Manassas Next focuses on our governmental structure as the fifth pillar in supporting our move forward.  Many of the citizen complaints that I deal with are the result of communication or structural problems within the City government.

Why is this? Well, I have met many of the people who work for the City and I believe that, while we have good staff, we are suffering the effects of having a departmental structure that was established when there were still working farms in the City. This type of structure may not be appropriate in the semi-urban area that Manassas has become.  In order to rectify this, I propose that the Council should hold a work session on the organization of the City government.  As a part of this, the council should review staffing levels and organizational priorities. 

Many people are uncomfortable with this notion as they see this as a self-fulfilling prophecy where staff levels are concerned. The truth of the matter, in my view, is that there isn't a way to establish a reference level for staffing and service unless the executive body has discussed the matter. When we looked into the zoning inspector question last spring we found that our staffing for that position was wildly out of step with surrounding jurisdictions who had dealt with this same problem years ago.