With all the talk of restructuring our municipal infrastructure (and a healthy one at that), I'm wondering if there's a hint in here to make the case for a City Manager as a filter between CMs and inspectors and constituent services programs therefore reducing the possibility of Heron/Sabri-type fiascoes from reoccurring. Or will a City Manager centralize and possibly increase the opportunity for corruption?
Good question.
Having direct reporting connections from city services staff to each of the 13 council members seems almost crazy in my view. A city manager might have more power and opportunity for corruption, but I think would also have a lot more scrutiny. At a minimum there would be 13 council members with the ability to be well-informed and influential enough to provide close monitoring.
I think the trick lies in structuring a charter or constitution such that the built in checks and balances are capable of being effective under all circumstances. It's what goes on behind closed doors and private meetings that is hardest to monitor. Daylight and public information is what makes things stay above board.
The state legislature made a mess of Minneapolis city structure, governance and politics, and instead of cleaning it up, it seems obvious they will instead criticize and squeeze us for tax dollars because of it. We need to clean it up. The Star Tribune's editorials were a good introduction.
Those problems will only continue to fester and harm the city, and economically the state as a whole, until they are fixed.
I have a hard time imagining how the effort will ever get off the ground in the face of entrenched interests who do not want to lose power and money.
Every time the Charter Commission even breathes the words "parks," Park Board contract counselor Brian Rice and commissioners Bob Fine and Walt Dziedzic go into a tizzy about defending the board against any imagined reduction in its independence or ability to tax. Likewise many of the city council members may not want to give up the "lordships" of their "fiefdoms." The Library Board and the Estimate and Taxation Boards seem unlikely to vote to dissolve themselves.
Exactly what are the mechanics of starting and finishing such a massive change to the city charter? And who can promote such a large effort?
It seems we have the Star Tribune editorial staff interested in pushing such a change. That's a lot more interest than the media usually shows in helping promote beneficial change in Minneapolis. It's time to take the idea and run with it.
-- Chris Johnson Fulton
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