Dover City Council voted Monday to offer a plan that would alter how the state capital is governed.
Under the plan introduced by Councilmember Bill Hare and approved 5-2 by the council, all of the city’s operations except for finance and the clerk’s office would be placed under the control of the city manager. The manager would, in turn, report to the mayor.
That structure is different than how the city is currently operated. Currently the mayor and city manager each control roughly have of the city’s departments each, with the manager ultimately answering to the City Council.
Hare says the change would put Dover in line with Wilmington and other cities where the mayor acts as a chief executive.
“If we’re going to be a council-manager form of government, the city manager is responsible for the whole city and he reports either the council or the mayor,” he says. “Let’s put it this way: I don’t know of any other city that has it like we have it.”
Hare adds the current system just doesn’t make sense.
“It’s like in any business: you don’t have two CEOs and keep half the company reporting to one and half reporting to another,” he says.
While the council approved the measure to change the city’s governing structure, Dover’s charter must first be tweaked and the plan put before the General Assembly.
Dover voters head to the polls to select a mayor next month.