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' . . ' ` ® • .S ... set-up your government so that thin political activity can exf.*.rcise in the easiest way. • I think you should decide on the basis of largely, what' s the easiest way, the way most likely the people can get the kind of services they want and once ' they decide. what they want, that that be the kind of government that you' re going to recommend. County overnment as opposcd to city " tgovernment® Last week your cussion was on esscntiaiiy a city norm of government, yet this is a countye ' What' s the connection between the two? • The difference is that the county here is quite different • from the ' traditional county on the mainland inasmuch as it does furnish all local services furnished by cities as compared to traditional county carrying out certain assignments given to it by the state . County government as such is often attacked as being obsolete, an anachronism, and the way it' s run in most states , it is . However, this isn' t necessarily true at all and those counties that have, usually by statutes remodeled their governments to bring some order out of chaos . Power and separation of power. I would -like to suggest that separation of i- ar.: isa historical accident. The separation of power is not a law of nature--it is _just something that worked out extremely well in the American federal government and it worked reasonably well in most state governments . This • . doesn' t necessarily mean that it has to be imposed all the way eo • down the linea When you get a mayor council• government, then . you get the question--the committee says how much separation of powers do you want? Right now there is very little, This is characterized by the weak-mayor form of government. Also , there is not •much separation of powers so people will say , "tJe ought to separate executive from the legislative. This does have the effect of strengthening position of the mayor. There are a few criteria you ought to use if you want to move in this direction: 1. The mayor ought to be elected m 2. Whether he has a vote in the council . . "rlere he does . This is typical of weak-mayor form of government. If you want -ate him from the council. then take away hi., vote to separate P � in the council.e • 3 o Has he a veto? you're strengthening the position of the mayor so certr,ii.l.:r you don' t haw:. -, L,at;,.tien of: .power by . giving h.:;m moye pm7er by veto. He' s got one vote that counts as mu,Th as the whole council put together, which is not separating power 4, Confirmation of appointment. As soon as council starts e ' 7 confirming an;,ointmentn� v they're acting as an executive; • so if you want to separate this and to strengthen the mayor you don' t want to have confirmation of appointments by the council . 50 Existence of other elected officers , independent boards • and other officers appointed by the council . This usually . distinguishes the various degrees in strengthening executive in state levels . You dont have such a thing as strong or weak mayor form but: you have various degrees • of a mayor-council form. . bo The other main thing that distinguishes 'his strength, is the authority to prepare the budget. Host of these things • eventually run down to matters• of - dollars and cents . If the mayor cannot prepare executive budget, cannot