La Crosse city council gets another chance to consider city administrator idea

A governmental change turned down by La Crosse voters more than a decade ago is headed to a proposed vote by the 13-member city council.

The judiciary committee of the council has passed a proposed ordinance calling for a city administrator, who would manage everyday business at City Hall, taking some duties away from the elected mayor. The administrator proposal lost by about 2000 votes in a 2012 referendum.

Former city council member Bill Harnden told the committee that 9000 people voted on that referendum, and he thinks the public should have an important voice on the referendum idea. Another past member of the council, Jai Johnson, argues that voters don’t generally know much about how city government operates. She thinks it’s “impossible” for a mayor to do a good job of both managing city business and being the public relations person for the city.

Another speaker, businessman Paul Borsheim, compared the job of mayor to being a general manager of a football team, with an administrator more like the head coach. Backers of the plan say most large cities in Wisconsin have a city administrator or manager already.

So far, city leaders have not voted to have another referendum. The committee opposed a plan to send the manager proposal to the full council without a recommendation one way or the other. The full council meets on October 10th.