Neighboring cities’ city managers explain their roles

This election season, many candidates for the Homewood City Council and mayor positions have called for the hiring of a full-time city manager in Homewood to manage the day-to-day operations of the city.

The city of Homewood today has a mayor-council government. In this form of government, mayors are often chosen based on their personality or charisma, said Sam Gaston, who has been Mountain Brook’s city manager for 27 years. These mayors also have another full-time job in addition to their mayoral duties.

In a council-manager form of government, which is implemented in Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook, the city manager often has years of experience and one or more relevant college degrees.

Before being hired as Mountain Brook’s city manager, Gaston received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in public administration from Auburn University and then worked various city manager and city planner roles across the Southeast.

City managers run the day-to-day operations of the city, Gaston said. They implement policies, supervise department heads, prepare a recommended budget, ensure ordinances are enforced and keep the mayor and council updated on the goings on in the community. They act like a school superintendent would in a school setting, Gaston said. They report to the mayor and the council.

In governments with a strong mayor, trading political favors can become commonplace as the mayor prepares the budget according to his or her own interests and sometimes with consideration of the governing body, Gaston said. In the council-manager government, the manager prepares the budget for the entire governing body. As many Homewood voters and political candidates call for more government transparency, the hiring of a city manager could bring the government closer to this goal.

“The city manager should be committed to transparency and putting out as much information as possible and sharing information with the entire council, who are the decision makers, as well as the staff and also to the general public,” Gaston said.

In addition, the council-manager form of government has other benefits, Gaston said. City managers try to make the city run professionally with as little politics as possible; they try to hire based on education and experience; they make long-range plans and look toward the future; and they help the governing body make decisions, he said.

“They don’t make the decisions, as far as the policy,” Gaston said. “They help the governing body with information to help them make policy.”

The only downside, he said, is that it could affect voter turnout in municipal elections. Residents in cities with a city-manager government are less likely to vote in municipal elections than residents in cities with a mayor-council government, as per research by the American Society of Public Administration.

If Homewood leaders decide to move forward with the idea to create a city manager, there are multiple options. In Mountain Brook, its City Council passed an ordinance creating the city manager position, and the city became the first city in Alabama to have a city manager, Gaston said.

Vestavia Hills went a different route and changed its entire form of government in November 2012, said Jeff Downes, who has been Vestavia Hills’ city manager since 2013. By going this route, Vestavia Hills’ government was determined by a vote of the civilians. However, the Council-Manager Act of 2019 amendment only allows for a five- or seven-member City Council (including the mayor) — in Homewood’s government, there are 10 city councilors, a council president and a mayor.

If Vestavia Hills ever wanted to change back to a mayor-council form of government, it would require another vote of the people, whereas Mountain Brook could pass another ordinance and go back to a mayor-council form.

If Homewood voters are interested in a city manager for their city, they will need to consider who they vote for City Council on Aug. 25. It’s not required by law that every council member be on board with the idea, but it will be difficult otherwise.

“It’s prudent that whoever is the governing body needs to say, ‘This is something we genuinely want to do,’” Downes said. “Either way, it has to be a consensus of the governing body that it’s a direction they want to go. They have to see the value in it. Otherwise, it’s doomed for failure.”