Rare is the chief executive who wants to reduce some of the power of his or her office, but Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly suggested just that during an address to the Chattanooga Rotary Club last week.
His idea – really just a conversation starter – would be for the Chattanooga City Council to hire a city manager, by whom city department heads ostensibly would be hired and to whom they would report. Currently, they report to the mayor.
Kelly said the turnover of mayors can be a “perilous” time for the city, depending on whom is elected.
“The fact of the matter is: We need continuity,” he told Rotarians. “Not having a city manager, when things turn over, everything turns over.”
In truth, that’s only been the case with the last two mayors under the current strong mayor-council form of government that began in 1990.