We asked Philly’s mayoral candidates to write a managing director job description. Here’s what they said.

This story is part of our “Hey, City Hall! It’s us, Kensington” series. Do you have a question for Philly government? Our journalists are here to bring your questions to City Hall on your behalf. Just fill out this form, and we’ll get straight to work.

Although the Philly Mayor is the City’s top elected position, the managing director appointed by the mayor holds a tremendous amount of power and responsibility.

As part of our “Hey, City Hall! It’s us, Kensington” project, we asked all the mayoral candidates in late March to write a job description for their ideal managing director. We explained that the purpose of this activity is to give Kensington area residents an idea of what to expect from each candidate. 

Most importantly, the managing director oversees various city departments and programs addressing quality-of-life concerns in Kensington. Click here to jump down to responses from former City Councilmembers Allan Domb and Helen Gym and former municipal judge Jimmy Deleon.

Managing Director’s Office

According to the City of Philadelphia’s organizational chart (last updated in July 2022), the Managing Director’s Office is made up of the following departments, offices, and programs: 

• Community Services
  
  • Animal Care & Control Team (ACCT)
  • Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP)
  • Mural Arts Philadelphia
  • Office of Immigrant Affairs 
  • Philly311
  • PHL City ID
  • Philly Counts

• General Services, Arts, and Events
  
  • Department of Public Property (DPP)
  • Department of Fleet Services (Fleet)
  • Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy (OACCE)
  • Office of Special Events (OSE)
  • Rebuilding Community Infrastructure (Rebuild)

• Department of Licenses and Inspections
  
• Office of Health & Human Services
  
  • Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services
  • Department of Public Health
  • Mayor’s Commission on Aging 
  • Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity
  • Office of Domestic Violence Strategies
  • Office of Homeless Services

• Office of Emergency Management
  
• Office of Integrated Data for Evidence and Action
  
• Office of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for Criminal Justice and Public Safety
  
  • Office of Criminal Justice
  • Office of Reentry Partnerships
  • Office of the Victim Advocate
  • Office of Violence Prevention
  • Town Watch Integrated Services

• Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability
  
  • Department of Streets
  • Office of Sustainability
  • Philadelphia Water Department

• Opioid Response Unit
  
• Philadelphia Department of Prisons
  
• Philadelphia Fire Department
  
• Philadelphia Police Department
  

Our process

A city employee, who requested to remain anonymous, suggested we ask the mayoral candidates what they’re looking for in a managing director. Inspired by The Philadelphia Citizen’s Ultimate Job Interview series, we created a Managing Director Job Description template using past ones posted by the City on job recruiting websites, like Smart Recruiter. It asked for the following: 

• Company description
• What the company offers
• Job description
• Essential functions
• Qualifications

Finally, we emailed the candidates in late March and invited them to participate in the activity by April 12. In our email, we emphasized that their responses would be published before the primary election on our website and in our newspaper, which is distributed at 25+ neighborhood locations. We also let them know their responses would be translated into Spanish.

The mayoral candidates: What they said (in alphabetical order)

This content is a part of Every Voice, Every Vote, a collaborative project managed by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Lead support is provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional funding from The Lenfest Institute, Peter and Judy Leone, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Harriet and Larry Weiss, and the Wyncote Foundation, among others. To learn more about the project and view a full list of supporters, visit www.everyvoice-everyvote.org. Editorial content is created independently of the project’s donors.