Plan aims to defuse mayor-council fights

Form-of-government votes like the one taking place today in Bluffdale may become more common if state legislators follow suggestions of the Utah League of Cities and Towns.

The league is proposing to prevent disputes about city councils stripping mayors' administrative powers, as the Bluffdale City Council did to Mayor Claudia Anderson, by giving mayors the ability to bring such changes to a public vote.

The idea has been embraced by the majority of state legislators on the Local Issues Task Force, which has been meeting since May to address controversies in 2006 stemming from city councils creating a city manager form of government by ordinance.

Under the league's plan, municipal councils still would have the authority to create the office of city manager and assign duties to that position by ordinance without a public vote, as long as both the mayor and council agree to the changes.

That "peaceful transition," according to the league, would require two public hearings at least two weeks apart to make sure residents are aware of and understand the proposed changes.

If a city council creates a city manager form of government by ordinance and the mayor objects, as Anderson did, the ordinance would be stayed until it can be voted upon by the public at the next election.

"That, we hope, will solve the mayor-and-council disputes that we've come across," said Gary Crane, Layton city attorney and league representative.

Residents still would have the ability to challenge any form-of-government changes — including the creation of a city manager by ordinance — through the referendum process. That was the case in Bluffdale, where referendum sponsors collected enough signatures to force today's special election.

City councils in Bluffdale and Syracuse both enacted city manager forms of government last year against the wishes of the cities' respective mayors. Those ordinances were put on hold after residents in both cities collected enough signatures on referendum petitions to bring the issue to a vote. Syracuse residents will vote on the issue in November.

Syracuse City Councilman Danny Hammon said the league's proposal "would have helped alleviate the problems" that have arisen in Syracuse.

"I think what the league has produced is something that will help cities in the future," Hammon said.

Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, said she believes the league's proposal achieves the purpose of the bill she sponsored at the 2007 legislative session as well as the task force's goal to respect the voting public.