This fascinating map of different styles of government in Connecticut cities and towns was created and contributed by reader Max Sklar. It reinforces the point that the smaller towns are run by town meeting/board of selectmen forms of government, larger towns by council/manager forms, and the largest towns and cities by a strong mayor/council form.
Also check out the cluster of council/manager governments in Greater Hartford. Hartford, until just a few years ago, had a council/manager form of government itself. Is this something peculiar to the region?
Enfield is one of the larger council/manager towns. I wonder if eventually we'll migrate to a strong mayor form of government? I wonder if that would be a terrible idea...
Thanks to Max Sklar for his contribution!
9 comments:
Vernon is Mayor/Council. It is misrepresented on the map. Just FYI
A few other comments about the map:
New Canaan has a board of selectmen and not a Mayor.
Also, the map is dated 1996. I wonder if other things have changed since then.
The 1996 date is for the outline map of the towns, so I think that hasn't changed.
For the coloring, I got most of my data from http://www.town-usa.com/connecticut/
Some towns are hard to classify, so I just picked one. New Caanan, for example, has a first selectman and a council, so I thought that was kind of similar to a mayor-council.
Groton is given as a single unit on the outline map - not much I can do about that.
Middletown is a mayor/council jurisdiction, not a town meeting jurisdiction.
I thought Enfield already has a strong Mayor. Oh wait - my bad - it's actually an aristocracy.
Interesting....
I would have no idea how to do a map, but I'd be curious to see one and the ensuing dialogue on four year terms for Mayor/First Selectman. Are there many? Does it work? Pros vs. Cons?
Max - Thanks for the map!
GC:
I hope we here in Enfield do not migrate to a stong Mayor form of government. Our Council/Manager form of government keeps, for the most part, the day to day functions at a professional level. The Manager has been fair to both parties whether they are in the majority or in the minority. This has been the downfall of the Town Manager when the Democrats take control and keep it for a few terms. But, a Council/Manager form of government is the best way to go for the medium to large communities here in Connecticut.
anonymous 612 - I think there may be a half dozen statewide that have four year terms for Mayor or First Selectman. A couple of others have staggered four year terms for the Selectmen.
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