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No More Gridlock: Where Does Richmond's Council Go From Here?
KATHY GRAZIANO
TIMES-DISPATCH GUEST COLUMNIST Nov. 15, 2006
To paraphrase Mayor Wilder, "Candidates propose, voters dispose." It happened again November 7 in our City Council elections.
Twenty candidates were on the ballot for the nine two-year terms on council.
Some supported, and were supported by, Mayor Wilder. Some supported the idea of a strong, independent City Council. Others focused their energies in other directions.
Some have said the election was a referendum on the council. I'll accept that. Two present members ran unopposed; three faced only token opposition. A sixth incumbent ran with the strong support of the business community and City Council President Manoli Loupassi, and won. A seventh defeated a candidate with the strong backing of the mayor. That seems to me to be a pretty strong endorsement of the present council.
But I didn't hear a single voter say that he or she wanted more gridlock, more bickering between the mayor and the City Council, or more controversy and conflict.
So I think we can take that one message for granted. I think we can accept as certain that no voter is interested in further disputes delaying the effective functioning of our city government.
WHERE DO we go from here? How do we learn from the election? How do we move forward within the guidelines of the new form of government, now two years old?
To my fellow council members and to the mayor, I would say let's get over it and let's get on with it. The voters have spoken, repeatedly; the General Assembly has passed the charter amendments we requested. Now we have no further excuses.
I supported the strong mayor concept of government; I campaigned for it, and I still support it. No one doubts the importance or the ability of this mayor to have a strong vision for our city. If we botch this attempt, people in Richmond are simply going to give up hope for any improvements for the foreseeable future.
But one side cannot settle a dispute.
I say to my fellow council members, respect the mayor's position as head of the executive and administrative functions of government. It's his job and his responsibility to provide the leadership to make sure our community is safer from crime, to get the trash picked up and the potholes fixed.
I say to the mayor, it is the council's responsibility to provide the legislative tools we need to carry out those functions, and to pass a budget that reflects our needs and our abilities. It is the council's responsibility to provide oversight of government functions. City Council has both the ability and the authority to draw conclusions on the effective functioning of the administration.
It is simply common sense and common courtesy that members of the administration respond to calls and letters from City Council members. But the administration has decreed that city employees cannot meet with City Council members without permission. It may clearly be within the chief administrator's authority to issue such an order; equally clearly, it is not necessary or useful to do so.
- First, rescind the order, Mr. Mayor. It's important for good communication.
- Second, for my fellow council members, realize that department heads have, at the least, 60-hours-a-week jobs. Let's respect the demands placed on them.
- Finally, let's institutionalize communication. The council has a staff, headed by a chief of staff. The mayor has a personal staff, headed by his chief of staff, and an administrative staff, headed by the chief administrative officer.
DOESN'T IT make sense for there to be regular, scheduled contacts at the staff level?
Don't we get better coordination if staffs share information regularly and routinely, so there are fewer surprises? The council meets twice a month; committees of the council, six of them, meet at least monthly -- and all the meetings are open to the public and to the administrative staff of the city.
It is crucial that the mayor commit to sending a senior representative of the administration to all council meetings and committee meetings, able to speak for the administration and able to make decisions.
And finally, let's open up the process. We don't need additional ordinances; both the council and the administration can commit right now that "blue ribbon commissions," advisory groups, and study committees will operate openly with members of the public and members of the council able to attend and observe.
We can learn from the election; we can tell citizens that the time for the bickering and infighting is over. It's time for Richmond first
