Full Time Mayor? What are Your Thoughts? On Tuesday night the City Council will be discussing the possibility of having a full-time mayor instead of hiring a new City Manager. After we got a relatively small pool of qualified applicants for the City Manager position and our concerns over employee turnover and salaries, I asked the City Council to consider this option. This would not permanently make the mayor a full-time position. Here ares some reasons I asked for it to be considered: #1. I was directly elected by the people and our City Code already vests the executive and administrative authority in the Mayor. While we have traditionally hired a City Administrator or City Manager to run the city day-to-day, this is not required under our form of government . The Mayor can exercise those functions full-time, and I believe I can do a fantastic job for you managing our city full-time. I have shown I am very responsive to the people and that I am willing to work very hard to address tough issues in a respectful and cooperative way. If this change happens, we would install one of our competent and trained Dept. Heads to act as the City Administrator as an additional duty, and with a slight pay increase. This would ensure we still had a top staff person to report to the City Council and to perform top administrative functions. This is how we have been operating during the last two months without a City Manager, and we would continue a system that is working great. #2. I already have strong relationships with our employees and Dept. Heads, and I believe I can help turn around the huge turnover problem we have been having among our employees--especially our Police and Public Works Dept. #3. Financial savings: Because I will do this as a public service, I will work for a much lower salary than a City Manager, and I will not take any benefits (retirement, health insurance, etc.) as this is not a long-term career. I sold my business earlier this year and am in a position to do this, and I earn health insurance through my part-time service in the Army National Guard. By taking a lower salary and no benefits, this will save North Ogden taxpayers between $55,000 and $115,000 per year, versus having a City Manager. Those savings could be put towards much-needed salary increases to keep our wages competitive with other cities. #4. We have a lot of major projects underway right now and I am already actively involved with all of them, including: North Ogden Plaza Redevelopment (Kings Plaza), General Plan Revision, Economic Development efforts in the old Smiths and 2600 N/Washington Blvd., formation of a new Community Development Area, construction of the new Public Works Facility, transportation planning, etc. There is no train-up time for me to lead these efforts. #5. I have education and experience in public management, as well as private sector experience. I have a Master of Public Administration degree and was formally educated in municipal management. I also have years of experience in managing public employees and budgets in the US Army, the Dept. of Homeland Security, and briefly in the FBI, which I left to go into business. If the Council decides to go this route, the change will be temporary. It will last as long as the Council feels it continues to be the best choice for the city. When the time comes to go another direction comes for whatever reason, we can hire a new City Manager at that point. In closing, this is something the City Council is considering. It is not a done deal, but of course we discuss items like this in the public eye. This will be discussed during Tuesdays meeting. I would love to hear your feedback. I have been working hard for you part-time, and believe I can do an even better job managing the city on a day-to-day basis, and at about half the cost of a professional City Manager. I have worked hard with the City Council to create a positive environment for our government, and I think the fact that Council members who did not support me in the election are supporting this proposal after we have had 10 months to work together speaks volumes about the progress we have made for our city together. Please join the discussion, and post any thoughts, questions, concerns, etc. you have about this topic. The Standard Examiner wrote an article, which has some great information about the proposal: standard.net/Government/2014/11/16/Mayor-May-Take-Over-in-North-Ogden.html
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 02:46:10 +0000
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