Who Needs A Town Manager?

Here we are again.

On Tuesday, the 24th, we'll be asked once more to vote on employing a town manager.

I've had a chance to speak to any number of residents about the vote, both proponents and opponents. Foreshadowed back in the 2001 Town Administrative Needs Committee report which first recommended a town manager, I've concluded that the outcome on Tuesday doesn't really matter.

That 2001 report includes a "Note of Caution" beginning at the bottom of page 13, which reads as follows:

The towns we surveyed that ran best—and in which satisfaction with the structure seemed to be highest—all had the same characteristic: Selectboard members were content to leave day-to-day administrative decision-making to the administrator or manager. This is not an easy state of affairs to maintain, and it may be especially difficult in Norwich, given the board’s tradition of hands-on authority. A town managed by a chief administrative officer who lacks Selectboard support, is constantly second-guessed by individual Selectboard members, or whose authority is
undermined by Selectboard interference may well be worse off than one with no professional administrator at all.

As we talked with other towns about how they do things, we were struck by the fact that some are quite happy with their structure, while others have switched from one form to another—and, in a few cases, back again—as they search for the perfect governing blueprint. This suggests to us that there is no perfect blueprint; any structure might work, given the right alignment of personalities, politics and needs.

We are quite aware, then, that what has worked in other towns will not necessarily work for Norwich. One thing we can say for certain, though, is that no change will work unless it clarifies lines of authority within town government. Even then, it will take more than a statutorily defined job description to do so. Switching to a town manager will require the Selectboard to change its style of operation dramatically, and the townspeople of Norwich to respect the new structure.

As a committee, we have become convinced that town government can improve under a better administrative structure. But we are equally convinced that end-runs around the manager by townspeople and political power plays by elected officials can sabotage even the best-designed structure. Whatever option we adopt, we hope the people of Norwich will give those charged with making it work all the support and encouragement they need to be successful.

We now have seven years of experience with the town manager model. The results are decidely mixed for all the reasons outlined back in 2001. If we want to understand what hasn't worked this past decade -- and what will likely bedevil us in the decade to come however many town managers and/or town administrators we employ -- we need simply look in the mirror.

Since the openly divisive selectboard elections of 2000, we seen almost constant turnover in selectboard membership with most incumbents defeated seeking reelection or choosing not to stand for another term. Each new selectboard majority has viewed itself as an agent of change intent upon reversing the errors of their predecessors and protecting the town from future errors by the recent majority they've unseated. The aggrieved majority in 2000 was unseated by a different aggrieved majority two years later and yet another over the next three years.

The one constant throughout has been faction. Anyone active in town government this past decade has found themselves challenged to declare themselves an "us" or a "them" at any given time, in any given drama, and there have been plenty: Police protection, the Bradley Hill Trail, the original town manager debate, creating a development review board, the Planning Commission purges, outsourcing police protection, building affordable housing, Norcap, the "Gateway," the bandstand, and now another town manager debate.

Faction -- the tendency to delineate an "us" and a "them;" villify the "them" and take comfort in the angry fellowship of "us" -- and our appetite for faction in Norwich, is rendering this community effectively ungovernable. In my opinion, it's rendered the decision whether to employ a town manager or a town administrator largely irrelevant. Either and both are doomed to be frustrated by factional discord unless and until the political culture of this town changes.

It is said that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Similarly, the opposite of faction may not be unanimity, but rather tolerance. There is no reason to think we should all agree on the issues of the day. There are any number of practical reasons we should do our best to disagree in a constructive manner; understand the thinking of those with whom we disagree and tolerate their right to voice disagreement.

The single best reason for tolerance is the simple fact we live together. Those who think Tuesday's vote will decide anything more than the next incremental episode in our shared struggle to govern ourselves are sadly deluded. Tuesday's victors and vanquished will all still remain town residents; still be subject to the same taxes, land use regulations, school services, police and fire protection; still vote next March. Those who subject themselves to these votes would do well to spend more time reaching out to those who may disagree, understand their points of disagreement, and resist the short-sighted advantage won by finger-pointing and fueling outrage to garner votes. Democracy is not preordained to succeed. It only ensures that we all have a voice in its success or failure. Whether we choose to work together or instead attempt to divide and conquer each election cycle and special town meeting is really a matter of individual wisdom, humility, and tolerance. As a town, we seem a little short on these virtues lately. No town manager or town administrator on earth can deliver them for us.

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Monday Note: The links I placed on the Norwich listserv were truncated. The complete links are here:

1) A detailed review of the town manager versus town administrator question;

http://norwichnavel.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-confess-bewilderment-with-debate.html

and 2) The questions that question begs:

http://norwichnavel.blogspot.com/2007/03/part-two-town-managers-police-whats.html