Government Final

Front 1

responsibilities of county government

Back 1

1. run law enforcement
2. operate courts
3. enforce state health laws
4. collect and maintain birth, death, marriage, divorce, and deed records
5. collect taxes
6. register voters and conduct primary and general elections for the state
7. build and maintain roads and bridges
8. provide other services like airports and seaports, libraries, parks, and recreational facilities

Front 2

council manager

Back 2

city council hires city manager who acts as a chief executive
city manager runs day to day activity and is basically like the mayor from the mayor-council form of government

(ex: fort worth, galveston, austin)

pros: efficient system that keeps politics out of administration and administrators out of politics; a professional city manager can provide more efficient policy administration than a mayor with no administrative experience

cons: it may work for mid mid-size, uncomplicated cities but not for larger cities; they believe that big cities with diverse populations need the policy leadership of a strong mayor; city manager system is designed to ensure the efficient implementation of policy. what happens when city residents and the city council are deeply divided over policy alternatives? neither the city manager nor the mayor in the council manager form has the political strength to forge a consensus among competing political forces

Front 3

5 stages of public policymaking

Back 3

1. agenda building
2. policy formulation
3. policy adoption
4. policy implementation
5. policy evaluation

Front 4

county clerk

Back 4

records legal documents, such as deeds, mortgages, and contracts, and keeps vital statistics on births, deaths, marriages, and divorce.
county clerk is also the county election official. he or she conducts absentee balloting, instructs precinct election workers, certifies election returns, and forwards election results to the office of the texas secretary of state. in some counties, he registers voters; in small counties, county clerk performs the functions of the district clerk

Front 5

district clerk

Back 5

maintains legal records for the district courts.

Front 6

mayor-council

Back 6

voters elect mayor who acts as chief executive and a council who acts as a legislative body
mayor basically runs the city. mayor is the boss

(ex: houston)

pros: system provides for efficient city government because it concentrates power and responsibility for policy leadership and policy implementation in the hands of a single elected official, the mayor

cons: strong mayor variation gives the mayor too much power; they worry that the mayor will build a personal empire and become a political boss

Front 7

general rule

Back 7

1. specifically tells what them what they can do
2. less than 5,000 people
3. can annex wen they get approval of the people they want to annex
4. stricter range of governmental structure

ex: austin

Front 8

agenda building

Back 8

presenting an issue to the government (going to the police and saying there are hoodlums on a street)

Front 9

policy formulation

Back 9

strategies for dealing with the problem in the agenda (the police come up with ways to get rid of the hoodlums)

Front 10

home rule

Back 10

1. can do anything they're not prohibited from doing
2. more than 5,000 people
3. can annex without approval
4. broader range of governmental structure

ex: houston

Front 11

policy adoption

Back 11

choosing one or more of the strategies (police decide to put more policemen and street lights on the street)

Front 12

policy implementation

Back 12

doing the action (putting more policemen and streetlights

Front 13

policy evaluation

Back 13

see how well the action is working (if it's working then ok. if not, then go back to policy adoption and pick a better strategy)