I’ve been doing a little poking around and it appears that folks on either side of the aisle, so to speak, “conservative “or “progressive”, “native” or “newcomer”, seem to like the idea of Newburyport having a City Manager.

To have such unity in Newburyport, MA on such a novel idea is novel in itself.

So I did a little research on what in the world a City Manager could be. My extensive research so far is from www.answers.com on the World Wide Web. But I figured it would be a good idea to start someplace.

According to anwers.com a “council-manager” form of government means “the mayor is a first among equals at the city council, analogous to a head of state for the city. However, the mayor does not have any special legislative powers.”

“In the council-manager form of government, an elected city council is responsible for making policy, passing ordinances, voting appropriations, and having overall supervisory authority in the city government. In such a government, the mayor will perform strictly ceremonial duties or will act as a member and presiding officer of the council.

The council will hire a city manager or administrator who will be responsible for supervising government operations and implementing the policies adopted by the council. The manager serves the council, usually with a contract that specifies duties and responsibilities. Ideally, the manager is apolitical…

…a city manager can be seen as a similar role to that of corporate CEO in providing professional management to an organization. Council-manager government is much like a publicly traded corporation. In a corporation, the board of directors appoints a CEO, makes major decisions and wields representative power on behalf of shareholders. Likewise in council-manager government, the city council appoints a city manager, makes major decisions, and wields representative power on behalf of the citizens.”

The whole “City Manager 101” article can be found at:
http://www.answers.com/topic/council-manager-government

Mary Eaton
Newburyport