This dissertation discusses the roles of city managers and city attorneys within a council-manager form of government, and questions whether city attorneys create a separation of powers system in a council-manager government. It focuses on the historical implementation of the council-manager form of government in Texas, the Constitutional concept of separation of powers in government, the duties and roles of city managers and city attorneys, as well as the ethical obligations of each, and how such obligations may or may not influence their management decisions and overlapping responsibilities within the council-manager form of government. In addition, the researcher explored how de facto separation of powers, if it exists, is resolved within a council-manager form of government between the city manager and city attorney. In order to analyze this topic, the researcher examined seven Texas cities with populations over 100,000 that employ council-manager government. The Texas cities included in this dissertation are as follows: Arlington, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Laredo, Lewisville, Plano, and Tyler. It is the researcher's hypothesis that the appointing authority in each of the above cities may have an effect on the outcome of the study because the city charters of Arlington, Fort Worth, Lewisville, and Plano allow the city council to appoint the city attorney, while the city charters of, Grand Prairie, Laredo, and Tyler permit the city manager to appoint the city attorney.
展开▼
