City Manager

In a nod to Taneytown's working population, Mayor Henry Heine has introduced a by-appointment, after-hours service for people who can't come to City Hall between 8 a.m. and 4: 30 p.m."It's not just for commuters," Heine said.He said some people who work in town may be unable to get away for the length of time they need to conduct city business, such as applying for a building permit or poring over the city's zoning map.The service is a cross between the old days, when Taneytown's City Hall was routinely open until 7: 30 p.m. and the future, when residents will have the convenience of e-mailing a building permit request and calling up the city code on the Internet.

The Annapolis city council approved last night Mayor Dean L. Johnson's nomination of his interim city administrator to fill the $76,800 job permanently.Johnson picked Sanford W. Daily, who was Gaithersburg city manager from 1968 to 1995, for the position after the council vetoed the mayor's proposal last month to increase the city administrator's salary by $20,000.Daily has been Annapolis' interim manager since February.The Annapolis city code stipulates that the most a city administrator can be paid is $76,860.

Annapolis Mayor Dean L. Johnson has hired a retired Gaithersburg city manager to fill in as city administrator so that he can invest more time in planning his budget for the next fiscal year while the search continues for a new second-in-command.Sanford W. Daily, 58, who managed Gaithersburg from 1968 to 1995, will start Tuesday and will coordinate the search for a city administrator in addition to taking over administrative duties that Johnson assumed when Walter N. Chitwood III resigned from that position in September.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Politics, the saying goes, makes strange bedfellows. But it also takes strange turns. Twenty years ago, Jerry Brown was governor of California and his chief of staff was an obscure fellow named Gray Davis. Today, Mr. Davis is governor in Sacramento and Mr. Brown is mayor of Oakland, the economically depressed "other" city across San Francisco Bay.But Mr. Brown, six months into the job, argues that in some ways he's got the better of it. "I don't see that much difference between governor and mayor," he said.

In a nod to Taneytown's working population, Mayor Henry Heine has introduced a by-appointment, after-hours service for people who can't come to City Hall between 8 a.m. and 4: 30 p.m."It's not just for commuters," Heine said.He said some people who work in town may be unable to get away for the length of time they need to conduct city business, such as applying for a building permit or poring over the city's zoning map.The service is a cross between the old days, when Taneytown's City Hall was routinely open until 7: 30 p.m. and the future, when residents will have the convenience of e-mailing a building permit request and calling up the city code on the Internet.

GROWING concern and frustration among Baltimore's state legislators are leading them into matters that are best handled by city officials. The latest example is a well-intentioned but badly executed effort to give the city a strong, professional manager.The notion of creating a city manager is sound. In fact, it is overdue in Baltimore, which has lacked the kind of top administrator that counties hire to run the daily operation of government. But any move to create a manager should be proposed by the mayor and City Council, not imposed forcibly on the city by the General Assembly and state voters in the form of a state constitutional amendment.

Ted A. Gaebler, co-author of the book "Reinventing Government," which has influenced politicians from President Clinton on down, is a finalist for the job that would essentially make him mayor of Columbia.Gaebler, 57, of San Rafael, Calif., is one of four candidates for the $120,000 position as president of the Columbia Association (CA), which oversees a $44 million budget and 800 employees.If he gets the job, Gaebler would return to the planned community where he began his career in urban governance almost three decades ago.In 1992, Gaebler and David Osborne of Essex, Mass.

Fisher death reminds why child protection must move 0) forwardLast year, 9-year-old Rita Fisher died after weeks of abuse and neglect. Authorities knew about the abuse. Workers testified that they followed procedures.Several months later, Shamir Hudson died in another highly publicized case. These deaths were a painful reminder that in Maryland we still are unable to protect our most vulnerable citizens.This year, the General Assembly passed important legislation aimed at reforming our child protective services system.

A long-running campaign to place the day-to-day business of Annapolis in the hands of a professional city manager is over.Members of the Annapolis Citizens Committee for a City Manager announced the end yesterday of their efforts to place the city manager issue on the ballot, but vowed to keep a close eye on how well officials run their city.The group is dropping its cause after the city council passed charter amendments aimed at reforming city government, including one measure that created the position of a city administrator to oversee daily operations.

MIAMI -- Voters overwhelmingly supported a ballot measure yesterday preserving the city as a distinct legal entity and rejecting arguments that it was too poor and mismanaged to thrive alone and should be merged with surrounding Dade County.With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, the vote was 26,095, or 85.1 percent, in favor of retaining the city, and 4,570, or 14.9 percent, voting to abolish it.Those who favored abolishing the city noted a series of municipal corruption scandals and fiscal troubles.

Annapolitans head to the polls Tuesday to elect a new mayor. This year's race has had its ups and downs, with one primary candidate accused of sexual misconduct and another dropping out after revelations of debts and other personal financial problems came to light. The Baltimore Sun profiled each candidate before the primary. Here are summaries of those profiles for the three remaining candidates. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Josh Cohen Democrat Josh Cohen is an Annapolis native who studied music at the University of Maryland before switching majors and graduating with a degree in economics.

Annapolis voters have grown increasingly dissatisfied with a city leadership that has experienced notable failures of civic management and seen a ballooning of spending while developing a reputation for divisiveness. On Tuesday, they have an opportunity to turn the page by electing a new mayor. They have three good choices - Democrat Joshua J. Cohen, Republican David H. Cordle Sr. and independent Chris Fox. Josh Cohen Pros: Young and ambitious, Mr. Cohen has served five years as an Annapolis alderman and three as a county councilman.

Annapolis is getting ready for change, at least at City Hall. Six candidates face off today in the Democratic primary for Annapolis mayor, a race widely viewed as a referendum on Mayor Ellen O. Moyer, who is leaving office because of term limits. The leading candidates have emphasized the need for reform. The City Council has been debating the creation of a professional city manager position to preside over daily government operations. Moyer's critics have said her management style has pointed to the need for such a position.

Chris Fox landed his first job before he turned 7. He took up a paper route, mowed lawns, shoveled snow and then served hot dogs on a street corner in Washington from the age of 12 to 19. In all those years, the 35-year-old Annapolis resident said he never wanted to get into politics. That was before he left his stand, bounced around the hospitality industry and opened an Irish pub on Church Circle in 2002. Since then, repeatedly trekking up to city hall to fight business policies made him grow tired of the current administration.

Annapolis' Democratic mayoral candidates discussed the city's key issues at a heavily attended forum held by the District 30 Democratic Club on Wednesday night. The six candidates took turns answering questions on the economy, business development, the city manager proposal and the city council's comprehensive plan. They also stressed other concerns, such as public housing and the environment. "It's important to bring them all together so you can compare and contrast," said club president Sarah Flynn, who moderated the event.

Philip Nelson can't wait to start his new job as Columbia Association president. "I think it's a great opportunity. I think it's a great place," he said. Nelson, 59, plans to resign tomorrow as city manager in Troy, Mich., and should be in Columbia full time by the end of April. His wife, Virginia, will stay in Michigan to sell their home. His term officially starts May 1, when he will replace Maggie J. Brown. The length of term and salary have not been finalized, said Tom O'Connor, chairman of the Columbia Association's board of directors.

After months of debate over whether Annapolis should change its form of government by hiring a city manager to take over some of the mayor's duties, the Annapolis city council voted down Monday two versions of a "city manager" amendment that many Annapolitans argued would allow the city to be more professionally run. One version of the amendment - sponsored by Aldermen Ross H. Arnett III, Richard E. Israel, Samuel Shropshire and Julie Stankivic -...

The longtime debate over whether Annapolis should hire a city manager continued last week after the city council held a public hearing on a topic that has drawn criticism and support from myriad Annapolitans. Two versions of the city manager amendment have been proposed: One would give the city manager many of the mayor's current roles, such as hiring and firing directors; the other would keep the mayor's role largely the same but charge the city manager with day-to-day operations. The first amendment - sponsored by Aldermen Ross Arnett, Richard Israel, Sam Shropshire and Julie Stankivic - would remove many of the mayor's executive powers and has drawn criticism by some as being too drastic a change to the city government.

Voters in Annapolis might have a chance to determine whether the city government should increase the powers of its city administrator or employ a city manager to oversee its inner workings. Political activists and some city council members are saying that voters should have the final say about what could amount to a major change to the city's governance structure. At Monday night's city council meeting, Tony Evans, a political activist and the treasurer of the city's Democratic Central Committee, said he is considering petitioning for a referendum on the issue.

Here in the state capital, where politics is a spectator sport, a group of neighborhood activists and city aldermen - not to mention loads of residents who've turned out for community forums - is pushing for an overhaul at City Hall. Two city council members say they've been working hard to merge a pair of charter changes that would rein in day-to-day power that has become concentrated in the mayor's office. Another lawmaker thinks maybe appointing a blue-ribbon panel would help sort out whether a city manager or a strengthened city administrator would be more effective.