It's time to put it on the table. Oklahoma City needs to dump its antiquated form of municipal government. The council-manager form is not for cities of our size. Dallas is in the process of debating this very issue. Great cities need great mayors. Government by committee (which is what we have) cannot make the tough decisions that need to be made on a consistent basis. I'm not talking about large projects every decade, but day-to-day action that can move a city forward. Decisions made by a mayor that truly has responsibility and is not just largely a ceremonial figurehead. I have no idea how our current mayor feels about this issue and it doesn't matter. But, if Mayor Cornett finds himself frustrated (and he will) with having no codified authority to do what needs to be done, maybe he will be interested. But regardless, it's exactly what we need: A strong mayor who runs the city.

Today, we have a City Council that decides legislatively by committee. They hire a City Manager to "run" the city. But, the City Manager serves at the pleasure of - you got it - the City Council. It's a circle of everybody having some of the responsibility and therefore NOBODY having the real responsibility. If the roads are falling apart - who are you going to hold accountable? If there's no action on the economic front, who are you going to hold accountable? Under our current system of muni government - there is nobody to "blame" and nobody to "praise." It is, at its essence, government by committee. Sometimes it works (at a snails pace) and most times it simply does not. In fact, it's an exercise in governmental gymnastics!

It's time that we look at this issue seriously. As we move ahead into the 21st century, city leadership by committee, at war with the county to boot, is simply not going to hack it. I fully agree with the conservative groups in Dallas who believe that their form of government (same as ours) has held them back. We're talking DALLAS feeling held back (!). Where does that leave us? In the same boat, and if we're smart we'll do the same thing as Dallas and move ahead with plans for a true big city government: A strong mayor with a nice salary to go with the responsibility and hard decisions, a staff and administration to help him, or her, make it happen. We would have a city council acting as true local legislators instead of a council trying to oversee - and be responsible for what SHOULD BE executive decisions. The whole City Manager thing? Thrown out - history. The mayor and their administration would be in charge. Maybe it ALL should be on the table and we should even rethink the council concept and look at making commissioners responsible for specific departments within our city government. Should we have commissioners directly responsible, at an executive level, for particular departments? "Commissioner of Parks and Leisure" "Police Commissioner" "Streets and Infrastructure" "Economic Development" "At-Large" commissioners that are strictly legislative. Place these people in the role of running departments and therefore, being RESPONSIBLE for their departments. As long as we look at the top job - we might as well look at all of it.

Oklahoma City is growing up and it's time we have a municipal government that can work in the best interest of the city - rather than government by committee, when we get around to it, and nobody being responsible for anything. Right now, there's too many pointing of fingers, just showing up for council meetings learning of serious issues in cram courses so they can get back to their "real jobs." No, Oklahoma City is better than that. We are there, and it's time to think about it.

What do YOU think???