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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 26, 2005 Charter review panel recommends a city manager position By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The Ashland Charter Review Committee has voted to recommend the city administrator become a city manager with hiring and firing authority over city department heads. City Administrator Gino Grimaldi currently is charged with carrying out policies adopted by the mayor and Ashland City Council, but he has no hiring and firing power over the department leaders who help put those policies into action. During its Thursday night meeting, the city charter review committee also recommended that the mayor and city council maintain hiring and firing authority over a city manager. “The reason I support this is not because I want more power in the hands of a person who is not elected,” said committee member Michael Riedeman, noting that the mayor and council would continue to have ultimate control through their power over the city manager. “It’s a setup for disaster the way it is.” Committee member Hal Cloer said he had discussed the issue of the city administrator lacking hiring and firing ability over department heads with former longtime City Adminis-trator Brian Almquist and veteran Councilor Don Laws. Both Almquist and Laws separately identified three instances in the past where different mayors had appointed inadequate department heads. “In all three cases, it turned out very badly,” Cloer said. Several residents who came to the meeting spoke in favor of giving a city manager hiring and firing power over department heads, saying it would increase the professionalism and effectiveness of the city government, while a few had reservations about the change. The charter review committee also gathered public input on whether the mayor should vote only in case of a tie, as is now the case, or vote on every issue. “As a voter, I’d like to know where the mayor stands on every single issue that comes to the council,” said resident Jim Olney. Some residents have argued the mayor can better serve as a facilitator of council meetings if he or she votes only to break ties. Residents at the meeting were strongly in favor of giving all city council members, not just the mayor, the power to propose and appoint members to the various committees, commissions and boards that help research issues and recommend policy to the elected council. The powerful Ashland Planning Commission does have decision-making authority over land-use applications, although those decisions can be appealed to the council. The mayor currently proposes appointments and the council votes to confirm those nominees. The charter review committee voted only on the city manager issues on Thursday night. The committee will hold a public forum on the issue of whether the city recorder and municipal judge should continue to be elected at 7 p.m. May 5, in the Southern Oregon University Stevenson Union Building. The committee will return to the issue of the mayor voting and other government structure issues at 7 p.m. May 12, in the Stevenson Union. Deliberations on recommendations about the recorder and judge also are on the agenda. At 7 p.m. May 19, the committee will gather input on the Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission, which currently is elected and heads the Ashland Parks and Recreation Department. That department is largely independent of city operations, although the city council has final authority over the department’s budget and some other areas, such as real-estate purchases. The charter review committee is charged with examining the city’s charter — essentially the constitution for the community — and making recommendations for possible changes to the city council. Any changes to the charter put on the ballot by the city council would have to be approved by voters. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Free Musick Downloads Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress tcg student loan consolidation home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms cortisol weight loss Tatoos website design & marketing student loans African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Student Loans Tatoo Poker Games Homeschooling Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams