Roles of the Mayor
What's a mayor supposed to do? To further understand the duties and responsibilities of a mayor, I looked into provincial acts relating to this (The City of Toronto Act). According to this act1 a mayor's role is:
As a member of council: to represent the public and to consider the well-being and interests of the City to develop and evaluate the policies and programs of the City to determine which services the City provides to ensure that polices and procedures are in place to implement the decisions of council; to ensure the accountability and transparency of the operations of the City to maintain the financial integrity of the City to carry out the duties of council
As head of council: to preside over meetings of council so that its business can be carried out efficiently and effectively; to act as CEO of the city and provide leadership to council; to represent the City at official functions; and to carry out the duties of the head of council uphold and promote the purposes of the City; promote public involvement in the City’s activities; act as the representative of the City both within and outside the City, and promote the City locally, nationally and internationally participate in and foster activities that enhance the economic, social and environmental well-being of the City and its residents.
The points above are what the mayor is required to do. Someone can do what they're are supposed to but how do they do it well? How would they meet and exceed the requirements for mayor? How would they be excellent and superior at representing the people?
My Ideal Mayor: listens to the people of the city: How could they you represent someone without listening to their concerns? collaborates with the councillors an...
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...th another chance, to ensure democratic integrity, even if he doesn't agree with them.21
Why would I support Gord Perks?
Gord Perks matches the requirements of my ideal mayor, as I earlier defined. I first discovered Councillor Perks, through a response to concerns from one of his constituents, about a past situation, however still relevant, about our current mayor. He provided and communicated an effectively written, well reasoned evidence-based response to his constituents. He, unlike some other councillors, insisted that the people should remain in control of our government, and that the people should get to decide who represents them; this is what made me interested in him. Further investigation of his policies, such as the ones relating to the environment and transportation, led me to confirm that Gord Perks would indeed be the one I would support to be mayor.
After reading the case study Welcome to the new town manager, by Mary Jane Kuffner Hirt, I established three major problems the community of Opportunity needed to correct. These problems involved the water & sewer system, the balancing budget, & the pay-as-you-go method. The city manager, Jennifer Holbrook, must implement strategies that would correct these problems quickly.
The fourth chapter of City Politics by Dennis R. Judd & Todd Swanstrom covers the rise of "Reform Politics" with many local governments during the first half of the 1900s as a way to combat the entrenched political machines that took control of many large city governments in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Over the course of the chapter, Judd & Swanstrom quickly cover the history of the "reform movement" with different examples of how the reform movement affected city politics in different areas.
The “Darth Vader” mayors are an example of the use of systemic power. Instead of focusing more on those who consume, the mayors are pressured by the system and society to focus on those who produce. This inhibits the minority mayor from addressing the issues that he was initially elected to solve.
The municipal restructuring in Ontario from 1996 to 1999, whether voluntary or involuntary, was the most comprehensive process of municipal reforms since the Baldwin Act of 1849 (Frisken 30). After the election of Harris’ Conservative government in 1995, municipal reform took on a life of its own as it was followed with substantial activity between 1996 and 1999 (Sancton 135-56). This research paper looks to categorize, describe and evaluate the substantial activity that took place between the province and its municipal subordinates. While other papers have argued whether the change of the fiscal relationship was to benefit the province or if the structure of local government had simply become outdated, the issues of why the reforms occurred is not the focus of this research. However, what this paper will evaluate is whether the substantial activity made any long-term changes in the system by outlining the numerous reforms and examining their impact. This paper will begin by assessing the financial reform, which was the starting point for more extensive changes, followed by functional, structural and legislative reforms during 1996 to 1999.
Findings & Recommendations: As in the case of the O’Hara Transport company, it is not the city’s place to mind the personal interest of some over that of the public good.
City Hall needs to deflect criticisms and become more accountable. Image is not more important than action.
The government of Syracuse consists of a mayor and a common council. The mayor, Roy Bernardi, has served at the city's Chief Executive since 1993. He is responsible for all of the city administration and business. The city of Syracuse also has a ten member common council. The current president, Matthew Driscoll, and the nine other common council members, meet biweekly to create legislation and balance the 1.5 million-dollar city budget.
On Monday, April 13th, 2009, I visited the Culver City city council meeting, and found that they operate using a council-manager form of government. For a city with a population of about 38,000, this type of governmental structure is fairly common, and I was not surprised to see it in action in a community where the median household income is around $56,000 a year. Culver City is also a culturally rich community with a 60 percent Caucasian population, and a quarter of the residents are either of African American or Asian decent. The mayor, D. Scott Malsin, is one of five members on the council, and his term as mayor is on a rotating basis. Having been to a Hermosa Beach city council meeting with a similar council-manager structure, I knew what to expect.
He conducted a well-runned campaign and was publicly endorsed by ex-Mayor Koch and as Robert Wagner the third said, “A vote for Giuliani would be best for the city.” Giuliani implemented many changes to New York City. For example, he emphasized law and order and government efficiency and he refused to participate in any racial competition. His main goal was to protect citizens from the plague of crime and promised not only to be tough with felons
Foresees a demographic change in society and inaugurates a vision to validity change through the development and application of objectives and most of all a set of priorities. Develops and implements a strategic plan of key goals and intentions for the city as wells as leads the planning team in tackling and outlining the future direction of the city. Review the city’s current core values and mission statements while analysis input from the citizens. Creates and implements a long-term goal for the city to become sustainable and self-sufficient. The ability to capitalize on opportunities offered and manages the possible risk of doing
Some of Detroit’s most trusted people like the Mayor Kwame Kilipatrick has stolen money from Detroit putting Detroit in debt. The city of Detroit experienced a major setback when the scandal of Mayor Kilipatrick came out along with businesses shutting down, and schools closing. Detroit’s image being pretty badly badgered Mayor Bing came in and hired help, and made a lot of changes to try to help decrease the debt Detroit already had but really added on to. I think any person who becomes mayor needs to know how to work numbers for themselves. I also think the mayor should be the cities personal emergency financial manager, a mayor should know how to budget and handle large amounts of money for funding for funding.
goals and good of the city. Once the individual and the other individuals in the society or
“If you can write it and you can say it, you can do it.” In a single sentence Professor Eric Claville succeeded in attracting me to the study of public administration. Sitting in Introduction to Public Policy class, I was instantly fascinated by the idea that through effective communication I could improve policies and programs to better serve the public. Professor Claville’s lessons enabled me to think analytically as I developed a scholarly policy brief entitled “Enforcing a State-wide Texting While Driving Law in Arizona”. Soon, I was faced with the notion that public administration was not only an agent for change, but a tool to fulfill my passion. It is a possible pathway to take on a leadership role that would make a difference for disadvantaged groups.
As the result of urbanization, cities have more problems to overcome such as pollution, overpopulation, drug abuse, congestion, crime, poverty, traffic jam, slum areas, and many more. There must be something to solve these problems. Government and citizens should be involved because taking care of city problems can’,t be done entirely by government. The community can be even more successful because it deals directly with problem areas.
The rise of Urban America began in the mid 1800’s with the dawn of the industrial revolution. With it came a rapid increase in the population of cities. This movement towards cities did not last forever, and after WWII, much of the population of cities moved to the suburbs. With the growth and decline of urban environments, and the growth of suburban environments, there has become a mixture of different types of local governments, some of which overlap the same geographical areas. Some view this hodgepodge as a problem, and have offered various solutions. To understand the different types of local governments and how they overlap, one must first understand the development of urban areas, and the movement from urban to suburban areas.