Time for Real Mayors

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Monday June 19, 2006 15:41

by Cllr Keith Martin

Westport Councillor calls for real mayors with real powers to govern our towns, boroughs, cities and counties

It is time to replace unelected Managers with Directly Elected Mayors.

We are now fast approaching the annual elections of the head of the town, borough, city and county councils. Currently we have a system in Westport and throughout the country which is based on “muggings turn” by which the parties in power agree a Rota and divide the office up each year among themselves.

This means you will have 5 different head of the council in 5 years. Each individual has different priorities, aims and goals than the last and this can make up for very disjointed local government. Also the quality of leadership can differ greatly from councillor to councillor.

Currently, irrespective of their titles, such as the Cathaoirleach, the Mayor, the Meara or the Chairman, they each have identical roles. They are the ceremonial head of the council, they chair the meetings and that is about it.
In my opinion it is time for us to have directly elected Mayors with real power not just ceremonial duties and photo opportunities. A directly elected Mayor should set out the objectives of the council for their term and make the executive decisions on the day to day, running of the council thus replacing the Town/Borough/City/County Manager system with a more democratic and accountable one. This would leave these managers to get on with carrying out the decisions of the Mayor and the councillors.

There are a great many advantages to having a directly elected Mayor with real powers.
Such Mayors would
provide a very visible leadership for the community in that almost everyone will know who the Mayor is
make it easy to see where power and responsibility lie in the council
make those making decisions accountable to the people through the ballot box
provide Westport with powerful leadership with a 5 year plan for their term of office
give Westport a strong voice with which to address issues like the N5 with regional and national government
It would allow talented individuals from different walks of life and without any political affiliation to bring their skills to the benefit of the community

There would be no danger of the Mayor having too much power as he would have to seek approval for policies and actions from the whole council to be effective. They would require the councillors to approve budgets, zonings and the same functions of the council as at present.

There is a perception out there that only large cities like New York or London can benefit from having a powerful directly elected Mayor but surely towns like Westport are every bit as entitled to democratic local government. Directly elected Mayors are not about taking power away from councillors they are about putting the power back in the hands of the people, about giving the town leadership and making local government relevant and democratic in the 21st century.

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Comments (3 of 3)

County council chairman have too much power

by Terence

Mon Jun 19, 2006 17:17

I agree absolutely that they should be at a very minimum elected. These manager types have way too much power and largely unaccountable.

For too often and in far too many instances we have county council chairman making what are basically dictatorial discussions usually around things like re-zoning and changing the county plan. Time and again these plans have often been carefully drawn up with some but not much negotation with various interested groups only for it all to be overruled by county chairman.

The effort to bring more democracy to our society is very much about making it more accountable and more local. Yet I still find that representative democracy does not live up to what it claims and there should be more direct democracy.

the creation of a directly elected mayor empowered to make municipal or rural authority decisions

by choking on the muesli

Mon Jun 19, 2006 17:59

is in no way a democratic solution to inefficient management. Sorry Keith, but ome day you too will grow old and flaccid & if you don't get into the Dail first, the poor people of Westport would have to choose between those individuals who can mount the most effective campaign to win a share of the electorate, whilst abstention would go in increasing. In short, directly elected mayors all too often come from business or commercial interests, hardly ever come from progressive left circles & have been linked to decreased participation (such as votings - attendance at consultations). Furthermore implementation of such a plan would require further legal finetuning of the checks and balances of the elected municipal, town or county council. The London mayor did not just spring out of the ground, the UK engaged in constitutional reform to see created the London Authority first..,

So I can't praise you for this idea at all. when you write real power to make real decisions you mean the power to make unpopular or non-democratic decisions. That power may be the building of a high profit realising toxic dump in the poor part of town, or the comissioning of an award winning hotel design which secretly everyone hates, or the sell off of derelict or unused land to build a disneyland westport..... the possiblities of unpopular decisions one individual might make in 5 years before the ballot box might send them the way of "Othello the jobless" are really quite disturbing.

You may not bring democracy to the people by giving one person more power.

& this is not the first time I've hinted at your caudillismo either. Iremember remarking on your own electoral mandate of elected 11.5% of a poll of 65.6% of electorate.
http://indymedia.ie/article/75264#comment148647

Wrong

by Red Inc

Mon Jul 03, 2006 02:39

Currently unelected officals make the decisions.

What is democratic about that?

By making one person responsible for decisions and leadership and electing that person you increase the democracy not reduce it.

Directly elected mayors are the future of local government

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Comments (3 of 3)