10.6: Critical Thinking Questions

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1. Why is the council-manager structure the most popular way to organize cities? What are the advantages?

There are a couple of advantages to the council-manager form of organizing cities. The council-manager structure takes some of the “politics” out of governing. The city manager is responsible for the day-to-day decision-making, not the elected leaders. The elected leaders rely on the city manager to bring recommendations to them for approval. Another advantage is that city managers are true professionals hired based on their knowledge and expertise rather than being an elected “favorite” with perhaps no experience in city management.

2. Should counties be given the option of home-rule? Explain your answer.

Many people would argue that “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” County government has been around since the constitution of 1876 was written and it functions reasonably well. However, it is not workable for all counties to be organized exactly the same. There are big differences from county to county and home-rule would allow counties to organize and govern based on the needs of the individual counties. It is unreasonable to expect Harris County in the Houston area should organize similar to Brewster County in the sparsely populated Big Bend area.