Spa City needs new charter to be ready for future
On Nov. 7, the people of Saratoga Springs will have an exciting opportunity to vote for a new city charter. How did we get here? Our current charter requires a charter review every 10 years. In June 2016, the City Council appointed 15 Saratogians to serve on an official Charter Review Commission. Members are men and women, some older, some younger, of different political parties, areas of the city and professional backgrounds. After 14 months of research, dozens of public meetings, interviews with past and present city officials and employees, innumerable conversations with residents and business owners, and consultations with experts, the Charter Review Commission has crafted a new charter, uniquely designed to prepare our city for the challenges and opportunities of the future.
Our current charter is based on the commission form of government. We elect 5 commissioners and a mayor, each of whom serves both as city council member and the supervisor of a city department. There are a number of major problems with our system, identified soon after it was created in 1901 and still with us to this day.
No one is in charge at City Hall, not even the mayor. No chief executive coordinates city services to get things done. City staff are divided among five independent departments supervised by five elected officials. Commissioners spend more time protecting their turf than collaborating on important issues. When council members don’t get along— a regular occurrence in recent years—the people in their departments don’t work together. Inevitably, city services suffer. No successful business or government is organized this way.
Few people with the talent and energy to run for city council also have the time and expertise to run a department for a parttime salary. People active in their neighborhoods or in community organizations don’t run for office. Since 1915, only seven women have served in any elected city council position. We’ve never had a woman commissioner of accounts or public safety, and only one commissioner of public works, back in the 1940s. This year three out of five city council incumbents will go unchallenged.
Neither our elected department heads, nor their appointed deputies, are required to have any qualifications for the job of managing hundreds of city staff and an annual budget of over $50 million. Political parties, hard pressed for candidates, tell them they can learn on the job. City services and infrastructure suffer from deficiencies in management and long-term planning.
The Saratoga Springs Charter Review Commission conducted the firstever survey of City Hall employees. To the question, does our current charter ensure accountability? 57 percent said no. Does it prevent wasteful spending? 67 percent said no. Effectively manage the city? 72 percent said no. Should the city have a city manager? 65 percent said yes.
T he new charter preserves the best parts of our current charter. It builds upon our current commission form by making the logical transition to the council-manager form. The essence of the new form is a simple but powerful improvement in the organization of city government. Direct responsibility for city operations is transferred from 5 elected officials to a single professional manager, and the city work force is unified, working together as a single team.
Of nearly 2,000 U.S. cities with populations of 25,000 and above, Saratoga Springs is one of only six cities still holding onto the commission system, while more than 1,000 cities and rising are thriving under the council-manager form.
What are the benefits of this change? Among many, two stand out. First, a more diverse, representative and effective city council and more competition for council seats. With daily department re-
sibilities transferred to a professional manager, more young people with jobs and families, more women, will run for office and have a voice in city government. The city council will collaborate full time on all the major issues facing the city, creating the community’s vision, and adopting and monitoring the budget.
Second, qualified, professional management of a united city workforce. The council will appoint a highly trained professional manager on the basis of education, experience, skills, and abilities, not political allegiance. Because the council will hold the manager accountable for outstanding performance, the manager will coordinate department leaders and the entire city work force as one team dedicated to better public service. Major projects will be completed in less time, for less money.
It’s time, Saratoga. Let’s be ready for the future. On Nov. 7, please vote yes for our new city charter. For more information, go to www.itstimesaratoga.com. Rick Fenton is a founding member of It’s Time Saratoga, an organization promoting the adoption of the new city charter proposed by the Saratoga Springs Charter Review Commission.