August 21, 2015

Editorial: Eliminate retention vote for Greeley city manager

Talk about a relic of the past.

Greeley ranks as perhaps the only city in the country to require a public vote on retention of the city manager, a vote that must occur every six years. Requirement for the vote was put in place in 1969 because of dissatisfaction with the then city manager’s performance. That city manager, Ben Cruce, was subsequently voted out in 1971, with 47 percent in favor of retention and 53 percent against.

Since then, voters have opted to retain every city manager by overwhelming margins, with positive retention votes of 60 percent or more. (Other votes ranged from 73 percent to 80 percent for retention.) The current city manager, Roy Otto, was retained with 74 percent of the vote in 2007 and 81 percent in 2013.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Business Cares: March 2024

WomenGive, a program of United Way of Larimer County, was started in Larimer County in 2006 as an opportunity for women in our community to come together to help other women.

Over the years, voters have swatted down repeated attempts to repeal the requirement, but a vote scheduled for Nov. 3 will attempt repeal once again, a proposal we support.

Greeley Chamber of Commerce president Sarah MacQuiddy summed it up nicely in a recent guest opinion in BizWest, headlining her piece, “City manager a CEO, not a politician.” MacQuiddy related the history of the vote requirement but pointed out correctly that the city-manager position should be free of politics.

“We need our city manager to focus on doing his or her administrative job, rather than making it a political position because of the retention vote,” she wrote.

Well said. We also believe that the requirement subverts the very nature of representative government. Greeley residents elect a city council; it is that city council that retains the power to hire – or fire – any city manager, at any time. City council members work with the city manager on a daily basis. They see the work product that comes from the city manager’s office. They review that person’s performance.

Voters don’t have the luxury of day-to-day contact with the city manager. The retention-vote requirement politicizes a position that should remain apolitical.

If voters experience dissatisfaction with their city government – including perceived dissatisfaction with the city manager – it is the city council that should be held accountable.

After almost 50 years, Greeley voters should get over dissatisfaction with a city manager long gone, and let the city council do its job.

Talk about a relic of the past.

Greeley ranks as perhaps the only city in the country to require a public vote on retention of the city manager, a vote that must occur every six years. Requirement for the vote was put in place in 1969 because of dissatisfaction with the then city manager’s performance. That city manager, Ben Cruce, was subsequently voted out in 1971, with 47 percent in favor of retention and 53 percent against.

Since then, voters have opted to retain every city manager by overwhelming margins, with positive retention votes of 60…

Sign up for BizWest Daily Alerts