Random thoughts on a grey Saturday morning....

This will be just a quick note as there is lots of work to do!

The Essex Studio art walks will be this coming Friday (Nov. 2nd) and Saturday (Nov. 3rd) from 6 to 11:00 pm. The Sign Museum will be open along with over 60 artists displaying their works of art. I'll be in the same location, down by studio 163 and the Voices and Visionaries group.

Hope everyone has a fun Halloween this week. It's always so fun to see the little ones all dressed up in a costume.

Along with November comes our elections. I'm not going to harp on how important it is to vote, but how important it is to be an informed voter. Educate yourself before walking into the voting booth. It is amazing to me how many people think that having a directly elected mayor is going to make a big difference. Fact is, the directly elected mayor will have no more power than the mayor that was appointed by council. So, some of these campaign promises to get more involved, be a strong leader, performance over tenure, blah blah blah are really nothing more than rhetoric. The mayor's responsibilities will be exactly the same as before...and don't bother talking about a mandate from the people. The five candidates running may not have enough of a majority to say they have a mandate from the people. Besides even if they do and they think they have a mandate, how are they going to implement it without some kind of change to the charter? Face it, the mayor is a ceremonial mayor--an ambassador to the city--kisses babies, shakes hands and drives consensus among the council so the the city manager can implement the master plan. It is so important that the mayor present a good image, be positive and supportive and not be negative, disruptive and divisive. We had enough of that over the last eight to ten years. It's time for this city to get it's act together and move forward before we are all left behind.

Perhaps the most important decision that has to be made is who will be our next City Manager. There is where the real power lies--gee makes sense when the city is a city manager form of government!! Aside from the fact that the city manager sees to the day to day running of the city, they are also accountable for implementing the budget, master plan, direction and effectiveness of each of the departments within the city and ultimately the finances/how the money is spent. For the most part the city manager reports back to the mayor and council, who hopefully keep themselves informed enough to make a good decision. In most cases, what is presented before the council is rubber stamped....the major conflicts worked out in work sessions, not the business meetings.

So, why all the hoopla over a directly elected mayor versus almost nothing on the city manager hunt? Maybe it's because most people are confusing the "directly elected mayor" with a "Strong Mayor" form of government. Well--that isn't what we'll have here after the directly elected mayor. What we were given with the change in the city charter was a voice to say who we wanted to be the ceremonial mayor--the ambassador of the city. Filling the city manager position is being lead by a citizen's committee who is making recommedations to the council. Ultimatley the city manager will be hired by the council. The city manager reports to the council, all city government employees report to the city manager. The city manager does the performance evaluations. For hiring and firing, the city manager makes the decisions and gets the approval or disapproval of council. Pretty typically, all councils rubber stamp these transactions. Oh, there maybe one or two dessenting votes from time to time--and they typically goes for all issues voted on by council.

So, if you want the city to move ahead in a postive fashion, keep your eye on the city manager job search. The city manager will be the person that has the skills and experience to run the city. Make sure that person you are supporting understands what their powers are on council and mayor. It's so important that Middletown improve their image, has a community that is engaged, informed and positive, sees progress and is actively involved in making the changes that are needed to improve our community.