Brooklyn Center fires city manager, gives mayor control of the police department

[BumRushDaShow]

18. I can't speak for Brooklyn Center, population of ca. 31,000

the size of one of the neighborhoods here in Philly, but we have a "City Managing Director" position who is basically the one who oversees and coordinates basically all of the city's departments - https://www.phila.gov/mdo/pages/default.aspx

Managing Director's Office

The Managing Director’s Office (MDO) is the Cabinet-level executive office with oversight of the city’s operating departments. The MDO provides support, assistance, and coordination to build sustainable infrastructure within and across departments, ensuring the efficient delivery of quality services to the public.

The MDO plays a major role in the development and implementation of key policy initiatives; monitors and analyzes the performance and progress of individual departments; and serves as a catalyst to encourage cooperation and collaboration across departments. Additionally, several significant outward-facing public service programs are housed within MDO.

The MDO is organized around five cabinets, each of whom oversees the operating departments relevant to specific program areas.

Community & Culture

The Community & Culture division oversees a number of departments and offices that are focused on quality of life assets that help to make Philadelphia a great place to work and live.

Community Services

The Community Services division oversees a number of outward-facing programs that provide services directly to the public. These offices and programs focus on enhancing quality of life and improving how citizens engage with their communities and their city government.

Health & Human Services

The Health & Human Services division works to ensure the success of Philadelphia’s children, families, and vulnerable adults through the alignment of strategies and programs to combat poverty and buffer its effects.

Public Safety

The Public Safety division is a grouping of departments and independent offices that deal directly with the public safety or criminal justice systems. The cabinet is designed to provide coordination between the Police Department, Fire Department, Prison System, Office of Emergency Management, and Department of Licenses & Inspections. Additionally, the division serves as a liaison to the First Judicial District, District Attorney’s Office, Sheriff, and the Defenders Association.

Transportation & Infrastructure

The Office of Transportation & Infrastructure Systems (oTIS) (link) is charged with driving change throughout the City’s transportation and infrastructure systems by promoting a focus on increased mobility, safety, and sustainability through the implementation of innovative solutions.

So as a "working" example, if we have a big event here in the city like the July 4th "Wawa Welcome America" festival and fireworks (usually a couple day thing), the Managing director coordinates with all the heads of the above divisions (each of whom oversee various departments), who would all need to be involved in the planning, execution, and close-out of that event, as big events like that touch every one of those areas. E.g., type of event (community culture), location of the event and impact (community services), street closures & transit detours (transportation), park usage and cleanup (community culture and transportation, which covers sanitation), inspecting food vendors and making First Aid stations available (health), crowd control (public safety), etc.

There's no way a mayor of a city of almost 1.6 million can do that. I expect even on a smaller scale level like Brooklyn Center, that individual is the direct supervisor to the municipal departments within the city government, save a few that might directly report to the mayor.

Gotta get hooked up to this to get an even more in depth answer -