OUR VIEW: Firefighter will manage City Hall (vote in poll)

Firefighters are usually role-model citizens and community leaders. So congratulations to the Colorado Springs City Council for making what appears an outstanding selection for an interim city manager to replace Penelope Culbreth-Graft, who has resigned effective April 16.

The council selected Fire Chief Steven Cox, a known leader and achiever who puts the needs of others first.

Cox is a Colorado Springs native who knows the values and idiosyncrasies of his community. He has worked for the city for 29 years, joining the Fire Department at age 20 and earning recognition for courage and valor.

Working as manager of Colorado Springs isn’t a job most people would want, no matter how much it pays. As Culbreth-Graft found out, it’s an institutional setup for failure. That’s mostly because Colorado Springs long ago outgrew the city manager form of government, a mostly flawed system that places too much responsibility in the hands of one non-elected employee who answers to a council of overworked, elected volunteers. It’s a leaderless system of weakness and unaccountability, and the city manager typically pays the price.

Cox, 49, inherits a city government with an estimated 2011 budget shortfall of $27 million. He takes the helm of a city bureaucracy that has been mired in conflict with the people it is supposed to serve. Some city officials, along with rank-and-file employees, are angry with the electorate for declining tax increases. A majority of taxpayers have shown they don’t trust City Hall with their money. Meanwhile, the potholes are getting deeper and wider, the buses are running on fumes, recreation centers and swimming pools may close, and trash cans have disappeared from the parks.

Cox accepted this unenviable position because he cares about the city in which he and his children grew up. He accepted this challenge as he has long accepted requests to douse dangerous fires.

Though he’s a professional rescuer and proven hero, it’s unfair to expect miracles from Cox. He is one man in a system that will try to punish him for anything he does. Instead of unrealistic expectations, the citizens of Colorado Springs should offer their support and trust. We should hope and pray for success, and do our parts as individuals to make this work.

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Meanwhile, we should work toward changing the system Chief Cox inherits. We should support any reasonable measure that would turn Colorado Springs City Hall into a strong-mayor form of government with a professional, full-time, well-paid leader who’s elected by the people.

If Cox enjoys running the city as its professional manager — and the citizens appreciate his work — he could quit his job and run to become the city’s first strong mayor.

Until then, let’s hope Cox can stabilize city government from while working from institutionalized position of weakness. And let’s hope Culbreth-Graft, who accepted one of the world’s most difficult jobs two years ago, succeeds in all future endeavors.

— Wayne Laugesen, editorial page editor, for the editorial board

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