The role of local government is a simple one: to provide the foundations necessary for its citizens to live their lives, simple as that. The government lays the foundations of power, water, transportation, the economy, public safety, and many more aspects of life needed to sustain the city and its population. This is done through zoning, utility departments, police & fire departments, and economic policies. If the government does it right, you may never know it’s there, save election cycles.
The city council and mayor provide the necessary representation needed to address these needs, it is up to the city manager to execute upon the desires of the public. The manager then hands off the goals to the many different departments to carry out the solutions. Each department works within their own constraints to address these needs, maybe with a new power line or a community center.’
Priorities are made through the city’s budget, which is determined through a joint effort between the council, mayor and manager. A city is always in constant flux, and so a budget must be updated annually and adjusted to address the needs then and now of its people.
How the city is structured also influences how it accomplishes its goal. There are many forms of municipal government out there: council-manger, mayor-council, commission, and town meetings. In a council-manager government the council and city manager hold the highest power, the mayor mostly there to represent the city at large but holds no veto power. In a mayor-council government the mayor functions closer to that of a governor or president and carries out the day to day work needed to keep the people of the city happy and holds veto power. A commission government is a little different, the department heads are directly elected by the public to commission the operation of their specific fields. Finally in a town meeting everybody from the city gets together to discuss how the city will be ran and functions as a pure democracy.
Each city is unique in its own regard, but each government serves the same function, no matter how it’s structured: to provide the foundation necessary to gives the people the lives they are entitled to live.
Day 14
Word Count: 370
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