Its hard to tell whos more out of touch, the Democratic mayor of Santa Fe or the Republican in the White House.

The mayor, Alan Webber, says he wants to re-imagine and reshape the way city government works for you.

Webber ought to be asking if it works at all.

Weeds in Santa Fe are more ubiquitous than campaign promises in this election year. The city failed to make six springtime payments to employee retirement programs. The promise of safe neighborhoods gets more talk than action.

I recently reported a stop sign in the South Capital via Constituent Services that is completely obscured by Siberian elms. [They] still havent been cut down, one resident said this week.

With basic services neglected, Webber wants to create three more city departments.

One comes with a blue-sky promise from the mayor. He says his proposed Department of Community Development would deliver enhanced neighborhood livability and improved economic opportunity across the community.

Everyone in town looks forward to details on how a reshuffled government agency will create this utopia.

Webbers claim brings to mind the misplaced confidence of President Donald Trump, who said the new coronavirus would one day just disappear, I hope.

Another of Webbers new departments would remake the City Clerks Office, which no longer is responsible for overseeing municipal elections. That job shifted to the county government under state legislation.

Webber and the City Council should be streamlining the City Clerks Office, an operation stuck in the 19th century.

Even tiny towns use the internet to rapidly report election returns to their residents. Not midsize Santa Fe.

City Clerk Yolanda Vigil occupied herself on election nights by standing in City Hall and reading the results to a few dozen people who were eager to learn if their candidates won.

Vigil functioned as an overpaid town crier. After dribbling out election returns, she would praise her staff for transmitting the numbers the way it was done before statehood.

Webber wants to expand the City Clerks Office rather than shrink it, even though its workload has been cut. The mayor envisions the City Clerks Office as sort of a hospitality suite of government.

By moving Constituent and Council Services into the City Clerks Office, we will transform it into our Community Engagement Office, an information and data-rich operation where the whole community can go to get answers to their questions, find updates on city programs and projects, examine records from the past and offer input toward the citys future, Webber said.

Every service he mentioned should already be provided as a matter of routine. Calling basic functions an innovative breakthrough is an old shell game at City Hall.

Webber also wants to establish a Department of Community Health and Safety. He stated that the new agency would re-balance the resources for Police, Fire and Community Services, and introduce new ways for them to join hands in solving complex community problems, from law enforcement to firefighting to social services.

Forget for a moment Webbers jumbled syntax in which firefighting and policing became problems. The greater issue is why a new department is needed to re-balance how the city spends money and deploys staff members responsible for public safety.

What in the existing government structure prevents the mayor and city manager from making sure the police and fire departments are operating efficiently?

Building bureaucracy and calling it progress are two of Webbers weaknesses. He began his term as mayor in 2018 by adding a chief of staff to the public payroll.

The job was unnecessary. Worse, Webbers maneuver reeked of cronyism.

He hired Jarel LaPan Hill, who was part of his campaign team. Now shes his city manager.

Sorry to say, but the rubber-stamp City Council is almost certain to approve Webbers reorganization plan.

It ought to be asking whether having more city departments will fill another pothole, smooth a bumpy road or make certain evidence doesnt vanish from the leaky police department.

The council ought to be saying city government doesnt need additional departments, more empty promises and fancy new titles.

What it could use is nowhere to be found on Webbers agenda.

The pandemic provides more than the usual incentive to eliminate featherbedding at City Hall. It was a way of life before Webbers arrival, and he has continued the tradition.

Webber wont back away from his plan. He wants his fingerprints all over a bloated organizational chart that doesnt fit a city of 85,000 people.

What hes really doing is setting the stage for erratic governance. The next mayor might junk Webbers convoluted creations in a back-to-basics campaign.

But for now, Webber can reinvent the wheel and spin it as ingenuity.

Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.

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Mayor reinvents the wheel, spins it as ingenuity - Santa Fe New Mexican