Questions to Ask a City Manager
These questions are for anyone with time in front of an appointed city manager, the person who runs the staff day to day, as opposed to the elected mayor: a resident at a public meeting, a public administration student, a reporter or a new council member. The 54 questions follow the order the conversation tends to take: the role and the council, the budget and capital plan, staff, services and infrastructure, growth and how a resident gets an issue handled, then the career for anyone who wants the job. Every question comes with a note on what to listen for in the answer, and because charters and laws differ from place to place, many of the notes tell you to check how it is done where you live.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The role
What does a city manager do, and how is your job different from the mayor's?
Why ask it
The opener for a class visit, or for a resident who has never been sure who runs city hall. In a council-manager city the elected council usually sets policy and the appointed manager runs the staff, but charters differ, so ask where the line sits here. A clear answer names one decision that is the manager's and one that is not.
Who appoints the city manager here, and who can end the appointment?
Why ask it
In many cities it is the council, by a majority vote and under a contract, though the charter decides, so ask what it says here. The number of votes it takes explains a good deal of what follows: the manager works for the council as a body and for no single member of it. The contract is often a public document, and it is reasonable to ask where to read it.
What is the hardest problem the city is dealing with right now, and what is being done about it?
Why ask it
A mayor tends to answer this with a goal. From a manager, hope for something operational: a treatment plant near capacity, a department that cannot hire, a budget gap two years out. Hold on to whatever is named, because it is the thread for your later questions, and be a little skeptical of 'nothing major'.
What does a normal week look like for you, and how much of it goes to the council, the staff and the public?
Why ask it
Students get the most from this one, because the honest answer tends to hold more meetings and less desk work than people picture. Listen for whether residents appear in the week at all, and in what form: complaints passed along by someone else, or conversations the manager went looking for.
What can you approve on your own, and what has to go to the council for a vote?
Why ask it
Ask for the dollar figure: cities commonly set a contract amount above which the council must vote, and it differs widely from one to the next. Whatever sits below the limit is decided without a public vote, so the number is a rough measure of how much city business happens out of view. Reporters should check when it was last raised and who proposed the change.
What did the council ask you to get done this year, and how far along is it?
Why ask it
Councils often adopt a short list of goals or a strategic plan, and delivering it falls to the manager. The answer to trust names the items and admits which are behind schedule. With no written list, priorities tend to be whatever the last meeting was about.
What has changed in how the city runs since you took the job?
Why ask it
This is the manager's version of 'what are you proudest of', and it pulls toward things you can check: a permit process shortened, a backlog cleared, a department rebuilt. For someone newly arrived, turn it around and ask what they found that they did not expect. Both versions show what the manager counts as their own work as opposed to the council's.
How do you take direction when council members disagree with one another?
Why ask it
The answer to hope for is that direction comes from a vote of the whole council, not from whichever member called last. A manager who describes reading the room in private conversations may be keeping the peace, but the public cannot see that process. For a concrete case, pick a recent split vote and ask what staff did the next morning.
What happens when a single council member asks a department for something directly?
Why ask it
Some charters forbid members from giving orders to staff and others leave it to custom, so ask which applies here. A workable answer describes a routine: simple requests for information are answered and shared with every member, and anything that takes real staff time goes to the full council. A newly elected member should ask this in the first month.
When you think the council is about to make a poor decision, how do you tell them?
Why ask it
A professional answer has two halves: the recommendation is given openly, usually in a written staff report, and then the vote is carried out whichever way it went. Be wary of either extreme, a manager who never disagrees or one who talks about working around the council. Staff reports whose recommendation the council rejected stay in the meeting record, so the answer can be checked.
When something goes wrong, who speaks for the city: you, the mayor or a department head?
Why ask it
Depending on the charter, the mayor may be one vote on the council with a gavel or an executive with real powers, and the public face of the city tends to follow from that. A settled answer covers who briefs reporters, who signs agreements and whose call the department heads take in a crisis. If the manager and the mayor would describe the split differently, residents end up unsure whom to believe.
What do you need from council members to do your job well?
Why ask it
Written for a newly elected member, and better asked one to one than from the dais. Typical replies are direction given by the council as a body, no surprises at the meeting, and questions sent before the vote instead of during it. Read the list as a history of what has gone wrong before.
How does the council review your performance, and is any of it public?
Why ask it
Look for a regular review against goals that were set in advance. Whether it happens in open or closed session depends on local open-meetings rules, so ask what residents can see. Several years without one is a sign that the hard conversations are happening informally or not at all.
Budget
How is the budget put together, from the first department request to the final vote?
Why ask it
In a council-manager city the manager typically proposes and the council adopts, but ask for this city's calendar with dates. The useful part is when a resident's comment can still change something, which tends to be well before the hearing where the vote is taken. Write the dates down and go to the early one.
Where does most of the general fund go, and how much of it pays for people?
Why ask it
The rough shares ought to come without notes. Wages and benefits tend to be the largest piece of a service organization, which is why a new program and new hiring are really one conversation. Which department's share has grown most over the past few budgets is the natural second question.
Which source of revenue worries you most over the next five years?
Why ask it
It might be sales tax, property tax, fees or money passed down from another level of government, and what a city may collect is set by law that differs from place to place. A prepared answer picks one and explains what would make it fall. If the city keeps a multi-year forecast, find out whether it is printed in the budget document, where a resident can read it.
How much does the city keep in reserve, and what are the rules for spending it?
Why ask it
The good version is a written policy with a target and a short list of reasons the reserve can be touched. Dipping into it to balance an ordinary year is the thing to listen for. A dollar figure means little by itself, so have it translated into weeks or months of operations.
How much debt is the city carrying, and what was it borrowed for?
Why ask it
The purpose is the half to press on. Borrowing for something that will be in use for decades, such as a water plant or a fire station, is a different thing from borrowing to cover a year's running costs. What a city may borrow, and whether voters must approve it, depends on local law, and where the city carries pension or other long-term promises to employees, those belong in the same answer.
When you have to recommend cuts, how do you decide what goes on the list?
Why ask it
Trimming every department by the same percentage is the easy answer, and it spreads the pain without choosing. A method sounds like this: what the law requires the city to provide, what residents use most, what could be delivered differently. The items the council took off the last list show where staff advice and politics parted ways.
What is in the capital plan for the next five years, and which projects on it have no funding?
Why ask it
Cities generally keep a multi-year list of the buildings, roads, pipes and equipment they intend to pay for, under one name or another. The funded part is the plan, and the unfunded part shows the size of the backlog. Find out where it is posted and when the council next votes on it, since that vote is the moment to speak up for a project.
When several overdue projects compete, what decides which one is built first?
Why ask it
Written criteria, such as safety, condition, a legal requirement or a grant that needs a match, are the reassuring answer. If the order seems to follow which neighborhood complained loudest or which council member pushed hardest, residents in quieter areas should take note. The scoring for one project you care about is a fair thing to request.
What did the most recent audit find, and what has been done about it?
Why ask it
In many places a city's books are audited from outside every year and the report is public, so check that this is the case here. A confident answer names a finding and the fix without being pressed. A late audit, or one the manager has trouble describing, is a reason for a reporter or a council member to read the auditor's letter in full.
Staff
Which departments report to you, and which officials answer to the council or the voters instead?
Why ask it
The clerk, the attorney, an auditor or a police chief may be appointed by the council or elected, depending on the charter. The answer draws the real organization chart, which is often different from the one residents assume. It also tells you which complaints the manager can fix and which need another door.
What do you look for when you hire a department head?
Why ask it
This may be the manager's most lasting decision, since a director can stay long after the manager who chose them has gone. Good answers describe how the search was run and what the last hire was asked to change. A run of directors all promoted from inside, or all brought in from elsewhere, deserves a second question about who else was considered.
How many positions are vacant right now, and which are hardest to fill?
Why ask it
Vacancies show up as slower permits, longer waits on the phone and overtime in public safety. Knowing the count by department is a sign that someone is watching it. The cause matters more than the count: low pay, the cost of housing nearby and a hiring process that drags each need a different fix.
How do you find out a department is struggling before residents tell you?
Why ask it
Regular reports, measures reviewed with each director and time spent in the field are all sound answers. If the only early warning is the complaint line or a council member's phone, problems are being found late. One follow-up that works: ask for the last time a number changed a decision.
How are pay and working conditions set for city employees, and what is your part in it?
Why ask it
Some workforces bargain through unions and some do not, and the rules come from state or national law, so ask how it works here. Commonly the manager's side negotiates and the council approves the result. For anyone weighing a city job, the follow-up is when the current agreements or pay plans come up for renewal.
How can an employee raise a concern about how the city is run without risking their job?
Why ask it
The route to listen for is one that does not pass through the employee's own boss: human resources, an ethics officer, an auditor or a hotline. Tone matters as much as the list, since this is partly a question about whether bad news travels upward. Protections for employees who report wrongdoing differ by place, so do not treat the answer as advice on any one case.
How do you keep hiring and contracts free of political favors?
Why ask it
Procedure is what counts here: posted openings, competitive bids, written scoring and council members kept off selection panels. 'We hire good people' is a sentiment, not a safeguard. The purchasing policy and the list of contracts awarded without bids are the two documents a reporter should request afterwards.
Services
Which services does the city provide itself, and which come from the county, a special district or a contractor?
Why ask it
Ask this early, because it decides whether the rest of your questions are in the right room. Water, transit, schools, ambulances and trash may each belong to a different body, and the map is different in every place. For anything contracted out, ask who at city hall checks the contractor's work.
Which service draws the most complaints, and what do the complaints say?
Why ask it
An answer from data means requests are being counted; an answer from memory means the loudest callers are. The second half matters more than the first, since 'slow', 'rude' and 'never came' call for different repairs. Leave it out if you have one turn and your own issue is something else.
Which services do you measure, and where are the results published?
Why ask it
Response times, days to issue a permit, missed trash pickups and water main breaks are the kind of figures to hope for. Publication is the test: numbers kept inside city hall can be quoted when they look good and forgotten when they do not. Where a public dashboard or annual report exists, how its targets were chosen is the next thing to learn.
Does the city rate the condition of its streets, and is the paving list public?
Why ask it
Many cities score each stretch of street and schedule repairs from the scores, which takes some of the politics out of paving. If such a rating exists, ask for your own street's score and the year it is due. If it does not, ask how the list is made and by whom.
How old are the water and sewer lines, and how fast are they being replaced?
Why ask it
This only applies if the city owns the utility, so settle that first. The telling comparison is between how long a pipe is expected to last and how many years the current pace would take to replace them all. Anyone who has done that arithmetic will also know what it means for rates.
How do you oversee the police and fire departments, and what do you review regularly?
Why ask it
Check first that both report to the manager: a chief may be chosen by the council, a board or the voters, or the service may come from a county or a district. Where the manager is in charge, oversight sounds like complaint totals, response times, overtime and use-of-force reports read on a schedule. 'I trust my chiefs' describes a relationship, which is not the same thing.
When was the emergency plan last tested, and what did the exercise show?
Why ask it
A plan in a binder is different from one that staff have walked through. Good answers include a date, who took part, and one thing that went wrong and was fixed. Residents can follow up by asking how the city would reach them with the power off and the phone network down.
Which city fees or utility rates are due for review, and how will residents hear about it?
Why ask it
Rates are often set by a council vote after a study of what the service costs, and the notice rules vary, so ask what applies here. The pattern to worry about is a long freeze followed by a large jump. If an increase is on the way, find out whether there is help for households that cannot pay.
Growth and residents
What is the city's long-range plan for growth, and when was it last updated?
Why ask it
It may be called a comprehensive plan, a general plan, a master plan or a local plan, and how binding it is depends on the law where you are. A manager should know its age and its biggest unfinished promise. An old plan that nobody consults means growth is being decided one application at a time.
How does a development proposal move from application to decision, and where can residents weigh in?
Why ask it
Get the steps in order, and which of them are decided by staff, by an appointed board and by the council. The most valuable detail is the earliest point at which comment counts, because objections raised at the final vote often arrive after the design is settled. Who gets a notice, and how far from the site it reaches, is set locally.
Where do permit applications get stuck, and who tracks how long each step takes?
Why ask it
A specific answer, such as plan review, waiting on another agency or incomplete applications, means someone has looked. 'It depends on the project' is true and tells you nothing, so ask for the typical time on something simple like a deck or a sign. A small business owner should ask whether one person can be their contact throughout.
What does staff tell the council before it votes on an incentive for a developer or an employer?
Why ask it
The thing to hope for is a written analysis of what the city gives up, what it expects back, and what happens if the jobs or the building never arrive. Whether a city can offer incentives at all, and in what form, depends on local law. Those analyses belong in the agenda packet, so a reporter can pull the last three and compare promise with result.
If I report a pothole or a broken streetlight, what happens to the report after I send it?
Why ask it
A working system gives you a tracking number, a department that owns the request, a target time and a message when it is closed. Reports that land in a general inbox leave nobody able to say whether they were handled. A good choice for a resident with one turn, because the answer covers every report you will file after this one.
Who should a resident contact first about a problem: a department, your office or a council member?
Why ask it
Expect to hear the department first, then the manager's office if nothing happens, and get the name or number for each step. 'Call me directly' is generous, but it does not stretch to a whole city. Keep the dates and the names of who you spoke to, so that moving up a level is quick.
What can a resident do when a department says no and they believe the answer is wrong?
Why ask it
There may be a formal appeal to a board or a hearing officer, an informal review by the manager's office, or both, sometimes with a deadline that starts on the day of the decision. Ask for the deadline first. This is a question about process only; where money or property is at stake, a resident may want advice from a lawyer.
How do you hear from residents who never come to a council meeting?
Why ask it
Council meetings tend to hear from the same few people, and most managers will say so. Surveys, staff sent to neighborhood events, translated notices and service requests counted by area are real answers; 'my door is always open' is not one. A neighborhood group can follow it with an invitation to visit.
When does a staff recommendation become public, and how long is that before the vote?
Why ask it
The agenda packet is where a decision tends to appear in writing for the first time, and how many days ahead it must be posted depends on the open-meetings rules where you live. Posting earlier than the rules require invites scrutiny, which is a good sign. If the city sends agendas by email, signing up is the simplest way to stop learning about decisions afterwards.
How do I request a public record, and how long does it usually take?
Why ask it
Records laws, fees and deadlines differ from one state or country to the next, so ask who the records officer is and what the rule is here. A city that posts its contracts, budgets and meeting materials without being asked saves everyone the request. A reporter should ask how many requests are overdue today.
Career
How did you become a city manager, and what did you study?
Why ask it
Paths differ: some come up through a budget office or public works, some from planning, the military or business, and a public administration degree is common without being required everywhere. Listen for the job that turned out to matter most, which may not be the one with the biggest title.
Which department should someone work in early on if they want your job one day?
Why ask it
Budget and finance come up often, because every department's problems pass through them, and so do analyst or assistant roles in the manager's own office. The manager's reasoning tells you which skills they lean on daily. Ask which department they knew least about when they started and how they caught up.
Which skills does this job demand that nobody teaches in a classroom?
Why ask it
Expect to hear about counting votes without playing politics, giving bad news in public and managing people who know their field better than you do. Whatever is named, ask how they learned it and from whom. It makes a strong last question in a class interview, since the answer tends to arrive as a story.
What is the hardest part of the job, and what keeps you doing it?
Why ask it
A common reply is taking public blame for a decision the council made, since the manager carries out the vote and often cannot say whether they agreed with it. The second half shows what the work gives back, which a job description leaves out. Anyone who wants the career should notice whether that trade sounds bearable.
How secure is a city manager's job, and how do you plan for an election that changes the council?
Why ask it
A manager typically serves only as long as a majority of the council wants them to, so one election can end a tenure that was going well. Contracts, notice periods and severance vary, and a candidate for any such post should ask what is usual where they are applying. How calmly the manager talks about this says a good deal about how they do the job.
Do you work under a professional code of ethics, and what does it keep you out of?
Why ask it
Many managers belong to a professional association whose code asks members to stay out of council elections and campaigns, among other things, so find out whether this manager is a member and what the code is called. For a student the lesson is that neutrality is a working rule and not a matter of temperament. The best answers include a time the rule was inconvenient.
Does your office take interns or fellows, and what do you look for in an applicant?
Why ask it
The practical question for anyone who wants this career. Ask when applications open, whether the post is paid, and what the last intern worked on. If there is no program, ask whether you could sit in on a budget workshop or shadow a department for a day.
How to get useful answers from a city manager
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you ask
Find out which form of government you have
These questions assume an appointed manager who runs the staff and answers to an elected council. Not every city works that way: in some the mayor is the chief executive and a manager or administrator has a narrower job, and the title itself changes from place to place (town manager, city administrator, county administrator, chief administrative officer, chief executive). The charter or the city's own website will say. If you are unsure, the first two questions under The role settle it in a minute.
Read what is already public
The manager's budget message, the capital plan, the latest audit and last month's agenda packets are usually posted online. Ten minutes with any one of them turns a general question into a pointed one: 'The capital plan shows the fire station unfunded in year three. What would have to happen for that to change?' gets further than 'What about the fire station?'
Pick the right setting
At many council meetings the public comment period is for statements, and nobody replies from the dais. Ask the clerk how it works in yours. A budget workshop, a neighborhood meeting, office hours, a class visit or a written request to the manager's office are usually better places to get an answer. Reporters and students should ask for a scheduled conversation and say how long they need.
Choose by who you are
A resident with one turn should go to Services or Growth and residents and ask about one thing. A student of public administration will get the most from The role and Career. A reporter's material is under Budget and Staff, where the answers can be checked against documents. A new council member should work through The role in a private meeting during the first month, because those answers set how the two of you will work together.
In the conversation
Ask how, not whether
The manager carries out the council's policy and, in most places, will not say in public whether a policy is right. Ask what it costs, how it is being done, what staff recommended and what has been measured since. Whether the city should have done it at all is a question for the people who were elected.
Ask where it is written down
Nearly every answer a manager gives has a document behind it: a policy, a staff report, a contract, a budget page. 'Where could I read that?' is a polite follow-up, and it gives you something to check the answer against later.
Leave with a name and a date
For anything about a service or a specific problem, ask who handles it and when you should expect to hear back. 'Public works will look into it' becomes useful once it has a person and a week attached.
One follow-up at the microphone
A first answer may be the careful public version. One 'can you give a recent example?' usually gets the working version. In a public meeting others are waiting for the microphone, so save the third and fourth follow-ups for an email.
Reading the answers
Caution about the council is not evasion
A manager who declines to criticize a council vote is doing the job as it is designed, not dodging. Judge the answer on what they say about operations: whether they know the numbers, name the problem and describe what staff are doing about it.
Specifics show command
Dates, dollar figures, department names and document titles suggest the manager works with the subject every week. Broad phrases such as 'we are always looking at that' may mean it has not been looked at. Ask when it was last reviewed before deciding which it is.
'I will get back to you' is a fair answer
Nobody carries every figure for every department. What matters is whether the reply arrives. Give your contact details, note the date, and write once if nothing comes. A manager's office that follows through on a small request tends to run the larger things the same way.
Check it against the record
Compare what you heard with the adopted budget, the meeting minutes and the audit. Where they match, you have a reliable picture. Where they do not, you have your next question, and it is a better one than the first.
Mistakes to avoid
Treating the manager as the mayor
Questions about campaign promises, party positions or how someone will vote belong to elected officials. Put to a manager, they get a polite non-answer and use up your turn.
Bringing a private case to the microphone
A dispute over your own permit, bill or citation rarely gets resolved in a public meeting, and the manager may not be free to discuss it there. Send it in writing with the address, the dates and who you have already spoken to, and use the meeting to ask how such cases are handled in general.
Asking for a promise the manager cannot make
A manager cannot commit money the council has not approved, or announce a policy it has not adopted. 'Will you fix it?' invites a careful non-answer. 'What would it take to get this in front of the council, and when is the next chance?' gets a route you can follow.
Stopping at the spoken answer
What is said in a meeting fades by the next one. If the answer mattered, send a short note thanking the manager and repeating what you understood, including any date that was mentioned. It gives both of you a record.