I encourage my fellow island voters to shift their focus away from the troubling national financial news stories and to ponder, for a moment, the issues we have on our beautiful island.

While each of us has been impacted by the tsunami of global matters beyond our control, we nevertheless have been given a fine opportunity to do something positive by voting for a change in our local form of government.

The mail-in-ballot election will conclude May 19, and all you have to do is vote, stamp the return envelope and pop it into the mailbox.

I propose that we select a new form of government, the city council-manager form. As our city transitions from being a small town with an insignificant budget to a town of over 24,000 with a budget in the millions, the quaint way we used to do business has become less and less effective.

It is no longer healthy for any one single person to be invested with a significant amount of personal political power, as is the case with a mayor. A more healthy and equitable approach is to have a city council with seven to nine members – all whom were elected by their constituents – be the body in charge of making the major decisions for a city.

Those hard-fought decisions would then be carried out by city personnel under the guidance of a professional city manager who is hired by the council. Unlike many a mayor, a city manager is trained to understand and deal with the increasing complexities of government. Under optimal circumstances the manager could serve over a number of years, thus providing a much-needed stability to a city hall that has more often seen a revolving door of faces at the helm. The council-manager form has also been shown to be cost-effective, particularly for cities of our size.

From my perspective, a council-manager government diminishes the potential for power struggles resulting from the ego and personality foibles of a mayor. Since council members already run for office knowing that they will be working with a team of other civic-minded people, the removal of the mayor position greatly diminishes the potential for conflict.

In addition, any potential lobbyist or interest group would, of necessity, have to approach a whole group of council members to plead their case, rather than to pressure just a single individual mayor. Since the city manager will be hired by the council, under which she will be employed, it will be in her best interest to be truthful and forthcoming in all communication, thus eliminating the opportunity for subterfuge.

This manager will only have to serve a single master, not both a mayor and a council whose agendas may be at odds, as has often been the case of late.

Please join me in casting your ballot by May 19 for a change in our form of city government to a council-manager system.

Dee DuMont

Grow Avenue