Voters called arbiters of form of government

Voters should have a say before changes are made to a municipality's form of government, according to a legislative task force charged with studying the controversial issue.

Legislators unanimously approved guiding principles for the Local Issues Task Force at a meeting Wednesday morning, and they put "respect for voters" at the top of the list.

Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, said the catalyst of the bill that led to the formation of the task force was controversies that erupted after two city councils in 2006 created a city-manager form of government without a public referendum.

"If (municipalities) are going to make those changes, it should go before a vote of the people," Walker said.

Walker's bill, SB41, was introduced during the recent legislative session. The measure initially sought to repeal the section of the state code that makes it possible for municipal councils to establish a city-manager form of government by ordinance. The legislation was softened during the session and passed as a task-force bill.

A moratorium was placed on enacting city-manager forms of government by ordinance until May 5, 2008, while the task force meets to study the issue.

The task force Wednesday discussed exactly what constitutes a "change of government." City councils in Syracuse and Bluffdale, both of which enacted city-manager governments by ordinance last year, contend they didn't actually change the form of government in their cities but only shuffled titles and responsibilities.

The mayors from both cities and residents who attended the meeting disagreed.

"This decision needs to be made by a vote of the people," Syracuse resident Bob VanVelkinburgh said in a prepared statement. "This issue is too large to be dealt with by ordinance."

The ordinances have been put on hold in both cities pending referendum votes. Bluffdale is planning a June 26 vote; Syracuse will wait until November.

Despite claims to the contrary by the Syracuse City Council, Mayor Fred Panucci said his duties were changed by the council's action.

"When they took away my authority as CEO, they also removed my ability to review contracts that were entered into by the city administrator we hired," Panucci said. "Contracts were entered into without the consent of myself or the council."

Syracuse City Councilman Dean Steel confirmed that such problems occurred and said that it was a "mistake to give the city manager the authority to sign contracts without the mayor's signature."

"We want to go back and change that," Steel said.

The task force is set to meet again June 13. It will report its findings to the Political Subdivision Interim Committee in November.

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