Your Turn: Critics of local mayors don't understand their powers
Several contributors to the opinion page – and Times editorial board – were quick to heap criticism on four St. Cloud metropolitan area mayors for declining a CentraCare request that they impose temporary mask mandates in their cities.
Critics accused the mayors of St. Cloud, Sartell, Sauk Rapids and Waite Park of failed leadership, taking an easy way out, political cowardice …
The reality: Even if they had wanted, the mayors could not have imposed city-wide mandates. They lacked the legal authority to do so in all four cities.
Sartell, Sauk Rapids and Waite Park all have a “statutory” form of government defined by state law. They have what is called a “weak mayor” system. The mayor has no formal authority outside the city council on which he/she serves (all members with one vote).
St. Cloud is a home rule charter city, determining its own government structures, responsibilities and powers – as long as they do not conflict with state law. Although the St. Cloud charter establishes a strong mayor system, it does not give the mayor authority to issue city-wide mandates. It is the City Council that enacts legislation. It was the council that approved an emergency ordinance requiring masks in July 2020 (Gov. Walz invoked a state-wide mandate before it took effect). That mask requirement was an ordinance, not a mayoral mandate.
CentraCare officials and critics of the mayors may have been misled by the fact Minneapolis and St. Paul and a handful of other cities had imposed mandates. Legal parameters defined by charters can vary from one city to another, but St. Cloud’s charter doesn’t provide mandate authority.
If there are to be mask requirements in the four metro cities, it will require city council approval in each. That could take some time. Then there are the issues of enforcement and establishing penalties for non-compliance. Finite local law enforcement resources would be responsible — at least marginally — for monitoring dozens of public gathering spots.
The four mayors did what they could within the legal limits of their powers — supported and encouraged citizens of their cities to voluntarily follow the CentraCare recommendations. If an ordinance that realistically was unenforceable, wouldn’t the end result effectively be the same? A request for voluntarily compliance?
Elected public officials are accountable to their constituents and criticism from those who disagree with some decisions goes with the job. But criticism for not exceeding their authority is unfair. Criticism is based on an inaccurate assumption that the local mayors can unilaterally declare city-wide mandates.
The attention this has generated arguably may have increased awareness of serious challenges confronting the CentraCare system. And it certainly has demonstrated how much local residents appreciate and support the efforts of dedicated medical professionals and staff.
— Don Casey is a resident of Sartell. He retired as executive editor of the Times in 1997.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Your Turn: Critics of local mayors don't understand their powers
