Philadelphia Managing Director Camille Barnett is resigning effective June 30. She made the surprise
announcement in a morning news conference (March 17), citing personal reasons. Barnett said she needed time to work out the death of her husband, who was killed in an auto accident two years ago just after she had agreed to join the Nutter administration. An aside: Normally, the departure of a managing director would be major news. This is not. The job, created by the City Charter to sit as professional manager was meant to be No. 2 to the mayor in terms of powers and range of responsibility. But, the position has been considerably weakened by the mayor. Nutter has given the administrative power to four deputy mayors. Barnett was only nominal head of the bureaucracy. In reality, she had limited powers. Her main role was overseeing the implementation of the city's 311 call system.
