Governmental Structure for Metropolitan Regions - Case Study Example

First Local Government of California Introduction The United s local government is consideredjurisdictions of the government that are below the state level. The local government has a structure and organization that provides it the ability to function as it should be. Majority of states consists of about two levels of local government, which are municipalities and counties. Several different categories of jurisdictions at the level of municipalities exist including village, city, borough, and town. The nature and categories of municipal entities differs from state to state. Numerous rural areas and some suburban areas of countless states contain no municipal government that is below the level of the county. In some places in the U.S, there is consolidated jurisdiction of city and county, where country and city functions are managed by one municipal government. In addition to consolidated municipal governments, special purpose regional or local governments exist, such as district for protection of fire, public transportation, water resource or sanitary sewer management. The United States as of 2012 is reported to have about 89,055 local governments (Anzia 1). One of these local governments is the state of California. California has a complex and extensive system or structure of local government that has the mandate of managing public functions all over the state. California, like other states, is distributed into counties and provides services countywide, such as jails, law enforcement, elections, tax collection, health care, public health, flood control, animal control, ambulance services, building inspections and fire protection (Janiskee and Masugi 105). United States’ counties have police and taxing powers. In light of this discussion about local government, let us develop a new governmental structure for metropolitan regions in the California State. New Governmental Structure for Metropolitan Regions in the State of California In creating a new government structure for the metropolitan region in California State, several structures will be employed to ensure its smooth operation. Before we begin, it is important to understand what metropolitan region means. Squires defines metropolitan region as a region that consists of a densely populated urban area with its sparsely populated neighboring territories, sharing infrastructure, housing, and industry (102). Furthermore, metropolitan area commonly consists of multiple municipalities and jurisdictions that include cities, townships, neighborhoods, districts, and counties. Metropolitan regions have become major political and economic regions and include urban areas in addition to satellite towns, cities and rural areas. This information about metropolitan region is essential in our creation of a new governmental structure for metropolitan regions in the state of California. This new governmental structure will closely be related to councils in England. Let us begin. The new metropolitan structure will have two tiers of local government. These are district, borough or city and county councils. City councils will have a population of about 500,000 to 1,000,000 people. County councils These county councils will be responsible for services all over the whole county including: Planning – this will involve making plans for the entire county in terms of development. Transport – this will involve the development of transportation systems for the entire county, such as roads or railways, in addition to making transportation rules and regulations or policies. Education – this will involve creating educational systems and polices that will govern how education is managed at the county level. Social care – this will involve taking care of the elderly and working closely with the community to tackle social issues in the country like drug abuse. Fire and public safety – this will involve the provision of fire and public safety by the county to all members of the county. This will also involve purchasing of fire equipment and teaching the public about public safety. Trading standards – this will involve putting in place standard policies that will govern trading in the county, that is, inter county trading. This will be managed by county councils. In case of issues that materialize that the county council cannot handle, the national government will be involved to provide assistance. City councils These city councils will cover a small area in the city. They will be responsible for services including: Recycling – this involves recycling of plastics and other waste products. Housing – this involves designing, planning and developing of houses for the city. Rubbish collection – this involves making a city clean by collecting rubbish all over the city. Council tax collections – this involves providing license to business operators in the city and collecting tax revenues from businesses. This will be managed by city councils who will have the obliged duty to report progress to the county council. What this means is that in case there is an issue like problems encountered when collecting tax, the problem can be reported to the county council for suitable resolution. Community, Parish and Town Councils These will operate under the borough and district councils. They will be elected and will be able to assist on various local issues like providing bus shelters, public clocks, allotment, community centers, play equipment and play areas, providing consultation on planning for neighborhoods, and approving grants to assist local organizations. They will also have the authority to give penalty and fines for things like fly posting, graffiti, litter, and dog offences. Issues that materialize that need solving like the community complaining about few playing ground will be reported to the city council for resolution. In case the city council is not able to resolve this problem, the county council will assist in finding a solution. Making of Decisions The council of members will be responsible for making all decisions. In practices however, most of the tasks will be given to smaller group of council or councilors officers who will be paid staff. Every council will publish meetings minutes that show decisions that were made and details that show when major decisions will be implemented. The normal citizens will be allowed to attend majority of council meetings, even though they will not be allowed to speak. Issues that will be solved come from different areas like housing, tax collection methods, public safety, and education. For instance, if the quality of education is dwindling rapidly, the members of county and city council will convene a meeting and establish solutions to this problem. Mayors Councils will have a mayor or a chairman that oversees the members of council. The duties they will carry consists of chairing meetings and carrying out ceremonial duties, but will not be allowed to make decisions concerning business of councils. The chairing of meetings will be more of talking about issues that need important decisions and the decisions will be decided by the majority of councils who are in favor of a particular issue or not. Accounts and spending Local councils will be obliged to provide information on their website to illustrate how they spend their money, whether is within their budget or outside their budget. Individuals will have the ability to pay for services and goods and bid for contracts and tenders using the councils’ website. Examining Annual Accounts All councils every year will be required to open their detailed accounts of finance to the public for a period of 30 working days. This will prevent individuals from requesting accounting information using freedom of information request from the court. Also, the council will be required to publish on their website and in the local newspapers details of where they can check their region accounts. Local elections and councilors Local councilors will be elected for a period of four years term by the local community to represent their views at council meetings. The local community will be allowed to ask their councils to represent them as they wish. If there are any grievances from members of the community, a formal complaint will have to be conveyed to the national government through the government website, email or phone number. Conclusion Re-creating a local government system for the state of California has proven to be challenging especially coming up with a structure that delegates tasks to members of the society in a metropolitan region. Regional governments are not necessary in running the local government because local governments can delegate tasks to county and city councils, mayor, the community, parish and town councils to run a metropolitan region of a local government. In the discussion, the structure of the local government is on a descending order from country council, city council, mayor, the community, parish, to town council. If the above local government system is implemented, the California local government will run smoothly. Works Cited Anzia, Sarah. Timing and Turnout. Chicago (Ill.): University of Chicago press, 2014. Print. Janiskee, Brian, and Ken Masugi. Democracy in California. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Print. Squires, Gregory. Urban Sprawl. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press, 2002. Print. Read More