At our meeting on 5/30, we welcomed Mr. Jim White, the Township Administrator of East Brunswick (Mayor-Council form) and Mr. Christopher Raths, the Town Manager of Roxbury (Council-Manager). Mr. White and Mr. Raths accepted invitations to speak to us about their Faulkner Act forms of government, and about others they have experienced. Both gentlemen are very long term managers in their municipalities (Mr. White-16 years; Mr. Raths-12 years) and they gave us insight into how their municipalities work. Mr. Raths is an enthusiastic proponent of Council-Manager form. One of the takeaways for us from Mr. White was the impression that any form of government can work. The form does not matter as much as having a strong administrator and elected officials who learn to work well together under whatever the form of government. Both believe that a strong administrator can be a big help to part time mayors and city councilors who learn to work with their administrator.
Both gentlemen are very experienced City Managers, excellent speakers and natural teachers with sense of humor thrown in. We were pleased that 6 college students who are members of the Plainfield Youth Organization for Unity joined us at the meeting, and our speakers were equally happy to see young people taking an interest in civics and their government.
All in all it was a wonderful meeting. We cannot thank Mr. White and Mr. Raths enough for making the trek from their towns for an evening meeting. Our other guests, Robert Edwards, Dan Damon, Roni Taylor, former city administrator Larry Bashe, and the members of the Plainfield Youth Organization for Unity made the meeting interesting for their participation as well.
CSC will meet next on Thursday, June 13, 2013 in the City Hall Library at 6:30-this is one hour earlier than usual. We are expecting City Council Members Adrian Mapp and Bridget Rivers, as well as Assemblyman Green as our guests. All meetings are open to the public.
No comments:
Post a Comment