How does your community's government work? What type of government does your community have?
I live in a town. We have a town administrator, selectmen, and representative town meetings.
The town administrator oversees the daily operations of the town. He or she is not elected but hired for a multi-year term. This is one of the responsibilities of the selectmen.
The selectmen and the representatives of the town meeting are the authority. The selectmen, in some communities called aldermen, meet weekly to discuss and resolve issues and problems. The meetings are open to the public. They meet weekly.
My town's selectmen act as selectmen-at-large; they represent all of the town. None are specific to a precinct.
The representatives to our town meeting are our legislators. They vote on the budget, raises for town employees, and other issues and laws.
In a traditional town meeting, any resident from that town can speak for or against issues and vote for or against issues. This type of town meeting works well in small towns.
What about a town of thirty thousand? Certainly not every citizen takes part in their town meeting. However some issues will gather the interest or ire of the community.
Technology helps but it will take time before "cyber-enhanced" governments become functional. Aside from the digital divide, learning curves, and cost, physical time may make a town meeting of twenty or thirty thousand to be impractical.
Representative town meetings solve this issue. It is the same solution that our states' and country's congresses use.
We elect people to represent our town's citizens. Each precinct elects 18 members, 6 for a 1 year term, 6 for a 2 year term, and 6 for a 3 year term. We have 9 precincts. Elections are staggered; every year some members are up for election.
Any citizen can speak at our town meeting but only elected representatives can vote.
I like the town meeting form of government. It is the most direct form of democracy.
What type of government does your town or city have?