On Dec. 2, the Phoenix wrote a lengthy front-page story on what Muskogee City Council members were looking for in a city manager.

The first paragraph went like this: “Wanted: An excellent communicator and collaborator with experience in economic and community development, planning, community and public relations ...”

Additionally, City Council members described other assets like an appropriate level of education and “a ‘good communicator,’ somebody who has the ‘knowledge of and evidence of (the) use of new and innovative practices utilized by city managers.”

Here are a few other “qualities” that would make a good city manager even better: membership, and active involvement, in the International City-County Management Administration (ICMA) (www.icma.org).

According to its Web site, “ICMA is the premier local government leadership and management organization. Its mission is to create excellence in local governance by advocating and developing the professional management of local government worldwide. In addition to supporting its 8,200 members, ICMA provides publications, data, information, technical assistance and training and professional development to thousands of city, town and county experts and other individuals throughout the world.”

Another extremely beneficial asset the next city manager should have would be an intimate knowledge of Oklahoma’s Open Meeting Act (OMA) and Open Records Act (ORA). With as much negative publicity the city has received for OMA and ORA violations, it would make sense that the council would want a city manager who is more than familiar with those laws. And if their selectee is not an Oklahoma native, then he or she will need to be professionally educated about these easily understandable laws.

And in the spirit of the OMA and ORA, it would be a crowd-pleasing show of open government if the new city manager would take much more advantage of modern technology when it comes to letting Muskogee citizens know what’s going on in their government and with their money.

The city recently passed the 2007-08 city budget, almost $40 million.

But unless you attended the meeting you probably don’t know much about what’s in the budget.

Of course, you can always get a copy of the several hundred page document from the City Clerk’s Office if you want to ante up 25 cents a page for it.

But there are other cities that have seen the light and understand that informed citizens are more productive citizens, especially when it comes to knowing exactly how their money is being spent.

For example, Edmond, Stillwater and Owasso post their budgets on their Web sites. Edmond’s budget is 203 pages long to include a 15-page budget summary signed by the city manager. Their Web site also includes copies of their monthly budget going back a year.

In addition to their annual audit required by law, Edmond officials hired an outside company that analyzed the city’s financial status and converted complicated financial data into useful and understandable layman’s terms.

Owasso’s city manager provides regular reports that you can receive by e-mail if you sign up. Additionally, its latest 138-page budget is online to include its city vision, its 21-page land use master plan, its water quality report and its engineering projects.

Stillwater puts its 237-page budget online along with its 194-page Comprehensive Community Development plan, its 82-page neighborhood plan, its 68-page multi-use trail plan and it even posts its monthly construction plan, which includes repair or creation of sidewalks, roads and neighborhood streets.

When you go to the city of Muskogee Web site and type in the word “budget” in the “search” function you receive, “Sorry, no results matched your query. Please broaden your search and try again.”

Wouldn’t it be great if the next city manager had the freedom to implement at least some of these initiatives?

It’s all up to the City Council.

Mark Hughes is a Muskogee resident.