The Managing Director shall exercise supervision over all activities of those departments whose heads he appoints and the boards and commissions connected with such departments and shall be the contact officer between the Mayor and such departments, boards and commissions.

ANNOTATION

Sources: No specific source.

Purposes: 1. The duties of the Mayor of a city the size of Philadelphia are so extensive and make such demands upon his time that it is almost a physically impossible task for the Mayor to supervise closely all the operations conducted by the various departments and other agencies of the executive branch of the City government. Should the Mayor be required to exercise personal supervision the result may well be a failure of adequate supervision and a failure of the departments to perform the duties with which they are charged. The Charter attacks this problem by creating the office of Managing Director.

2. The Managing Director, appointed by the Mayor, is the Mayor's personal assistant and has under his charge the departments of the City rendering municipal services to the people of the City. The Managing Director has the duty of supervising these departments and the boards and commissions connected with them. He appoints, with the approval of the Mayor, the heads of all such departments. The department heads are responsible to the Managing Director who in turn is responsible to the Mayor. To vest authority commensurate with the responsibility given to him, the Managing Director is made the contact officer between the Mayor and the departments, boards and commissions under his supervision; service department heads will thus report to their superior, the Managing Director, and not to the Mayor.