By Scott Turner
The City of Madison last week hosted its first community meeting regarding the switch to a council-manager form of government.
Managers from other cities in Alabama where that form of government is currently in place were asked to attend. Mountain Brook City Manager Sam Gaston and Vestavia Hills City Manager Jeff Downes answered questions about the form of government and their roles, according to a news release sent out by the City of Madison.
The Madison Forward citizens group will hold a meeting at Madison Library at noon Thursday about the proposal. Another community meeting will be held at noon on July 11 at Madison Library about the role of the mayor in a council-manager form of government.
Madison Mayor Paul Finley and Auburn Mayor Ron Anders will be among the guests. Auburn is the largest city in the state with that form of government.
Under a council-manager government, the city council would redraw its seven single-member districts into six districts, and the mayor would be elected at-large to be the seventh council member. The mayor would also become the president of the city council.
The city manager, hired by the city council, would carry out the policies and vision of the council while running the city like a business. The manager would be in charge of day-to-day operations and departments, roles currently carried out by the mayor.
Under the current form of government, the mayor does not have a vote at council meetings. That would change under the new format, with the mayor still having ceremonial roles, representing the city at events and meetings with other cities and state officials.
The city’s residents are the ones who are responsible for the first official steps in the process of changing the form of government. At least 900 Madison residents must sign a petition calling for a referendum, according to the city’s release.
Madison County Probate Judge Frank Barger would review the petition, with the mayor calling for the election. Results would then be sent to the governor’s office.
Finley appointed a committee to study the issue last August. The committee said it unanimously supported transitioning to the council-manager format.
The potential transition could be a years-long process that would have to receive approval from the city council and the state legislature in addition to approval from Madison voters in a referendum.
During the community meeting, Downes told residents the council-manager government is more “business-like,” where the mayor functions like a chairman of the board and the council members function like a board of directors.
According to the release, Gaston encouraged the city to recruit applicants who are strong seasoned professionals to apply for the job if residents approve a change in government.
It is not a new issue for Madison. A committee in 2015 made a similar recommendation to the city council, but it went no further.
Residents of another area city – Decatur – voted in 2010 to change to a council-manager government. But the city council voted against the change at the time because state law would have required it to reduce the number of council seats, which would have eliminated the minority-majority district.
A lawsuit filed in 2014 to force Decatur to change to a council-manager government was dismissed in 2020.
