For longtime Alderman Ken Parker, Newton's problems and their solutions come down to one thing: management.

Parker hopes to be Newton's next mayor and said in a recent interview with PolitickerMA.com that he believes he has an effective plan for the city's future. That plan, he said, begins with his management style.

"My management style is to hire qualified, talented, smart people, give them the tools they need to exceed, set clear expectations and then let them do their jobs," he said. "You check in and make sure they are achieving results and make sure that it's a two-way conversation."

That philosophy - delegating responsibility - has been missing from Newton under Mayor David Cohen, Parker said. Cohen is not seeking re-election next year.

"I would go so far to say that in many ways Newton is unmanaged," Parker said. "You have a situation where things have kind of been working and you're kind of coasting."

"What management does," Parker went on, "is it allows people to feel like they are all pulling in the same direction and that their work is valued."

Parker, who touts 17 years of public service, is one in an increasingly crowded field  vying to become Newton's next mayor. Setti Warren, a staffer for U.S. Sen. John Kerry and Iraq War veteran, is also running, as is fellow Alderman Paul Coletti. State Rep. Ruth Balser is also considering a run, as is local tax activist Jeff Seideman.

His leadership and management style, Parker said, would help transform the city in many areas. One aspect of the city that needs attention, he said, is the parks. Newton has 35 parks, he said, and they have become poorly maintained. He would propose creating "project teams" of two people each and assigning approximately four parks to each team. The administration would carefully monitor complaints about the parks and hold those teams accountable.

"Then you could have a little bit of competition develop among the teams," he said.

Parker also stressed that he views improving Newton's schools and improving the handling of the city's budget as the top issues facing the community. He said he is also committed to improving the city's recycling program and said that he would support increasing the state tax on gasoline to raise revenue.

Parker said he is applying his management style to his campaign. He said he has delegated the campaign management to members of his staff, including his field director, Shawn Fitzgibbons. Fitzgibbons said the campaign already has a considerable volunteer base and is utilizing technology such as the Voter Activation Network, a commonly used voter database, to help its organizing.

"We've got management structure; we're setting clear metrics for the people that are going to be reaching out to voters and trying to figure out what issues are important to them," Fitzgibbons said.

Fitzgibbons also said that delegating responsibilities happens all the way down the line in the Parker campaign. On the night of the interview, Fitzgibbons said the campaigns volunteer coordinator was training a new operative.

"We're bringing on team leaders who will take full responsibility," he said. "We're delegating the campaign to them in their area and they'll have a lot of leeway to use our technology and our resources to reach out to voters."

Ultimately, the campaign, Fitzgibbons said, has a jump on the rest of the field.

"If we were compared to any other potential candidate right now, we're far ahead," he said. "The information and technology we have available, in terms of our website, and the levels of details we have available both on the issues we are working on and on the actual campaign activities are tremendous."