Opinion: City manager is the CEO, not the mayor

Matt Woods

Opinion contributor

City Manager Paula Boggs Muething speaks about string of corruption arrests involving Cincinnati City Council members at City Hall on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in Downtown Cincinnati. The press conference came after federal charges accusing Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld of accepting bribes in exchange for favorable votes earlier that day.

As president of an institution founded for the very premise to fight corruption and establish good governance, reading the op-ed by some of the members of the Build Cincinnati Coalition was very troubling. The Charter Committee was created in the 1920s to help rid Cincinnati of the rampant corruption, good-ole-boy system of graft and cronyism created by Boss Cox. His system, having full control of both the legislative and executive functions of our city, led to corruption that ruined many great endeavors.

Charterites, led by Charlie Taft, Murray Seasongood and many other good governance advocates, led the way on walking back the powers of the boss system. It was the Charter Committee that designed our current city-manager-as-CEO approach to running the city.

More:Opinion: Mayor is not the city's development czar

This "archaic" system, as so lightly described by the Build Cincinnati group, has been a shining example of how to run a city with proper checks and balances for nearly 95 years. The council-city manager system is currently used by more than 50 major metropolitan cities throughout North America. Cities such as San Jose, Austin and Phoenix,, as well as, local cities such as Mason have used a council-manager system with great success, all while experiencing unabated exponential growth.

UNDATED: George B. Cox, a.k.a. Boss Cox, died May 20, 1916. His estate was valued at $1,884,667 in 1938.

Two times in the 1990s the executive mayor system was voted down by voters. With the help of Charter and other good governance groups, a compromise was created to directly elect a legislative mayor. The revisionist interpretation as described by a few members of the Build Cincinnati group exposes the true intention of the initiative, which was an executive mayor system that changes who the CEO of our city really is.

The problem lies in the fact that no powers in the charter amendment were rescinded from the city manager and given to the mayor. The mayor was given legislative abilities to set council’s agenda, establish committees and appoint board members and to have veto power over council. A quasi-executive, legislative mayor opens the door for another "Boss-like" system that leads us down a slippery slope towards corruption.

Mayor John Cranley announces that Cincinnati City Manager Patrick Duhaney is leaving to take the same job in Virginia Beach, Virginia, June 16, 2020.

The strong mayor amendment did not create a new mayor as CEO and city manager as COO construct. The intent of the system was to establish council as the board of the directors of the city and the mayor as the chairman of the board, establishing laws and ordinances to give the administration clear guidance on the will of its citizens. The city manager acting as the CEO then implements the goals and objectives of the board with the intent to remove politics out of the decision making.

While our philosophy may seem old school for some, advocating for a well-balanced, ethical system where good governance rules the day, is exactly what I signed up for. The Charter Committee will remain steadfast in our philosophy that separation of powers creates a system, fair and equitable for all.

Matt Woods is the president of the Charter Committee of Greater Cincinnati and CEO of Woods Hardware.