According to the International City/County Management Association*, the council-manager form of government combines the strong political leadership of elected officials with the strong managerial experience of an appointed city manager. All power and authority to set policy rests with an elected governing body, the city council. The council in turn hires a nonpartisan manager who runs the organization. Since its establishment, the council-manager form has become the most popular structure of local government in the United States. Show How it Works A city benefits from the council-manager form of government in a number of important ways:
City Council’s Role Mayor’s Role City Manager’s Role *All of the information on this page was provided by the International City/County Management Association. From Ballotpedia Council-manager government is one of the five major types of municipal government found in cities and towns throughout the United States. The other four are mayor-council, commission, town meeting, and representative town meeting. In a council-manager government, an elected city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and appoints a chief executive officer called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations, to draft a budget, and to implement and enforce the council's policy and legislative initiatives. Most council-manager governments also feature a mayor, who may be elected at-large and who officially represents the city on the state, national, and international levels. However, unlike in a strong mayor-council government, the mayor is a regular voting member of city council with little or no legal privileges that may distinguish him or her from other council members. Basic featuresThe city-manager, city council, and mayor work together to enact budgets, to draft and enforce legislation, to provide city services, and to oversee city departments and appoint departmental heads.[1][2][3] City-manager
City council
Mayor
Hiring processThe city-manager is not an elected position. Rather, the holder of this office serves at the pleasure of the council, which retains the legal right to dismiss and replace the city-manager. The hiring process for a city-manager is comparable to that of a corporate CEO. It begins with general discussions amongst city council members, often in consultation with voters and professional consultants. After a hiring notice is drafted and distributed to professional organizations, the process then moves to a multistage interview process that includes a review of applications and onsite interviews with qualified candidates. The process ends with a vote taken by city council.[1] HistoryThe origins of council-manager government in the United States can be found in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Then, most cities utilized a weak mayor-council form of municipal government in which all executive, legislative, and administrative powers were invested in city councils. Though most of these governments also featured a mayor, the role was primarily a ceremonial one with duties that included ribbon-cutting events and presiding over official city events such as festivals and parades.[4] In the late nineteenth century, cities began experimenting with other types of municipal government.[5] A political movement began that criticized inefficiencies in weak mayor-council governments and their failure to break the power of the political bosses and machines that influenced American politics. One development that emerged out of this movement was the strong mayor-council government, in which executive and administrative power was removed from city council and placed in the hands of an at-large elected mayor. Another development, however, was the council-manager government in which city councils were required to hire a professional administrator who would be responsible for municipal finances, the implementation and enforcement of law, and basic city administration.[5][6]  TrendsCouncil-manager government is a common form of municipal government, especially in cities with populations between 10,000 and 500,000 citizens. Based on data gathered by the International City/County Management Association, approximately 59 percent of cities in the United States utilized the council-manager system as of 2011 (see Figure 1).[3][7][8][9] Political scientists and policy analysts have stated that the prevalence of the council-manager form of government was indicative of a trend toward professionalization in municipal administration, and that state laws and transparency and accountability organizations were the catalysts of this trend.[10] See also
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Footnotes
What do critics of the councilCritics, on the other hand, argue that the council-manager form of city government is unsuitable, particularly for large cities, in many cases because there is a lack of policy leadership.
What is a disadvantage of a councilAnother often heard criticism of council-manager government is that it is undemocratic in character. The basis of this charge lies largely in the fact that the appointed manager, while exercising much power, is not directly accountable to the voters.
What is the main argument in favor of the city manager system?Arguments For the Council-Manager Form
The pool of qualified candidates is larger since city managers traditionally are paid better than mayors and since candidates can be recruited from outside the city including a nationwide search. (mayors must be a resident of the city prior to their election).
What makes the councilOne of its most attractive features is that the council-manager form is adaptable to local conditions and preferences. For example, some communities have councils that are elected at large while other councils are elected by district.
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What do critics of the council-manager form of government argue that the city manager lacks?
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