(Host) The race for Burlington mayor is just heating up, but the City Council president says politics should be taken out of the day-to-day operations of the state’s largest city. VPR’s Kirk Carapezza reports.
(Carapezza) City Council President Bill Keogh says voters in Burlington should consider a city manager form of government.
(Keogh) "The city has developed into a lot more complicated operation than ever over the years."
(Host) With increasingly more demands on Burlington’s local government, Keogh says residents deserve a professional administrator.
(Keogh) "You get a professional with training and background, and with some information as regard to state and federal laws."
(Carapezza) Keogh wants the city to have a part-time mayor – someone to serve as the president of the Council, oversee the manager and maintain veto power.
In Vermont, there are 58 cities, towns and villages that have the manager form of government. Of Vermont’s nine cities, seven already have a city manager. Only two, Burlington and Rutland, have a full-time mayor.
Looking at Burlington’s current candidates for mayor, Keogh says none of them is qualified to solve Burlington’s deep problems, like managing the troubled Burlington Telecom.
(Keogh) "I’m sure they’re highly devoted and really determined to solve the problems facing the city, but they’re not professionals."
(Carapezza) But others disagree.
(Shannon) "I don’t know what would be gained by a city manager form of government."
(Carapezza) Joan Shannon is a Burlington City Council member. She admits Burlington’s management has come under fire recently as the city is facing $50 million in pension debt, and after the Burlington Telecom scandal another $17 million shortfall in its general fund.
(Shannon) "Funds were spent without the proper approval, and that’s going to be a problem whether it’s a city manager doing that or it’s an [administrator] doing it."
(Carapzza) Other opponents to Keogh’s proposal – including all five candidates for mayor – say the city needs a strong leader to push new fiscal policies and then take responsibility for them.
Keogh says he’ll seek a resolution for an advisory vote on this issue on Town Meeting Day.
For VPR News, I’m Kirk Carapezza.