Berkeley’s city charter makes the City Manager one of the most powerful political posts in city government yet it largely immunizes the manager from public insight, oversight, and removal from office, argues Thomas Lord in a new Opinionator piece. The charter’s specifications of tenure, authority, and reporting obligations interact in ways that help to keep the public in the dark and the council and public weak regarding the day to day operations of the city, he says. Perhaps it is time to reconsider the structure of our municipal government?
Berkeleyside welcomes submissions of op-ed articles of 500 to 800 words. We ask that we are given first refusal to publish. Topics should be Berkeley-related and local authors are preferred. Please email submissions to us. Berkeleyside will publish op-ed pieces at its discretion.
