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Committee of Seventy
Expanded Testimony on the Mayor’s Proposal to Split the Roles of
City Representative and Commerce Director
Bill No. 080006 and Resolution No. 080041
Philadelphia City Council
Committee on Law and Government
February 19, 2008
The Mayor has proposed a Charter amendment that would separate the positions of City Representative and Commerce Director, which are unified in the current Charter. Seventy supports this change due to the dual and increasingly divergent responsibilities of the roles.
Under the current Charter, the City Rep/Commerce Director is primarily responsible for representing the City, and especially the Mayor, at public ceremonies.[1] The City Rep/Commerce Director is also responsible for attracting “commerce, industry, conventions, visitors and new residents to the City,”[2] which is more pertinent to the role of Commerce Director. In other words, the dual responsibilities of the current position warrant splitting it in two.
Under the Mayor’s amendment, the new City Representative would have a more defined role as the chief marketer of the City. He or she will be responsible for coordinating the City’s print and web-based marketing and promotional materials. The City Representative will also be responsible for coordinating ceremonial and special events on behalf of the City, as well as reviewing plans for private events held on public property.
Under the Current Charter, the City Rep/Commerce Director also heads the Commerce Department; the amendment gives this job solely to the Commerce Director. Under the current Charter, the Commerce Department’s functions are to promote commerce, industry and the Port of Philadelphia, and to manage and maintain the City’s harbors, docks, and airports.[3] Under the Mayor’s amendment, the Commerce Department would be charged with an even broader duty to promote economic development in the City of Philadelphia. The Commerce Department would also be responsible for promoting and developing opportunities for business growth, and continuing to encourage use of the City’s Port, airports, and workforce. Also under the current Charter, the City Rep/Commerce Director serves on the Planning Commission;[4] the amendment gives this job to the Commerce Director.
Given the City’s immediate need to attract business and encourage growth, it makes sense to charge a City department with this specific task. It also makes sense, therefore, to split the positions of Commerce Director and City Representative, which may have been more appropriately joined when the Charter was drafted nearly sixty years ago.
A Charter change makes sense here as well. Past administrations have acknowledged the divergent responsibilities of these two roles and found ways to work around the Charter’s structural limitations. For example, Mayor Street appointed a Commerce Director, who in turn appointed a Deputy City Representative in the Office of Ceremonial and Special Events and a Deputy City Representative in the Office of Arts and Culture. In fact, according to the Commerce Department’s website, the “duties of the City Representative have been assigned to the Office of the Deputy City Representative for Ceremonial & [Special] Events and the Deputy Office of the City Representative for Arts and Culture.”[5]
There are a few items in the bill worth noting:
- The Mayor’s amendment would also permit the City Representative to remain in the Mayor’s cabinet. Council should reexamine this provision given the nature of the other cabinet officials (Managing Director, Finance Director, Solicitor, Commerce Director) and the reconstituted duties of the City Representative.
- The Mayor’s amendment also places the Commerce Director’s salary in the Charter. Given the adjustable nature of salaries, Council should amend the provision to explicitly define the salary as a minimum amount, as opposed to a fixed number.
[1] Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 4-200.
[2] Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 4-201 annotation 1.
[3] Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 4-500.
[4] Philadelphia City Charter § 3-800.
[5] City of Philadelphia, Office of the City Representative, available at http://www.phila.gov/commerce/rep/cse/cse.htm (last visited Feb. 18, 2008).
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