Responses

1.) What is a special district and how is it defined?

In short, special districts are entities authorized by state legislation to provide one or several functions. Special districts are fiscally independent and may qualify as separate governments.

2.) What role do city councils play in local government?

City councils are congressional-style legislative bodies. They pass the legislation that governs the city, proposes bills, and are elected. The role of city councils varies with the type of mayorship employed. In a strong mayor local government, for example, the mayor is the city's chief legislator and executive and has veto power over city council proposition and legislation. A weak mayor form of government differs as the city council shares legislative and executive authority with the mayor.

3) Oumou mentioned that there is often overlap in terms of agencies of local government. What are the positive/negative consequences of this redundancy?

If I may answer my own question...

This overlap necessarily entails a redundancy in bureaucracy...creating a bit of confusion. It creates competition among those institutions while strengthening responsiveness to citizens.

Say that we in Belmont, have a fire department with an emergency room as well as a hospital across the street. For the sake of this example, say that we have free universal health care and that a co-payment for a drop in visit is based on individual ability to pay. Both are equipped with the latest medical technology and are nice-looking places.........slightly self-evident?