In a Tennessee city under the City Manager-Commission Charter, who has authority over personnel decisions and salaries: the city manager or individual city commissioners?

Subject

Opinion No. 11-11, Authority of City Manager and Commissioners under City Manager-Commission Charter

Plain-English summary

Tennessee's City Manager-Commission Charter, codified at Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 6-18-101 et seq., is one of three general-law charter options for Tennessee cities. The structure deliberately separates two roles: the elected board of commissioners (which includes the mayor) sets policy, adopts the appropriations ordinance and comprehensive pay plan, and hires and fires the city manager, while the appointed city manager handles administration, including personnel and day-to-day operations.

A state representative asked three questions about how that division of authority works in practice. The AG's answers:

1. The city manager has exclusive authority over personnel matters for department heads and city employees. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-108(2), the city manager appoints, promotes, demotes, suspends, transfers, removes, and disciplines all department heads and subordinate employees, subject only to personnel rules and regulations adopted by ordinance or resolution by the commission. Any hearings or appeals from those personnel decisions go to the city manager or a hearing officer the manager designates, not to the commission. Section 6-21-102 reinforces this by giving the manager power to act directly or delegate to department heads. The manager must work within the appropriations ordinance and comprehensive pay plan that the board has adopted, but within those boundaries, personnel control sits with the manager.

2. Neither an individual commissioner nor the full board has authority to unilaterally raise or lower the salary of city employees other than the city manager and the city judge. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-102(b), the city manager fixes employee compensation within the limits of the appropriations ordinance and the comprehensive pay plan. The board has direct salary authority only over the city manager (§ 6-21-101(a)) and the city judge (§ 6-21-501(a)). The Charter gives no authority to any individual commissioner; commissioners must act collectively as a board. The board may, of course, recommend or request that the manager change a salary, and the board can shape compensation indirectly by amending the appropriations ordinance or the comprehensive pay plan.

3. Neither an individual commissioner nor a group of commissioners can demand that the city manager take a specific day-to-day administrative action. Commissioners are free to express wishes about administration, but the board can act officially only by majority vote. Even then, the AG drew a fine distinction: the city manager is legally obligated to comply with any policy expressed in a duly enacted resolution or ordinance of the board, but is not legally required to comply with detailed instructions or demands aimed at a specific daily matter. The board retains its ultimate accountability lever: once the city manager has been in office for twelve months, the manager serves at the pleasure of the board.

The opinion reflects the deliberate design of the council-manager form of government, which separates policy-making (legislative, elected, collective) from administration (executive, professional, individual responsibility).

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2011. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Can the city commission fire a department head?

Not directly. Department heads are appointed by, and report to, the city manager under § 6-21-108(2). Hearings and appeals from the manager's personnel decisions go to the manager or a designated hearing officer. The commission's only direct personnel lever is to remove the city manager (subject to the 12-month protection of § 6-21-101(b)(1), which limits removal during the first year to cases of incompetence, malfeasance, misfeasance, or neglect of duty).

Can a single commissioner give an order to the public works director?

No. Commissioners have no individual authority under the Charter. They can express opinions, ask questions, and persuade colleagues, but only a majority vote of the board has legal effect. And even a board vote cannot tell the manager how to handle a specific operational matter; it can only direct policy.

Can the board cut an employee's salary by passing a resolution that names the employee?

The AG read the Charter to say no for employees other than the manager and city judge. The board's lever is the appropriations ordinance and the comprehensive pay plan: those documents define the salary envelope. Within that envelope, the manager sets specific compensation. A targeted resolution naming an employee and cutting that employee's salary would be outside the structure the Charter contemplates.

Could the board cut the city manager's salary?

Yes, directly. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-101(a) gives the board the power to appoint and fix the salary of the city manager. The same is true of the city judge under § 6-21-501(a).

What about the mayor? Does the mayor have administrative power?

Limited. The mayor presides over commission meetings (§ 6-20-209) and signs deeds, bonds, and contracts in the city's name (§ 6-20-213), but the principal executive and administrative powers in the City Manager-Commission form rest with the city manager, not the mayor.

Can the board adopt personnel rules that constrain the manager?

Yes. Section 6-21-108(2) explicitly says the manager's personnel power is "subject only to any personnel rules and regulations adopted by ordinance or resolution by the commission." So the board can set the framework: classification, discipline, grievance procedures. What it cannot do is reach in and make individual personnel decisions itself.

What happens if the commissioners and the manager disagree about how the city should be run day-to-day?

The Charter's safety valve is the manager's tenure. After 12 months in office, the manager serves at the pleasure of the board (§ 6-21-101(b)(1)). The board's tool is hire-and-fire, not micromanagement. If a working majority of commissioners cannot live with the manager's choices, the remedy is removal, not commission-level intervention in personnel files.

Background and statutory framework

The City Manager-Commission Charter (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 6-18-101 et seq.) is one of three general-law municipal charters available to Tennessee cities. It implements the council-manager form of government, designed to professionalize administration while keeping policy in the hands of an elected board.

Structure:

• Board of commissioners: A small elected body (typically five members) that exercises legislative power. The board adopts the appropriations ordinance and comprehensive pay plan, sets policy, and hires/fires the city manager and city judge.
• Mayor: Either elected from among the commissioners by the board, or popularly elected to a specific commissioner seat. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-20-201. The mayor presides over board meetings (§ 6-20-209) and signs official documents (§ 6-20-213), but the executive branch of city government runs through the manager.
• City manager: Appointed by the board, the manager is the "administrative head of the city government under the direction and supervision of the board of commissioners." Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-107(a). The manager (or an appointee) also serves as finance director under §§ 6-22-101 et seq.

The personnel authority structure is in three pieces:

1. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-101(a): the board appoints and fixes the salary of the city manager, who serves at the will of the board. Section 6-21-101(b)(1) protects the manager from removal during the first 12 months except for incompetence, malfeasance, misfeasance, or neglect of duty.

2. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-102: the city manager appoints, promotes, suspends, transfers, and removes officers and employees, or may authorize department heads to do the same. Subsection (b) gives the manager the authority to fix compensation of all city officers and employees (with exceptions elsewhere in the chapter) within the limits of the appropriations ordinance and in accordance with a comprehensive pay plan adopted by the board.

3. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-108(2): the manager's express powers and duties include appointing, promoting, demoting, suspending, transferring, removing, and otherwise disciplining all department heads and subordinate employees, subject only to personnel rules and regulations adopted by ordinance or resolution by the commission. Hearings or appeals from those personnel decisions are exclusively before the city manager or a hearing officer designated by the manager.

The Charter directly carves out two exceptions to the manager's personnel authority. The board sets the city manager's salary under § 6-21-101(a) and the city judge's salary under § 6-21-501(a).

Applying that framework, the AG concluded:

1. The city manager has exclusive authority over personnel matters for department heads and city employees, working within the board-set appropriations ordinance, comprehensive pay plan, and personnel rules.
2. Neither an individual commissioner nor the full board may unilaterally change the salary of any city officer or employee other than the city manager and the city judge.
3. The Charter gives no authority to individual commissioners. The board can act officially only by majority vote, and even then the manager is bound by policy expressed in a properly adopted ordinance or resolution, not by detailed day-to-day instructions.

Citations

• Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 6-18-101, et seq. (City Manager-Commission Charter)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-20-101 (board of city commissioners)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-20-201 (mayor selection)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-20-209 (mayor presides at meetings)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-20-213 (mayor signs deeds, bonds, contracts)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-101(a) (board appoints and fixes salary of city manager)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-101(b)(1) (12-month removal protection)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-102 (city manager personnel authority)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-102(b) (city manager fixes compensation within appropriations and pay plan)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-107(a) (city manager as administrative head)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-108(2) (city manager personnel powers and exclusive appeal jurisdiction)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-501(a) (board fixes city judge salary)
• Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 6-22-101, et seq. (finance director duties)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/opinions.html
• Original PDF: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2011/op11-011.pdf

Original opinion text

Authority of City Manager and Commissioners under City Manager-Commission Charter

QUESTIONS

The City Manager-Commission Charter (the "Charter") is codified at Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 6-18-101, et seq.

1. Under the Charter, does the city manager have exclusive authority over personnel matters with city department heads and individual city employees?

2. Under the Charter, does a city commissioner or a group of city commissioners have any authority unilaterally to decrease or increase the salary of any city employee besides the city manager and the city judge?

3. Under the Charter, may an individual city commissioner or a group of city commissioners demand that the city manager take specific actions regarding the day-to-day operations of the city government?

OPINIONS

1. Yes. The city manager has exclusive power to appoint, promote, demote, suspend, transfer, remove, and discipline all department heads and subordinate employees, as well as to set their salaries, within the rules, appropriations, and comprehensive pay plan adopted by the board of commissioners.

2. No. An individual commissioner is not authorized to lower the salary of any city officer or employee, nor may the board of commissioners change the salary of any city officer or employee besides that of the city manager and city judge.

3. No. The Charter gives no authority to any individual commissioner; the board of commissioners must exercise its authority as a governing body. The city manager is legally obligated, in conducting the day-to-day affairs of the city, to comply with any policy expressed in a resolution or ordinance adopted by the city commission but the city manager is not legally required to comply with detailed instructions or demands addressed to a specific daily matter. Of course, the city manager, after he or she has been in office for twelve months, serves at the pleasure of the board.

ANALYSIS

This opinion addresses several questions about the City Manager-Commission Charter, which is codified at Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 6-18-101, et seq. (the "Charter"). The Charter provides for a board of city commissioners under Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-20-101. The board either elects one of its members as the mayor, or the mayor is popularly elected to a designated commissioner position on the board. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-20-201. The mayor presides at all meetings of the board of commissioners. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-20-209. The mayor also signs deeds, bonds, and contracts made in the name of the city and may introduce ordinances to the board of commissioners. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-20-213. But the principal executive and administrative powers under this form of government are vested, not in the mayor, but in the city manager.

The first question is whether, under the Charter, the city manager has exclusive authority over personnel matters with city department heads and individual city employees. The answer is that the city manager does have such authority, although he or she must act within the appropriations ordinance and comprehensive pay plan adopted by the board of commissioners. The city manager is the administrative head of the city government "under the direction and supervision of the board of commissioners." Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-107(a). The city manager or an officer appointed by the city manager also serves as finance director to carry out the duties under Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 6-22-101, et seq. The city manager appoints all department heads and other municipal employees and has the power to promote, transfer, discipline, and remove them as well. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-101(a), the board of commissioners appoints and fixes the salary of the city manager, who serves at the will of the board. Under subsection (b)(1) of the statute, the manager may not be removed within twelve months from the date he or she assumed the duties of city manager except for incompetence, malfeasance, misfeasance, or neglect of duty.

While the city manager's powers are great, the board of commissioners has some general control over personnel matters. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-102 provides:

(a) The city manager may appoint, promote, suspend, transfer and remove any officer or employee of the city responsible to the city manager; or the city manager may, in the city manager's discretion, authorize the head of a department or office responsible to the city manager to take such actions regarding subordinates in such department or office. The city manager shall appoint such heads of administrative offices or organizational units as the city manager deems necessary. The city manager may combine, or personally hold, any such administrative offices established pursuant to this subsection (a) or otherwise established or may delegated parts of the duties of the city manager's office to designated subordinates.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the compensation of all officers and employees of the city shall be fixed by the city manager within the limits of the appropriations ordinance and in accordance with a comprehensive pay plan adopted by the board of commissioners.

(emphasis added). Thus, the board of commissioners is responsible for passing the city appropriations ordinance, as well as a comprehensive pay plan. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-108(2) provides:

The powers and duties of the city manager are to:

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(2) Except as otherwise provided in this charter, appoint, promote, demote, suspend, transfer, remove, and otherwise discipline all department heads and subordinate employees at any time, subject only to any personnel rules and regulations adopted by ordinance or resolution by the commission. Any hearings on, or appeals from, the city manager's personnel decisions provided for in the personnel rules and regulations shall be exclusively before the city manager or a hearing officer designated by the city manager[.]

(emphasis added). Thus, the board of city commissioners is authorized to adopt personnel rules and regulations by ordinance or resolution. The city manager's power to appoint, promote, demote, suspend, transfer, remove, and discipline all department heads and subordinate employees is subject to these rules and regulations. But, acting within the rules, appropriations, and comprehensive pay plan adopted by the board of commissioners, the city manager does have exclusive authority over personnel matters concerning department heads and city employers.

2. Salaries of City Officers and Employees

The next question is whether, under the Charter, a city commissioner or a group of city commissioners has any authority unilaterally to decrease or increase the salary of any city employee besides the city manager and the city judge. As quoted above, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-102(b), the city manager is authorized to fix the compensation of all city officers and employees unless otherwise provided in the Charter, "within the limits of the appropriations ordinance and in accordance with a comprehensive pay plan adopted by the board of commissioners." Thus, the Charter contemplates that the city manager, working within the framework of the appropriations ordinance and the comprehensive pay plan adopted by the commissioners, will set the compensation for most city employees and officers. Under the Charter, the board of commissioners is directly authorized to fix the salary of the city manager and the city judge. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-101(a); Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-501(a). The Charter gives no authority to any individual commissioner; the board of commissioners must exercise its authority as a governing body. Thus, an individual commissioner is not authorized to lower the salary of any city officer or employee. Nor may the board of commissioners, acting through a vote of the entire board, lower the salary of any city officer or employee besides that of the city manager or city judge. Of course, the salary must comply with the appropriations ordinance and the comprehensive pay plan. Further, since the city manager works "under the direction and supervision of the board of commissioners," the board of commissioners may recommend a change in salary, or request the manager to change a salary.

3. City Commissioners' Demands to City Manager

The last question is whether, under the Charter, an individual city commissioner or a group of city commissioners may demand that the city manager take specific actions regarding the day-to-day operations of the city government. Of course, members of the commission, individually or collectively, are free to express their wishes regarding the city manager's management of day-to-day city affairs. But the commissioners can act officially only by majority vote of the board.

The question then becomes whether the city commissioners may, by enacting a resolution or some other legislative action, legally require the city manager to take specific actions regarding the day-to-day operations of the city government. Under the Charter, the city commission is authorized to hire and fire the city manager and to set his or her salary. The Charter explicitly provides that the city manager is the administrative head of the city government under the direction and supervision of the board of commissioners. Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-21-107. But the Charter entrusts responsibility for various day-to-day aspects of city management to the city manager. As a general matter, therefore, the city manager is legally obligated, in conducting the day-to-day affairs of the city, to comply with any policy expressed in a resolution or ordinance adopted by the city commission but the city manager is not legally required to comply with detailed instructions or demands addressed to a specific daily matter.

ROBERT E. COOPER, JR.
Attorney General and Reporter

CHARLES L. LEWIS
Deputy Attorney General

ANN LOUISE VIX
Senior Counsel

Requested by:
The Honorable Sheila Butt
State Representative
301 6th Avenue North
Suite 36, Legislative Plaza
Nashville, Tennessee 37243