Local government administration in small town America

"In government administration and leadership, rural community leaders face unique challenges in delivering public services including (but not limited to) education, health care, and public safety. Meanwhile residents who live in smaller and more isolated rural settings often face greater difficulties accessing provisions and services or commuting to work, among other economic development challenges. These factors may affect a community's resiliency to and recovery from shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Local Government Administration in Small Town America devotes some overdue scholarly attention to the governance and administration of public programs in small towns and rural communities in the United States. The chapter contributors to this volume analyze some of the unique challenges rural communities face, as well as the policy tools that their governments employ to address them. The book explores ways that small town governments collaborate with one another, the state, and the federal government, and examines how local government officials use knowledge of people and place to improve policy performance. The chapters are designed to provide cases and strategies for students and practitioners in public administration to use in a small town environment, while also considering a community's distinctive social and political culture which determines how local political leaders and government practitioners might respond to demands and challenges they face. Local Government Administration in Small Town America is an essential resource for undergraduate and graduate students studying local government, as well as for rural practitioners navigating evolving challenges unique to their communities"--

Cover -- Endorsement -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- List of Contributors -- Foreword -- Part I Government Structures -- 1 The Network of Interests, Institutions, and Individual Interactions in Small Town Governance -- Introduction -- Local Governmental Forms and Structures -- Different Forms of Government Defined -- Mayor-Council Form of Government -- Council-Manager Form of Government -- Commission Form of Government -- Town Meeting Form of Government -- Representative Town Meeting Form of Government -- Other Units of Local Government -- County Government -- Special Districts and Public Authorities -- Cooperatives -- Research On Form of Government -- Significance of Form of Government -- Changing Form of Government -- Changing Form of Government: Two Small City Examples -- Institutions, Interests, and Ideas -- The Network of Small Town Governance -- The "Rural" Lens -- References -- Case Study: Starting Out as a Professional Administrator in a Small Town -- 2 The Origin and Persistence of American County Boundaries: Courthouse Competition and the Road to Reapportionment -- The Puzzle of Stable County Boundaries -- American Beginnings: The Scramble to Establish State Control -- County Proliferation: Creatures of the State? -- Apportionment Problems -- Capping County Numbers -- County Dominance in the South -- County Seats and County Persistence in the Rural West -- Preserving Rural Counties -- References -- Part II Public Functions in Rural Government Systems -- Subsection: Economic and Community Development -- 3 Placemaking as an Economic Development Strategy for Rural Governments -- Introduction -- Rural Placemaking -- The Placemaking Process -- Assemble an Exploratory Team -- Review Existing Long-Range Plans -- Produce an Economic Assets Inventory.