City Managers and City Councils: Perceptions of The Division of Authority

Abstract

ONTEMPORARY discussions of policy making in council-manager governments conclude that the city manager has an important influence on policy. The notion of the city manager as community leader rather than neutral civil servant is verified by numerous empirical studies of the policy making process and espoused by the managers' professional organization, the International City Management Association.l Discussions of operations of council-manager governments therefore revolve around the manner in which power is shared between mayor, council and manager, not whether a sharing occurs. Within this framework, however, the major studies bring forth different conceptions of councilmanager relations and therefore varying notions of the qualities and efforts expected of the manager. Years ago, Ridley concluded that activism on the part of the manager complemented the role of the council in policy making and led to coordinated actions between the two.2 This position was recently reaffirmed by Wright and Boynton's study of large manager communities, in a broader and more sophisticated light.3 The implication of these works is that most councils desire professionally trained managers who can assume a large role in the governing process. On the other hand, some have argued that policy initiation on the part of managers has led to conflicts between council and manager, deterring governmental action in certain areas and resulting in conflicts between the two parties. Loveridge,