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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Syracuse needs a strong mayor
By Larry ShingletonI would l
ike to respond to Mike McBride's Aug. 22 guest commentary "Syracuse and Checks and Balances." Mr. McBride is sadly misinformed. I would like to correct some of the misinformation contained in his commentary.
I am a referendum sponsor. The purpose of the referendum is to give the citizens of Syracuse an opportunity to vote on the changes in the form of government made by the Syracuse City Council on Oct. 10, 2006.
The first piece of misinformation of Mr. McBride's I'd like to correct is that the council "created a system of checks and balances." In fact, the exact opposite occurred. The checks and balances Syracuse had in place were taken away.
What the council did was strip the mayor of his duties and the responsibilities that provided the checks and balances in our local government. One of his responsibilities was to sign contracts. When the council changed the form of government, it took this responsibility away from the mayor and gave it to the city manager. The new city manager then entered into long-term contractual obligations without either the mayor's or the city council's knowledge. Where were the checks and balances?
Mr. McBride stated that many smaller cities in Utah operate under forms of government which have shared legislative and executive powers resting in the mayor and city council; that is true. However, what the council did in Syracuse was strip the mayor of the title of chief executive officer. That means there were not any shared powers as he stated other cities have. The council gave the title of chief executive officer to the city manager, which left the mayor out of the loop.
Mr. McBride also stated that the changes the council made did not change the form of government in the city, but merely changed the title of city "administrator" to that of city "manager." That is entirely false. What happened was that the duties and responsibilities of the mayor were changed so drastically that 1,739 citizens signed the referendum petition so they could have a say in the changes the council made. A referendum gives citizens the constitutional right to vote on an issue when they feel they have not been represented by their elected officials.
The point about a part-time mayor running the city alone is baseless. Every city along the Wasatch Front has a city administrator or city manager running the day-to-day operations of the city. Since Syracuse already had a full-time city administrator running the city, Mr. McBride's point about needing a full-time city manager was faulty. We already had someone doing that job.
Every city also has a city council. Syracuse does, too. It is part of the checks and balances in the system. They were already in place. The only checks and balances that were forgotten was that the council was elected to represent the people. It should be government of the people, by the people and for the people -- not government of the council, by the council and for the council.
I will be voting against referendum No. 1. Syracuse city should have an elected official who is the chief executive officer of the city and accountable to the people.
Shingleton lives in Syracuse.
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