ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Could the City of St. Louis benefit from a city administrator to execute the plans of the Mayor?
St. Louis City Alderwoman Daniela Velazquez believes so, which is why she recently proposed Board Bill 162, which would change the city charter to create a Department of City Administration to be directed and overseen by a city administrator.
"This bill is several charter changes in one, but the goal is to establish a city administrator, which is essentially a city manager," said Velazquez on 'The Chris and Amy Show'. "What that person does is that they are tasked to essentially be the COO of the city tasked with the day-to-day running of the city."
Velazquez says her push for the city to have a city administrator began back in the summer as she was looking at different charter changes.
"We got some long term challenges in the city and as we are trying to modernize different ways of doing business, this is one we should consider strongly," said Velazquez. "If you think about it, the city is a $1.2 billion organization. At most $1.2 billion businesses, you have a position of a COO and a operations department and that's what they're tasked with. Why shouldn't we look at the city any other way?"
According to Velazquez, over 59% of cities in the U.S. with more than 100,000 residents have a city manager. Some cities that have a city manager include Kansas City, Missouri, Dallas, and Charlotte.
Velazquez says having a city manager for City of St. Louis would "modernize the government and takes the politics out of the whole process."
"Ideally you have a city manager, an administrator who there's from administration to administration," said Velazquez. "Now they don't have to be, but in many cities, that is what you have."
"You have somebody who's there for multiple terms and their only job is running the city, so elected officials can focus on leadership, setting a vision, bigger scale stuff. A city administrator is tasked with the day-to-day operations piece of the city."