4 things Atlantic City’s emergency manager can do — and 4 things he can’t TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie has appointed an emergency manager to stanch Atlantic City’s bleeding, but he won’t be a dictator. “We were expecting a worst case scenario, that draconian measures were going to be taken, that the mayor and council’s power was going ot be stripped,” said Chris Filiciello, Mayor Don Guardian’s chief of staff. “It turned out not to be that.” While the manager, Kevin Lavin, will have widespread access to pretty much any information he wants, there are limits to his power. Here’s a list of four things the emergency manager can and cannot do. CAN DO: • Analyze the city’s finances and, after 60 days, recommend what to do about them, including restructuring city operations and debt. • Access all information relating to Atlantic City held by state officials and local officials. • Negotiate with the city’s unions • Recommend cutting down on Atlantic City’s school costs. The governor’s advisory commission suggested that he be tasked with lowering the per-pupil cost from $26,000 to the statewide average of $18,000. Although schools are not specifically mentioned in the executive order, Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said they are included. CAN’T DO: • Make unilateral decisions. Christie’s executive order [...] newsinnj/4-things-atlantic-citys-emergency-manager-can-do-and-4-things-he-cant/
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 13:45:48 +0000