Michael W. Loftin, who was named city manager of League City on Tuesday, struck me as a good choice to lead the staff of Galveston County’s largest city.

Loftin, who served as acting manager since February, has been with the city for two years as the assistant city manager for management services.

I’m interested in your views. Did the city council choose the right guy?

A Daily News editorial argues that the League City council would be wise to take Trees of Houston up on its offer to help raise money to move the Ghirardi oak.

It’s a real plan to save the tree that saves on what the city will need to spend. The sooner the city council gets behind this plan, the more private money will be raised to move the tree.


Photo by Kim Christensen

That’s our view. What do you think? Should the council take up that plan and join in the fundraising? Or should it cut the tree down?

Related Editorial: Take the deal on the tree

The fascinating thing about the council meeting in League City Tuesday night was the lack of fireworks. The discussion was an attempt to define the boundaries that the mayor, council members and city manager should live within under the new charter.

Already, there are strong disagreements about what’s fair for the mayor to ask of the city manager or staff and what’s not. The resignation of two of the city’s top professionals — City Manager Marcus Jahns and Assistant City Manager Rich Oller — is an indication of how strong those disagreements are.

But, though you could hear some emotion in some of the voices that spoke Tuesday night, council members kept the discussion civil and took two preliminary steps — unanimously.

First, they decided to call back the consultant who helped guide the city toward a council-manager form of government. The idea is to ask him to come back and facilitate a discussion of what the proper rules are for all parties. Some people in League City are interested in the legality of the charter amendments that changed the city’s form of government. Calling the consultant back will be an opportunity to review a lot of things — practical matters as well as legal questions.

Second, council members decided to form a committee to come up with a code of conduct for all those public officials. Some council members want some of those rules put into the form of ordinances, so the rules will be law, rather than suggestions. The mayor, Tim Paulissen, will come up with a list of nominations for committee members at the council’s meeting on July 12. The panel will have five members, including two council members.

Here’s a view from the cheap seats: There was a real sense among council members of just how important it is going to be, moving forward, to get this right.

One of the best questions of the night came from Councilman Andy Mann, who asked whether forming a committee could be seen as the council shirking its duty to uphold the charter. He was asking whether the council shouldn’t take on this duty, rather than delegate it.

It was surprising to hear that question asked.

Surprising and maybe a little refreshing.

Can the mayor tell the city’s top administrator to schedule standing weekly meetings involving the mayor, the administrator and other key staff members?

In a city with a strong mayor form of government, such as Texas City, the answer is yes. That’s the way the system works.

In a city with the council-manager form of government, such as League City, the answer is no. The mayor is a member of council, one vote among seven. Collectively, the council can direct the city manager to meet with the mayor, or with another council representative or the entire council.

But one member of the council — even the mayor — cannot order the manager to do anything. The manager works for the council, not any one member of it.

That’s the gist of a situation in League City, where Mayor Tim Paulissen sent a note to City Manager Marcus Jahns, setting up a proposed schedule of meetings.

It’s a good idea for the city’s leaders to stay in touch. But the note calling the meeting betrays a misunderstanding of what this new form of government in League City requires.

This form government relies on the act of a majority of a board, not the act of a single person. The mayor is much like the chairman of a board. His authority comes from the board. It’s not the authority of a chief executive officer.

That role is the city manager’s.

When word about the request or demand for meetings got out, some people saw it as an attempt to erode the power of the city manager. Actually, it’s more of an erosion of the rights of the council itself.

The council-manager form of government works when all members of council jealously guard their own rights and insist that the manager work with the entire board, rather than with any one member.

After voters put an end to red-light cameras in Houston, the coffee-shop talk started in Galveston County: Will voters in League City petition to get rid of them?

The story in Houston was mainly about the money. The city’s red light program was generating about $10 million a year. In League City, a city of about 70,000, the red light cameras generated 39,111 citations since enforcement began in Sept. 30, 2009. League City police rejected 19,368. The red light cameras have generated about $1.3 million.

Critics contend that this deal has been good for Redflex Traffic Systems, the contractor that operates the red-light cameras, but have questioned the benefit for city residents. What are you hearing? Is there a serious move to remove those cameras?

On Saturday, voters in League City will consider changing the city’s form of government. The Daily News has contended that a change to the council-manager form of government would be a good idea. Others say this is a bad move.

What about you? Would you vote for or against amending the charter to provide for a council-manager form of government?

League City residents are going to get a chance to vote May 8 on changing the city’s form of government.

The Daily News has written editorials in favor of the change for several years. One thing I’d like to point out to readers who are just tuning in: This isn’t about the current mayor or about any mayor from the past. It’s about a system, rather than the players in that system.

I’ve been interested in the discussion about the pros and cons of the proposed change. What are you hearing?

The question of the day comes from Phyllis Sanborn, a League City councilwoman. With the city facing a tight supply of water, she wanted to know why the city council was kept in the dark about problems at a pumping station that the city bought in 2000 and tried to refurbish. Those efforts were unsuccessful, despite a $1 million effort at repairs.

Her question: “How in the world could we have bought this nine years ago and it’s not operational?”

There are engineering problems and there are management problems. It seems to me that one became the other several years ago. Anyone else have a different view?

In the middle of the debate over the proposed dog park in League City came one modest proposal from a reader: Why not put the dog park next to the animal shelter, 821 N. Kansas?

The theory is that it would be a way to connect people with an interest in animals with an institution that could use the support of just that sort of folks.