City Government discussion

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about what form of government Topeka should have. Reported on Wednesday in the Capital Journal, the city council members weighed in on a proposed change that was reported earlier in the week.

In 2005, Topeka voted to change from a strong mayor/city council form of government to a city manager/city council form, which is what the city currently has. There is a group who would like to see the strong mayoral form of government return as well as a change in how the city council is set up. I know there are many who see things this way. According the Capital Journal, none of the city council members are supporting the idea.

I have no problem with exploring the idea; however, I have to give the following remark some credence:

Councilman Bill Haynes said he hadn’t formed an opinion, but his initial reaction was that the current city council-manager form of government hasn’t been in place long enough to start thinking about abandoning it.

I know that there are other large cities hold a similar form of government, so it begs the question… is the real problem with the system or are the wrong people in place in the system? It’s not been in place long enough, or had enough different individuals in it, to form a clear decision.

I don’t know the answer. But I think that it needs to be considered. If you’ll allow the parallel, it’s a little like saying that marriage doesn’t work based on the wrong people being married.

This is just my opinion… So, what do you think?

Last 5 posts in Articles

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Where do you see the city? - June 4th, 2008

2 Responses to “City Government discussion”

Aaron

July 25th, 2008 at 9:17 am

I believe that time must be given to the form of Government that has been put in place. I do not believe that the person who is in charge needs to be given the same amount of time to make a difference. It is apparent after a few short years if someone is right for the job or not. If Topeka were your business, would you allow the person in charge to keep running it into the ground or would you put a stop to it and hire somebody else? We need more business savvy people being hired by our city to run the city. All pay needs to be incentive based. That will give a person a reason to find ways for the city to make money other than just raising taxes. This person needs to be able to see the vision of what the city wants to look like in 10, 20 even 40 years, and implement strategies that allow us to achieve those objectives. We do not need someone just running around putting out fires every day. Too many people don’t look at their city with the ability to be able to make money, instead their perception of it is just a tax collecting and over spending agency.

Alissa Sheley

July 26th, 2008 at 8:31 am

IMO, I don’t think we’ve given the latest government change enough time to adequately determine if it’s not working. We’ve not seen many new faces in government since the transition has taken place, and I think those faces are our biggest problem.
At the end of the day, any type of democratic governing should work. As long as the right people are voted into those positions. And as long as those people continue to stay honest and transparent in their actions, and in-tune with their constituents.
I personally can’t wait until election day! Topeka is ready to embrace change!