Councils or Associations of Governments
It is common for residents of major U.S. metropolitan areas to live under six or more layers of special districts as well as a town or city, and a county or township. In turn, a typical metro area often consists of several counties, several dozen towns or cities, and a hundred (or more) special districts. In one state, California, the fragmentation problem became so bad that in 1963 the California Legislature created Local Agency Formation Commissions in 57 of the state's 58 counties; that is, government agencies to supervise the orderly formation and development of other government agencies. One effect of all this complexity is that victims of government negligence occasionally sue the wrong entity and do not realize their error until the statute of limitations has run against them.
Because efforts at direct consolidation have proven futile, U.S. local government entities often form "councils of governments," "metropolitan regional councils," or "associations of governments." These organizations serve as regional planning agencies and as forums for debating issues of regional importance, but are generally powerless relative to their individual members. Since the late 1990s, "a movement, frequently called 'New Regionalism,' accepts the futility of seeking consolidated regional governments and aims instead for regional structures that do not supplant local governments."
Read more about this topic: Local Government In The United States
Famous quotes containing the words councils, associations and/or governments:
“Surrealism ... is the forbidden flame of the proletariat embracing the insurrectional dawn—enabling us to rediscover at last the revolutionary moment: the radiance of the workers’ councils as a life profoundly adored by those we love.”
—“Manifesto of the Arab Surrealist Movement” (1975)
“There are many ways of discarding [books]. You can give them to friends,—or enemies,—or to associations or to poor Southern libraries. But the surest way is to lend them. Then they never come back to bother you.”
—Carolyn Wells (1862?–1942)
“Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)