Professional Relationships For Municipal Administrators

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND THE MUNICIPAL COUCIL
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CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND THE MUNICIPAL COUCIL
The municipal administrator is concerned with the duty of running the daily affairs of the municipality or sometimes the city of a given region. Apart from management, the office is also charged with the duty of ensuring security and safety and is the office that must be consulted before any new major development can occur in the city. It is therefore very important to ensure that there is established a thorough communication channel between the citizens and the municipality as well as the increased citizen participation in the municipal government (Rhattner, 1997).
Citizen participation can be defined as the involvement of the ordinary person to the decision making process of the government at the municipality level of administration, apart from the process of election. According to the findings of Heberlein 1976, the major reason for involving the public in the process of the governmental creation and implementation of decisions is because the government needs the public to directly decide on some of the issues. Locally, the increased participation of citizens will definitely change the way the municipal administrator carries out most of its operation. This paper will analyze three ways in which the administrator`s interactions will be most affected by the increased citizen participation in the municipal government.
The municipal staff
An increase in the frequency of communication between the municipality and the public will enhance the positive interaction between the municipal administrator and his staff. This is because of the pressure that will be piling for the administrator to deliver services, such as increasing security in the locality (Lofquistte, 2003). The administrator has to develop communication with his staff so as to deliver citizens demand for the fear that the citizens may resort to more natural and traditional ways of making their demands met such as rioting or striking which is not good for the municipality as it often leads to vandalism.
Based on the reports gathered from the twin towns of San Ignacio and La Guardia in the republic of Bolivia, it can be observed that the high level of citizen interaction with the municipal government has heightened the Commission for Development and Economy Locally (CODEL) which has seen the success of several development projects within the region. This has positively impacted to the like between the municipal administrator and his municipal staff hence increasing productivity of the municipality.
Municipal council
The municipal council as a whole is also largely affected by the increased citizen participation in the municipal government. Its relationship with the municipal administration is affected in many ways since it is the principle center of the municipality. The municipal council of any region acts as the center of governance for the local government and therefore it lies at the receiving end of every action made by the public.
Firstly, the municipal council is strengthened in terms of its relationship with the council when the administrator releases new plans for the municipality, they have to be thoroughly discussed and assessed by the municipal council before they are released to the public. This has to be done so that the public, who has over the recent past continued to get more and more involved with the municipa...