Governance and Functional Regions West St. Modeste May 7, 2008

The basic problem Experience suggests that for effective development to take place in small communities, the community has to be very engaged in the process. But experience also suggests that most small communities are unable to bring about effective development by themselves – they are just too small.

Possible responses Communities rely on higher levels of government for leadership and action. Communities try to band together to achieve some critical mass. Communities give up and drift, or they voluntarily give up local control (unincorporate)

How do you form an effective group? Probably not by asking the provincial government to determine the membership Probably not by relying solely on existing administrative boundaries Probably not by calling a meeting and seeing who shows up Possibly by thinking about how communities within your general spatial region relate to each other in a number of ways – functional regions

Governance The rules and procedures chosen by an organization to provide a structure for making decisions. Every organization has some form of governance. Governance is a lot more than the vertical relations among different levels of government, that is more properly described as the distribution of powers under federalism.

The simple view of governance

Governance and small communities Relations with higher levels of government are out of your control – they set the rules. Horizontal relations with other levels of local government are possible but are limited by the powers delegated to local government. Relations with local organizations are vital because they have capabilities that local government does not and vice versa.

Local organizations Service clubs – Lion’s, Kiwannis, etc. Church based organizations Local sports leagues Local business organizations – chamber of commerce Civic volunteer groups – fire fighters, library committee, etc.

More complex governance

Exchange mechanisms Only three types exist: 1.Market or price based – one individual voluntarily pays the other, 2.Administrative or compulsory – some level of government compels that an exchange take place and may set the terms, 3.Reciprocity – an individual provides some good or service to another without any expectation of immediate direct compensation.

In any community all three types exist But in large places most of the exchanges among member of the community are market based or mandated by the government – people pay to get things done either directly or through taxes While in small places a large number of exchanges are carried out through reciprocity – people provide each other with services through voluntary behavior

Dilemma of small places People stop volunteering – burnout, bickering, too old Provincial government changes the rules and requires professionals provide the service, but the local tax base is too small to “hire it done.”

Governance and functional regions If a group of small communities are going to collaborate, it is much more likely to be effective if they can bring a significant number of the local nongovernment organizations into the collaboration. Often some of these organizations are already cooperating with each other, so they can facilitate the process. Most importantly even with collaboration among local governments, the chances of success are not high if the local organizations don’t participate. There still isn’t enough tax base and authority for government to act alone.