Both systems can work

By Brent Maze (Contact) | Alex City Outlook

Published Thursday, September 10, 2009

Municipal government has been a major part of my life. I’ve seen many different city governments from my hometown, Kimberly, where my dad was the mayor, to big cities such as Birmingham.

I wouldn’t say I’m an expert on municipal government, but I have seen what works and what doesn’t. Most of the towns I’ve seen operate with a mayor-council, but I did cover a city for a time that had a city manager, Leeds.

This was an interesting situation because Leeds had a five-member council with a mayor and a city manager. From what I understood, the council hired the city manager without the mayor’s consent.

That one point of contention kept the mayor and city manager at odds. At times, the council, mayor and manager would have heated debates during council meetings. The city was also going through tremendous economic hardships at that time.

Through all of that turmoil, however, the city of Leeds managed to land one of its biggest projects ever, Bass Pro Shops. In April 2004, the announcement was made at Barber Motorsports Park.

There is no doubt in my mind that Leeds wouldn’t have Bass Pro Shops without a city manager because their city manager was the one brokered the deal. It took an amazing amount of management to create a cooperative district between Leeds, its neighbor Moody and St. Clair County to attract Bass Pro Shops because Leeds didn’t have the funding to lure the store on its own. A trained city manager was a big asset in putting together that kind of a deal.

Later in 2004, the newly elected Leeds City Council fired the city manager, but the Bass Pro Shops store went forward and opened last year after much anticipation. And I think it’s because of the foundation laid by the city manager.

I’m not necessarily saying I believe a city manager or a mayor is better, but this was a true story.

I don’t know whether Alexander City needs a mayor-manager system and there is no perfect system of government. I do believe that the only way a city will improve is through strong, professional leadership. If you don’t have that, a city could shrink in size and could get itself into trouble quickly.

You can get that through either a mayor or a city manager. I have seen both work.

My father was a mayor of Kimberly for nearly 24 years, and the town grew from a few hundred residents to a population of more than 2,000. Other cities I have covered have also had strong mayors who have helped their cities grow tremendously and bring in big business.

The bottom line is that in Alexander City, we must evaluate our situation and decide what is best for us.

Brent Maze is the managing editor of The Alexander City Outlook. His column appears each Friday.

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