Reading City Council to schedule special meeting on proposed government study commission

May 13—City voters in the upcoming general election may get a chance to decide if a commission should be created to study Reading's form of government.

Council at a recent committee of the whole meeting discussed a proposal to place a referendum on the November ballot, asking city residents whether such a commission should be formed.

State law would require the referendum to include the names of 11 preselected commission members, seven of them appointed by council, Council Solicitor Michael Gombar said.

"The actual people to serve on the commission would have to be identified," he said. "And they would, in essence, be running for those seats."

However, he noted, the constituents would still be voting on whether they want the commission.

If approved by voters, the commission would study the various organizational models for third class cities in Pennsylvania, including the form used under Reading's Home Rule Charter, in which the mayor acts as the chief executive of the city and enforces the ordinances passed by council.

The commission would then make a recommendation based on its findings.

Council could then vote to place a referendum on a subsequent ballot, asking voters to decide if there should be a change in the form of government.

"I don't see a negative to gaining knowledge or having people look into it and then give us recommendations so that we have a better idea of what options exist." Councilman Jaime Baez Jr. said. "Knowledge is power."

Reading made the transition from the commission form of government to the home rule strong mayor/council form of government in January 1996, after home rule was approved by voter referendum in November 1993.

Under the previous form of government, the full-time mayor, as the head of public affairs, oversaw the police department and influenced the operations of the planning commission and the redevelopment authority by making appointments to those boards.

Four full-time councilors headed the departments of accounts and finance; streets and public improvements; public safety, including the fire department; and parks and public property.

One reason for the change in the form of government was to professionalize department heads, Council President Donna Reed said.

"One of the catalysts for the change in the form of government was the idea of professionals leading departments as opposed to elected officials, who may not have had any kind of background in the departments that they were leading at the time," she said. "It was also to make government particularly more professional with less favoritism involved in employment situations."

The change to part-time council members under the current form also gives city residents with full-time jobs an opportunity to run for and serve on council, advocates said in news reports at that time.

"For me, I think it has not been the most effective form of government as I have sat here for years," Reed said. "I know that the folks who put this together as a home rule charter back in the day certainly had good intentions, but I don't think it has performed as we might have hoped."

Reed said there has been a lack of continuity due to the heavy turnover of managing directors under different administrations.

"I believe we have had in excess of 17 managing directors since 1996, which is extraordinary," she said.

The current form of government puts a lot of power in the person elected as mayor, who has the final call when it comes to city administration and management, she said.

Councilman O. Christopher Miller agreed.

The reason for studying the form of government is not due to the president administration, he noted.

"This is about all the administrations that have come before and how each one has affected the city differently," he said. "There hasn't been consistency in the way the city has been run."

The only way to change the form of city government would be to first have constituents vote in favor of forming a government study commission, Gombar said.

Council plans to schedule a special meeting to gather more information and allow the public to comment before deciding on the referendum.

No date has been set.