Introduction to State and Local Government PP Sheila Toppin, DPA (abd), MPA

Welcome to the Class Professor Introduction Availability – Office hours: Monday & Wednesdays 6:00 to 8:00 pm EST (AIM ID: Sheila Toppin, by telephone) – Appointments: call or send an message Student Introductions – Personal Triumphs – Preferred contact mode Questions???

Course Info Units (10 weeks), Wednesday to Tuesday EST Discussion Board – Two discussions per Unit, Wednesday to Tuesday MST PP105-01: Seminar meets Mondays at 8 PM EST Readings: eBook Chapters available under DocSharing tab in classroom. Announcements: Informational & Reminders Questions????

Syllabus Reading assignments are VITAL Discussion Board Seminar Assignments: Upload to DropBox in classroom Plan B Seminar: Live (Chat) in classroom Grading Rubrics Questions???

Syllabus Print a hardcopy for you personal use. Course Resources: eBook & websites. Research: Scholarly work for Discussion Board & written assignments. Netiquette: – Respect the opinion of others – Dialogue honestly, but tactfully – Politically divisive topics require civility QUESTIONS???

Kaplan’s Expectations Timeliness in handing in assignments. Achieve academic excellence by thoroughly understanding of major assignments. Academic integrity: – Students should do their own work. Per the catalog: “Kaplan University considers academic honesty to be one of its highest values” (p. 34). – Plagiarism is to be avoided at all costs.

Kaplan’s Expectations What is plagiarism? Briefly, it is the “theft of someone else’s ideas and work” (p. 34). Plagiarism at Kaplan includes: – copying verbatim from another source, whether that source is from the Internet, from another student, or from one’s own previous work. – This includes recycling our own papers from one course to another.

Kaplan Expectations As Diane Hacker writes in Rules for Writers (6 th edition): “Three different acts are considered plagiarism: – (1) failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, – (2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and – (3) failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words” (p. 480). Questions???

Unit 1 To-Do List Introductions Readings Discussion Seminar Quiz (See the To-Do Checklist PDF that is available in the classroom to keep track each Unit)

Questions? Any other questions about the syllabus? Any other questions about what you are to do in Unit 1? Any other questions?

Unit 1 Seminar Topics Overview of Federal System Overview of State & Local Government Overview of Municipalities Variations in local governmental authority – Mayor-council systems – Council-manager systems – Localities

State Government System

Local Government System

Local Government Why do local governments matter? – 87,000 local governments in U.S. – 1 local government for every 3,450 people Which form of local government is best? Which form of local government is most common?

Most Common Form of Local Gov’t. Council-Manager 3,511 (49%) Mayor-Council 3,116 (43.5%) Commission 143 (2.0%) Town Meeting 339 (4.7%) Representative Town Meeting 62 (0.9%)

Municipalities A municipality is a political jurisdiction formed by an association of citizens to provide self- governance within a clearly defined geographic area. Municipalities encompass two basic forms of government: – townships – cities

Municipalities Cities are corporations - they are legal entities incorporated under state law for the purpose of self- government at the local level. – Cities are bottom up creations. – A local community seeks the authority of self-governance by incorporating itself as a legal entity with certain powers and responsibilities under state law.

Municipalities Townships are shells of government, little more than geographic subdivisions of counties vested with little in the way of responsibility or power. – Vested with a considerable range of responsibilities and essentially function as mini county governments. – Run by a board of commissioners or township supervisors, which is just a county commission form of government in miniature.

Municipalities Variation of powers: The executive (mayor) and the legislature (city council). Appointed administrator, or city manager responsible for the day-to-day responsibility for running municipal operations. Four municipal governance systems: – The mayor-council system – The commission system – The city manager system – The town meeting system

Municipalities Mayor-council systems are among the most common and provide for real executive power, especially in strong mayor systems. – Separation of executive and legislative powers. – Types: Strong Mayor versus Weak Mayor

Municipalities Council-manager systems, by contrast, transfer policymaking authority to an unelected city manager. – Separation of political and administrative functions of government. – Council makes policy decisions but placing their implementation into the hands of a professional administrator (city manager).

Municipalities Commission systems: A form of municipal governance in which executive, legislative, and administrative powers are vested in elected city commissioners. – Only about 2% of municipalities with populations greater than 2,500 use the commission form of government

Municipalities Town meeting form of government: A form of governance where legislative powers are held by local citizens.

Municipalities Powers & Constraints Local governments, regardless of their particular form, differ from the state and federal government in a fundamentally important way: – They are not sovereign (derive their power not from the citizens they serve, but from the government immediately above them).

Municipalities Powers & Constraints Con’t. – Local governments are charged with the primary responsibility for delivering a broad range of public services (education, law enforcement, roads, utilities, etc.), and they have broad authority to levy taxes and pass regulations and ordinances.

Municipalities Dillion’s Rule: The legal principle that says local governments can exercise only the powers granted to them by state government. – In a nutshell, state power trumps local government power, which means state legislatures invariably win power struggles with local governments. Home Rule: The right of localities to self-government, usually granted through a charter.

Unit 1 Seminar Summary Discussed the Federal, State, & Local Government Systems Discussed Local Government Systems Defined and Examined Municipalities Discussed Powers and Constraints of Municipalities Final Questions??? Dismissal