Plattsburgh mayor calling for Council-Manager consideration
Dec. 21—PLATTSBURGH — It's been seven years since residents of the City of Plattsburgh had a chance to vote on whether to change their form of government from a strong mayor type to a full-time city manager.
Mayor Chris Rosenquest believes it is time to examine the question again.
"There's just this constant question about it," Rosenquest, who ran for mayor and was elected in 2020, said.
"Not just in the campaign, but there is a constant asking the question, 'why are we not considering this.'"
Rosenquest is putting together a commission to look into a change and all that it could entail.
He said hopefully a commission studying the issue will provide enough answers for the public to make an informed decision.
"I believe there is an appetite for this and I'm asking to confirm that or deny it and then figure out what the pros and cons are," he said.
The city has operated under a strong mayor type of government where an elected mayor runs the city on a day-to-day basis, since it was formed in 1902.
A strong mayor is chief executive officer as well as the presiding officer of the six-member Common Council. Of the 590 cities and villages in the state, there is a mix of strong mayor and manager types of government.
In comparison, the Clinton County Legislature operates under an administrator-legislature form of governmental structure where the county administrator (Michael Zurlo) oversees the day-to-day operations and serves as the budget officer.
"Our current form of government seems to work well when the voters install mayors who have strong business, community outreach, and public policy experience," Rosenquest said.
"It's been my experience that having a mayor with negotiation, budgeting, management, public relations, and public policy creation experience serves the future of our community more effectively."
Rosenquest said having a leader with the skills and experience to run a $64 million organization is critical.
"With a strong mayor form of government, the consistency and differing skill sets between mayors can potentially create severe inconsistencies when we're swapping out a CEO every four years," Rosenquest said.
The commission will look at what a "Council-Manager" form of government would look like from all angles.
Rosenquest explained that such a form would consist of an elected city council and mayor who are responsible for policy making, and a professional city manager, appointed by the council, who is responsible for administration and acts as the CEO of the city.
The city manager would provide policy advice, direct the daily operations of city government, handle personnel functions, and is responsible for preparing the city budget.
Under the Council-Manager statutes, the City Council is prohibited from interfering with the manager's administration. The city manager, however, is directly accountable to and can be removed by a majority vote of the council at any time.
City voters rejected a city manager form of government in 2016 after the Charter Commission recommended it for a public vote during their deliberations in 2015.
Only 40% of voters supported the change after a short-lived campaign to promote the idea.
"Anecdotally we've heard all sorts of reasons why this referendum failed," Rosenquest said.
"We also heard from many why they supported it. There's something to be said about an active sitting mayor calling for its serious consideration despite that meaning a change to the mayor's duties."
Rosenquest said that when he was running for mayor in 2020, he heard more voters demand that City Hall be run like a business.
"Even today, many people who approach me ask why the city doesn't consider installing a city manager," he said.
"I feel that's a good question to consider and I'm asking this commission to help answer the pros and cons of these questions... I think enough time has elapsed and the attitudes of the voters have potentially changed, but again that is what the commission has been tasked to understand."
E-mail: jlotemplio@pressrepublican.com
Twitter: @jlotemplio
