City leaders and representatives aren’t in agreement about whether the state Legislature should vote to give Sandy Springs’ mayor increased powers. The changes would increase the mayor’s authority over day-to-day city operations.
City Attorney Wendell Willard, who is also a state representative of the city, said he has concerns about the changes.
“I was involved with the original drafting of the charter and we did some very specific things to keep the elected officials from being involved with the day-to-day direction and operation of the city and I don’t know if what’s being proposed there will upset the balance that we made,” Willard said.
Current Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos said the changes would be minimal.
“I think those are good recommendations,” Galambos said. “They’re not terribly different than what I do already.”
But other city leaders aren’t so sure. The recommendations came from the Sandy Springs Charter Commission, which recently concluded a line-by-line review of the five-year-old city charter, which is essentially the city’s constitution, defining the role of all city officials.
The charter commission recommended giving the mayor supervisory powers over the city manager’s position, a separation of powers generally meant to keep the mayor out of the day-to-day business of running the city. The mayor would also set the revenue estimate for the budget, not the city manager. The budget could not be submitted by the city manager without the “advice and
consent” of the mayor. Currently the mayor only reviews and comments on the budget proposal.
Galambos said she doesn’t see the city council’s role as directing the city manager and doesn’t think the policy will diminish their power.
“I don’t think the city council tells the city manager to do things,” Galambos said. “If the majority of the city council sets a policy then the mayor has to follow that policy.”
Councilman Gabriel Sterling said the could create instances where the council has set policies for the city manager, but the mayor tells the city manager to ignore them.
“I believe this subtle shift of power to the mayor creates tension where none exists,” Sterling said.
Councilwoman Dianne Fries also worries about the effect the changes would have on mayor-council relations.
“We have done a lot of things in the city to keep politics out of decisions, such as our decisions to rank roads so we have a scientific way to decide what roads need to be resurfaced or replaced … This has worked so well for us. If we changed to the mayor having all supervision over the city manager, these rankings we do could be over ridden by the mayor.”
Councilman Chip Collins described the change to having the mayor supervise the city manager is “form over substance” and thinks it would not lead to conflict. He said he hasn’t decided whether he agrees with having the mayor set revenues.
“I think the city manager having day-to-day control of the city and responsibility of reporting finances is in the best position to at least come up with the starting numbers,” he said. He said if that changes, “I would assume the mayor would still rely on the recommendations of the city manager.”
Council members Karen Meinzen McEnerny, John Paulson and Tibby DeJulio said they weren’t concerned by the proposed changes.
DeJulio said the changes more closely reflect the idea that Sandy Springs runs more like a business than a traditional city, and in that analogy the mayor would be the CEO.
“I think as CEO the mayor should have the ability to go ahead and call the shots,” he said.
Paulson agreed.
“Because the mayor is the highest elected official, the mayor should have the final say,” Paulson said.
Sandy Springs state Rep. Edward Lindsey said there would be an information-gathering process about the proposed changes. The General Assembly will convene in January. Members of Sandy Springs’ state legislative delegation will meet with charter commission members and city council members for their opinions about the proposed changes, Lindsey said.
State Rep. Harry Geisinger said the delegation tends to approve what the city’s leaders want.
“We don’t dictate to the cities,” he said.
