Reader comments
Will 'mayor' title get the ax?

Typical of the state legislature meddling in local issues where they don't belong. I think citizens are smart enough to understand their local form of government.

Kirk: I disagree, I work in a local government entity and the majority of Utah residents have no understanding of local government form or operations, nor does the average citizen understand how the "mayor" is supposed to operate within their local government system. I urge you to ask the question to people you know regarding their form of local government...I guarantee that the majority will have no clue. I agree with what the legislative committee has recommended. The title of "mayor" simply is a figure head and not someone with centralized power that directs the day to day operations of their respective cities...City councils are charged with directing a manager that does this responsibility, besides, most mayors are part time anyway with exception of those communities mentioned in the news story like Ogden, Logan, etc. You do not fully comprehend the issue described by the story, the legislative committee is attempting to correct major problems in some of our Utah cities. Contrary to your understanding, mayors are only members of their respective councils not the all powerful individuals with centralized power we think they are....you missed the point...Bluffdale and Syracuse didn't.

Clearly you are smart enough, and you think others understand things just like you do.

I live in a city with a real Mayor, and most people don't understand the separation of powers, or who is in charge of what.
Calling someone Mayor when they are really the Council Chair just confuses the issue, since they don't have the same responsibilities or powers.

This is something that should have happened a long time ago. There is considerable confusion about just what a mayor can do. Obviously, this confusion extends to the Utah League as well. They have apparantly forgotten that cities are political subdivisions of the state and completely subject to the desires of the legislature as to form, duties and powers. There is, in fact, nothing to 'sell'.

In my view, the legislation should stipulate that the city council elects the chair from its membership to serve for a period of not more than 1 year. Since most councils are "at-large", why is a direct election of the chair important? These councils should function the same as those in cities with a mayor-council form of government wherein the council elect its chair on a regular basis.

There is a great deal of difference between a government with the separation of executive and legislative powers and one with the combining of executive and legislative powers. There should be provisions for BOTH forms. A strong Mayor form separates the powers and the Mayor is NOT a member of the Council but the Executive. It's no different than the U.S. President and the Congress. Would you call the Prersident Chairman of the House or Senate. Of course not. The problem is to educate the residents on what form of government they have. It is important that they should know for a lot of reasons. Let's not bow to laziness and ignorance.

HC - good comment however, tell us how do you educate the citizens of the form of government? Government cannot not hold your hand through your own intiatives of education. In addition, local governments do not function as the constitution describes the federal government, they never have operated this way. The governing body of six member councils is the city councilpersons which includes the mayor, these individuals oversee the responsibilties and duties of a city manager. Now, tell me where the distinct serparaton of power is in this case? It lies with the governing body as a whole, not centralized in one person. Centralized power in the mayor throws accountability to the wind. The legislative committee is not bowing to laziness or ignorance, if they were doing this we wouldn't be posting these comments.

As a city councilman in a city in Salt Lake County, I strongly disagree with Sen. Stephenson on this issue. Even our part-time Mayor is so much more than chair of the city council. He/she represents the city at numerous public and intergovernmental functions. Like the Queen is for England, a Mayor is the city's head of state and ambassador-at-large for the city. Yes, in our form of government the CEO is the city manager, but the chairman of the board is the Mayor. What is a city without a Mayor? It is as American an institution as baseball and apple pie.

SLC Councilman:
Yes, the title of Mayor is important, but its a title, nothing more. The mayor is a figure head only....but this creates confusion with the citizens, unfortunately they think the mayor is this all powerful person, when in reality he/she is a representative/ambassador only. It creates problems, unlike the majority of Utah cities Syracuse City has a "hybrid" form of a six member council; where the mayor also carries the title and powers of Chief Excutive Officer CEO. He directs the day to day affairs of the City and then when something goes wrong with City administration duties he avoids accountability and directs blame at the city administrator. The stituation in Syracuse reminds me of Boss Hogg in the tv show Dukes of Hazzard. This centralized power creates an atmosphere of collusion with the City administrator to avoid accountability and promotes back office government. There certainly is more checks and balances with six people holding oversight and policy authority than one CEO Mayor. Furthermore, this country was founded on de-centralized power with many representatives, not just one "king"..oops, mayor. Yes, keep the title of mayor if you wish, just further define the title in state code.

If someone wants to deal with their local unit of government and are not sure about the powers of the Mayor, they will find out. Give some crdit to the citizens. The legislature should legislate and leave the executive branch of government alone. The Utah State Legislature has created enough damage and confusion as to THEIR role in government. Recently, they confused everyone when they became Mayor of Salt Lake County in dealing with the soccer mess in Sandy.

I disagree with wst. State law is very clear about the powers of a mayor, even in six member council forms. Mayors of 3rd, 4th, and 5th class cities are "the chief executive officer to whom all employees of the municipality shall report." The law is clear; some city council members and city administrators just choose to ignore it.

You brought up Syracuse, but failed to mention that the manager, once given free reign, contracted very large pay raises for various city employees. He was eventually fired, but after the damage was done.

Wst, I can't take your comments about local forms of government seriously when you don't seem to understand our federal form. I'm not trying to be rude, but we don't have a parliamentary system as you are describing. Our founding fathers wanted to ensure sperations of powers with checks and balances in place to prevent the very thing you are advocating: power centralized into one branch.

There are no checks and balances when one branch of government holds all the power. Six people cannot steer a ship. What usually ends up happening is the manager takes control, and it is then we have a "king."

It seems to me that the allowed forms of government for cities may need to change or at least more specific roles should be defined. Having said that, it also seems obvious that sometime elected officials take their victories to mean that they have some sacred and comprehensive mandate that allows them to do virtually anything without accountability. My City is a great city with a very capable professional city manager that's been trained to run the day to day operations of the city. Elected officials don't generally have that expertise and sometimes when they try to run cities (Bluffdale, Eagle Mountain) they get into trouble. City managers seem accountable because the Mayor and Council can make sure they are running things well. If one gets out of control, they should be let go. Seems like a very responsible and simple way to run a city.