Politics and Administration in Local Government

The study of city management is the study of how politics and administration intersect. While it was conventional in council-manager government at one time to view the governing body in terms of policy making and the administrative staff in terms of implementation, that convention does not pass the empirical test. The city manager sits at the nexus of what is politically acceptable and what is administratively feasible. It is his/her job to facilitate the connection. The key word is facilitate. But others are appropriate as well. The manager “convenes,” “builds bridges,” and creates “intersections.” In all of this, the manager must remain politically sensitive but politically non-aligned. One key to traversing this potential mind field is grounding one's actions in fundamental political values that create legitimacy. A case study is provided to illustrate how one manager's actions reflect this work and the grounding.