POLI120 American State : Type of Government
the form of that government (e.g., township, municipal charter), the management system (e.g., commission, mayor, council), how leadership positions would be instated (e.g., appointment, election), the type of law enforcement and judicial system you would put into place, and your rehabilitation system for any criminal offender. You can mix and match your government, judicial, and law enforcement decisions, but you must fully explain the reasons why you chose the types of systems.
Answer:
Type of Government:
The private island may be named after the famous writer and environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas as City of Douglas. The local governance established in the island would be a city system of local governance. However, to form a new county or other forms of local governance, a General Act under the State Constitution need to be formed. For the formation of a certain things are considered. The minimum population size of the new county, the tax base should be equitable and similar to the parent county, but the island was a private-owned property, and does not fulfill the standard as adopted by the Legislative Committee on Intergovernmental Relations Report in the year 2001. Therefore, it is better to form a municipal government (Rice, Waldner & Smith, 2014).
Form of Government:
A municipal type of government, which shall be established under the State Constitution of Florida, shall govern the island. Municipality can be formed under Section 2 of Article VIII of the State Constitution of Florida. Section 6 with reference to Section 11(e) of the State Constitution of Florida under Article VIII states that the Board of the County Commissioners has been given the power to establish municipalities. Chapter 165 of the Florida Statutes states the Formulation of Municipalities Act (Berman, 2015).
Management System:
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 states the ways to conduct elections for the establishment of new municipality. There is no particular standard of conducting elections regarding the voting for the establishment of a new municipality. The structure and the standard are determined by the demographics of the local government, which needs to be established. Elections must be conducted for the best interest of the member districts. There shall be a charter which shall include that for the establishment of new municipality specific areas has been considered and the new municipality shall comply all he state and the federal election laws. This will confirm that the formation of the new municipality has been made complying the laws of the land with all legal requirements (Leland & Johnson, 2016).
Since 1974, Florida law has required that a proposed charter is prepared in bill form and submitted to the Legislature. The charter is the document by which the municipality will govern itself and operate. Although the charter sets the framework for the city’s governance, there are only two statutorily required characteristics for a proposed charter under s. 165.061, F.S. First, the charter must describe the form of government that will be used by the municipality. Second, the charter cannot prohibit the legislative body of the municipality from exercising certain taxing powers. With little guidance, yet much flexibility given to the drafters, as many contingencies as possible must be considered in preparing the charter. Shortcomings or omissions in the charter may give rise to problems later. There are several resources for groups to utilize when drafting a charter, such as the Florida Municipal Officials Handbook, published by the Florida Institute of Government, and the Model Charter published by the National Civic League. In addition, the House Committee on Community Affairs publishes annually the Local Bill Policies and Procedures Manual. This publication provides guidance regarding incorporation, annexation, merger, and other local government formation matters. Currently, chapter laws codifying municipal incorporation bills are not available electronically, which may impede research efforts. The Florida Legislatures Office of Legislative Services, Division of Statutory Revision, publishes a hard copy Index to Laws of Florida Special and Local Laws. The Index is searchable only by the municipality’s name (Reynolds, 2015).
The Law of Florida requires that the establishment of a new municipality will form a charter, which will include the form of government it prescribes and the role and function of the legislative and executive body. The municipal government can be o different forms such as the Council-weak Mayor Form, Council-Strong Mayor Form, Commission, Council Manager, and City-County Consolidation. The Council Manager form is the recent trend in Florida and so it is of the opinion to form a Council Manager form of government in the island of the coast of Florida. The charter should be clear and descriptive regarding the official powers, responsibilities, functions, and duties of the officer’s of the new municipal establishment (Wang, Van Wart& Lebredo, 2014).
Conclusion:
Thus, it is to be concluded that the island shall have a municipal government with specific standards in the charter before the establishment of the municipality. The municipality should clearly comply with the specific standards as set out by the state. Therefore, the island shall establish a municipality with such number of officials being appointed and elected (Zavattaro, French & Mohanty, 2015).
References:
Rice, K. T., Waldner, L. S., & Smith, R. M. (2014). Why new cities form: An examination into municipal incorporation in the United States 1950–2010. CPL bibliography, 29(2), 140-154.
Berman, D. (2015). Local government and the states: autonomy, politics and policy. Routledge.
Leland, S. M., & Johnson, G. A. (2016). Consolidation as a local government reform. City-County Consolidation and Its Alternatives: Reshaping the Local Government Landscape: Reshaping the Local Government Landscape.
Reynolds Jr, O. (2015). Local government law. West Academic.
Wang, X., Van Wart, M., & Lebredo, N. (2014). Sustainability Leadership in a Local Government Context: The Administrator's Role in the Process. Public Performance & Management Review, 37(3), 339-364.
Zavattaro, S. M., French, P. E., & Mohanty, S. D. (2015). A sentiment analysis of US local government tweets: The connection between tone and citizen involvement. Government Information Quarterly, 32(3), 333-341.
