Before I began studying the issue in depth two years ago, I sided with keeping the Mayor role as a full-time position....as quite a few of my fellow Cedar Falls residents still do. But through my research, I'm convinced that completing the transition to a part-time mayor makes sense, and that this is the time to do so. My challenge this campaign season will be to provide you with a compelling argument for making this transition during the next mayoral cycle. This is an important topic that the voting public has a right (and a responsibility) to weigh in on.
The Background
Cedar Falls has operated with a full-time mayor since 1975. In 2014, following an extensive study and recommendations by the Budget Shortfall Task Force, the City Council voted to 'promote' the Director of Administrative Services (Richard McAlister) into a new role of City Administrator. As spelled out in the new ordinance, this Administrator position took over the burden of daily government administration from the Mayor (Jon Crews), in order to assign the administration of government to a professional, career position. The Mayor would still retain the role of "chief executive officer", largely engaged in the political aspects of city government, including outreach, advocacy for specific topics, and of course setting the Council agenda and presiding over meetings.
Where We're At Today
Cedar Falls currently has both a full-time Mayor (Jim Brown) AND a full-time City Administrator (Ron Gaines). In my mind, the task force's recommendations have only been half-implemented. In past years (during the annual City Council goal-setting sessions) the City Council was still amenable to reviewing the salary and role of the mayor. Ultimately, the proposition didn't get past the City Council. Now, the issue has been dropped entirely from the City Council goal-setting directive to city staff. This means, if you also agree that the city should transition to a part-time mayor, then this election season is when you should make your voice heard...both in the mayoral race and the council races.
My Role as a Mayor for a Shift to Part-Time
I'm running as a transitional mayor, meaning that my service past December 2021 would require that the City Council agree to reduce the mayor salary & benefits, and to remove the words 'full-time' from the mayor position in city code. I'm going to assume I have a mandate to push for these changes if I'm elected. By law, the changes to salary can only take effect during the next term (it's in Iowa Code §372.13.8), so it wouldn't be possible to immediately shift to part-time, if the council decided to go this route. The term from January 2020 to December 2021 would be full-time, by law.
I'll go into more detail about my transitional plan in a coming blog post. My intent is to continue my terrific career as a technologist and college instructor at UNI, since I'll be taking an unpaid leave of absence there. In 2021, I'd plan to run for a second term, this time officially a part-time mayor. Ideally, we'd then have a few other highly qualified candidates in the running who are able to serve part-time (but couldn't have served full-time).
The Debate in the Coming Months
I can see both sides of the debate for having the Mayor role as full-time vs. part-time. I don't believe there's a morally right or wrong answer, but I DO believe that the part-time approach makes far more sense. In my next post about this, I'll share the findings of the task force report I mentioned above, and links to some other resources I've found informative. I'll also explain why I believe (as is the trend in most cities) that the daily administration of city government is best carried out bt professional, non-political city manager, accountable to the people through the elected Mayor and City Council....and so why I don't recommend just eliminating the City Administrator position and putting the full-time mayor back in charge of daily city administration.
This promises to be a very interesting five months of healthy civic debate about our expectations (and vision) for the Mayor role in Cedar Falls in the years ahead...thanks so much for taking part in the discussion. If you have any links and resources (pro or con) to share, please send them my way at rgreencf@gmail.com...I'd love to read them!