Town Manager vs. Town Mayor

With the Harrison council now overseeing finances in the area of $56 million, facing severe economic times, ongoing union negotiations, an aging infrastructure and ever more sophisticated engineering and technology issues, talk of the need for a professional town manager position has risen again.

Those supporting the town manager concept argue that financial issues of this magnitude, coupled with our union healthcare negotiations, tax increases and other critical town issues, now warrant a trained professional with high level skills and experience in the field.

Harrison is actually in the minority of towns our size in America in retaining the mayor-council form of government. Most municipalities with over 2,500 residents have switched to a professional town manager position supported by an elected council. Neighboring towns of Rye, Mamaroneck and Port Chester all have town manager positions.

Under the town manager form of government,  structure is similar to that of a public corporation. In a corporation a board of directors determines policy and direction then appoints a chief executive officer with professional training and experience in all areas of corporate operations to implement it. Similarly, in a town manager-council form of government, elected council members focus on policy making and direction and  appoint a professional manager to oversee administrative operations, implement its policies, and advise it. The town manager is basically the "chief administrative officer" of the municipality reporting  back to the council.

Duties of a town manager include supervising and coordinating the work of all departments, preparing the  budget and hiring . The manager provides regular and special reports to the council and works with other officers, boards, and commissions appointed by the council. The manager serves for an indefinite term but can be fired by the council at will.

Under this system the position of mayor is  largely ceremonial, selected by the council from among its members or elected, with no executive functions. Mayors in this system can even be volunteer or part-time thereby allowing people to run who have full-time employment elsewhere.

The professional town manager system is not a new concept. It was introduced way back in 1908 in Staunton, Virginia. At that time the town sought to make a move to what they called "scientific management," believing that an appointee with high-level training and experience would  do a superior job to a local elected resident. Proponents of the system also believed that a professional manager would minimize issues of nepotism and cronyism.

Those against this form of government argue that an elected body is more responsive to the community as  directly answerable to  residents due to the elections every two years. Whether this is valid remains questionable given that, even in the manager-council form of government,  the council is still elected every two years and has the option of firing a town manager at any time if the residents call for it.The average stay of a manager is Westchester county is, in fact, around four years due to normal employment turnover.

While our council members have said in the past that they see both positives and negatives to the idea, our newest council member, Marlane Amelio, is supportive of the concept.

“I have personally supported the possibility of exploring the idea of a town/village manager since elected with the thought that a non-political town manager might be the answer to a lot of the issues that tend to bog down the board,” she said.

Amelio feels the issue is particularly relevant given current financial difficulties.

"Harrison has become big business these days, and in an economically depressed time, town finances become even more important," she said. "Specifically, I view the concept of a town manager as being beneficial in managing and determining the town budget, playing a pivotal role during union negotiations and also in personnel issues. This town needs to move forward in a positive trajectory and always with a non-political agenda. We need to evaluate the pros and cons of this as a town with valuable input from our residents."

Whether the concept moves from  discussion  to any semblance of reality will depend on how actively residents want to see it happen. The first step would be a resident petition to add the issue to the ballot this November as a referendum question, open to a town-wide vote.

My experience is that a lot of people talk, but few really take action, and this issue has been discussed over the last two years without anyone stepping up to take it to the next level.

We’ll have to wait and see if the current rumblings are just further talk or will lead to real political change.