People Working Together
Learning Objectives
- Appreciate the people who make local government work
- Describe the roles of city and county managers
- Understand the importance of voting in local elections
- Identify ways in which you can engage with your local government(s)
Good government does not just happen. Rather, it is the result of people deciding what needs to be done for the community and then working together to carry out those decisions. People make government work. Who are the people involved in local government?
Many people may be unaware of how they shape local government policies and services. Residents, shoppers, workers, travelers, visitors–everyone uses local government services. And we–the general public–influence local government decisions through how we live our daily lives. It is important to understand the deliberate, as well as unintended ways, people influence public policy.
Because local government services and policies are so important to daily living, people sometimes try very hard to change them. If you want to help shape what local government does, you also need to understand how people work to intentionally change public policies.
In addition to the general public, later sections of this chapter describe four specific groups involved in the development and modification of public policy: voters, elected officials, local government employees, and volunteers, including members of appointed boards.
One person can be in several of these groups at once. For example, all elected officials are also voters. Government employees may also be volunteers in other public agencies. They are almost always voters, too. And of course, voters, elected officials, public employees, and volunteers are also part of the general public. We discuss the groups separately to indicate the different ways people help shape the way government works.
Unintentional Public Influence on Policy
People unintentionally influence local government policies as they use government services, through active cooperation with (or resistance to) government programs, and through public behavior that helps or harms others. Government officials often consider use of services to indicate the public’s wants or needs. According to this view, the more people use a service, the more of that service the government should try to provide.
Of course, local governments may sometimes be unable to provide more of a service, or officials may decide they cannot afford to do so. In such a situation, officials may try to limit use, but limiting use is also a government policy. For example, the more often one group of people uses a recreation field, the fewer hours it is available for other users. Government officials might respond to this increase in use by putting up lights so the field could also be used at night. They might also build additional fields so that more teams can play at the same time. These are examples of adding more services in response to increased use. But the l