City Councilman Chris Snow is the city’s new ceremonial
mayor.
The City Council elected Snow to the position at a meeting on
Wednesday night
The job comes with little to no authority beyond that of a
council member, but Snow will replace former mayor Darlene
Kordonowy on several of the regional boards she serves on.
The ceremonial mayor position is part of the the city’s new
council-manager form of government. Island voters decided last
month to do away with the city’s traditional mayor position and
transfer its authority to the council.
City Adminstrator Mark Dombroski was recently named to the new
position of city manager.
Snow’s council and mayoral term end Dec. 31. Snow has declined
to seek reelection, leaving his South Ward position to three
candidates.
Kordonowy
You can read a story in today’s Sun about some City Council
members’ opposition to Darlene Kordonowy continuing to serve on
regional boards she was appointed to as mayor.
It’s a straightforward argument: many of the positions are for
mayors or council appointees only. Kordonowy’s not a mayor, and
she’s not been appointed by the council. On the other hand,
Kordonowy and some of her board colleagues say a new appointee
could stall critical work, especially in areas of public
transportation and affordable housing.
I didn’t include it in the story, but there’s a rumor
circulating that Kordonowy was behind Kitsap Transit Director Dick
Hayes’ visit to a recent council meeting. Driving up from Kitsap
Transit’s Bremerton HQ, Hayes urged the council to allow
Kordonowy’s continued participation on his organization’s
board.
I mentioned the rumor to Kordonowy and Hayes. Both were quick to
dispel it.
“Jeez, they’re peevish up there,” Hayes said. “I don’t want to
get into a battle, but I can say that’s categorically not
true.”
Cast your vote on the new poll over to the right. This time, I’m
asking readers what they thought of the city’s response to the
Eagle Harbor sewer leak.
The corroded sewer pipe leaked an estimated 140,000 gallons of
untreated sewage into the harbor from Saturday to early Tuesday
morning, when the leak was fixed. Health officials are still
advising people to avoid contact with the harbor’s water and
tidelands, as well as the shore from Yeomalt Point to Rockaway
Beach.
You can find the results from the last poll (“What’s the main
reason voters chose the council-manager government?”) below.
Seventy-nine people responded. Dissatisfaction with Mayor Darlene
Kordonowy was cited overwhelmingly as the reason islanders changed
the city’s form of government.
1. 48 percent: Dissatisfaction with Mayor Darlene Kordonowy (38
Votes)
2. 29 percent: A desire for a more efficient and cost-effective
City Hall (23 Votes)
3. 9 percent: City staff exercise too much power (7 Votes)
4. 8 percent: The mayor position had too much power (6 Votes)
5. 5 percent: Citizens want more say at City Hall (4 Votes)
6. 1 percent: Most cities of BI’s size have council-manager
governments (1 Vote)
With the mayor’s powers now passing to the City Council, three
upcoming council races suddenly have added importance.
But council members Debbie Vancil, Kjell Stoknes and Chris Snow
are on the fence as to whether they’ll run again, and no one else
has stepped up to take their places.
While it quickly became apparent on election night that voters
don’t want a mayor in City Hall, it’ll likely take a week before
the head office is passed to the new city manager.
According to City Attorney Paul McMurray, the transition to a
council-manager government takes affect on June 3, when Tuesday’s
election is certified by the Kitsap County Auditor.
Mayor Darlene Kordonowy, at that point, has the option of
becoming a eighth City Council member until her mayoral term ends
in January. The council would then revert to seven members.
Kordonowy is open to a seven-month council term.
“If there’s going to be a change, I want to continue to be apart
of (the new government), and I’d be willing to serve,” she said on
Tuesday, shortly after early election results showed the
council-manager measure was passing by a wide margin.
Mayor Darlene Kordonowy and council-manager supporter Bob
Fortner were on KUOW’s “Conversation” yesterday.
It was a short bit among other discussions about Iran’s missle
tests and credit card debt. You can listen to the archived show
here.
The part about the council-manager issue begins about four and a
half minutes in.
Kordonowy said criticism of her second term was part of the
reason the measure passed.
“I can’t help but take things personal,” she said.
Kordonowy said she was disappointed in how well she was able to
manage the city during “in difficult times.”
Fortner said voters passed the measure because the city’s
government structure is “flawed,” giving the mayor too much power
and concealing processes at City Hall that should be open.
Jim and Louise Mooney cheer as
election returns show voters approving a new form of government for
Bainbridge Island.
Declaring a mandate for change, supporters of a new form of city
government cheered early election results showing over 70 percent
of island voters no longer want a mayor at City Hall.
“This is absolutely huge,” said Linda Owens to a crowd of about
50 people gathered to watch election results at the Treehouse pub
on Tuesday night. “This vote to adopt the council-manager form of
government…is a clear and direct message from an aware and aroused
citizenry that they want a sweeping and profound change in how city
business is carried out.”
Owens, manager for the Vote Council-Manager ’09 campaign, said
the strong support in early returns all but guarantees that the
island’s mayor will be replaced with a hired manager.
“It’s a mandate,” said Councilman Bill Knobloch, a supporter of
the council-manager form. “It sends a definite message to the
government – including the council – and we’d better listen.”
The city’s management now falls under the authority of the City
Council.
Supporters say the new form of government will heal many of the
city’s ills, making it more transparent, responsive, cost-effective
and efficient.
The Kitsap County Auditor’s office reported 71 percent support
for the council-manager form shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. About 44
percent of the island’s voters had cast a ballot on the
change-of-government question.
Council-manager supporter Elise Wright celebrated the results
but girded herself for the transition ahead.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “But now we really have a lot of work
to do.”
Wright said the council, which now takes the reins of city
government, must find a way to work more collaboratively.
“They have a lot of new responsibilities,” she said. “They
really are in charge now.”
Mayor Darlene Kordonowy, who now has the option of becoming an
eighth council member until her term ends, announced on the eve of
the election that she’d not seek reelection.
“The early results are pretty definitive,” Kordonowy said
shortly after the results were announced. “It’s sad to see this
change. I expected (the measure) to win, but not by that
margin.
It’s time to step aside. That’s what voters are saying.”
With wobbly necks and nodding heads, bobblehead dolls are an
agreeable companion in any public debate.
Bob Fortner brought eight with him to Bainbridge High School for
a Monday night debate over whether the city of Bainbridge should
swap its elected mayor for a hired manager.
“Our current form looks like this,” said Fortner, a proponent of
the manager form, as he set down a single bobblehead to represent
the island’s mayor. Then, setting seven bobbleheads on a podium,
Fornter continued, “This way is a broader representation of voters’
values, philosophies and interests.”
Fortner, an island business owner and longtime City Hall
watcher, urged the audience of about 60 people to vote on May 19 to
eliminate the mayor position and concentrate power with the
seven-member City Council, which would hire a manager to carry out
the city’s administrative duties.
Fortner’s debate opponent, island resident and University of
Washington public policy scholar David Harrison, took the podium,
swiveling the dolls around for nose-to-nose face offs. Their heads
shook and bobbed to seven different rhythms.
“Because I’m a friend of Bob’s, I’m not going to have them
kicking each other,” Harrison said, joking about the sharply
divided council.
Whether mayor- or manager-led, the council will continue to
tussle over conflicting views and agendas, Harrison said. The main
difference, he added, is that a manager will have no authority to
rein the council in or focus its attention on common goals.
“The single biggest problem with the council-manager form is
that it won’t have the central focus for government that we
desperately need,” Harrison said.
Fortner said eliminating the mayor position will spread power
among the seven-member council, making government more accountable
and transparent.
“We’ve outgrown the utility of a small town mayor,” he said.
The Sun’s editorial board urged Bainbridge voters to stick with
the city’s existing form of government.
According to the board, City Hall’s problems are rooted in
personalities, the economy and divergent agendas rather than the
city’s system of government.
“In our view the current situation is at the heart a
personality conflict among elected officials and, at times,
interest groups on the island. Conflicts are exacerbated now by a
falling economy and incredibly unstable city budget. But
relationship problems aren’t enough to justify a complete overhaul
of government.”
Islanders will vote on May 19 on whether to eliminate the city’s
elected mayor position and replace it with a hired manager under
the authority of the City Council.
Whether Bainbridge’s government sticks with its traditional
political model or switches to one rooted in the business world,
City Hall will remain only as good as the people chosen to run
it.
That was the message municipal government expert Carl Neu drove
home during a Tuesday night forum exploring the differences between
mayor- and manager-led cities. Islanders will vote May 19 on
whether to do away with the city’s elected mayor position in favor
of a manager hired by the City Council.
“As you get into this question, try to separate yourselves from
personalities and decide what makes sense structurally,” the
Colorado-based consultant said to the over 100 people gathered in
Bainbridge High School’s commons. “There’s never been a form of
government that can overcome the foibles of humanity.”
While a manager-led government is no “silver bullet,” Neu
characterized it as generally more cost-effective, efficient and
transparent than the mayor form.
