City manager - who is this? Official duties

According to the law, which came into force on 01.01.2006, the head of the city administration can be not only an elected person, but also a "hired man". Such a manager works on a contract basis.

City Manager is the person appointed to the post of the head of the city administration. The contract is signed for the period established by the charter of the city administration. It is chosen such a leader on the basis of the competition. The contract can be concluded for not less than two years.

Requirements for a candidate

The position of the city manager assumes the existence of rights and duties that are associated with the adoption of decisions of the city level. In order for the future leader to perform his work as efficiently as possible and useful to the territorial subject entrusted to him, he must meet certain requirements.

The most significant:

• The right to be elected and elected;
• Age from 25 years;
• Higher professional education;
  Experience of work from three years on municipal or state positions or on the leading positions of the state or municipal service;
• Positive recommendations from previous work places;
• Knowledge of regional and federal legislation;
• Availability of an opinion from the state expert commission that there is an opportunity to carry out the official duties of the head of the administration on issues of exercising state powers, which are transferred to the self-governing bodies by legislation.

Carrying out of competition

Appointment to the post is preceded by a competition. The City Manager is selected according to the procedure established by the local representative body of the municipal formation.

Duties

A large number of responsibilities are performed by a city manager. The head of the administration controls this process.

Obligations that a contract manager must perform may vary, but most of them are the same for all cities in Russia.

The duties include:

• Publication of resolutions addressed to the city administration on those issues of local importance;
• Issue resolutions that relate to the implementation of certain state powers transferred to local governments;
• Issue of orders addressed to the city administration on the organization of the administrative process of the administration itself;
• Taking measures to ensure and protect the interests of the municipality in court proceedings, state bodies and arbitration court;
• Development of the draft budget, draft programs, and plans for socio-economic development;
• Management and disposition of the city's revenue and expenditure estimates;
• Solution of issues and organization of the city's tax policy;
• Management of urban property issues, municipal education plan, urban management;
• Appointment to posts and removal from office of those employees of the service who are subordinate to him.

Reporting

The City Manager is an employee who has a great responsibility not only to the higher management who has concluded a contract with him, but also to the entire city and its inhabitants.

In this regard, he is obliged to report annually on the results of his activities to the City Duma.

In addition, the legislation clearly regulates the permitted types of training for the manager. So, he has no right to engage in entrepreneurial activity and any kind of business.

Main activities

The new city manager is appointed to the post or the contract is renewed with an employee who satisfied all the requests - not so important. What is important is that in any case, the specialist's activity will be connected with certain moments.

The main activities are:

• Compliance with the regulations and requirements of the city administration;
• Observance of internal regulations, etiquette rules;
• Fulfillment of all norms of record keeping;
• Work on the consideration of complaints, appeals, letters, petitions, proposals, other documents that are received by the administration;
• Processing of documentation from associations, citizens, organizations, enterprises or institutions in electronic or oral and written forms;
• Organization of necessary events that accompany the performance to the award;
• Preparation of presentation projects for the award;
• The preparation of the staffing table, the development of the organizational structure, monitoring compliance with the developed schemes;
• Ensuring control, as well as participation in drafting the work plans of the city administration;
• The coordination of works on the issues of material and technical support of the city;
• Organization of necessary meetings, including with the participation of the city's head;
• Organization of activities of various bodies that are created during the election campaign;
• Assisting commissions in the conduct of elections;
• The chairman of the housing commission, the personnel reserve, the evacuation commission, the supply of goods and the performance of work or provision of services for the administration.

Even such moments as the development of the symbols of the city, the printing and preparation of souvenirs, fall within the scope of the manager's responsibility.

Interaction

The work of the city manager implies interaction with the representative body of the municipal formation, to which he is accountable and before whom he reports.

If a scheme is organized in the city, in which both the mayor and the city manager participate, the first in this situation is the head of the city, the politician who manages the city. The mayor communicates with the Council of Deputies of the city. Its functions are representative.

City manager is the executor. He is responsible for the current situation in housing and communal services, energy, transport. Its tasks include the organization of the relevant work of the municipal economy, budget execution and management of municipal property.

In his work, the manager manages the Constitution of the Russian Federation, charters and laws, the Charter of the city, as well as morality and ethics.

For the disclosure of state secrets, personal information of citizens or other information that is confidential, is liable in accordance with the norm established by law.

Position Advantages

The post of the city manager has a number of advantages.

The most significant pluses are:

• The requirements that are imposed on the applicant provide a certain level of candidates;
• The contract, which is concluded with the employee, is prescribed clearly and without vague powers;
• The selection of a candidate on the basis of a competition does not require financial expenses of the same size as are necessary for the organization of the election process;
• In the case when an employee does not perform his job or does not meet the requirements, he can be dismissed, and the competition for replacement can be re-launched;
• The head of the administration will not have to perform ceremonial duties;
• The manager must be completely apolitical and impartial in decision-making;
• If the inefficiency of the new system is detected, it is always possible to roll back the control system to the previous version, such an event will not require additional costs, and management will pass to the mayor.

Payment

City Manager is not only a great responsibility, but also a worthy reward. If the employee fulfills his duties in accordance with the expected level, and the results of the work are high and have positive dynamics, then the payment is made in several articles, each of which consists of an amount with several zeros.

Payment consists of:

• Salary;
• The allowance, which is relied on every month by municipal workers;
• Increases for long service;
• Monthly premium;
• Extra charges for work with certain information that are state secret;
• Award, relying for the performance of complex and particularly important tasks;
• Material assistance and a one-time payment when taking leave.

disadvantages

Like every decision, the transition to a new management system is accompanied by both laudatory reviews and criticism. If to judge objectively, then the appointment of a city manager for a city can carry certain disadvantages.

Negative points can be:

• The manager does not obey the population;
• The employee is not associated with long-term plans;
• The dependence of the manager on that governor and the city council, which initiated his hiring, is clearly traced;
• There are often conflicts with the heads of administrations.

Experience in Russia

For the first time in the world, the post of manager who manages the city under contract, appeared in 1908 in the American town of Staunton.

In October 2003, an order was issued in the Russian Federation authorizing such a contract management form. By 2009, there were more than 9,000 municipalities, which in practice used such a management system.

At this stage in Russia such an approach is used in such cities: Tyumen, Kurgan, Perm, Tula, Priozersk, Murmansk, Barnaul, Nizhny Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Norilsk, Blagoveshchensk, Orenburg, Orel, Tambov, Tobolsk, Kostroma, Bratsk, Nefteyugansk , Noyabrsk, Ulan-Ude, Elista, Azov, Asbest, Efremov, Serpukhov, Lipetsk, Podolsk, Balashikha, Khimki.