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Government By the People
Citizens’ Role in Developing Public Policy
by Craig Nielson, CPPA
An interesting behavioral phenomenon
may be manifesting itself in Salt Lake County.
The Hawthorne effect, named after a series of experiments conducted
during the 1920s and 30s, maintains “that people's behavior and performance
change following new or increased attention.”
This could explain what’s been occurring in the unincorporated areas of
Salt Lake County as a result of state legislation that required county
officials to consider citizen input before moving on a very sensitive issue.
House Bill 40 came into existence
in 1995 to protect the unincorporated areas of Salt Lake County from being unfairly
taken over by existing municipalities. This
legislative protection was scheduled to expire, or “sunset,” in 2005, but was extended
until 2010 to give county officials an opportunity, as was stipulated in the
legislation, to determine the will of
the citizens in the townships. Officials
from the county worked with the University of Utah’s Center for Public Policy
& Administration to develop a survey that allowed citizens to share their
opinion on the subject. During this
time, community councils that represent the unincorporated townships and areas
ran an aggressive education campaign encouraging citizens to let their voices
be heard. Thousands of citizens jumped
at the chance to be heard and used the survey’s open-ended questions as an
opportunity to make policy recommendations regarding the future of their
communities. These recommendations were
then submitted to county officials who reviewed them along with the results of
the survey.
The “increased attention” as
manifested in the lengths to which the county was willing to go to obtain its
citizens’ opinions, seems to have helped empower citizens, who have been
attending community council meetings in higher numbers. Jeff Silvestrini, acting president of the
councils’ umbrella organization, the Association for Community Councils
Together, and chair of the Olympus Cove Community Council, says he’s never seen
anything like it, and believes the increased community involvement is also due,
in part, to County Mayor Peter Corroon’s increase of funding to the community
councils citizen outreach and education efforts. Rita Lund, outreach coordinator for the East-side unincorporated
areas, and former chair of the Canyon Rim Township” agrees. “Two or three years ago, community councils
were given 200-300 dollars each year for making copies, etc.” she
explains. “Last year, they were given a
[combined] total of 180,000 dollars.
That money does a lot to tell citizens ‘you matter.’”
With more money to work with and
more citizens attending community council meetings, residents of the Salt Lake
County’s unincorporated areas are beginning to play an active role in
formulating the “municipal priorities” that the chairs of the community
councils share during meetings with the three at-large county council members. Citizen volunteers are being recruited in
record numbers to serve on exploratory committees designed to investigate the
contingencies associated with possible township annexations and incorporations. Others are helping out with community
outreach events and preparing educational material for township newspapers.
Most people view the citizen
involvement demonstrated during the HB 40 study as extremely positive—particularly
on the east side of the county, where the HB 40 mail and phone surveys
compelled property owners who had been confused about the complex city and
county boundaries in the area to learn more about their municipal surroundings. “People are beginning to see themselves as
living in a community,” says Lund, who believes community thinking to be the
reason citizens are willing to educate themselves and others on relevant
issues—and, in some cases, make policy recommendations.
This brand of citizen activism in
the unincorporated communities reminds us that our country is steeped in a
political tradition that values a government not only of the people and for the
people, but also by the people. Nevertheless, the extent to which citizens should
participate in the formulation of public policy feels like unfamiliar territory
to many. Now that community councils
have garnered substantial citizen support and are being taken seriously by an
inclusive county government, many are asking what will happen next? According
to Lund, in one of the recent meetings between at-large county council members
and the chairs of the community councils, at-large members brought up one possibility
worth noting: eliminating the need for the county council’s ability to overrule
the zoning change and conditional use permit recommendations provided by the
unincorporated communities’ planning and zoning commission. A change like this would move unelected
citizens up a few steps in the policy making process. With the momentum some of
these citizens' groups have gained, the sky could be the limit.
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
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