The Carbondale Observer

The Southern Illinoisan had an article Tuesday on George Maroney’s official announcement for mayor. From the article:

The first-time political candidate said he would work to improve the city’s business climate, lead the discussion on consolidating elementary school districts to save money and attract young families, and more closely follow Carbondale’s city manager form of government.

I’m guessing the talk about consolidating school districts refers to District 95 (elementary) and District 165 (high school). Or maybe he’s talking about consolidating the various elementary school buildings into one. I assume he’s not talking about consolidating with the Unity Point and Giant City districts.  Consolidating 95 and 165 would be a great idea, but I wouldn’t want to see the elementary school buildings consolidated.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t like the talk of a restoration of the council-manager form of government.  An active mayor is an important source of political leadership. The functions of a mayor and city manager are different, and both are important.

But I’m not sure Maroney intends to be a weak mayor:

Maroney said he believes Carbondale’s city government has strayed from its original design and he would act as a CEO, delegating authority to its proper recipients.

Castle Perilous owner and blogger Scott Thorne had a post on the Carbondaze Gazette commenting about this:

Delegating authority to proper recipients is much easier when you are the ultimate authority, as Maroney was during his tenure at Memorial Hospital. The mayor, first, has to respond to a number of different publics and, second, has to convince the rest of the city council to agree with any initiatives he wishes to implement.

Exactly.  I would add that under the council manager system, the mayor is not the CEO. Title 1, Chapter 2, Article A of the city code (navigation on the left) addresses this. The mayor is head of the city for legal purposes in relationship to the Governor and presides over city council meetings.  Title 1, Chapter 3, Article A assigns most executive functions to the city manager.

As Brad Cole has shown, there is room in the council-manager form of government for an active mayor providing political leadership. If people don’t like the direction in which Cole led the city, they should elect someone who will lead in a different direction. We shouldn’t just decide that leadership itself is the problem. I hope voters will make this an issue in the 2011 election.

I’m wondering if a clear Cole successor candidate will emerge.  I also wonder if Cole will endorse anyone.

Comments are welcome.

Elections for Carbondale mayor and city council are coming up in April 2011 and several candidates have already announced they’re running.  Joel Fritzler, George Maroney, Sam Goldman, and Brent Ritzel have all announced their candidacies for mayor.  As far as I know, there have been no formal announcements for city council, but a few people are rumored to be running.

Frizler should be considered a real contender.  He has been on city council since 2005 and was the top vote getter in the 2009 elections.  In recent years, he has been sharply critical of current mayor Brad Cole, who is not running for reelection.

George Maroney’s chances are tough to gauge.  He was CEO of Southern Illinois Healthcare, which is one of the region’s largest employers.  SIH grew during his tenure so it seems reasonable to assume he’s capable of executive leadership.  Judging by some of his letters to the editor, he is pretty conservative, so he may inherit some of Cole’s voters.  On the other hand, he’s never run for office so there is no way to judge his potential political base or campaign skills.

Sam Goldman has served on the SIU Board of Trustees and as Chancellor.  During Goldman’s tenure as chancellor, enrollment continued to decline at SIU.  Goldman is popular in the community and could be competitive.  He is retired, so he would have plenty of time to devote to serving as mayor.

Ritzel seems to be the outlier in this group.  He is head of the effort to rehabilitate the Buckminster Fuller Dome Home on Cherry St., and is business manager for the Holistic Wellness Institute.  About a year ago he was promoting a clean energy manufacturing project in Herrin.  I don’t know quite how to judge Ritzel’s prospects, so I’m going to save that for a future post.

Some other names have been mentioned including former Building and Services Manager Tom Grant, Councilman Steven Haynes, and former Community Relations Officer Marilyn James.  We’ll see if any of them officially announce candidacies.

***CORRECTED: I received an email alerting me that I had misspelled Brent Ritzel’s name in an earlier version of this article.  The spelling has been corrected.  I apologize for the error.***