ADVOCACY
Form of Government Challenges on the Rise ICMA continues to conduct research and provide guidance to communities across the globe in support of the council-manager system BY JASON GRANT ICMA is currently engaged with several cities
across the country that are looking into ways in which they can improve the quality of life of their residents through transformational changes to their form of government. The Northeastern Region has been particularly active this year with ICMA providing expert testimony to cities like East Hartford, Connecticut; Ithaca, New York; and Buffalo, New York, which all operate under a mayor-
JASON GRANT is director of advocacy for ICMA (jgrant@icma.org).
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council system. In the Southeast, Burnsville, North Carolina, recently adopted the council-manager form of government to replace the mayor-council form. We are also in dialogue with the county of Maui, Hawaii, which currently operates under a mayor-council system without a professional administrator.. From Portland, Maine, which is considering the possibility of changing from council-manager to mayor-council, to Portland, Oregon, which is looking to transition from
