Checks and balances are a necessity. That is why we have a commission/city manager form of government. "The weak-mayor government system is a product of Jacksonian democracy. It comes from the belief that if politicians have few powers and many checks, then they can do relatively little damage. This may be true but what we are experiencing here are few checks and balances. We have a commission agreeing with the CM on nearly every administrative decision and they do not seem to be concerned with keeping the city manager in check.
The mayor-council government system, sometimes called the strong-mayor government system, is one of the two most common forms of local government for municipalities. It is the one most frequently adopted in large cities, although the other form, is the typical local government form of more municipalities."
Several years ago when Bill Coakley was running for mayor, he was advocating for a strong mayor form of government. Most people were obviously opposed to this for various reasons--Lois Frankel was running amuck in West Palm Beach and put a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of voters. People were scared that we would be stuck with a tyrant in power and wanted our elected commission to keep the city administrator in check and retain our present form of government.
The problem is--when the objective of checks and balances is lost and the scales are tipped in favor of Staff decisions that may not always be in the best interests of Lake Worth taxpayers. The fire assessment comes immediately to mind. Burning through our cash reserves without knowing they were spending all of our money along with paying for a Study to find ways to assess us even more instead of living within a normal Budget; those are examples of failed leadership.
I agree Lynn and I believe that this Commission's failure to check the City Manager is one of the biggest reasons we are in the mess we are in. Stanton has created an environment where it is a sin to question the judgment of the City. This applies both to the public as well as to an elected commissioner. We can only fault the commission for failing to do it's job of protecting us. Why did the majority refuse to go after Stanton for changing the parking rules downtown without their approval and without merchant input. No one but Scott will say what needs to be said. That's sad for all of us. Vote out these folks and start over.
ReplyDeleteI was struck by the gentlemen who showed them that if they could eek out just 1% from their budget... they would have more than enough for the fire pension. More than enough and the extra could go back to building our emergency reserve account that Rachel wanted to raid and further plunge us into financial ruin.
ReplyDeleteBut then we had to listen to our lecture on how they have worked so hard to reduce and cut and pillage and lay off workers, not executive employees though, in order to get to point they have to assess us further.
The cow is dry! Your just making our udders sore!
Of course Lake Worth has a Meek Mayor, and a strong City Manager.
ReplyDeleteWhen a City Manager is taking excess powers, it is a violation of your Consitutional rights. It deprives you of an honest official. And Commissioners who let it happen are conspirators. So it's more than faulting them for failing to do their jobs. They are violating their oaths of office to uphold the constitution. That's a felony, it's serious!
ReplyDeleteIf the City Manager is acting without Commissioner permissions, then it could be because of bribes or extortion.
So keep asking the difficult questions. You're on the straight path.