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?
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