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Is a city manager needed in Woodland?

Consultant will give answer to council at meeting this winter

By Marissa Harshman, Columbian Health Reporter
Published: January 17, 2011, 12:00am

The Woodland City Council will soon learn whether a consultant thinks the city needs a professional administrator.

In July, the council unanimously voted to hire Bellevue consulting company Prothman to assess the city’s structure and management practices. The consultants will present the findings at a council meeting next month.

In November 2009, Woodland voters rejected a proposal to change the city’s form of government and hire a city manager. If the council decides to authorize funding for a city administrator, it would not change the form of government and, therefore, would not need to go to a vote.

The 5,250-resident city operates a mayor-council form of government, meaning Mayor Chuck Blum serves as the chief administrative officer of the city. The city council creates and adopts policies, and the mayor is responsible for carrying them out. A professional city administrator would serve under the mayor and assist with administrative and policy-related duties.

The rumor circulating around town is that the council asked for the assessment to justify hiring an administrator even though citizens rejected the city manager option, Councilwoman Marilee McCall said.

“The reality is, we’re trying to crunch numbers and figure out how we can function better under our current structure,” she said.

But Blum believes the city could have put the money spent on the assessment to better use.

The council approved an agreement with Prothman in July, for 60 hours of work at a cost of $9,900. It then approved up to 55 additional hours, bringing the total cost up to $18,900 plus expenses. Prothman requested the additional time to further review operations and staffing of the clerk/treasurer and public works departments, Clerk/Treasurer Mari Ripp said.

“I’m having a difficult time understanding the council’s reasoning in this case,” Blum said. “I’m just questioning, economically, we’re a city that can’t provide sufficient facilities for the police department and yet they want to spend a vast amount of money on someone to run the city.”

Blum said constituents will “shake their heads in disgust” if the council brings in a professional administrator.

Blum said he communicates with department heads daily to keep up to date on issues. He also created oversight committees that include councilors as members and plans to establish a committee to improve communication between the city and neighborhoods.

“I can understand a council member’s willingness to question administrative actions or why things don’t get done,” Blum said. “But that’s why I instituted the oversight committees. If (council members) paid attention to those oversights, they would be more involved in the actual administration of the city in some areas.”

But Councilman Benjamin Fredricks said he believes the city is lacking processes and management of City Hall.

When the council feels the city isn’t being run effectively, bringing in a third party for an assessment is the only option, he said.

“We have an obligation to make sure that we’re providing efficient and effective services to the citizens. That’s paramount,” Fredricks said. “My perception is, the city is broken.”

And having an elected official in charge of managing the city’s four unions and $15 million budget can be worrisome, he said. Businesses have professional managers; school districts have superintendents.

“He might be able to put up a couple yard signs and send out a few mailers, but does he have the skill set to run a $15 million operation?” he said.

Fredricks and McCall both said they believe there is a misconception about the authority of council members. For example, council members cannot direct city staff in how to run their department or do their jobs; that’s the job of the mayor.

“There’s not a way for council to have someone there at the city that is steering the boat, so to speak,” she said. “We have department managers that most of them are doing very good jobs. But they pretty much work in silos from what I’ve seen, and we need a cohesive city moving forward.”

Marissa Harshman: 360-735-4546 or marissa.harshman@columbian.com.

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Columbian Health Reporter