NEWBURGH – Well over a dozen Newburgh residents spoke out Monday night against a proposed charter change that would give the city council the ability to confirm or reject the city manager’s department head appointments. Right now, as the administrator, the manager needs no approvals when he names people to top positions.
Residents said to grant the city council confirmation power would foster
an atmosphere of patronage and would usurp the manager’s authority.
A handful of people supported the proposal, including attorney Jonathan
Jacobson, who suggested it, noting that people from the president down
to the county executive must have their appointments confirmed.
Mayor Judy Kennedy said such a charter change would not work. The council sets policy and the manager carries it out, she said.
“He should be laying out the goals and helping the department heads implement the vision of this council,” Kennedy said. “Our job is to set forth a clear vision. Sometimes we struggle with that because we don’t all have the same vision, but I think you hear something very strong and that is we need economic development, we need to make this city safe, we need to get this city cleaned up and in that process we create jobs and quality of life for its citizens.”
The mayor did say city council members do encounter a communication breakdown
with City Manager Michael Ciaravino, who is known for often not returning
phone calls.
A polling of city council members seems to indicate for the most part, they too, are not convinced the charter change would resolve anything.
