Council-Manager Government


Is it a responsive form of government?
In council-manager government, councilmembers are the leaders and policy makers elected to represent various segments of the community and to concentrate on policy issues that are responsive to citizens’ needs and wishes. The manager is appointed by council to carry out policy and ensure that the entire community is being served. If the manager is not responsive to the council’s wishes, the council has authority to terminate the manager at any time. In that sense, a manager’s responsiveness is tested daily.

What is the council’s function?
The council is the legislative body; its members are the community’s decision maker. Power is centralized in the elected council, which approves the budget and determines the tax rate, for example. The council also focuses on the community’s goals, major projects, and such long-term considerations as community growth, land use development, capital improvement plans, capital financing, and strategic planning. The council hires a professional manager to carry out the administrative responsibilities and supervises the manager’s performance.

What is the manager’s function?


Does the manager participate in policy determination?

Where does the mayor fit in?

Are all council-manager governments structured the same way?

No. In fact, it is not restricted to cities. It is used by counties too. More than 3,000 local governments operate under this form. They vary greatly in size and characteristics, including independent cities, center cities, suburbs, and counties.

Over 71 million.

Is the form popular in large communities?
Yes. Out of 195 cities with more than 100,000 citizens, 106 use this form of government. Some examples are Phoenix; San Diego; Dallas; Cincinnati; San Antonio; Kansas City, Missouri; and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

How much citizen participation is possible under council-manager government?
Successful examples of citizen participation in the local government service delivery decision-making process are widespread among professionally managed U.S. communities. Because professional local government management offers government of the people, by the people, and for the people, it sets the stage for citizens and their government. Examples range from visioning, in which citizens play a major role in determining the future of their community, to neighborhood service delivery, which involves residents through the development of citizen/government partnerships, to community-oriented local government services. Because political power is concentrated in the entire governing body rather than one elected official, more citizens have an opportunity to be elected to a position in which they have significant influence over the future of their community.

What is the history of the council-manager form?
Born out of the turn-of-the-century progressive reform movement, the council-manager system of local government is one of the few original American contributions to political theory. In 1908, Staunton, Virginia, instituted the first position legally defining, by ordinance, the broad authority and responsibility associated with today’s professional local government manager. Sumter, South Carolina, was the first city to adopt a charter incorporating the basic principles of council-manager government in 1912. Westmount, Quebec, introduced the form to Canada in 1913. The first large city to adopt the plan was Dayton, Ohio, in 1914. The first counties to adopt it in the 1930s were Arlington County, Virginia, and Durham County and Robeson County, North Carolina.

Since its establishment, the council-manager form has become the most popular form of government in the United States in communities with populations of 5,000 or greater. The form also is popular in Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and West Germany. For more than 80 years, council-manager government has responded to the changing needs of citizens and their communities.

How can a community adopt this form of government?
Methods vary, but most communities can adopt council-manager government through a charter, a local ordinance, or a state enabling law. In many cases, adoption must be by vote of the local governing body.

How is the manager selected?

No. Local residence should not be required in the appointment of a manager. Managers are professionals who might serve several communities during their careers, bringing extensive experience coordinating public services and applying management techniques to a community.

What salary does the manager receive?
Earnings of managers depend on their educational background and experience, the size and complexity of the local governments employing them, and the economic conditions of the regions where communities are located. The council sets the manager’s salary.

Can the manager be fired?

Where do managers get their prior experience?
Sixty-three percent of managers surveyed by ICMA have a master’s degree. Respondents indicated that they had spent an average of 10 years as a local government manager.