The Wrangell sentinel., 1948-01-09
CITY MANAGER
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Continued from last week.


 II. Why does the manager plan give us better executives?
 Because all other forms of city government attempt to elect exc cutiYes whereas the manager plan provides for the appointment of ex- ecutiVes on the basis of an inti- mate examination of their qualifi cations unconfused with questions of their local political strength. In older forms of city government jobs are distributed on a patronage basis
 12. How much are city manag- CTS usually paid?
 Salaries range from an average of $2,638 in cities with populations less than 5000 to an average of $12,657 in cities over 100000. The lowest is about $500 (part time), the highest, $20, 400.
 (Ed. note: these figures)
 are reported by the National
 Municipal League of New)
 (York. as of 1945.l
 13. Why are jobs not distribut- ed as patronage under the manag- CT plan?
 Primarily because it is to the interest of the manager to make appointments on the basis of mer- it. The manager looks upon his job as a profession and hopes for promotion to larger cities. He must therefore qualify as a train ed municipal executive, keep out of factional politics and run the city as efficiently as possible. To do this he has to have men and women on the job who are well qualified. His opportunity for ad- Vancement (larger salary or pro- motion to a larger city) depends entirely upon his record for effi- cient administration in the city where he is working.
 fl. Are civil service regulations abandoned under the manager plan?
 Quite the contrary! Since one of the basic principles of the manager plan is the appointment of muni- cipal employees by merit, admins tration of civil service is usually far more effective than under any other form of government.
 15. If our city adopts the manag- CT plan, what will happen to the present employees of the city?
 The universal practice is to re- tain every employee who is willing to earn his pay. Most employees are delighted at the change since they no longer have to pay part of their salaries to a political par ty or work on election days to keep the administration in office. So long as the employees do their work satisfactorily and keep out of politics, their jobs are safe under the manager plan.
 16. Will not the manager build a political machine out of the employees?
 The answer is none of them has done so. It would make the managers retention a major issue at each election, and cut off all chance of his promotion to bigger job in another city.
 IT. What city officials are elect ed under the manager, plan?
 The est policy is to elect only the members of the city council. ideally by the proportional repre-. sentation form of voting. The coun- cil appoints the manager who in turn appoints all department heads 4. and other administrative em- ployees.
 IS. Suppose the members of the council are politicians; cannot they appoint a manager who will do their bidding?
 Certainly. It is up to the voters to see that representative citizens are elected to the council. If the voters do not like the way the city ia run, they can throw out the council at the next election, since the council is directly responsible to the voters for the government of the city. However, the exper- fence of most manager cities is that high grade eeuneiImen are