Model City Charter Revision Project - Eighth Edition
Process Description
Background
In 1894, a prominent group of civic leaders gathered in Philadelphia to create
a reform organization called the National Municipal League (now known as the
National Civic League). One of the earliest goals of the league was to create
new structural models for local government.
In 1897, a committee of distinguished scholars and civic
reformers was given the task of developing a municipal program.Ý In 1899 the
committee reported its recommendations, which were published in 1900 as A
Model Municipal Program. This first Model City Charter called for
a strong elected mayor with extensive powers and a city council elected for
six-year staggered terms. The powers assigned to the mayor included appointment
of all major municipal officials except the comptroller, without advice and
consent of the council. The creation of an independent civil service commission
was also recommended.Ý The charter included a proposed state constitutional
amendment defining the relation of the municipality to the state and a model
charter in the form of a municipal corporations act.
The recommendation of a strong elected executive was such
a drastic departure from prevailing practice that it gained little acceptance.Ý
Not only was there an unwillingness to entrust such extensive powers to a
mayor, there were also strong movements to interpose boards or commissions
between the executive and the operating department heads to provide a protective
shield for many services, for example, boards of public works, health, parks,
recreation and planning.
In the same year that the League published its first Model City Charter,
the reform agenda was affected by the aftermath of a specific event, a tidal
wave in Galveston, Texas. The special commission used to deal with that emergency
evolved into the commission form of municipal government. The legislative
and executive functions were merged in one elected body.Ý The ballot was shortened,
separately elected and independent boards were eliminated. The commission
plan was a popular reform that was adopted by many cities in the early 20th
Century, but the league rejected this model, because it fragmented the executive
and permitted insufficient attention to policy development. The question was
how to combine the benefits of a small governing body with the integrated,
responsible executive provided for in the League's first model.
The answer to this question was seen clearly by Richard
S. Childs, a New York businessman and municipal reform activist who had championed
the "short ballot" along with Woodrow Wilson.Ý Inspired by ideas
from the private sector, Childs devised a new plan for city government that
featured an appointed professional manager.Ý In 1915 the League adopted a
new municipal program presenting the second Model City Charter, which
provided that all powers be vested in a small city council, and that the administration
of the city's operations be by a city manager appointed by and serving at
the pleasure of the council. By the end of 1915, the council-manager plan
had been adopted by 82 cities, with the number almost doubling by 1920.
Since 1915, the National Civic League has continued to
endorse the unitary structure provided in the council-manager plan. Throughout
the remainder of the century in 1927, 1933, 1941, and 1964, the League has
periodically established committees of municipal experts to review and revise
the Model. The most recent review and revision of the Model City Charter
took place in 1989.
Each edition has reflected the conditions of municipal government at a particular
time. For example, the 7th Edition responded to a growing concern
with the need for greater representation from the minority community.Ý The
model continued to endorse the value of at-large elections, but recommended
a mixed system of at large and district representation for communities with
significant differences among "ethnic, racial or economic groups."
The 7th Edition also addressed the "importance of strong political
leadership and the potential for such leadership by the mayor in council-manager
cities."ÝÝ Consequently, the charter proposed two alternatives for electing
the mayor direct election by the voters and election by and from the council
without stating a preference.Ý
The National Municipal League established its first Committee
on County Government in 1917, and published its first county government model
in 1930, the Model County Manager Law. The first Model County Charter
was published in 1956. In the 1970s an unpublished tentative revision of the
Model, largely based upon the Sixth Edition of the Model City Charter,
was given limited distribution. On the heels of the most recent revision of
the Model City Charter, a revised edition of the Model County Charter
was published in 1990.
Additionally, beginning in 1945, NCL has supplemented these
models with "how to" publications to help communities use the model
charters. NCL's Handbook for Council Members in Council-Manager Cities,
first published in 1989, incorporates suggestions from experienced local government
policy-makers and administrators, providing advice to the formulators of local
government policy whose day-to-day responsibility it is to make the council-manager
plan succeed.
It has been fifteen years since the National Civic League
established its last Model Charter Revision Committee in 1985. The work of
this committee produced five documents to guide municipal policy makers:
- Model City Charter (Seventh Edition, 1989)
- Model County Charter (Revised Edition, 1990)
- Guide for Charter Commissions
- Handbook for Council Members
- Modern Counties: Professional Management the Non-Charter Route
Since this time, changing societal conditions have dictated
a need for a new Charter Revision Committee to be appointed, and subsequent
editions of the above works to be published.
Need for Re-Evaluation and Revision of the Model Charters The
model charter is a tool for all those engaged in efforts to improve the structure
and procedures of local government and thus to increase its effectiveness.
Each successive edition has been the work of a committee of distinguished
individuals with wide knowledge and experience in municipal government.Ý Periodically,
the charter must be reviewed to remove outdated
language and to respond to changes in the environment of local government.
Clearly, the context of local government has undergone
important changes during the past two decades.Ý Challenges and problems that
were once the responsibility of the federal government have become the responsibility
of local and regional communities. City government has become more active
in promoting economic development and delivering social services. Even as
the responsibility for solving social problems becomes increasingly localized,
however, governments at all levels have seen their abilities to tax and spend
severely restricted. What money is available is often accompanied by spending
guidelines, as in legislatively mandated entitlement programs. As a result,
the private sector, the non-profit sector, and individuals have become more
active in providing resources and deciding how they can be leveraged with
public dollars to address critical issues.
Managers understand that their political skills are almost
as important as their analytical skills, and that "equity" has been added
to "efficiency" and "effectiveness" on their list of things to worry about.
Likewise, mayors, council members and commissioners understand the need to
create community-based coalitions if they are to accomplish their goals and
bring people to the table of community decision-making.
The changing role of public officials suggests a need to
review the models and structures that have traditionally helped them to govern
more effectively. At the National Civic League, we see a growing demand for
guidance on the following issues:
- The role of the mayor
- The qualifications of the city manager
- The functions of the city manager
- The separation of powers
- The relationship between the mayor and the city manager
In addition to the above-cited issues relating directly to the internal practices
and structures of local government, there is also a growing interest in questions
relating to external relationships since the most recent edition of the Model
City Charter was published, for example, questions of how different government
entities relate to one another, how regions relate to one another, and how
local government interacts with other organizations and sectors. This set
of issues sometimes relates to community decision-making processes outside
the framework of government in the formal sense. For instance, the National
Civic League and other groups and individuals have considered creating model
"Community Charters" for citizens who engaged in collaborative problem-solving,
community visioning or strategic planning efforts.
While the core outcome of this project will be the 8th
edition of the Model City Charter, we fully anticipate that these convergent
issues will be raised during the course of the project, and we recognize that
the need for a follow up project might grow out of the Charter Revision Project
to explore how some of these ancillary issues relate to local government structure.Ý
In fact, the most recent Charter Revision Project followed this very pattern,
as the Charter Revision team recognized the need to publish "Modern Counties:Ý
Professional Management the Non-Charter Route," and did so following the publication
of the 7th edition of the Model City Charter.
While the council-manager model continues to be the dominant
form among small-to-medium citizens, some larger communities have recently
adopted dramatic revisions of their charters to augment the powers of the
mayor. Conversely, some cities with mayor-council governments have delegated
more responsibility to powerful chief administrative officers (CAOs). These
changes have blurred the traditional lines between models of local government.
As more and more cities seek to innovate and adapt models
to their particular needs, they look to organizations like the National Civic
League to provide analysis, information and technical assistance.Ý The best
way to fulfill this role is to convene a broad group of citizens, academics,
and public officials to evaluate the framework in which local governments
operate. Consequently, the time has come for a re-examination, and revision,
of the National Civic League's Model City Charter.
Process Overview
The process the National Civic League will use to produce
the revised Model City Charter is based largely on the consensus-based,
planning processes that NCL pioneered in the late 1980's and honed during
the 1990's.Ý This process has been effectively used in hundreds of communities
and organizations throughout the country to address a wide range of issues.
The key feature of this process is that it allows for
a double feedback loop, bringing in the opinions, interests, and expertise
of the individuals directly involved in the actual work to produce a revised
charter, and also those people less directly involved, but who have a fundamental
interest in the outcome of the process.
The method establishes two interrelated tracks - a stakeholder
process and an organizational outreach process - each with feedback and feed-forward
loops to the other track. The stakeholder committee (the Model Charter Revision
Committee) will form the core working group for the Model Charter Revision
Project.Ý This group will be comprised of individuals representing groups
or interests with a fundamental "stake" in the outcome of the model
charter revision process.Ý These "liaison organizations" may include, but
are not limited to: the American Bar Association State and Local Government
Section; the American Planning Association; the American Society for Public
Administration; the International City/County Management Association; the
League of Women Voters of the United States; the National Association of Counties;
the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials; the National
Academy of Public Administration; the National League of Cities; the United
States Conference of Mayors; and representatives of the corporate community.
Running parallel to the stakeholder process will be an
active outreach effort designed to keep all those interested in the project's
outcomes informed throughout the two-year life of the project.Ý The outreach
effort is designed to ensure that members of the local-government community
outside the stakeholder group are engaged in a two-way information exchange
with the stakeholders hearing about the work being developed and providing
additional input that is to be incorporated into the stakeholders' work on
an ongoing basis.Ý Each liaison organization will be asked to create its own
venues to allow its members to provide such input. Such venues can include
membership or public forums, articles with feedback mechanisms in trade journals,
or liaison organizations may even create their own internal model charter
revision committees to guide their representatives on the stakeholder group.
Through this method, the model charter revision process
has been designed to take into consideration the interest, desires, and needs
of the various interests within the local-government community.Ý The goal
is to allow this broad community be involved throughout the entire charter
revision process, and in so doing, the process has been designed to ensure
that the revised charter is accepted by this community.
Activities
TRACK ONE:Ý STAKEHOLDER PROCESS
Step 1. Recruit Model Charter Revision Project Participants
A. Establish a Model Charter Revision Committee to
coordinate the revision process
The National Civic League will establish a Model Charter
Revision Committee of approximately 40 participants.Ý This committee will
be comprised of two representatives from each liaison organization. Both the
National Civic League and the International City/County Management Association
will have additional slots on the committee because of their close connection
and long history with the issue of local government structure. In addition,
the National Civic League will seek out leading public administration academics
and city attorneys to be part of the committee.Ý The National Civic League
will work to insure that this committee reflects the diversity of the field.
B.Ý When necessary, appoint special advisors on specific
issues
During the course of the Model Charter Revision Project
there may arise issues that demand special expertise or attention. If such
issues do arise, the Model Charter Revision Committee will be charged with
selecting a special advisor to help the committee navigate these issues. For
example, an issue that received particular attention during the last revision
process was the role of the mayor in council-manager cities and the council
chairman in counties with appointed administrators.Ý
Step 2.Ý Convene Model Charter Revision Committee
The Model Charter Revision Committee will be convened
for four full-day sessions over the course of two years. In order to guarantee
the maximum participation of Model Charter Revision Committee members and
to minimize expenses, these convenings will be held in conjunction with the
national conferences of various liaison organizations (see time-line for details).
Prior to each convening, the National Civic League will
prepare a briefing manual for committee members, and following each convening
NCL will produce a report summarizing the proceedings for distribution to
committee members. These materials will be concurrently disseminated to and
discussed by the general membership of each liaison organization through the
outreach process detailed below. Between meetings, the Model Charter Revision
Committee will also be consulted on an individual basis and as a group through
conference calls, email, and through the use of new technologies (as detailed
in Step 3 below).
The agenda for these meetings will be:
Meeting One:ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ"Framing meeting"
where issues and areas of concern are identified.
Meeting Two: ÝÝÝÝÝÝ Key issue areas are analyzed;
options discussed; and tentative conclusions reached.
Meeting Three:ÝÝÝÝÝ Key issue areas are analyzed;
options discussed; and tentativeÝÝ conclusions reached.
Meeting Four:ÝÝÝÝÝÝ The final product is reviewed.
Step 3.Ý Use New Technologies To Facilitate Post-
And Pre-Meeting Discussion Among Model Charter Revision Project Committee
Members
A.Ý Online conferences
The National Civic League was an early, non-profit pioneer
in the interactive presentation of information to community leaders over the
Internet. Our New Politics Program staff conducted their first Internet conference
on local campaign finance reform over two years ago. Since then, NCL has conducted
a series of online briefings on topics ranging from the All-America City Awards
to building civic infrastructure to campaign finance reform to media and marketing.
NCL creates a slideshow, accessible through the Web with audio accompaniment
available through telephone conferencing. These Internet conferences have
allowed NCL to reach hundreds of communities in the past two years for a fraction
of the price it would take to personally visit to each one. Moreover, the
unique nature of this form of conference enables presenters from different
parts of the country to each provide visual information to the other participants.
As needed, during the course of this project, NCL will conduct these interactive
Internet conferences to facilitate communication among committee members.Ý
We anticipate holding four to six such conferences.
B.Ý Model Charter Revision Project Committee intranet
NCL will establish an intranet web site that allows for
an interactive discussion of charter revision. This site would allow committee
members to post information, maintain an interactive discussion, hold real
time issue-based chats, list calendars of events, provide informational text
and pictures, and link to related sites.
TRACK TWO:Ý ORGANIZATIONAL OUTREACH PROCESS
Step 1.Ý Encourage Liaison Organizations To Develop
Outreach Mechanisms To Solicit Organizational Membership Feedback And Feed-Forward
Advice
An effective two-way dialogue between the stakeholders
and the local government community is a critical component in creating a relevant
and widely supported model charter.Ý Each liaison organization will be asked
to establish an outreach effort running parallel to the stakeholder process.Ý
Activities should be conducted to correspond with each of the large stakeholder
meetings to test the current thinking of the stakeholder committee and to
allow individuals to have input on an ongoing basis.
Such activities can include, but are not limited to: holding
public membership forums on the topic of charter revision; informational mailings
to membership lists; regular columns (along with feedback mechanisms) in organizational
newsletters and trade journals; holding special workshops, sessions, and plenaries
at annual conferences and other large organizational gatherings; utilizing
organizational Web sites to keep membership informed through posting event
announcements, press releases, and charter related articles; developing interactive
Web pages to solicit feedback and proactive advice; and encouraging discussion
on internal organizational newsgroups, list serves and threaded discussion
areas. Many liaison organizations may also choose to create their own internal
charter revision committees to provide advice to stakeholders serving on the
project's Model Charter Revision Committee.
Step 2.Ý Additional Outreach.
NCL often plays the convening role for cross-sector collaboration
around many different issues. For instance, NCL's Alliance for National Renewal
(ANR) brings citizens and leaders from across the country together to help
each other improve their communities.Ý This coalition of over 200 national
and local organizations spotlights the efforts of people and organizations
working to improve their communities, shares stories of innovative community
building efforts, and makes important connections between vital organizations.
ANR uses several mechanisms to help make connections between organizations
and individuals.Ý ANR's online newsletter, the Kitchen Table, chronicles
the community renewal movement.Ý ANR's conferences and publications, and World
Wide Web site allow community problem solvers to share ideas, stories, resources,
tools and collaborative processes, as well as provide inspiration to each
other.
NCL's annual National Conference on Governance a 106-year-old
tradition involves 150 to 600 people representing the different sectors.Ý
Recent conference topics reflect the different constituencies of NCL: healthy
communities, philanthropy's role in community building, democratic reform,
and civic engagement and technology.
The National Civic League also serves as the convener
of The Partnership for Community Problem Solving (PCPS) an eleven year old
collaborative effort among seven national organizations representing diverse
local interests. The partner organizations are: the Association of Chamber
of Commerce Executives, the International City/County Management Association,
the International Downtown Association, the National Association of Counties,
the National Association of Regional Councils, and the National League of
Cities.Ý
NCL will activate all of these information-sharing venues
to solicit input regarding the Model Charter Revision Project.
Model Charter Revision Project Staffing
Christopher T. Gates, President of the National
Civic League, will provide overall coordination of the Model Charter Revision
Project.Ý Mr. Gates speaks extensively around the country, and around the
world, on topics including the changing forms of democracy, citizen participation,
community visioning and strategic planning. He has also regularly lectured
in a variety of academic institutions, including the University of Colorado's
Graduate School of Public Affairs and the State and Local Government Program
at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and is a regular instructor in
leadership training programs across the country. Gates serves on a variety
of boards including the National Commission on Civic Renewal, the Council
for the Advancement of Citizenship, INDEPENDENT SECTOR, and the California
Center for Civic Renewal. He is also co-chair of the Civic Practices Network,
and co-chair of the Saguaro Seminar, a Harvard University project studying
'social capital.' Gates is also active in his community of Denver, Colorado
where he serves as the founding chairman of the Colorado Institute for Leadership
Training and a member of the board of directors of the Latino Research &
Policy Council.
Matthew Krumme is the Charter Revision Project
Manager. Mr. Krumme is a licensed Colorado attorney and recent graduate of
Cornell Law School. He did his undergraduate work at Carleton College. He
is a board member of Colorado Common Cause and in that capacity has worked
on research and implementation of ethics codes for cities in Colorado. In
addition to charter reform, his work at the National Civic League has included
research and publication in the areas of local campaign finance reform and
other issues of election reform, such as voting technology, vote by mail,
instant runoff voting, and proportional representation.
Carl Castillo, the Director of the New Politics
Program at the National Civic League and a licensed attorney, will serve as
the in-house legal consultant for the Model Charter Revision Project.Ý Prior
to joining the National Civic League, Mr. Castillo spent seven years as an
enforcement attorney and alternative dispute resolution specialist at the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 8 office in Denver, Colorado.Ý
Since 1999, Castillo has served on the board of directors at Colorado Common
Cause.Ý
William Cassella will serve as a Senior Advisor
to the Model Charter Revision Project.Ý Dr. Cassella served for 16 years as
Executive Director of the National Municipal League (now the National Civic
League), the oldest organization in the U.S. devoted to improving state and
local government and responsible citizen participation in government. He coordinated
the League's project to prepare revised editions of the Model City Charter
and the Model County Charter, which have been used throughout the U.S.
and Canada to help citizens and public officials revise their charters and
change their form of government. He also headed the League's projects on Metropolitan
Areas and directed the design and drafting of the Model State Constitution.
Dr. Cassella is currently a Senior Associate at the Institute of Public Administration.
Bob Kipp will serve as a Senior Advisor to the
project. Kipp is vice president of Hallmark Cards, Inc., the world's largest
publisher of greeting cards, and chairman of the board of Crown Center, a
Hallmark subsidiary. He serves on the board of the Hall Family Foundation.
Prior to joining the corporation, he was city manager of Kansas City, Missouri,
an assignment that followed 20 years in management of cities in Kansas, Ohio
and Missouri. Kipp graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in
civil engineering in 1952. After serving in the United States Air Force as
a communications and electronics staff officer, he received his master of
public administration from the University of Kansas in 1956. He taught engineering
at the University while completing his master's. He joined Hallmark in 1983.
He is currently vice president of the board of the Kansas City Symphony. He
serves on the boards of the Metropolitan Kansas City Performing Arts Centre,
Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute and the University of Kansas Center
for Research. He is also a member of the University of Kansas Edwards Campus
board of advisors. Kipp has held various civic positions. He is past chairman
of the board of trustees and board of directors of Midwest Research Institute,
past chairman of the board of the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, past
chairman of the board of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and past
president of Starlight Theatre. He is a fellow of the National Academy of
Public Administration, and is past president of the International City/County
Management Association. He is a recipient of the University of Kansas Distinguished
Service Award, the National Public Service Award, the William Jewell College
Distinguished Service Medallion, the Urban League Distinguished Leadership
Award, the Baker University Distinguished Leadership Award, and the Greater
Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Kansas Citian of the year Award (2000).
In addition, the Model Charter Revision Project will be
supported by two expert facilitators from the Washington, D.C. and Denver
staffs of the National Civic League's Community Services Program. The
National Civic League will also contract with a legal language expert to review
drafts of the revised model charter.
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