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Show ••••• ••••• i1l collecti.1lg signatwes to place a 11.0if'ied PltOPOSIID CHANGES IN COUNTY GOVHR.NMEN T Salt Lake ColUlty GovenuneJlt f oc the Next Ceatv.ry Com.mittee city-couaty govenuae•t pJa.a o• the Nove.m.bet 1978. ballot. Altlao11gla the m.eanre was defeated, we feel our f oc11s o.a the aecessity of the separation or legislative a.ad executive fu.actio.as of local govenuae.at was respo.asible, at least ia part. for the claan.ge ia Salt Late City govenune:n.t to a co11ncil-mayor f onn. in May. 1979 _ IA addtion to our studies on local govenunent stnacture. we have studied anaexation in Salt Lake County. special purpose districts, couatyrecreati oafacilities, caayo.a The foUo-..ng i:s a :speecla 'Written lty Gigi Brandt and given by Nanelle 8 en~tz The Leag•e of Women Voters of Salt Lake is pleased to have this opportunity to prcseat our views on Salt Lake Gover.am.eat m.oder.aizatioa_ We wish to express oar appreciation to tile members of tile coaunittee f or the time you have give.a. aad the efforts you are .making to improve county govern.m.ent_ Maay Lea.pc m.em.ben oYet tile past tlairty y ears,. too have spent hours studying a.ad making efforts to improve local govenun.eat_ As part of the chartering process,. all Leagues must study their co.m..m.uaity ia a •Ka.ow Your Town Study_• Tile Salt Late publislaed its city study in. 1950_ Whe.a. the Salt Lake City League and valley zo.lliJlg. and capital facilities pJaooing aad surveyed police services. Basically tile Leape supports four basic pria.ciples for a cha.aged f onn. of local government: equal representation by district based oa the • oae maa-oae vote• priacipte; separationofle gislative and ad.ministcative powers; qualified departm.e.at :heads. whether wanted to become a county-wide League we repeated this basic requirement for all Salt Lake County a.ad publis.lled a very thorough •KJtow Your County• boot. in 1971_ We have rcceatly completed a •Know Your Town Study• fot West Valley City as part of our community education program.. Our recent annual meeting adopted alternative forms of Salt Lake County Government as our single new study item for 1987-88. Leaguers agreed early in our history that the existi.Jlg structure of local govern.meat was aot an.ct could not be efficient,. ecoao.m.ical,. represea.tative orrcspoasive ia tbe currcat v alley setting. An active lobby corps obscrvi.Jlg city aad co11aty com.missio.a.s as well as zo.aing co.m.missio.as provided the impetus f ot several studies deali.ag with local g overJUD.eat. Where first our aim as a League w as Home R.ulc for Salt Lake City,. it soon became appareat tb.atlhe probleas of o vern.m.e.a.t stnletllrc should be addt'CSSCd counywide. So. in 1970 League members ~· clved thoroughly into the Local Goveram.e.at Modernization Study done under tile s poasorship of Salt Lake City,, Salt Lake County and M11rray City. In 19n we were a major part of tbe drive to pass a coastitutioaal amendme.at allowing differiag forms of county govcrn.m.e.a.t. We favored the proposed plan of g ovcra.me.a.t defeated ia. the electioa of March. 1975. U a.daunted. we played the major role in Salt Late Voter- elected or appointed: and delivery of a basic level of service (i.e. garbage collectioa fire and police protection),. for all residents by the City or Couaty. Like other citizeas who have spoken to you> League members believe any govecaing body for aa urbaa county of tllis size should have more thaA three members. No 11 matter how able officials maybe, we can't help but think additional mi.Ads and perso.a.alities would. bring thoughts &Ad attitudes which would stre.agthe.a the decision ma.king process. We also .aote dlat the tllree conun.issioaen are the only body for tile u.aincorporated area with a populations of 270.000 bodies. No other part of the valley is so inadequately represented. The League bas felt for the past thirty years that the eventual solution must be a modernized form. of county govenuneat, Short of cits.age ia coanty government. we have supported measures over the yean wbicb have contributed to that goal. Until that end is accomplished the League supports tbe f ollowiag iateriin measures: coa.solidation of city-cou.aty services; co.asotidatioa of special purpose districts. cooperation of city and cou.aty governments ia. tile area of capital improvem.eats and the cooperation of city and county in the solution of mwtual problems. Oae of the majot problems in the present form of cou.aty govern.meat is the failure to give adequate attention to long range planning in such areas as fiscal p••nai ag capita.lim.prov emeat plaaai.ag, 11 economic developme.ntan d general program. plaa.aing. - 7 - Mag 1987 |
