Support of county and local local government structures that stress accountability and responsiveness to the electorate, facilitate coordination and cooperation among the elected officials and government management, and encourage residents’ participation in the decision-making process.

To achieve these goals we support the following:

  1. The role of the elected governing boards as policymakers and goal setters.
  2. Implementation by the agencies’ managements of the policies and goals established by elected board members.
  3. A strong role for management executives similar to that as set forth in Marin County Ordinance 2.08, which grants authority: “to administer, supervise, direct, coordinate and control all county offices and departments; to function as administrator for the Board of Supervisors and make recommendations to the Board on budget, capital improvements, and appointed positions.”
  4. An organizational structure for Marin County and local governments, with careful consideration given to establishing clear lines of authority and to logical combinations of departments to facilitate the most efficient delivery of services.
  5. Adoption by elected boards of a set of comprehensive goals and objectives and the establishment of priorities for agencies and departments, utilizing these to evaluate programs in the annual budgetary process.
  6. Early publication of proposed budgets to facilitate resident input at budgetary hearings.  To improve the process further: (1) adoption of a program/capital expenditure budget supported by a coordinated line-item budget; (2) organization of the budget to show revenue sources clearly and to include a full narrative to describe and justify each program; (3) a clear presentation of unfunded liability financial exposures associated with pension and other post employment benefits and steps being taken to reduce them.
  7. Utilization of staff as necessary to relieve elected officials of some administrative detail and to observe and report to them the sense of outside meetings that the elected officials are unable to attend.
  8. In the case of the County, recognition that a supervisor’s position is full time and therefore administrative aides be utilized as necessary to: 1.) relieve supervisors of some district and administrative detail and 2.) represent them at meetings.

Adopted 1977, Revised 1987, 1992, (re-titled 5/20/12), 2015, 2018