Success Express or Runaway Train?

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

That old saying has been around for a long time and may have had something to do with the way that our constitution is written and the way that our national government is organized. This is such a good model for governments that many other countries have copied it as well as most of our state and local governments. We have a built in system of checks and balances that allows our government to function smoothly without the possibility of one person or group of people getting too much power and running roughshod over everyone else.

This system also gives us a certain amount of stability. One person or group could work long and hard for the good of the people only to have another come in and destroy it all.

Councilman Byrne had a letter in the Times Herald on constitution day. He was praising that document and the way it was written. He even mentioned checks and balances and separation of powers! I couldn’t agree with him more. I thought it was ironic though that just a few days earlier our city council was directing the administration to negotiate a contract with only one bidder. They also seemed to think that they had complete and total control over that process when in fact they did not.

Now I have read through our City Charter several times and a lot of it seems rather vague. There may be more gray area there than black and white. But what I’m looking for is intent. I guess the authors made certain assumptions as did the voters who approved it.

I think one of those assumptions was that everyone involved would be working together for the good of the city. The council has the power to set policy and the city manager is charged with executing that policy. Should he fail to do that council has the power to replace him. That’s how I read it.

Does that put the city manager under the direct control of city council? Does that give council the authority to boss him around in his daily activities? Is he working for the council ? I don’t think so. I think he’s working for the people who elected council.

The charter states that council will have no contact with any city employee except through the city manager. That seems to imply, at least to me, that they are not to be involved in the day to day operation of the city.

The city manager that many felt was working for the good of the city is gone now. The $11,000 a month plus benefits will still be paid but what we will get in return is negligible. And the hand picked replacement for this competent and qualified person may do exactly as council has or will direct them giving them pretty much complete and total control over the operation of the city.

I think the McMorran Authority was originally created to keep the facility safe from local politics. The 50 year time limit may have been all the time the benefactors felt that the building would last. It would then be up to the city or the voters to decide what to do with it. Council’s decision to extend the Authority was a wise one. If it is now their intention to dissolve or dismiss the members I don’t believe they should have that power. That would be like the president appointing a federal judge and later disagreeing with one of his decisions. So what? He can’t be un-appointed now.