Beavercreek's city manager should be CEO, not its mayor

Beavercreek residents will have the opportunity to vote on several recommended charter changes this election. One of the changes, Issue 8, would recognize the mayor as the chief executive officer as required by the Ohio Revised Code for purposes of declaring an emergency, but not for appointments or any action other than as required by declared emergencies.

The Ohio Revised Code uses the term chief executive officer and not mayor or city manager because a city may have one of two types of government, strong mayor and weak city manager, or, as Beavercreek has, strong city manager and weak mayor.

Unfortunately, our charter says the city manager is our chief administrative officer, not our chief executive officer. However, if you read the description of our city manager on the city’s Web page, it says he is chief executive officer. Confusing.

My concern with the proposed charter change is, what is an emergency? Who defines it? And if we have a true emergency, who should be CEO? I would want an experienced person acting as CEO, not the mayor who may have been elected just a short time before the declared emergency.

I am voting no on Issue 8, as I want the charter to truly reflect our strong city manager form of government and not slowly change to a weak city manager form.

— Walt Lichtenberg

Beavercreek

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