Huge Impersonal Government

One of the best attributes of a smaller government is the esprit de corps which the staff enjoys. I have seen this in the formation of the City of Santa Clarita. We started to form our government on Dec. 16, 1987, the day after incorporation. The Council had hired a city manager and borrowed a room with a couple of old desks and phones. At first the manager and a local lady who knew a lot of people were the only staff.
We had a city of 110,000-plus population to run, but enjoyed a smooth transition while we contracted with the County of Los Angeles for services we were not prepared to provide. A month later we moved into a storefront with ten desks, and six months after that we occupied the third floor of an office building, which we bought later.
Why the quick expansion? It was cheaper to hire the staff, rent the space and buy the equipment to provide services than to contract with the county.
I served on the city council for three terms, from the date of incorporation until my retirement at the end of a term in 1998, and as we grew I reveled in the spirit of our growing staff. It was huge for me because I had been teaching in the Los Angeles City Schools since 1963, and I can recall only one pleasant contact with district staff outside of the schools in which I taught.
Through the process of incorporating Santa Clarita I had many dealings with the county. Yes, those who took the time to talk with me were pleasant, helpful, and often candid. However, the phone contacts were very frustrating, as the people who answered the phones seldom knew how to help or to whom I should talk.
I've been retired for over ten years, so most of our local city staff see me as just another citizen. However, when I call the city I still enjoy the spirit of helpfulness that goes with the ability to respond easily to questions. Our organization is small enough (even though our population is now about 180,000) that staff members know their way around, and how to solve problems.
It is just not that way in a county of ten million people, larger in population than 60% of the countries of the world.
When I think of how I felt as a teacher in the LAUSD, and as a public servant in Santa Clarita, I am sure that county employees would really take pride in, and enjoy working for, smaller counties.
County supervisors and many others in government wonder about the growing lack of civility exhibited by their constituents. There is a solution. We need simply to start working to put a more personal face on county organization.