MADISON — Mayor Paul Finley stressed the importance of community input as Madison considers moving to a city manager form of government.
“We still have a lot of work to do to obtain all of the information and facts our community needs to make our best decision,” he said after Monday’s public meeting on the possible governance transition. “Our community meetings are critical to share facts and listen to opinions.
“This isn’t a decision to rush; I am confident we will know when the time is right to move this forward to a referendum vote.”
Monday’s forum was the second public meeting and featured Finley, City Council President Greg Shaw, Governance Transition committee head Mike Oliver, and Auburn Mayor Ron Anders.
The officials took questions and Anders discussed via Zoom the benefits of a city manager, which is the form of government Auburn has had since 1982.
“Our city manager is the chief operating officer; she comes to work everyday to run the city,” he said. “It is my job to be the political leader, I’m the chairman of the board. The board, if you will, is the City Council. I’m the one meeting with government leaders and stakeholders.”
Madison has a council-mayor format with seven voting district representatives. Under the new plan, the city would be redrawn into six districts, with the mayor elected at-large and serving as the seventh vote. The mayor would also serve as the president of the city council. A city manager would be hired to oversee day-to-day operations.
Finley said managing growth continues to be a priority for the future of Alabama’s ninth-largest city.
“The vision of the city has been and will continue to be managed growth,” he said. “We are growing, we will continue to grow whether we want to or not. So let’s manage it appropriately.”
Speaking on the topic of operations, Shaw said a city manager would help address concerns in an orderly fashion.
“It would streamline operations better,” he said.
Finley agreed.
“A city manager gives more stability to department heads,” he said.
Oliver, who headed up the governance transition committee appointed by Finley in January, said there are not a lot of cities in Alabama that have this form of government.
“Some bigger cities do,” he said. “It’s very prevalent throughout the U.S. but Alabama is just now beginning to look at this.”
The citizens group, Madison Forward, is gathering the needed 900 signatures to hold a vote on the issue. Officials believe the earliest a vote would take place would be next spring and cost around $80,000.
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