Hillsborough voters will be heading to the polls next month to decide if they should elect their own mayor. At least that is what some would have us believe. And I must admit that I have fallen into this trap myself - trying to weigh the pros and cons of an elected versus an appointed mayor - when really this isn't the question at all.
Hillsborough currently operates under a Township Committee form of government - an evolved form of the New England town meeting of the 17th century. One Hundred Forty years before Hillsborough received its 1771 Charter my 8th great grandfather and his brothers attended many such meetings in Windsor, Connecticut's first town. Since meetings were held only once or twice a year, a small committee of citizens was chosen to solve problems and make decisions in the interim periods. This has now become our township committee - a 375 year old traditional government.
Considering the history involved, it almost seems inconsequential who gets to sit in the "big chair". What is important is knowing that our mayor has never been "appointed". This is a misleading word, used in this case to mean the opposite of "elected" - and it does indeed convey that sense. But in fact ALL of our township committee members are elected by the people. Voters know before they pull the lever that anyone who wins a seat on the committee could potentially be chosen by that body to serve as the mayor. Anyone deemed by the public to be unsuitable as mayor should not be elected to the committee.
Having said all that, I realize that there is support among residents for a direct election of the mayor by the people. Unfortunately, the nine month charter study has shown us that under our current form of government, direct election of the mayor is not permitted. This is the reason residents voted to have a charter study - to find out what forms of government were available, and if there were any that allowed a directly elected mayor within the framework of the township committee. The answer is no.
The only question left before us now is do we want to give up on the township committee by changing to a "more complex - larger government"? Do we want to wade through page after page of unrequested, unproven, and unappetizing soups, salads, and entrees to get to that little piece of mayoral dessert at the end?
Take a look around. Hillsborough is healthy because we skip dessert. Let's take a pass next month too.
The most significant fallacy of your argument is your assumption that the best people for a council/committee will also make the best people for the chief executive/mayor. However the skills needed for each of the jobs are very different. Executive decision making is nothing like the consensus building skills required for committee / legislative work.
ReplyDeleteOf course you may find both skill sets in one person, but your assertion that we should not elect someone who is not ready to be mayor is true because of the current form of government. In the alternative, the voters will have a better choice due to the ability to select the best people for each job.
Additionally, the campaigning for election can focus on the differences in each job. I actually do not recall ever hearing a candidate for Township Committee articulate which skills qualify him for council and which for mayor.
Spooky
ReplyDeleteThe basic fallacy of your argument is you give the mayor power. That is just not so in our form of government. As you know each member of the committee has the same amount of power so we are governed by Board of Directors consisting of five people elected by the people on a staggered yearly basis.
Seems to me our form of government is far better then that of a strong mayor where way too much power is invested in one person and that person is only up for election once every four years. One only need to pick-up the paper and read it to see how many corrupt strong mayors we’ve seen in New Jersey.
Hillsborough is a very unique town. Our people as well as our demographics are extremely diverse, look around at our farms and high rise apartments, and notice the amount of different races, religions, and ethnic backgrounds of our people. Do you really think all our wonderful diversity is better government by one all powerful person? Not me, I’ll take my five committee people any day of the week.
Spokey, Do you really think that with a mayor-council form of government we will get candidates with different "skill sets"? For $3000 to $4000 a year? What we will get is candidates with different ambitions. We will get someone hoping his turn as mayor leads to something else (like our former governor from Woodbridge).
ReplyDeleteAnd the fallacy of your argument is that you think because the public has expressed a desire to choose who sits in the center square, that means they also want a strong mayor. I don't believe that is the case. But we will find out soon enough.