WEDNESDAY UPDATE:
The ordinance passed with a unanimous vote at Tuesday's meeting.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The De Pere Common Council is voting on an ordinance Tuesday night that would change the way the city is governed.
- A new city manager position would assume the current roles of the city administrator, as well as become the city's chief executive officer, taking that title from the mayor.
- The mayor would then vote as a Common Council member, rather than just being a tie-breaking vote.
- Though the city manager is an unelected position, a public administration expert says the new system would actually be more democratic.
- 10 of Wisconsin's 191 municipalities have the city manager model (including Eau Claire and Oshkosh), and 91 have the administrator model.
- City officials say the time is right for the change because the current city administrator, Lawrence Delo, is soon to retire, and because the city needs a professional leader as it continues to grow.
- The new ordinance would also extend term lengths for common council members from two years to three.
- You can watch Tuesday night's Common Council meeting live here, or in person in the Council Chambers on the second floor of the De Pere City Hall at 335 South Broadway Street.
Continue reading or watch the video attached above for additional details.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Tonight, De Pere is considering changing its governing model to one that only 10 other cities in Wisconsin currently use; this means the mayor would lose some power in this new system.
Mayor James Boyd is the chief executive officer of De Pere, but if an ordinance passes at Tuesday's Common Council meeting — that would change.
"You would be losing that title and losing these powers — how does that make you feel as the current sitting mayor?" we asked.
"Really, not bad at all," Boyd said. "I mean, we have our administrators, slash, if it's going to be manager, running the organization day-to-day. That's what that person does."
Boyd's powers to sign contracts and run the city's fire and police departments would go to a new city manager position.
"As of now, I delegate that authority to the city administrator," Boyd said. "But that will be taken off the table."
The mayor is a part-time elected position, while the city manager would be hired by the Common Council.
"The idea is that there should be someone who is trained specifically in public management, running the day to day operations," said Professor Michael Ford, UW Oshkosh's director of governance and policy research.
Ford was brought in to meet with De Pere as an expert on the subject.
He and retiring city administrator Lawrence Delo say this model is better, because power goes back to the Common Council rather than to one person.
Delo says there were concerns about previous mayoral candidates.
"We had two candidates in the past that would have been very disruptive, had they been elected; they made that very clear," Delo said. "They would have done things very differently with police and fire — and the council could not have done anything to control that.
"That's a common critique, that it's somehow less democratic," Ford said. "But in reality, you are giving each of your council members a voice to bring something to the table."
The council will vote on the ordinance at its meeting Tuesday night at 7:30.
Something else to look for at tonight's meeting: the ordinance that would switch to a city manager model would also extend term lengths for city councilors from two years to three.
