Calling the shots | Portland's changing city government means new opportunities for business
Government relations consultant at Drummond Woodsum and Portland Community Chamber’s city hall liaison
We all remember where we were when the Twin Towers fell. Space Shuttle Challenger. Man on the moon, JFK, Bill Buckner...
Those events are clear. But how about the last recession? Where were you when the recovery happened? The boom, the bubble, the bust? These are more evolutions than events, so we can’t post them on a calendar or paste them in a scrapbook.
We are in a recession, no doubt. We’re not sure when it started and we don’t know when it will end. But we will surely recover, and most of us are hopeful that we are now climbing out of it. It will be an evolution. Two big events this year in Portland could influence when and how that evolution unfolds. Someday, 2011 will be recalled as the year that Portland got a new city manager and a popularly-elected mayor. These two events will help to determine Portland’s course as we evolve out of the current recession.
The two people chosen this year by Portlanders to lead us into the next decade will ostensibly take their respective helms just as Portland sails into economic recovery. That should be exciting enough to attract a robust field of candidates for both positions. But neither person should consider themselves saviors. Portland has not scuttled collaboration by choosing an elected mayor, and it will continue to be a city of engaged citizens and open process. The intense activism of Portland’s neighborhood and business organizations can slow down progress, but that activism usually results in agreement, and a better city. We have become accustomed to a sort of slow leadership by committee. Our collaborative process both frustrates business (reference the state pier project) and rewards it (the formula business ordinance).
The new manager and mayor will perform different leadership roles. All managers have a unique management style, but his or her role is essentially constant: day-to-day administrative oversight of departments, personnel and services, and production/execution of the budget. The manager will be chosen by the council after a public process, and will serve at the pleasure of the council. The mayor will not have sweeping powers, and will still have to work well with the manager and the other eight councilors.
The mayor will be expected to use the campaign as both an incubator and a testing lab for vision, ideas and proposals. Once elected, the mayor, citizens and the manager will know why.
The mayor will provide the vision, and the manager will execute it. But they will not be exclusive. The manager will occasionally have to tap the mayor’s political capital to implement policy. And the mayor will need the manager’s technical ability to create a vision.
While the chamber actively pursued charter changes allowing an elected mayor, there was speculation in some corners that the suits were scheming to overthrow City Hall. Perhaps the chamber had already hand-picked its cigar-chomping mayoral candidate. Could the 90-year era of inclusiveness for the Little Guy be drawing to a close?
Nope.
Today’s chamber is as eclectic as the city. Sure, there are still suits (no smoking though). But Portland’s diversity is evident in the chamber’s mix of nearly 700 member employers and their 35,000 employees. There is no chamber candidate.
But there are chamber desires. In endorsing recent charter reforms, the chamber sought a broader forum for policy, and we determined that a popularly elected mayor could help us realize that. The mayor should be moderate and inclusive, but must remain focused on policies that enhance the city’s fiscal condition. A few lines on the resume proving actual private-sector business experience will be a plus. The mayor should discern when government must intervene, and when to allow markets to work. We’ll want straightforwardness, intellect, accessibility, energy, charisma, ability to connect with constituents … all the expected bona fides.
In short, the next mayor will emerge on the strength of his or her ability to divine the will of the people, assimilate the best of what is and what can be, and package it all into a vision and message that voters will approve. We want the mayor to think big thoughts, and lead us to achieve them.
The manager should come with world-class talent, qualified to administer a quarter-billion dollar budget, and one of the biggest enterprises in Maine. The manager should implement — and challenge — the big thoughts of the community and mayor. He or she must be as strong as the entrenchments, constituencies and factions are in this town. Serving at the pleasure of nine politicians is not for the faint of spirit. Like baseball managers, city managers should accept the probability that they will have to leave — voluntarily or not — one day. Applicants for city manager should be willing to quit on principle if there is fundamental discord with the council and mayor.
The current city council wisely seeks to hire a manager prior to the election season. We hope that uncertainty about the new elected mayor system will not discourage good applicants for manager. If the process slows, as processes in Portland can do, the council should hire after the November election. This will avoid politicization of the manager hiring to the extent that the mayoral race becomes a referendum for which manager-applicant the candidates support. Deferral to the next council will also allow the new manager to know the landscape into which he or she is about to enter.
Portland’s diverse employer community is unlikely to rally behind a single candidate for either position. But we need a mayor who can lead us toward prosperity and a manager who can make the evolution happen.
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