Key Charter Changes for Tucson Governance
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TucsonSentinelKey Charter Changes for Tucson Governance
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TucsonSentinelApril 30, 2010
Report on Tucson Governance
Overview – Key Charter Change Recommendations
Because the City of Tucson is the core of the metro region, Tucson more on overall policy decisions – to operate at the “30,000-
city government is the primary instrument by which our region foot-level” of policy, with more attention on critical city
realizes its dreams and aspirations. Yet there is wide agreement issues.
Tucson has not fulfilled its exceptional potential and that it is not • To let the city manager manage. (Phoenix is a nationally
well-positioned for the future. regarded example of how best to structure the roles and
responsibilities of a city manager.)
But why has a city with a number of highly capable top officials and • To create a more effective partnership between the city
engaged citizens, in a culturally rich and physically beautiful council and the city’s professional staff.
environment, failed to realize its potential and to position itself • To promote business and community support for important
decisively for a prosperous future? governmental issues.
To answer that question and better understand how Tucson city We want to emphasize that while SALC conducted this narrow and
government could be more effective, the Southern Arizona focused preliminary study, we have always believed that it is
Leadership Council initiated a several months-long study, during essential to any reform effort to build a coalition of an inclusive,
which it interviewed the mayor, all six council members, the city diverse group of community partners. We are committed to building
manager, three former city managers, and several council aides. this coalition, and it is our intent that this coalition will take the lead
SALC also conducted research about other cities and consulted with and responsibility for modifying the recommendations and deciding
nationally recognized experts on local government. how to implement them.
We learned that Tucson unintentionally has created a spider’s web of The recommendations focused on changes to the city charter, to city
charter provisions, policies and entrenched practices at the very top policies and to community practices. While all the proposed changes
of city government. Consequently, authority, responsibility and are important, the proposed charter changes carry an added sense of
accountability are diffused at the top of Tucson city government, urgency: The City Council must decide by early July what charter
severely limiting the ability of top city officials to fulfill their roles changes, if any, it will refer to the November ballot.
and meet their responsibilities, and making it difficult, if not
impossible, for even the most talented of people to succeed. Consequently, this document focuses solely on what SALC considers
four key changes to the Tucson city charter. For those wanting to
To rectify this diffusion of authority, responsibility and know more about the other recommended changes, we will be happy
accountability at the top of Tucson city government, SALC to provide them with a more detailed report.
developed draft recommendations with the following goals:
We are optimistic and confident that the engagement of the
• To encourage and enable the city council members to focus community, working closely with our city officials, will help to
produce more effective and more efficient city leadership, unify our healthy environment.
community, and provide our region with a healthy economy and a
Key Suggested City Charter Changes
Type of Recommendation Reasons for Recommendation
Change
Charter 1. Revise the city charter and The city manager is responsible for implementing the council’s vision and priorities, but the
civil service rules so the city city manager lacks the authority to build an administrative team to fulfill that responsibility.
manager can better be held For instance, the city manager has no role in the appointment of the city attorney and the city
accountable – and so the city clerk, and while the manager appoints the police and fire chiefs with the consent of the mayor
manager can hold and council, only the city council can fire them. Important, too, other key department heads
department heads and their subordinates are protected by the civil service system. These provisions undermine
accountable. the city manager’s ability to build a cohesive administrative capacity. Equally important, they
blur responsibility and diffuse accountability at the top of city government.
Possible action:
Eliminate civil service protection for all department heads and their deputy and assistant
department heads, and change the charter to have all department heads report to the city
manager. This would allow the city manager to hire and fire all department heads and to allow
department heads to hire and fire their immediate subordinates, such as deputy or assistant
directors. Because the mayor and council oversee and can fire the city manager, they can
ensure the manager uses this authority appropriately.
Charter 2. Make the City of Tucson With the growth of the city, the demands on top officials have increased sharply. City Council
mayor and city council members represent many more residents today and deal with vastly more complex issues than
positions full-time jobs. the Tucson city charter ever envisioned when it was written in 1929.
It is unrealistic to continue to treat the jobs of mayor and council members as being part-time.
Since the mayor and city council members already feel obligated to spend full-time on their
jobs, the city charter needs to acknowledge this change, and their salaries need to be increased
to reflect the demands of the jobs. The current annual salaries for the mayor ($42,000) and the
city council members ($24,000) are a burden to office holders. Equally important, they
severely limit the number of qualified people who are willing to run for the offices.
Possible action:
Index mayor and council salaries to the economy or to the salaries of other office holders
whose salaries are set in an objective manner. One option: Index their salaries to the Pima
2
Type of Recommendation Reasons for Recommendation
Change
County Board of Supervisors, whose salaries are set by state law. The additional cost easily
could be offset by asking council members to reduce their staffs by one aide each.
Charter 3. Provide for increasing the When the city charter was adopted in 1929 and divided Tucson into six wards, the city had
number of wards as about 30,000 residents. The city now has more than half a million – an18-fold increase. Yet
population increases. the number of wards has never changed. Expanding the number of wards would allow council
members to better represent their constituents. Additionally, it is widely believed that efforts
to annex areas such as the Foothills and Casas Adobes will not succeed unless these areas
have their own representation on the city council.
Possible action:
Change the city charter to allow for the creation of new wards when the number of residents in
the current wards exceeds a certain number. Another option: Give the mayor and council
authority, but only when acting with a two-thirds vote, to add two wards to make a total of
eight wards.
Charter 4. Create a stronger mayor. Good city government requires a mayor who can lead by virtue of his position as the city’s
CEO. However, on key personnel decisions, Tucson’s charter gives the mayor even less
authority than an individual council member. For instance, while the mayor participates in the
appointment of the city manager, attorney, clerk, finance director, police chief, fire chief and
magistrates, the charter prohibits the mayor from voting on the firings of the people in any of
these positions. Significant, too, the mayor does not count toward meeting quorum
requirements.
Possible action:
Change the charter to give the mayor an equal vote with council members, and allow the
mayor to count toward meeting quorum requirements. Coupled with the mayor’s other
responsibilities in the charter, this will create a stronger mayor, more capable of leading the
council and the city.
Consider also a provision similar to that in Phoenix, which gives the mayor control over the
agenda. It says: “The agenda shall be set by the Mayor, provided that an item may be placed
on the agenda upon the written request of four Council members.”