Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mayors And Chief Administrative Officers Relationships: Aspects Of Functional Relationships, Robert Arni Long

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This study attempts to understand how the functionality of the mayor-chief administrator officer (CAO) relationship impacts the ongoing operation of these two local government positions. Looking at the structural and interpersonal aspects of the lived experience of this relationship enlightens us as to the manner in which the relationship functions. A review is made of literature on local government, generally, and on the separate roles of mayors and CAOs as well as the limited research on how their relationships operate. General relationship and leadership scholarship is used to better understand this specific relationship and its nuanced social processes. Qualitative research …

The Development Of County Hr Policies: The Perspectives Of Counties In Two States, Willow S. Jacobson, Kristina T. Lambright

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

We conducted 40 semi-structured interviews with county HR directors (20 in New York, 20 in North Carolina) to learn more about the development of internal HR policies. Key resources used by directors in both states include other jurisdictions, colleagues in other county departments, state and federal agencies, laws and statutes, professional associations, and information gathered from general internet searches. More than half of the HR directors reported using internal working groups, and almost two-thirds indicated that they systematically reviewed the implications of policies for specific departments. Yet, only a handful of HR directors reported utilizing other promising practices such as …

Sustainable Energy Transitions: Changing The ‘Business As Usual’ Trajectory In Sub-Saharan African Urban Areas, Mark Borchers, Megan Euston-Brown, Simon Bawakyillenuo, Alex Ndibwami, Simon Batchelor

International Journal of African Development

This paper describes a novel approach to helping municipal authorities address the sustainable energy challenges associated with rapidly growing urban populations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Population in Africa is expected to double between 2010 and 2040, and substantial urban growth is expected in small and medium-sized cities where local government capacity constraints are most serious. A long-term partnership between municipal authorities, NGOs, and academics can build capacity, and a prescribed strategy can lead to progress on the ground. In order to contribute to future action, the paper argues for a greater role of local government in sustainable energy transitions, and presents …

Law, Autonomy, And Local Government: A Legal History Of Municipal Corporations In Canada West/Ontario, 1850-1880, Mary Margaret Pelton Stokes

PhD Dissertations

The historiography of local government in mid-nineteenth century Canada West/Ontario is divided on the question of municipal autonomy. The more dominant thesis asserts that the Municipal Corporations (Baldwin) Act of 1849 ushered in a period of freedom for municipalities. The second depicts the Act as oppressive of autonomy in the interests of economic development. Both interpretations are based largely on extrapolation from earlier and later periods; there have been no direct examinations of local governance in Canada West/Ontario for what may be considered its formative period, from 1850 to 1880. In addition, much that has been written has been conceptually …

Capacity, Sustainability, And The Community Benefits Of Municipal Utility Ownership In The United States, George C. Homsy

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

Most literature on utility sustainability focuses on internal operations; this misses the role that utilities cold play within a community. This study measures the impact of municipal ownership of water and electric utilities on the sustainability policymaking of local governments. I find that municipalities with government-owned water utilities adopt more sustainability measures than those with investor-owned service. Similarly, municipally-owned electric utilities have higher levels of energy sustainability in the community, but not in government operations. The utilities provide fiscal and technical capacity to municipalities. This study brings potential community benefits to the discussion of private investment in public service delivery.

Expanding The Classroom: Investigating Local Government Practitioners’ Use Of Academic Resources, Willow S. Jacobson, Kristina T. Lambright

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

Drawing on Boyer’s scholarship of teaching, we propose that public affairs education could be conceptualized as not just including the education of current students but also the education of public affairs practitioners throughout their careers. To explore knowledge diffusion from academics to public affairs practitioners, we conducted 40 phone interviews with county human resources (HR) directors in New York and North Carolina and examined the extent to which this population directly used academic resources. There was moderate use of academic resources from higher education institutions across the sample, with many North Carolina HR directors consulting publications and personnel from one …

Unlikely Pioneers: Creative Climate Policymaking In Smaller U.S. Cities, George C. Homsy

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

With the U.S. federal government stepping away from climate change, a number of cities have indicated that they will continue efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Broad statistical analysis and case studies of larger and often progressive cities have provided some insight into what drives local governments to act on climate change mitigation. However, the vast majority of U.S. municipalities, most of them small, do nothing. Understanding what might drive smaller, poorer, and less progressive places is important if local governments are expected to take the lead on this global commons issue. In this exploratory study, I examine a group …

Why Local Governments Collaborate: Perspectives From Elected Officials And Local Government Managers On Regional Collaboration, Stephanie D. Davis

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the factors that influence a local government’s decision to engage in regional collaborations. Analysis of 7 local government managers and eleven elected officials revealed that the decision to engage in regional collaboration was influenced by external factors, organizational factors, and internal motivations. Elected officials and local government managers identified a disaster occurrence, fiscal stress, outside agencies, jurisdictional benefit, and communication as key factors. Further, this research highlights the importance of the role of the elected official in intergovernmental arrangements, the role of the local government manager as the policy entrepreneur, and the influence of shared norms and …

For Better Or Worse? : Exploring How Decentralization Shapes Local Expenditures And Health Service Utilizations In Indonesia, Adenantera Dwicaksono

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Decentralization has become one of the most important public-sector reform programs globally since the 1990s with mixed results. In this four-paper dissertation, I explored how decentralization reforms affect public goods and services delivery, by analyzing how post-decentralization institutional changes shape local expenditure decisions and health service utilizations in Indonesia. The main goal of this dissertation was to improve understanding on a better approach to studying public goods and services delivery under a decentralized governance. I used primarily quantitative methods in this dissertation. I started with a systematic review of quantitative studies on the impacts of decentralization reforms and health system …

Size, Sustainability, And Urban Climate Planning In A Multilevel Governance Framework, George C. Homsy

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

In the United States, the absence of federal leadership on climate change and a strong tradition of localism has created a system in which many greenhouse gas reduction efforts fall to the discretion of municipalities. This often leads to uncoordinated action across jurisdictional boundaries. Despite the widespread notion that cities can lead on climate policy from the bottom up, I find, using a logistic regression analysis of data from 1,837 municipalities, that local governments are more likely to enact climate change policies in an environment where higher levels of government have acted rather than in a decentralized one. Smaller municipalities, …

Beyond The City-County Divide: Race, Referenda, And Representation In Consolidated Governments, Christopher Johnson Acuff

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite an abundance of research on the impacts of city-county consolidation, the majority of studies to date have focused on outcomes related to efficiency, effectiveness, and economic development. However, two areas which have gone relatively unexplored, particularly from a quantitative perspective, relate to the impact of consolidation on minority representation, as well as the determinants of successful referenda often required in establishing these forms of government. The existing literature on representation is sparse, and often relies on anecdotes or a small number of individual examples. Further, while several in-depth studies have attempted to assess the factors which contribute to successful …

The Silent Crisis Ii: A Follow-Up Analysis Of Latin@ Participation In City Government Boards, Commissions, And Executive Bodies In Boston And Chelsea, Massachusetts, James Jennings, Jen Douglas, Miren Uriarte

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides an update on the participation of Latin@s in city government in Chelsea and Boston. Since 2001 several studies have documented a severe underrepresentation of Latin@s in policy-making bodies in government institutions that affect their lives (e.g., Hardy-Fanta, 2002; Uriarte, Jennings, & Douglas, 2014). The Silent Crisis, the 2014 study (Uriarte et al., 2014) commissioned by the Greater Boston Latin@ Network, found significant under-representation of Latin@s in the city governments of Boston, Chelsea, and Somerville. In each of the three cities, the representation of Latin@s in the population far outpaced their role in the municipal governments.

Municipal Resource Guide To Leading Practices In Cost Savings, Martin Horak, Andrew Sancton, Rachna Goswami, Umera Ali

Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance – Publications

Ontario municipalities of all sizes face pressure to “do more with less.” Commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs, this Resource Guide provides municipal officials with single-source information about a range of current leading practices in cost savings in small and mid-sized Ontario municipalities. Municipalities across the province are continually developing innovative practices that save costs without incurring service level reductions. Most of these practices involve small-scale initiatives that result in modest savings. Yet even modest savings add up over time, and multiple small initiatives in a single municipality can make a big difference. In addition, by providing an …

Managing Learning In The Workplace: A Study Of The Perceptions And Practice Of Local Government Managers, Jenna Rogers

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In 1995 the Australian Government commissioned the report Enterprising Nation ‘: renewing Australia’s managers to meet the challenges of the Asia-Pacific century (Karpin, 1995), which emphasised the change that was necessary in Australian business to remain competitive in the global and growing economy. The development of flexible organisational cultures, where managers increasingly displayed leadership and developed their staff to generate innovative cultures, was a central premise of the Karpin Report Task Force’s vision. Twenty years later, this study explored the extent to which managers have moved from being ‘cops to coaches’ and integrated the facilitation of employee learning within …

Civic Crowdfunding And Local Government: An Examination Into Projects, Scope, And Implications For Local Government, Martin Mayer

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Recently, through the development of online technology, civic crowdfunding has emerged as a way in which to connect citizens to community problems and projects. The growth and early success of the field underscores the importance of better understanding civic crowdfunding, how it works, and how it may impact local government. Through a mixed-methods design, this study investigates the growing field of civic crowdfunding in an effort to better understand what types of projects are proposed, where they are proposed, and why some civic crowdfunding proposals may be successful while others are not. Strengths and challenges of civic crowdfunding are discussed, …

The Tasks Of Elected Officials Within The Policy Process Of Interlocal Cooperation, Stephen Matthew Adkins

Doctoral Dissertations

Interlocal cooperation provides local governments with a third means of service provision, after direct provision and contracting out, that allows problems to be addressed at the regional level. Much of the academic literature on this topic places appointed officials as those who take the lead role in these types of arrangements. This research explores the involvement of elected officials, specifically city mayors, in interlocal cooperation. Based on 64 responses from mayors in the southeast region, this research finds statistically significant relationships between mayoral comfort level with tasks associated with interlocal cooperation and a number of variables including city size and …

A Study In Diversity Management Of Local Governments In: Mecklenburg County, Nc; City Of Atlanta; Cobb County; Fulton County; Dekalb County And Gwinnett County, Joyce Yung

Master of Public Administration Practicums

This paper studies different diversity training programs and diversity policies employed in managing an increasingly diverse workforce of six jurisdictions that are comparable in size and in diversity. It asked what level of support do these public administrators receive from the leadership team in promoting diversity and inclusion and how do they evaluate and measure the diversity programs’ performance? What are the challenges of public administrators in establishing and cultivating an equitable and supportive diverse workforce that is reflective of the diverse public that they serve? This paper also examines how well the employee demographic representing the public of each …

The Silent Crisis: Including Latinos And Why It Matters, Representation In Executive Positions, Boards, And Commissions In The City Governments Of Boston, Chelsea, And Somerville, Miren Uriarte, James Jennings, Jen Douglas

Human Services Faculty Publication Series

The Silent Crisis: Involving Latinos in Decision-Making & Why Latino Representation Matters provides a measure of the economic, social, and political inclusion of Latinos at mid-decade in three cities of the Commonwealth where about one fourth of the state’s Latino population lives. Often wrongly referred to as a “new population,” Latinos have been present in Massachusetts since the end of the 19th century, arriving in large numbers beginning in the 1960s and 1970s and growing to nearly 630,000 persons (9.6% of the population) by 2010. That same year, they accounted for 62.1% of the population of Chelsea, 17.5% of the …

Explaining County Government Budget Transparency In An Age Of E-Government, Jonathan M. Birds, Leander D. Kellogg, E. Lee Bernick

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

This research seeks to explain budgetary transparency practices of individual US counties by examining the extent of information sharing with constituents via their websites. There are 3,138 counties and county-equivalents in the United States. This study evaluates a random sample of 400 US counties where 19% of the represented counties having populations of 100,000 or more residents, matching the same ratio of counties with populations of 100,000 or more residents nationally. We create a four-level categorical dependent variable measuring budget transparency. Using an ordered probit analysis with six independent variables we are able to explain the probability of counties having …

Charter Commission For Urban County Government - Warren County, Kentucky (Sc 1128), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1128. Correspondence, agendas, minutes and membership lists of Charter Commission and the draft and final copy of the Charter of the Urban County Government of Bowling Green and Warren County, Kentucky.

Decentralisation In Peru, Robert Andrew Nickson

Robert Andrew Nickson

There has been a striking increase in fiscal transfers in Peru since 2005. However the overall decentralisation process has been held back by limited progress in administrative reform and associated weak transfer of service delivery responsibilities. The Economy and Finance Ministry continues to play a crucial and generally negative role in controlling the pace and direction of the overall process.

Beech Grove, Kentucky - Records (Sc 348), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 348. Letters, legal papers, and receipts, 1902-1916 (52), of Beech Grove, McLean County, Kentucky; and journal containing the town’s ordinances, 1894-1901, minutes of the Board of Trustees, 1894-1901, accounts received and expended, and listing of road hands, 1895.

Where Is Local Government Going In Latin America? A Comparative Perspective, Robert Andrew Nickson

Robert Andrew Nickson

In the light of the decentralisation process now under way in Latin America, this paper seeks to address the direction of local government in the region. It proposes two Weberian ideal types of local government systems – ‘managerial’ and ‘governmental’. Ten basic features of local government systems are then used as a template to ‘situate’ Latin American local government within this typology. On the basis of this comparative framework, the paper tentatively concludes that the ‘managerial’ type of local government is gaining ground in the region.

Two Octopuses Making Love: An Analysis Of Institutional Management Behaviors Across Four Brownfield Remediation And Redevelopment Project Networks In Rochester And Buffalo, Ny, Rob Alexander

Public Administration - Dissertations

With intensifying pressure to not only solve public problems by collaborating with actors situated outside the confines of city hall but also to address complex, long-term challenges like climate change adaptation and sustainability, local government public managers find themselves working in increasingly difficult public management environments. Currently, public management theory fails to fully prescribe management strategies and behaviors that enable managers to best achieve their goals in these situations. This dissertation addresses this gap between theory and practice by tracing the public management processes that lead to outcomes in a set of municipality-led brownfield remediation and redevelopment projects.

Utilizing an …

The Global Financial Crisis And Local Government, Robert Andrew Nickson

Robert Andrew Nickson

This short paper examines the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on local government. It first proposes a framework to explore the possible transmission mechanisms through which the GFC impacts on local government income and expenditure, and then assesses the strength of these effects. The second section addresses the wider question of the potential impact of the GFC on decentralisation, which has been a notable feature of the development strategy of many Commonwealth countries in recent decades. The final section suggests that the GFC provides an opportunity for addressing three longstanding structural concerns affecting local government.

Corruption In Metropolis, Josie Gatti

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

Corruption may be one of the most elusive phenomena in government. We may know it when we see it, but it is subject to individual perceptions shaped by a myriad of influences. The federal system of American governance was indented to impede the gross misuse of power; however, corruption is as much a part of our system today as it is around the world. While the study of the micro and individual level factors that inspire corruption are relevant, governance and business studies have long shown that structure and systems can affect behavior. This research reflects on those institutions and …

City Management Theory And Practice: A Foundation For Educating The Next Generation Of Local Government Administrators, Scott Douglas Lazenby

Dissertations and Theses

Due to the retirement of the baby boom generation, many individuals, in a relatively short period of time, will need to be trained and educated to step into local government senior leadership positions. Ideally, the education and training of this new leadership cadre should be guided by a well known and proven body of theory that helps us understand the competencies the next generation of public service need to possess in order to be effective in their work. The purpose of this research is to assess whether such a body of work exists and, if so, whether it is successfully …

Report On Survey Of Councillors In The Gambia, Robert Andrew Nickson, Munawwar Alam, Andrea Deri

Robert Andrew Nickson

This research was conducted at a national training workshop held in February 2008. Almost all councillors from The Gambia participated and all of those who attended responded to the Secretariat’s questions. It finds that a statistically ‘typical,’ ‘average’ councillor in The Gambia in 2009 can be characterised as a 41 year old male who completed secondary level education, works over 38 hours per week as a full time councillor, lives off his allowance only without any other income, serves his first term in office and represents 16,000 people.

Democratic Institutions Create Civic Health: How Local Jurisdictions Can Enhance Their Problem-Solving Capacities Through Inclusive Governance, Including A Case Study Of Newark, Delaware, Ezra Temko

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Civic health is a community’s economic, civic, and social infrastructure – its capacity to solve its problems. This paper explores how contemporary local governments address the opportunities and challenges facing their communities and how local governments could utilize civic engagement to enhance civic health. It also evaluates the status of Newark, Delaware’s civic health and offers pragmatic steps Newark’s government can take to enhance the community’s civic health. Democratic governance is the 21st century engine for communities like Newark, Delaware to enhance their civic health. Collaborative and inclusive governance can improve a community’s abilities to solve problems. The Newark community …

Organizational Complexity In American Local Governance: Deploying An Organizational Perspective In Concept And Analytic Framework Development, Charles David Crumpton

Dissertations and Theses

Organizational complexity is a distinguishing characteristic of local governance in America's urban areas. Organizationally complex arrangements among jurisdictions, agencies, and private for-profit and not-for-profit organizations are frequently involved in the production and delivery of local public goods and services in the United States. In this dissertation study the author seeks useful explanations regarding emergence, operation and consequences of organizational complexity found in local public economies in the United States. The study draws on the author's professional practice and researcher experience and organizational theory to develop a conceptual platform for better understanding local public sector organizational complexity. The conceptual platform is …