The Buffalo Common Council will explore a city manager form of governance to replace the office of mayor.
Under such a plan, a city manager would be selected by the nine-member Council in conjunction with the community to "carry out the will of the Council members," University Council Member Rasheed N.C. Wyatt told The Buffalo News.
Wyatt, who has often clashed with Brown, said the impetus for opening up a discussion of a city manager model for Buffalo is not an indictment of Brown. It is an indictment of the current system of governance, which has led to "disinvestment" in poorer neighborhoods in a city that has gotten smaller and poorer, he said.
From 1980 to 2020, the approximate population in Buffalo decreased from 357,870 to 255,000, while the poverty rate grew from 26.1% to 30.1%, Wyatt noted.
It is about this mayor, but theres been numerous mayors before him and Im going back as far as 1980 so you cant put it all on this mayor, but seeing that hes been mayor for 16 years, it does speak to that, said Wyatt, who introduced a resolution recently directing Council staff to produce a report detailing the pros and cons of establishing such a form of government in Buffalo.
The report is due in 90 days, about two weeks before the November mayoral election, in which Brown is waging a write-in campaign after losing the Democratic primary to political upstart India Walton. Any change that eliminates the office of mayor would have to come via a citywide ballot referendum, which would be all but impossible to get on the ballot by November.
The Council, which goes into recess in August, adopted the resolution Tuesday . South Council Member Christopher P. Scanlon voted in the negative, saying a majority of five Council members selecting a city manager instead of "tens of thousands of voters appointing" a mayor could lead to some "nefarious behavior."
Masten Council Member Ulysees O. Wingo Sr. also voted no because if the Council selects a city manager, the Council would become the persons boss, which would eliminate balance of power, he said.
Im not necessarily seeing how this would be any more equitable than what is already in place, Wingo said.
City spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge said, The mayor of Buffalo is the manager of the city.