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DEL.ICIO.USShould one mayor have this much power?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
meetings.
For 20 years, Max Bacon has served as mayor of Smyrna, but he still can’t appoint the city manager.
And Jere Wood, the long-time mayor of Roswell, can’t veto actions taken by the City Council, though there are certainly times he wishes he could.
But, when Mike Bodker is sworn in as the first mayor of Johns Creek later this year, he’ll be able to do all those things — making him one of the strongest mayors in the state.
He can hire and fire the city manager, who controls all other city employees. He can veto a decision by the City Council, and it takes a supermajority — five of the six council members — to override it. It doesn’t hurt, either, that Bodker will be able to vote at City Council meetings (most big city mayors vote only in the event of a tie).
“While we see all kinds of variations — strong mayor, weak mayor, strong city manager — [Johns Creek] is probably the strongest form of mayor I’ve seen,” said Susan Pruett, general counsel for the Georgia Municipal Association.
Read the full story | Visit Mike Bodker’s web site
Should the city put this much power in the hands of one person?
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