative departments of the city, including public works, parks and recreation and the police and fire departments, report to the board for most everyday operation. The board is responsible for approving the actions of these departments as well as the legislative task of passing new laws and setting public policy.
This form of government is fine, but it is inefficient in large or fast-growing cities. Starkville is continuing to grow and the new U.S. Highway 82 bypass promises to bring even more retail, industry and residents to town. Our current “code charter” form of government will keep the city in an endless backlog of administrative issues.
The day-to-day operation of the city is essentially in the hands of the board, which regularly meets twice a month. That means that department heads must wait for approval from the board for the most essential daily administrative decisions. As you can imagine, it takes a long time to get things done.
Take the board meeting this past Tuesday night as an example. The board accepted bids for a new water filtering system and discussed drainage changes at McKee Park. They also created a new zoning designation for mobile homes and briefly discussed pay raises for city employees, before the mayor halted the discussion. Anyone who attended the meeting would probably agree that many things were discussed and not much was decided. Even more was postponed until the next meeting.
If we had a “mayor-council” form of government, the water filter bids and the drainage issues would have been decided directly by the mayor. The municipal pay raises would be under the control of the council, but the mayor would not have been able to halt the discussion on the topic. The municipal departments would report to the mayor instead of the council. He would supervise all day-to-day administrative business of the city, running the city more efficiently and alleviating the burden of approval from the council.
Under the “mayor-council” form, the council would still handle legislative affairs, making laws and policy decisions, but the mayor would have executive power to carry out those decisions. The mayor would have little part in policy making besides taking part in council meetings and discussions and making recommendations to the council.
The proposed change would allow for a better system of checks and balances in local government. The mayor would have the power to veto a decision of the council, but the council could override the veto with a two-thirds vote. This is a better system for handling disagreements between the mayor and the council.
The only major problem with the proposed “mayor-council” form is the electability of the mayor. A good politician could get elected, even though he has little or no experience in city administration. This problem is solved under the proposed system by the appointment of a chief administrative officer, nominated by the mayor and approved by the board.
The current board agrees with the referendum to change Starkville’s form of government, but the mayor is opposed to it. He believes it will lessen his power in city government. He is mistaken, though, because the proposed “mayor-council” system simply shifts his power to executive duties and leaves the policymaking legislative duties to the council.
The “mayor-council” form of government will make the government more efficient and allow it to keep up with the expansion of the burgeoning Starkville.
Nick Thompson is a senior communication major. He can be reached at [email protected].