Legislators looking at how cities are run

Within the next two months, a special legislative committee will begin reviewing draft rules for how city governments are organized, lawmakers on the panel said Monday.

The rules, which could eventually become state law, would allow up to four forms of government, each with an increasing amount of power for the mayor, rather than the six forms currently authorized by state law. The draft rules also say that any time a change is to take place, the residents must vote.

Those draft rules were developed by the Local Issues Task Force, which the Legislature created this year in order to deal with confusion raised in Bluffdale and Syracuse over various sections of state law regarding forms of local government.

Last year, councils in both cities created a manager-by-ordinance form of government, in which an administrative services director, in Bluffdale's case, and a city administrator, in Syracuse's, became city managers and began reporting to the mayor and council and not just the mayor.

Resident groups in each city began circulating referendum petitions, and both cities were sued by residents who were upset by the changes.

In a June special election, Bluffdale voters upheld the council's decision. In November, Syracuse residents will vote on a similar issue.

The Legislature this year placed a moratorium on city councils enacting the manager-by-ordinance form of government until May 5, 2008, while the task force meets to study the issue.

Robert Rees, associate legal counsel for the task force, introduced a plan Monday that would eliminate confusion about the roles mayors play in city government.

One of the problems, Rees said, is that people perceive the mayor of the city as a "strong" mayor, meaning that the city government is divided into executive and legislative branches of government, like the state or federal governments.

But few cities in Utah actually have that type of government, said Lincoln Shurtz, director of legislative affairs for the Utah League of Cities and Towns. Salt Lake City, Provo, Ogden, Sandy and Logan are a few examples.

Most other cities have either five-member councils, where the mayor votes, or six-member councils, where the mayor doesn't vote. Those city councils function more like commissions, where each member oversees an area of city operations, and the council as a whole handles the hiring and firing of employees.

The mayors are in charge of setting council agendas, running council meetings and representing the city on various other committees, such as a council of governments or special service district.

But the people don't realize that, said Syracuse Mayor Fred Panucci.