In 2008, Muskogee citizens made it perfectly clear they are ready for a change by electing a 19-year-0ld mayor. I think it was more a vote against the established candidates than a vote for him, but nonetheless, he was elected. Mayor John Tyler Hammons, almost from the time he was elected, has been wanting a strong mayor government instead of the current system we have now. From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a power grab.
Muskogee’s current form of government, where the day-to-day management of the city is performed by an experienced city manager who is hired by and answers to the city council, is the best for Muskogee. The key word here is experienced. It is much easier to hire an experienced city manager, one who actually knows how to run a city, than to to hire a mayor who probably does not know how to run a city. You can’t really put job qualifications on an elected mayor, but you can on a hired manager.
A council of 9 people help balance any inexperience of a mayor or council member with the experience of others. This is what is happening now. A bad city manager can be fired at any time, whereas a bad strong mayor is there until election time and can bankrupt a city before anyone could stop him.
I urge Muskogee citizens to think about the ramifications before signing any petition or voting to change the form of city government.
Please see more on this from the following Muskogee Phoenix articles:
- Charter Changes
- Mayor proposes to involve citizens more, grow city
- Hammons ready to see changes at city hall
- Mayor to push change in charter
- Why it won’t work
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As nice a thought as it was to get such a young mayor, it seems to be backfiring on us. Every time I watch our City Council meetings I’m unsure whether to laugh or be upset at the fact that Mayor Hammons is almost constantly trying to push his own agenda…
By agenda I mean to further his own career.