GUEST COMMENTARY: How to fix our city government

There is a failure in the governance of the city of Columbia. This failure has occurred in the most important function, namely the formulation of public policy, in the most important public institution in the city, namely the Columbia City Council. Columbia is organized under a council/manager form of government. Under this form the council is supposed to formulate public policy and hire a manager to carry it out. The city manager is performing his duties as best he can while the council ignores its most demanding and important role as originator and promulgator of goals and visions for the city. Broad, critical areas of city development are left virtually unattended while the council languishes in backwaters of minutia, devoting precious time to mind-numbing details of matters that should be settled as public policy and dealt with by the city manager.