There has been some confusion about the difference between the function of a strong mayor and the role of a city manager. A mayor proposes policies and is the figurehead of our city. A city manager does not make policy; he implements it. One thing that eliminating the city manager does do well is to hamper the ability of the mayor to do his or her job.

A professional city manager typically has a master’s in public administration (or equivalent), years of hands-on training managing hundreds of employees with varying skill sets in a public service environment, and demonstrated abilities in the areas of labor negotiations, public safety issues and construction contracts. The city manager serves the mayor and, as such, can be fired by the mayor.

Having the title of mayor does not mean you are capable of doing everything. Having the title of mayor means you should act as just that, a mayor. If the person running for mayor had all the qualifications of a good city manager, they would do better to find a job being one of those instead; it’d probably be less of a headache.

Political leadership is a full-time job, as is the job of a good city manager. A mayor is charged with the responsibility of representing the people whom he or she serves. As such, it is entirely reasonable to expect the political leader of a city to spend ample time actively engaging the citizens in their neighborhoods, at their businesses, in their homes, at community meetings and events. It is also reasonable to expect that the mayor will spend a good amount of time traveling to meet with other community and regional leaders, sharing ideas on how to improve of our city. It is also expected that the mayor will make trips as necessary to our state and national capitols to represent our community and lobby for us. A city manager does not have time for this; he’s too busy back at the office running day-to-day operations.

The task of the city manager is to free up the mayor so he or she can focus on being a leader and manage high-profile issues. The city manager assists the mayor with many day-to-day office activities, including supervising department heads, preparing budgets for review by the mayor and staff, and the managing of more than 300 employees. These are all activities that would otherwise absorb the time and effort that the mayor should be focusing on community concerns.

The four candidates we have to choose from are intelligent and knowledgeable, and each carries their own strengths to different degrees. However, the issue of whether to have a city manager or not has left one candidate standing alone. The other three have demonstrated the wisdom to recognize the true role of a strong mayor. They recognize that having the title of mayor does not mean you can walk on water.

Matt Weinberger, Federal Way (son of Mayor Linda Kochmar)