Health & Fitness
Does Canton's Mayor Need A Staff?
Cities around Canton don't have mayoral staffs. Why should we?
Over the past three months I have interviewed various staff and officials from neighboring cities, from our county, and from the Georgia Municipal Association’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government to determine how local governments handle their elected official’s administrative support.
I have learned that local government is structured very differently from State and Federal Government. Local government does not have separate Executive and Legislative Branches. Local Government, meaning cities and counties, consists of a single Governing Body. A handful of exceptions include extremely large or extremely small cities but the overwhelming majority of cities and counties consist of a single Governing Body. Canton is no exception. Canton’s Governing Body consists of a Mayor and 6 Council Members.
Below are the results of my research. Just like Canton, all 12 of these Local Governments consist of a single Governing Body. The elected official’s titles vary such as Mayor, Chairman, Council Member, Commissioner, or Alderman but the basic structure is the same; a single Governing Body.
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In all cases shown here the elected officials are part-time. The smallest city that I could find where a part-time elected official has full-time staff was Marietta (pop. 58,000). In addition to having almost 2-1/2 times the population of Canton, Marietta has it’s own school system and power company. Marietta has 720 employees compared to Canton’s 115.
The other two cities researched where the part-time elected officials have full time staff were Johns Creek and Roswell. As you can see these two cities are even bigger than Marietta and exceed Canton’s size several times over.
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No cities in Canton’s size range employ any Mayor’s staff; absolutely none except Canton. The fact is that this is simply an unnecessary luxury. The almost $65,000 that Canton spends every year for this position can be put to much better use elsewhere.
City of Woodstock
Donnie Henriques, Mayor
NO MAYOR’S STAFF
Population: 23,000
Mayor, 6 Council Members, City Manager
City Clerk and City Manager’s assistant is administrative support to all elected officials
City of Acworth
Tommy Allegood, Mayor
NO MAYOR’S STAFF
Population: 22,000
Mayor, 5 Aldermen, City Manager
City Clerk is administrative support to all elected officials.
City of Cartersville
Matt Santini, Mayor
NO MAYOR’S STAFF
Population: 20,000
Mayor, 6 Council Members, City Manager
City Clerk and City Manager’s assistant assists all elected officials
City of Milton
Joe Lockwood, Mayor
NO MAYOR’S STAFF
Population: 33,000
Mayor, 6 Council Members, City Manager
City Clerk and City Manager’s assistant assists all elected officials
City of Kennesaw
Mark Matthews, Mayor
NO MAYOR’S STAFF
Population: 30,000
Mayor, 5 Council Members, City Manager
Assistant City Clerk and City Manager’s secretary assists all elected officials as needed
City of Holly Springs
Tim Downing, Mayor
NO MAYOR’S STAFF
Population: 9,200
Mayor, 6 Council Members, City Manager
City Clerk and City Manager’s assistant assists all elected officials
City of Alpharetta
David Belle Isle, Mayor
NO MAYOR’S STAFF
Population: 58,000
Mayor, 6 Council Members, City Administrator (Manager)
City Clerk and City Administrator’s assistant assists all elected officials
City of Sandy Springs
Eva Galambos, Mayor
NO MAYOR’S STAFF
Population: 95,000
Mayor, 6 Council Members, City Manager
The City Manager’s Administrative Assistant assists all elected officials as needed.
Cherokee County
Buzz Ahrens, Chairman
NO CHAIRMAN’S STAFF
Population 220,000
Commission Chairman, 4 Commissioners, County Manager
The County Manager’s assistant assists all elected officials as needed
City of Marietta
Steve “Thunder” Tumlin, Mayor
STAFF – 1 ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT SHARED BY ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS
Population: 57,000
Mayor, 7 Council Members, City Manager
720 employees
City School System & City Power Company
City of Roswell
Jere Wood, Mayor
STAFF – 1 ASSISTANT TO MAYOR & 1 ASSISTANT TO ALL COUNCIL MEMBERS
Population: 90,000
Mayor, 6 Council Members, City Administrator (Manager)
600+ employees including 2 full time attorneys, 2 full time legal assistants
City of Johns Creek (from website)
Mike Bodker, Mayor
STAFF – 1 EXECUTIVE AIDE
Population: 77,000
Mayor, 6 Council Members
240 employees. The city outsources everything except Public Safety and Finance.
Median Family Income: $150,592
It is Interesting to note that Johns Creek's Charter was created by the same “consultant” that was involved in bringing “Mayor’s Staff” to Canton’s Charter.
In conclusion, there are two ways to correct this problem. Option #1 is to simply eliminate funding of this position from the budget. This is the easy way out and is only a temporary band-aid that will have to be revisited every year. It can also be easliy slipped back into the next budget without proper public scrutiny. Option #2 is to change the Charter. This is a more difficult, deliberative and ardurous process but it is clearly the responsible thing to do. The City Council began this process last month with the First Reading and Public Discussion. The Second Reading and Public Discussion was last week. The Third Reading and Public Discussion will take place on December 20th. The law only requires two readings but we are doing three.
The Mayor will then have the opportunity to veto the City Council's decision. If he vetoes, there will be a Fourth Reading and Public Discussion. The council will then have the opportunity to override the Mayor's veto.
