Roger Crum who is a representative and volunteer for the International City/County Manager Association will be in Caldwell at a public forum to discuss City/County Mgr government with interested citizens. The meeting will be held at the Caldwell Public Library meeting room on January 19th @ 7:00PM. (A group of local citizens not affiliated with this blog have invited Mr. Crum to this meeting)
Resume of Mr. Crum:
"Roger Crum served five years as an officer in the Air Force and eight years as a systems engineering supervisor in the aerospace industry before joining the public sector. Under a National Science Foundation program became a technology transfer advisor to local government, then moved into management. Served as Deputy City Manager and City Manager of Spokane, Washington, and City Manager of Evanston, Illinois before retiring from full
time employment. Subsequently have served as an interim city manager and an interim parks director in addition to consulting work. Currently serving as a part time mediator for the Fulcrum Institute and continue as a volunteer advisor to Washington State city managers and administrators."
City Manager form of government was on the ballot for voters to consider in the early 1990's. The election was defeated by 19 votes. A group of concerned citizens is once again raising city manager government as something we need to consider given the current political climate in the cities of Caldwell, Nampa and Canyon County. The meeting is open to all and we encourage your attendance. It is a forum to discuss a better way to manage local government with trained and credentialed professionals and is by no means an opportunity to criticize current office holders.
I think this may be a better system then we have now. And considering that it only lost by 19 votes, I think it should get another chance to be debated. Are the current city council members and mayor for or against this?
ReplyDeleteThe Idaho Press Tribune had an online poll: Do you think the city of Caldwell is headed in the right direction? You expect a certain level of dissonance with what is going on. However, this poll showed 68% of people thought the city was headed in the wrong direction, a mere 32% thought the city of Caldwell was headed in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteThis was an unscientific poll but it is a bellweather of what people are thinking. My guess would be if City Manager were to be put up for a vote in Caldwell, Nampa and Canyon County the transition to city manager would happen when the votes got counted.
We studies the “Scientific Management” movement, a hybrid inception that may have formed the city manager form of leadership and was associated with Frederick Winslow Taylor rather in depth when I was studying my MPA at the UI. In a nutshell, the focus of this movement was to run organizations in an objective, scientific fashion to maximize efficiency, among other things. My question is, "Has there EVER been efficiency in our current city government leadership?" Yeah, there has been. Why do I say this? Well, when you monopolize the decision making process into thehands of a mass religious mormon sector that far outnumbers any other group in this area, one sided "controlled" rules become the norm that "best favors" the repressors. This would be a form of BIAS that as history continues to repeat itself, is directed toward the individuals with the least amount of resources which are comprised of hispanics, blacks, and asians due to "overwhelming SUPERIOR STOCK control". My case now rests.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post Admin. Now I have to really think about what I say here ;)
ReplyDeleteI think it's important for people to also think about how powerful an effect comments can have, especially for new bloggers. A comment is both a validation that someone has read the content and connected with it - that can inspire someone to continue on interimmanager, or if too negative, make others consider shutting down.
At any rate, I'll give this more thought but I'm bookmarking this post to share with Friends. Thanks again.