The Council-Manager Form
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.
The council-manager form of government is used in 40 Maine municipalities and represents one-fifth of all manager plan municipalities. This form of government is found most often in municipalities with populations above 5,000, with no municipalities below 1,000 population operating under this form of government. These council-manager governments may deviate from the national model in several respects. One-third of the municipal councils in Maine are oriented to district rather than at large representation.
Five council-manager municipalities elect a mayor at-large. Under this system, the elected mayor is presiding officer and ceremonial head of government. The mayor may vote only if there is a tie, and has no administrative duties. The exception to this is Gardiner, in which the mayor appoints certain officers with the consent of council. It is noted that a separately elected mayor, who has an at-large or city-wide constituency, may be more likely to be involved in purely administrative matters than a mayor elected by and from the council.
Most Maine council-manager charters designate the manager as administrative head of government responsible to the council for the administration of all departments. While the manager is generally accorded broad responsibility for direction and control of administration, some charters have placed limitations on the manager's authority.
One indicator of managerial authority is the extent to which the manager has broad power to appoint and dismiss subordinates. Council appointment of municipal officers has been rather widespread in Maine. In over half of the council-manager municipalities, the council appoints three or more municipal officials in addition to the manager. Most frequently, these council appointed officials are: clerks, solicitors, tax collectors, treasurers, and assessors. In some municipalities all key financial officers are appointed by the council, which is an apparent limitation on the manager's financial direction and control capability. A few public safety officials such as health officers, police chiefs and fire chiefs are appointed by the council. In addition, there are instances where various boards and commissions, some of which may have administrative functions, are appointed by council. In a majority of Maine council-manager municipalities, the manager is precluded from appointing or dismissing certain municipal operating officials, who are in theory subordinates.
In fact, only a few municipal charters provide that the manager has the sole power to appoint other department heads and employees. Many charters require that the council confirm managerial appointments. Some have argued that this practice compromises the manager's administrative responsibility to the council, because the manager may have to appoint on the basis of council consensus rather than on the basis of administrative competence. The practice is thus a shared responsibility and becomes even more significant, however, when a manager has need to dismiss or demote an employee. Unless the manager's authority to dismiss or demote is spelled out clearly in a charter or in an ordinance, council confirmation of such actions may be necessary and could involve political ramifications.