Hiring a Manager is Just Step 1
The search for a new manager can be challenging. You need to find the right person to lead your municipality, and experienced managers aren’t always easy to find.
That’s why elected boards are increasingly turning to experts like Keystone Municipal Solutions to help recruit the best talent available. But once you’ve hired your new manager, the work isn’t over. In fact, it’s just starting.
Now, you need to create an environment in which that person can succeed.
Too often, municipalities recruit a professional manager, expect immediate results, and inadvertently make the job nearly impossible. Conflicting direction from elected officials, political pressure, unrealistic expectations, and a lack of resources can drive a good manager out of the very community that worked so hard to recruit him. That’s wasted time, effort and money. But it’s also a strategic miss.
Municipalities need to put the same effort and resources into supporting their new manager as they do in recruiting and hiring them.
The starting point is understanding roles. Council is elected to establish policy, adopt the budget, set priorities, and provide oversight. The manager is hired to administer the municipality and carry out the policies the governing body establishes. Those responsibilities work best when a clear line exists between policymaking and day-to-day administration. That does not mean council should stop asking questions. Accountability is essential. But oversight and micromanagement are very different.
A manager cannot effectively manage a municipal department if individual council members issue employees separate instructions. Nor can a manager establish consistent policies if each meeting brings a new direction from a different elected official. The governing body should speak collectively with one voice.
That is especially important in Pennsylvania, where municipal government operates in a highly public environment. Council meetings, public comment periods, newspaper coverage, and social media can exert tremendous pressure on elected officials. A handful of vocal residents at a meeting may create the impression that the entire community shares the same view. The truth is that they may not. One of elected officials’ most important responsibilities is to distinguish between the loudest voices in the room and the broader interests of the municipality. A manager should not be expected to change professional recommendations simply because a handful of residents are unhappy at a public meeting.
At the same time, the manager must listen to the public and understand community concerns. Good management requires both accountability and independence. The governing body should also establish measurable expectations for the manager. What should be accomplished during the first year? What financial improvements are expected? Which infrastructure projects should move forward? What changes are needed in personnel, communications, or municipal operations? Those expectations should be discussed openly and used as the basis for a meaningful annual evaluation.
Speaking of evaluations, let’s talk compensation. While you’ve agreed on a starting compensation package for your new manager, it’s equally important to set annual performance and compensation expectations. Failure to ensure compensation is competitive with other municipalities and tied to performance can lead to a disconnect between the board and the manager. Compensation should be periodically reviewed against that of comparable municipalities. Professional development should be encouraged. The manager should have access to the tools and staffing needed to perform the job.
Most importantly, the manager should know where the governing body stands. A manager who is constantly wondering whether they have the council's support cannot devote their full attention to managing the municipality. Stability at the top of municipal government benefits employees, taxpayers, residents, and elected officials alike.
Municipalities face increasingly complex responsibilities, from infrastructure and stormwater management to budgets, labor issues, development, public safety, and regulatory compliance. These challenges require professional management.
If a municipality has hired a manager it believes is capable of doing the job, the elected board – whether it’s borough or city council, or township supervisors or commissioners – should give that manager the authority, resources, and support necessary to do it.
Accountability should remain firm, but so should the commitment to let professional management work. The goal should not simply be to hire a municipal manager. The goal should be to build a municipal government where a good manager can succeed, and where that manager has a reason to stay.
About the Author
David L. Anthony is a member of the Keystone Municipal Solutions team of experts. He is a veteran of municipal government, having served more than 33 years in various positions of public service. Contact him at david@keystonemunicipalsolutions.com. To learn more about David and the Keystone Municipal Solutions team, click here.
