Section One
Wyandotte County is situated in the US and is bordered by Johnson on the shores of river Missouri. The county has an average of 156 miles and is one of the smallest counties in the city, and this reason has forced residents to work or reside in the neighboring areas. As indicated by the county's population statistics, it is evident that the county had a steady growth but later declined during the ‘80's and ‘90's. However, it is worth noting that the decline in population growth negatively affected the economy of the county, but its revival in early 2000 to 2010 enhanced the economy status. The motive behind the growth of the area is its location at the crossroads and the fact that it is a host of two major rivers (Missouri and Kansas) and other necessary resources. The county is appreciated as an important transportation hub in the region being in Kansas City (Evans School, 2012).
The vote by the public to have a unified government led to a significant impact in the area as the region enjoyed many benefits from the same such as the development of major entertainment venues and speedways. The unified government, therefore, led to the strategic planning of the available land near the Speedway to raise more funds for the area, which resulted in the generation of over $237 million (Evans School, 2012). Furthermore, the residents experienced an enhanced growth in their retail sales, which indicated better lifestyles for them. Besides, Wyandotte County is not only an industrial hub but due to its enormous resource allocation it can attract more business and hence stands a chance to experience potential growth. In 2011, Kansas City was announced to benefit from a development plan with Google that was intended to help the locals through web creation and other development goals as well.
Some of the significant benefits that Wyandotte enjoys from the Unified Government include a decade of continuous progress and success as it is involved in major development schemes worth one billion dollars. Furthermore, the unified government experiences low-interest rates and low incidence of crime rate, which is beneficial to the citizens. However, some of the major challenges that are experienced by the organization include global recession as results of the unified government. Besides, the crumple of the housing souk in the county led to the closure of business and a significant drop in the dwelling sales. Slow rates of consumption and the high rate of unemployment in the area result in little tax revenue that is encountered. The family income realized in the state fell as a consequence of global recession that was experienced in 2008. The county is considered to incorporate people from different walks of life and speak more than one language with a majority of the residents being Hispanic natives. As per the 2010 statistics, the county had 157,505 people with the majority of the citizens being the Latinos and blacks (Evans School, 2012).
The county is composed of citizens from different ethnic groups hence require a different mix of both economic and social needs. The various groups embrace diverse cultures hence it is unique in nature. Therefore, the different groups need adequate representation in the government as they are directly affected the various activities in the economy. The unified government should be governed in a democratic manner so that the elected individual represents the needs of the people more effectively.
Personnel are another key actor in the county as it refers to the people concerned with the routine operations of the government. These are government employees that work in the different government institutions with a mandate to offer services to the citizens of a county. Auditors and the Commission of Ethics are other key actors in the county as they help in the evaluation of the different roles of the government representatives, their respective mandate, and violation of the set codes. Therefore, the above parties have a responsibility of ensuring that the corresponding needs of the people are met and addressed in the most efficient way possible.
Central Problems
Various challenges were experienced as a result of the government unification with the critical issue being the global recession. Due to the recession, it is worth noting that the county experienced low household income as compared to the other counties. The above statement can be justified by the study as almost a fifth of the population is believed to live below the federal poverty level. Although rent and house price in Wyandotte are low, it is because of the small sizes of the houses and the fact they are old when compared to other counties in the state. Furthermore, the county does not invest much in the housing stock as there are slight changes in the housing market.
The second critical issue that is experienced in the above case study is health outcome as Wyandotte is ranked to have the poorest services in the region. In 2010, among the 105 counties that were evaluated, Wyandotte was ranked last, and the unified government has plans to renovate the sector that residents can experience better health care services. Some of the significant aspects that justify the above statement are the high rate of diabetes in the area, blood pressure among other major issues that evidence poor health. The health problems as mentioned above, therefore, require that the strategic approach that will guarantee residents to lead an active life and gain access to safe food, embrace health insurance programs among other vital criteria.
The county has two primary hospitals that are poorly prepared and cannot sustain the vast populace of the county, and cumulatively have a total of 778 beds. However, demand for the health concern is beyond what the amenities can offer; hence, there is a necessity to enhance the services offered on the premises. Furthermore, there are no effective programs that provide insurance services in the hospitals and in the most facility, lack of adequate funds to facilitate the health care has led to inadequate health services. Although Bethany was later acquired and converted into an outpatient center, it was not adequately meeting its expected results despite its central location. The location of the other hospitals was poorly done an aspect that made accessibility to such health care's a challenges to many people (Evans School, 2012).
The county has ten clinics in the region, and the cost of such clinics is apparently high for many reasons yet the residents of the area are poor, lack insurance for medical cover among other issues. Therefore, there is no affordable health care for the people although the safety net clinics are considered to be more affordable than the hospitals and are thus located in the regions with poor people of the society.
Section Two
Strategic Planning
The consolidation program was to study the situation of Wyandotte County and compare it with the other counties that surround it. In the study, it was evident that a good number of the counties had developed economically and in the process experienced improvements. One of the primary issues in the study is to understand how organizations acquire and promote profitable growth in the area and see whether consolidation of the two governments will impact positively on the economic growth. In the study, it is evident that the unified government has more benefits to the county as it will result in more economic development.
The study analyzes the two governments and how they can effectively work together and how strategic planning can be implemented as an approach to reap more benefits. Strategic planning, therefore, has both the long-term and short-term effects and is thus essential for the economic development of the region as it guides in the effective direction that should be followed by the government. With the concept, the government can devise strategies through which it can attract, promote or even maintain the different activities that enhance on the economic growth in the area. The unified government, therefore, will actually contribute to the development of proper strategies on how development can be attained in the area.
The government of the county will thus develop practical rules in the area that will control the real estate for both commercial and residential use in the area. It is paramount to appreciate the fact that the government has a mandate of managing investors as far as land development is concerned. Therefore, the city and the county will work together and develop harmonized rules to help govern the business such the unified office created through the consolidation will offer an easy time for the investors to communicate effectively with the concerned stakeholders. Apparently, the real estate development will work towards the growth of the Wyandotte County, an aspect that will be made more accessible by the investors hence contributing to the community growth (Evans School, 2012).
Section Three
Solutions
Alternative one
The rationale for the unification of the government is to resolve different challenges that are experienced by the local governments since 1990. The government as a principal actor devolves the responsibilities to the diverse states and localities that are involved in the different economic activities in the area. Therefore, the local administration has the mandate of cutting down the elevated costs of services such as the health care, increase generated revenue and enhance eminence of the service offered. The residents of the county do not wish to experience increased taxes or a reduction of services they receive hence; improving the efficiency is the most reliable approach towards solving the dilemma. Therefore, the issue of consolidation of the two governments will be the most practical approach towards efficient governance by resolving the various challenges like high taxes and loss of population as indicated by the area statics, and finally the need for accountability by the government officials.
Alternative two
It was evident that high poverty rate and inequality in the household income was a real menace in the area, the above challenge will be approached through the equalization of the pay scales. The city and county had differences about pay and to harmonize the same will a milestone towards resolving the challenge. Therefore, with the unified government, it is worth noting that there should be a common pay structure that addresses the needs of every employee in the region.
Alternative three
Another alternative through which the county should consider is enhancing the quality of life in the area, especially with the poor health facilities in the area is the restructuring of the social services offered. With the unified governments, there should have an effective administration of the social services to the community as they need to be made better and more efficient so as to gain more access. It is worth noting that the state should make the cost of the utilities affordable to the citizens while at the same improve on the quality of services that are offered at the different health centers. The above objective will be adequately addressed with the help of Board of Public Utilities, which has the mandate of ensuring that the quality of services offered is good and that affordable services are within the reach of the community.
Section Four
Method
Voters of Wyandotte will be offered a chance to select their elect leaders who will effectively represent them without any form of discrimination whatsoever. Furthermore, the unified government will have different departments with various roles and responsibility that will work together towards meeting the needs of the public. Therefore, the public through the ethics commission and auditing will be in a position to evaluate and assess the performance of the government employees to avoid organizational failure as in the past.
Criteria
It is worth noting that Wyandotte County is unique in its own, and this condition can be evidenced by its diversity as far as ethnic composition is considered in the area, which acts as its main strength. The county experiences many challenges of the most important issues being a reduction in the population as most of the residents are moving out of the area. There is a high rate of poverty, unemployment rates, and high taxation, while the services of the public utilities offered, for example, the case of public health is not only weak but expensive. However, with the unification, the county will experience a new legacy that will offer efficient services that will not only be affordable but meets the needs of the public.
Recommendations
The county should consider embracing a unified structure through the consolidation, which will possess the legislators and executives that will be responsible for addressing the needs of the citizens of Wyandotte (Evans School, 2012). Therefore, the approach will not only unite the two governments but streamline the administration of the same so that eminence of communal utilities presented will be enhanced. The move will provide the elected officials with an opportunity to respond to the need of the public such as quality health services in a more efficient and effective way possible. More so, the unified administration will simplify efficiency with which populace can obtain public service and enhance on the value of the same. Nonetheless, the new government should have more representation of its citizens than before by preserving the general culture of the natives while at the same time molding the community to meet the interest of the people.
Section five
Implementation
The new government will have to utilize the three-tier approach to ensure that needs of the public are addressed in the most efficient way while at the same time safeguarding the county. This will be implemented through differentiating the roles and functions of the different arms of the unified government and fair representation of the people.
Obstacles
However, some of the major obstacles to the above goal are corruption, in case the political leaders find their way illegal to miss-represent the public. The efficiency of the devolved government will not be achieved as politicians will merely try to congregate their respective desires without addressing wants of the public. The above incident can also be impaired by having an improper ethics commission that does not understand its mandate to safeguard the interests of the public.
Evaluation
The unified government will set in place an active commission that will monitor against unethical behavior. It is the mandate of the commission to evaluate the public institutions to ensure that they meet their respective objectives and see to it that there are no violations of the set ethics. Furthermore, it is a recommendation that each citizen has the right to question or challenge any form of illegal behavior.
Reference
Evans School, 2012. Next Step for Wyandotte County, Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington. Electronic Hallway.
