NEWBERRY — Last week, Newberry City Council called a special meeting to propose the idea to change the form of government from a council-manager to a council form.
In South Carolina, there are three forms of municipal government, council-manager where you have a city manager, a council form where council decides the responsibilities and a mayor-council form where you have a strong mayor. Mayor Foster Senn said they have no interest in doing a “strong mayor” form of government.
Senn went on to explain the history of Newberry’s current form of government and why they want to change to the council form.
Using old copies of The Newberry Observer as a reference, Foster said that the city went to the council-manager system in 1949. He said in this system, the city manager acts as the “chief executive officer” as stated by the S.C. Code of Laws and is “head of the administrative branch of the municipal government”
“Because of the growth of the utility department over the years, the scope, importance and issues that are making it more complicated, council asks would Newberry be better served with two leaders – a separate leader/general manager for utilities and a separate city administrator for the general side,” Senn said.
He went on to say that the council-manager form worked well over the years.
“In our local government, one of the biggest changes that’s developed is the growth and significance of the utility department,” he said.
According to Senn, the utility department has $40 million in annual revenue and 50 staff members, plus contractors. Along with serving residents, small businesses and government, they also serve large industries such as Kraft Heinz, Samsung and Valmont. The department also serves as a secondary supplier to Newberry County and Saluda.
“It has the challenge of infrastructure, including $40 million in bonds owed, new government regulations, upkeep of the city’s broadband fiber system and cybersecurity,” he said.
The city also has ownership in a nuclear reactor.
Senn then cited Orangeburg, they are under a city council and led by a general manager of utilities.
“Separating utilities so it reports directly to city council and has its own general manager, who is the chief administrative officer for utilities,” Senn said.
Senn believes that this will lead to more experienced and specialized leadership. He said that since he has been on council, 17 years, they have had five utility directors and a general manager position is considered more desirable and will result in the person staying longer.
On the general government side, Senn said council would establish a city administrator position to lead the other departments.
“This specialization will enable the city administrator to better concentrate on police, fire, public works, parks, recreation and tourism, building and zoning, general government operations, quality of life issues and infrastructure to make Newberry the best it can be,” Senn said.
If passed, a city administrator would be similar to the city manager. Two aspects city managers and city council usually do that is in council form, according to Senn, would be for council to be included pre-budget to give input and for council to be consulted before hiring of department heads. He also said that council would not tell individual staff or department heads what to do.
The utility general manager would report directly to council.
“All internal mechanisms currently in place, such as the financial and HR departments working with both sides of government, would remain the same,” Senn said.
Senn also addressed potential questions, including that members of council would not receive a raise and that in order to split the two entities, they would need to change their form of government.
“That’s the way it works in South Carolina State Code,” Senn said.
Robert Lake, city attorney, said to change the form of government would require a referendum.
In order to do so, Lake said two procedures could initiate that – one being if 15% of the city’s qualified electors came forward with a certified petition from the election commission; the other, would be if council determined it so.
If council passes an ordinance, calling for a referendum, it would require a special election, held within 90 days. The question on the ballot would read: “Shall the municipality of the City of Newberry, S.C. change its form of government from council-manager form to council form?”
The responses for voters would be a simple, “yes” or “no” option.
“This isn’t something that council will decide,” Lake said. “If the qualified electors by majority vote, say, no, there is no need to change the form of government. That ends the matter.”
If voted to change the form, council is then required to pass an ordinance that will then be provided to the S.C. Secretary of State to notify of the change of government. A final ordinance would then be needed to amend the administrative responsibilities of council, a city administrator and general manager (of utilities).
Marie Hickman, retired finance director for the city, spoke against changing the form government currently in place. Hickman said she was privileged to travel across the state and talked with many individuals with different governments and never found one that was better than council-manager form.
“It encouraged teamwork, which is something that we have always benefited from at the City of Newberry,” she said. “I am also concerned that there is no need to separate into two different structures. I want us to be one city, with one council, all looking at the same end goal.”
Many may be asking, what exactly would this all mean for the City of Newberry. Dennis Lambries, Ph.D, is a political science professor at Newberry College and he wrote his doctorate dissertation on local government in South Carolina. He has also served as chair of Saluda County Council. He has also taught courses on local government to multiple agencies and at other institutions.
He laid out some of what a council form, in South Carolina, looks like to this reporter.
“It consists of a mayor and specified number of council members with equal vote on all issues. Under this form, it retains both legislative and administrative authority over the operations of the city. The greatest extent, council is involved in day-to-day operations divided up amongst the council members to areas of responsibility. Code of law says that they may appoint an administrator, and others, to lead departments and that is not an uncommon practice,” he said.
Lambries explained that by ordinance, the council will create a city administrator or city leader to run operations. Within those ordinances, he said, they specify the nature of the relationship between the employees and council and between the city administrator and the council.
“To the extent of which everyone follows those guidelines, it can work well,” he said.
He further explained that the council can change that ordinance at any time, as long as the change goes through the proper process based on the city’s ordinance.
“There is no best form of government, South Carolina has authorized three forms of government for municipalities and the citizens decide what will work best for day-to-day operation and long-term goals,” Lambries said.