Area Committee Meeting

I got an opportunity to attend San Francisco District Committee general meeting that took place on 1s November 2010, Thursday from 2 pm. The chief guest was Councilor Louise Henry who has chaired the meeting. Fifteen councilors also attended the meeting with police, environment, and other invited officials. The officials had to be part of the meeting for providing satisfactory information to emerging issues that would surface during the meeting. Important persons who were also in the meeting were Deputy Governor, Governor, City Solicitor and Council Manager. The presence of these persons in the meeting was to offer advice in the way of carrying out the meeting plus taking records and any other proceedings. Meanwhile, after elections, Councilors have their seats in the House chamber. The manner in which seating arrangement takes place follows the political alienations where those who belong to the Democrats sat on the Governor’s left side while the Republicans were seated on the right side in conjunction with other minority groups.
The media utilized the Press Table that was positioned beneath the dais and also before the members who were seated frontwards. Several other officers who support other varied ideologies were also present in the meeting. Every attendant had a microphone that is managed from a console on the dais within the Chamber. The Governor had a similar copy of microphone feature also on the dais for the purpose of enabling him in identifying those who were willing to participate in the discussion through airing their views.

A committee refers to that grouping of councilors on appointment by the council for the purpose of meeting with the intention of reviewing, scrutinization and arriving at decisions while in a particular function. The member councils always make decisions on the composition of committees and the appointment of the members during the annual general meeting. The City Council of San Francisco has its overview and selected committee for carrying out scrutinization plus another additional seven select committees.
The main opposition party is the Republicans while the Democrats are the majority party. As an opposition party, the Republicans lead a shadow board that oversees the kind of activities taking place on the executive board. Every shadow board member plays the role of the spokesperson for the Republicans group in their respective portfolios. Meanwhile, councilors are not part of the executive board, and for this reason, they may also be referred to as backbenchers the same way as MPs who do not form part of the cabinet. Amidst this scenario, these people are still significant on the managerial functions of the system. For example, it is upon the councilors to be in attendance of each and every meeting called by the council so that they can participate in a discussion and also cast their votes on major policies of the suggested by the council. Contrastingly, in the year 2000, the scrutiny responsibility emerged following the idea of the backbenchers.
Indeed there is an urgency to change the system of Local Government in the United States so that there could be a strong linkage between the Council and the locals. Also, the move stands to ensure delivery of high standards to the locals in every place, spreading of the best practices to the local government plus also handling of cases of serious failures and other issues that affect the local government. Most of this agenda has the backing of the senior members of the council following its lobbying by the local government just before the general election took place. However, it becomes important to stress on the two key aspects of the approach taken by the government towards the local councils. Firstly, it is of much importance to give priority to the approach of carrot and stick. On a second note, it is also essential to stress on the Deter Agenda as championed by the minister for local government.
Normally, councils make to success when they give people the priority. Councils that emerge successfully about the priorities emerge to the leaders of their local communities. As they aim at being successful, they engage and respond to the interests of the locals where in this case, they end up building the strong relationship that is also effective with the businesses and other local organization. Likewise, the trust that they build with the locals is an excellent one. In this regard, when these councils end up partnering with the local government, they indeed bring real improvements to the standards of lives that people lead. Indeed, this kind of modern council’s suits well for the 21st century because of them being built on an open culture and also being to be accountable. On top of these, these councils have a well defined and effective kind of leadership that stands out to hold to the interest of the people and also ensuring the attainment of the local accountability. Also, instances such as public opinion and debates discussing in the manner to arrive at decisions have a value together with the strategies that are available in creating awareness and engagement of the opinion from the locals.
To realize its potential, the local government must have with it the guidelines that offer encouragement to the councils in accepting the reformation and modernization practices or objectives. The aspect of undertaking the modernization of the local government remains a prime objective of the Government, councils and another person who is part of the team. The agenda that this group always champion for is the necessity for change. The mentioned agenda will always offer support and motivation in adopting to change via legislation where applicable, cooperation with the local government and other stakeholders as well as other experts. In this case, each council must have with its way of undertaking the process of modernization so that it can fit well with the circumstances within the locality. In future, this process stands out to be of help in such situation where the council may need to learn and also utilize each and every person’s experiences.
Conclusively, there change process is already happening. Councils are in the process of reformation and renewal of their system of political structures and managements. Part of these councils is seen to be adopting fresh and innovative systems of arrangements that also are in line with the present legislation. In the long run, their aim is to have a well-defined system of political management. To achieve this objective, these councils are utilizing the steps that separate the political executives that are within their system of political structures. For instance, some of the councils are incorporating the Deter Agenda to achieve the best for United States of America while others are coming up with services that are also in line with the best value chains.