Fresno is one of just five California cities with a strong mayor. But why? And no, we're not talking about Jerry Dyer’s weightlifting routine. Instead, we're talking about the city’s unusual form of government. But it wasn’t always this way. We explore how and why this change happened, today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots.
In most California cities, the city manager is basically the CEO of the city, and is hired and fired by the city council. The mayor is usually a member of the council, though it varies from community to community. It’s called the council-manager form of government. And it’s what Fresno had until the 1990s.
Back then the city was growing fast and so were the city’s problems. Many leaders had concerns about the effectiveness of the council/manager form of government, and the lack of accountability in a top elected official.
The city put together a so-called “Little Hoover Commission” to study the issue, and the group recommended adopting a strong mayor form of government, which today is shared by some of the state’s largest cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Oakland.
City leaders put the issue before voters and asked them amend the city’s charter. If approved, the proposal would make the mayor the chief executive, and they would be responsible for hiring and firing the city manager. The mayor would no longer be a part of the council and could veto legislation.
The proposal went before voters in April 1993 and passed. The change took effect in 1997 and has been the law ever since, with Jim Patterson becoming Fresno’s first strong mayor. Since then, other California cities have attempted to adopt the strong mayor form of government like Sacramento, but those efforts have thus far failed.
