01604pab a2200133 454500008004000000100002000040245010200060260000900162300001200171362001200183520122100195650002101416773003301437180718b1999   xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aSvara, James H.  aThe shifting boundary between elected officials and city managers in large council manager cities  c1999  ap.44-53  aJan-Feb  aIt has long been presumed that the council-manager form of government faces special challenges in large cities. This research examines council-manager relations in the 31 cities in the United States with population over 200,000 that use the form. Compared with the results of earlier research, my results suggest that council members are more activist in their orientation and are most engaged in specific, operational, current matters, although they aspire to much higher involvement in setting the mission for their cities without decreasing their attention to constituent concerns and immediate pressing problems. The city manager and staff are more involved in providing guidance in goal setting along with continuing to play an active role in middle-range policy formation. Thus, the boundary line between the council and the city manager is increasingly blurred and shifting to include more administration and management in the council's sphere and more mission formulation in the city manager's. A boundary remains and council-manager government continues to be a complementary relationship of political and professional leaders, but the distinct roles of its two components increasingly overlap. - Reproduced  aLocal government  aPublic Administration Review