University of Virginia Library

University Researchers Study
Central Administrative Post

By CHIP WOODWARD

The position of central
administrator, the local
government executive whose
post was first created in
Virginia in 1908, has grown to
the point that the
administrator now serves all of
the total city population and
87.2 per cent of the county
population of Virginia.

In contrast to the post of
city manager, which grew
rapidly in the 1920's in
Virginia, the appointment of
central administrators in
Virginia counties experienced
its greatest growth in the
1960's and in the early 1970's,
according to analyzes by
University political scientists
Weldon Cooper and Edward L.
Morton

Mr. Cooper and Mr.
Morton, writing in articles in
Virginia Town and City, say
that as late as 1959 there were
only 10 county administrators.

Mr. Cooper and Mr. Morton
discuss the subject in two
articles on "The Central
Administrator in Virginia Local
Government," in the October
and November issues of
Virginia Town and City. Mr.
Cooper is director of the
Institute of Government, and
Mr. Morton is a research ide
on the Institute staff.

The institution of a central
administrator in local
government began in 1908,
when Charles E. Ashburner was
appointed as city manager of
Staunton.

In Virginia "The wave of
adoptions of the manager plan
in the cities was most
pronounced during the
twenties with the result that by
1930 there were 21 managers
in 23 cities," the two political
scientists write.

By July 1, 1951, "the
number of cities had increased
to 27, and all but one of these
cities had managers who were
serving 99.4 per cent of the
total city population," they
write.

"Currently, all the cities in
the State have managers, that
saturation point having been
reached in the first half of the
sixties."