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Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024
A New Year has ushered in a new mayor for Charlottesville. Juandiego Wade is replacing outgoing Mayor Lloyd Snook. (Subscribers to the Daily Progress can read a quick story about the vote here.)
Now, I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone of something important about our mayor: He is not in charge. At least not in the way you might be thinking. Let me explain.
Charlottesville has a “weak mayor” system of government, as defined by the National League of Cities. That means, we don’t elect a mayor to serve as an administrator and oversee the city’s operations like cities with “strong mayors” do. Instead, we elect council members who together hire a city manager to serve that function. The person we all refer to as “mayor” could just as easily be called “council president” or “council chair” to define the role they serve. Their official duties are to call meetings to order and call for votes.
Here’s an article we did about Charlottesville’s mayors and their role when Lloyd Snook took the position in January 2022:
Charlottesville has a new mayor — but remember, the mayor’s not the one in charge here
That’s not to say the Council in general has no power. The Council sets priorities and votes on policy changes — but it is the responsibility of the city manager to figure out how to enact those changes and make day-to-day decisions on how the government will operate. Councilors also have the right to fire the city manager if they don’t like the job they’re doing.
“We’re more like the board of a company or non-profit,” City Councilor Michael Payne told Charlottesville Tomorrow back in 2022. “We set the policy direction but rely on the city manager — who is similar to an Executive Director or CEO of other organizations — to accomplish our goals.”
At Charlottesville Tomorrow, we regularly hear from people confused about our form of government. For that reason, it might surprise you to learn that the weak mayor system (also known as Council-Manager) is the most common form of city government in the United States. And its use is growing.
The Council-Manager form or government was actually born in Staunton, just 45 minutes east of Charlottesville. In 1908, Staunton hired the first-ever city manager, a professional employed by elected officials to manage day-to-day city operations. Ever since, cities across the country have been jettisoning elected mayors in favor of professional managers. (The majority of America’s largest cities still elect strong mayors, also called Mayor-Council systems — places like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. That might explain some of the confusion.)
Here’s an interesting history of the Council-Manager form of government written by the International City/County Management Association, which formed in 1914 to promote Council-Manager governments.
This is not a purely historical issue. Cities continue to move between the two forms of government. Just last month in Houston, the City Council pried some power away from its strong mayor through a proposition that enables Council members to put issues on their meeting agenda. Meanwhile, at the start of 2022 Minneapolis voted to create a strong mayor system. So it’s very much an open question for cities to decide which form of government they want.
Do you have an opinion on what would be best for our cities in central Virginia? Send us a note here.
Also, thank you to all of you who gave during our year-end campaign! Your contributions make it possible for us to provide you with quality, independent local journalism. Did you intend to participate? Here’s a new year’s pass — it’s not too late to give if you want to be counted in the results we’ll share in the Friday newsletter.
Oh, and Happy New Year!
Jessie Higgins, managing editor
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