The city of Halena in the United States is famous for lead mining and steamboats. The town blossomed while the mines were in operation, but rapidly fell into decline when the mines were closed because of the United States’ war on gray metal mining. But the people of Halena found a way out of the crisis and got the town back on its feet.
All the current problems are solved by the city manager, he is also engaged in the development of the city. But the mayor has a more representative and observant function. He is the face of the city, meets with people, cuts the ribbons and makes sure everything is in order.
“My function is that I oversee all the processes in the city. In particular, I oversee all of our workers and preside over the city council,” said Halena Mayor Terry Rener.
Halena has survived a crisis in its time. However, because of the small number of inhabitants – 3.5 thousand people – large investors are not rushing here. Decentralization has helped it out of the crisis. Most of the taxes paid by locals and visitors stay in the community.
We get most of our income from the sales tax. We are a tourist town. A lot of visitors come to us, buy goods here, and all those taxes go to our town. So we also collect property taxes as well,” said Halena City Manager Mark Morin.
From those funds, the city council, which has seven members, including the mayor, works with the community to determine the needs of the city, form a budget and distribute the funds to the departments.
We have seven departments. We have a department responsible for police, fire and zoning, we also have an engineering department, a legal department and a finance department,” explained the city manager.
Those departments are directly involved in the order and development of the city. One makes sure police officers have everything they need to do their jobs, the other makes sure the city’s lawns are well-maintained. The residents completely trust the authorities with their taxes, because they themselves participate in the distribution of the money and see with their own eyes where it is spent.
But it is not only this democratic management of general finances and distribution of managerial functions that allow American cities to develop. Small business and farming play a huge role here.
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