Suchergebnisse

Confronted by economic, social, and political change in the 1980s, many cities decided to use community-wide strategic planning as a tool to address their problems. Rock Hill, South Carolina, successfully completed Empowering the Vision (ETV), a two-year community-wide strategic planning process, in 1989 and began implementing the 10-year plan in 1990. Did the implementation of ETV achieve its promise? Is it another example of a well-intentioned but later abandoned use of strategic planning? I argue that Rock Hill achieved five significant results by 2000: (a) managing uncertainty, (b) resolving conflict, (c) continuing citizen participation, (d) achieving tangible and intangible results, and (e) establishing a governance network for the duration of the planning period. Rock Hill achieved these results because of (a) the competent practice of community-wide strategic planning, (b) visionary leadership, and (c) the commitment of public leadership to the process and the plan.

The author compares orthodox city management (OCM) theory, formed in the 1920s and 1930s, with new horizons city management (NHCM) theory, which is a synthesis of theories about public administration and city management offered since the 1940s. NHCM theory suggests city managers (a) are responsible to the council majority, their communities, and their profession; and (b) perform five core roles in meeting their responsibilities: educator, listener, facilitator, subordinate, and director. The author uses NHCM theory to interpret data from a 1996 International City/County Management Association survey of city managers working in the United States on the practices they use and would recommend to other city managers. The author finds NHCM theory better explains city management practice in the 1990s than OCM theory; however, most of the practices that involve working with the citizens, the third partner in the council-manager-community partnership, are underused and often are the least favored by city managers.

Citizens, practitioners, scholars, and elected officials continue to debate the range of skills, policy areas, responsibilities, roles, values, and work habits forming the city manager's identity. This study develops detailed profiles of three city managers identified by their peers as the best in their respective states. Seven specific recommendations are offered providing a "more coherent image " of the city manager. These profiles serve as role models (a) guiding the education of city managers, (b) orienting elected officials to the city manager' job, (c) enhancing the public's understanding and acceptance of this leadership position, and (d) testing theories of council-manager government.

Identifies the specific methods used and assesses council efforts to evaluate city managers, based on a 1992 survey of Pennsylvania city managers.

AbstractRock Hill, South Carolina used a citywide approach, called Empowering the Vision (ETV), to produce a 10‐year plan that will significantly transform the city's image as a southern urban village on the leading edge of Charlotte, North Carolina.

AbstractThe National Civic League's recent revision of the Model City Charter recognizes the leadership potential of the mayor's office under the council‐manager plan. The new charter reflects the work on leadership by James Svara, who has developed a model of the "facilitative" mayor applicable to council‐manager jurisdictions. In this study, Svara's model has been applied to four Pennsylvania municipalities. After an examination of the mayor's 1) formal position in the governmental structure, 2) information network. and 3) performance in each community, we conclude that the facilitative model is void provided the mayor is a regular voting member of council.