Mar 17
Leave it to the pros
Posted by AG under: Community; Economic development .
If you ask around the country, in cities and states where they still wage ward politics, you might find some people looking admiringly toward North Carolina. The Tar Heel State has advocated, for nearly 90 years, that cities, towns and counties ought to leave day-to-day management to professionals. Setting policy is hard enough for a city council without the added responsibility of scheduling trash pickup and pothole repair.
We were reminded of North Carolina’s good sense — and the current state of affairs in Guilford County and Greensboro — by recent articles in the News & Record. A Sunday commentary by former Greensboro City Manager Bill Carstarphen cautions that the community shouldn’t tolerate dismissals of top managers when motivated by petty politics and ill-conceived meddling.
In Monday’s News & Record, Jim Schlosser explains why North Carolina mandated a role for professional city and county managers. “The idea,” he writes, “was to end cronyism and deal-making under strong mayors.”
The Tar Heel system supposedly also immunizes citizens and local governments from the whims and vendettas of powerful city council and county commission members.
Or at least, that was the idea.
2 Comments so far...
Roch101 Says:
17 March 2009 at 9:17 pm.
Who are you?
editor3 Says:
20 March 2009 at 10:19 am.
Springboard is a blog of Action Greensboro, intended to create dialogue in our community. The “Background” section describes how we manage the blog.
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