Government Affairs
2008 Election Candidates and Candidate Survey Responses back to main Candidate page
Candidate Survey Responses – On The Issues – Each Question, All Candidates
21. How do you feel about the size of Flagstaff’s government? Do we need more employees/departments? Less employees/departments? Just right? What do you feel we need to add/subtract?
Mayor Joseph Donaldson
The City Charter clearly defines the authority of the Mayor and Council. The Mayor and Council are the policy makers are directed to hire a city attorney and a city manager to take care of everything else. It is clear in the City Charter the community wants the Mayor and Council to hold both the City Attorney and the City Manager accountable. The ONLY way that can be done effectively is that the Mayor and Council adhere to the City Charter which is a legally binding document. It is up to the City Manager and the City Attorney to organize there areas to provide superior customer services that are cost effective and efficient.
It is up to the City Manager and the City Attorney to express their budget needs and for the Mayor and Council to approve expenditures which includes the addition of staff or the reductions of staff. Whether we need more or less people is not my initial call. It is my call to approve the expenditure of the budget to provide a certain level of service the community might desire.
Sara Presler-Hoefle
Transparency is essential. We should internally assess whether we are operating at our most efficient capacity as a City. I am not interested in cutting staff. I am interested in seeing the City function in a healthy and efficient manner. Fair leadership is important, and clear direction to staff is a priority. It is the role of the Council to set good, community policy. It is the role of staff to implement that policy. I would not advocate for hiring additional staff persons.
Karla Brewster
Not being an employee or “on the inside” this question is hard to evaluate. As of now, I would say the number of employees and departments seems to be just right. As any city grows and progresses, departments can transform or shift their emphasis; employees, can be moved to best fit the needs of the departments and skills of the employee. Possibly, even departments could be eliminated and others added due to the needs of the city.
Coral Evans
The city should operate in a contentiousness manner (as should any business) and manage their personnel and resources effectively.
Morgan Hagaman
Every department in the City needs to be looked at and see if it is running as efficiently as it can be. I believe that some departments could probably use some more help. I think that some are overstaffed. The City does not need departments that have 3 people watching 1 person work. The most important thing is that the city is running as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
John McCulloch
My understanding is that most municipal governments have 11 employees /per thousand citizens. Flagstaff operates at about 14 employees /per thousand so we seem higher than average.
Micole Shorty
Right now there are roughly a thousand city employees, I would like to keep this number unchanged except for the Public Works dept. Right now there are approximately one person servicing 60 of our citizens compared to Glendale Arizona “they have over a thousand citizens to every one employee.”
Al White
I think it has grown to meet the demands placed on it by a mature city. Financial limitations have kept it in check, we never have the means to fill the staff requests in all departments that have identified shortcomings. We have to start thinking of City government as a fellow corporation, driving the economy by re-investing revenues in city projects- then it’s growth as appropriate as any enterprises. |
