The Administrative Assistant Model
This document is reprinted with permission from "The Manager Plan in Maine" published by the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy. Copies of the complete book may be obtained by calling the Center at (207) 581-1646.
A recent trend, made available through municipal home rule, has been an increase in the number of communities that have hired an administrative assistant to assist the board of selectmen. This individual may be assigned many of the same duties as a town manager or only a few select areas of responsibility. There is no one job description of an administrative assistant and many variations exist in practice. Used primarily in smaller towns, administrative assistants are hired to reduce the increasing administrative burden placed on boards of selectmen. Some municipalities feel more comfortable with this form of administrative structure because technically the board of selectmen remains the plural executive body and the town meeting still functions as the legislative body.
According to a recent survey of Maine municipalities, over forty towns have opted for this creative administrative solution, with more than half doing so since 1980. This is a small-town solution, where the average population of those municipalities employing administrative assistants is less than 1,500. While this option provides needed administrative help, it has more of the same integration problems associated with "weaker" versions of the manager plan. There can be much responsibility given to the administrative assistant, but little or no administrative authority (Starn, 1987, pp. 11-14). Although the administrative assistant model is not technically within the manager plan form of government, it is an important recent trend in the administration of local governments in Maine and represents the largest growth rate in the 1980s.