Public administration is a broader discipline that is in most cases concerned with the implementation of government policies. Intergovernmental relations is one array of interaction in which different government agencies come together in discussions of various issues and factors that are considered to have certain degree of collective concern through which they are able to establish one possible solution to. Through federalism which involves separation of power through various government levels, seem to have been the best played mechanism through which Wichita is found to have confronted the contamination menace. Wichita confronts contamination case study is very important in the public administration perspective as it provides a clear aspect of how various leaders are able to handle certain situations that pose life threatening circumstances. A majority of governments are made as a result of political systems and hence politics play a key role in how certain policies are developed and implemented.
In the case study in which Wichita is found to be situated on top of a contaminated underground lake from different commercial and industrial chemicals, a situation of great concern to public administration, causing the government to look for all the possible mechanisms which would be essential in handling the situation (Stillman, 2009). Since the contamination posed not only health concerns to the residents of the area but also an economic crisis as the banks had halted their lending to various businesses in the area in argument that some of their activities were the cause to the contamination, this was a situation that required collective responsibility. This particular situation brings about a substantive significance in which political bargaining and coalition building in various intergovernmental relations becomes very essential.
In order to handle the situation appropriately, it was essential that various agencies get involved at different levels and in different situations. Since it was believed that various businesses had contributed significantly towards the contamination, it was essential that all the relevant business owners be involved in tackling the menace in a particular aspect. Through the various divisions and the sharing of power at different government levels, it was possible that effective and efficient administrative services would be provided directly in the particular areas where critical application was essential (Stillman, 2009).
Political bargains were also very significant as this would ensure that resource mobilization was effective. The bank had the funds that would be necessary for the clean process and hence had to be consulted in order to provide such resources to various agencies for the implementation process. Through agencies such as KDHE working in place of EPA through an aspect of coalition building of these various intergovernmental relations on its part also played a key role in ensuring that contamination was substantively confronted and the cleaning process was effectively and efficiently managed which were done through the use of EPA strategies (Stillman, 2009). Through political bargains, proper legislative laws were also developed to curb the legislative challenge that was looming. This led to the coming up of the TIF bill.
The contaminated area was divided into zones in which different agencies would work on different zone areas though through the supervision of KDHE. Coleman which had been considered to be the greatest pollutant, accepted to pay all the cleanup costs for all the areas it was the chief pollutant, a significant contributory aspect of political bargains as well as coalition building of the various intergovernmental relations that proved to be a significant factor in the success of the cleanup process. It was critical for the political bargains and coalition building to work effectively as any failure to it would ensure that the EPA step in to implement the superfund which involved ranking of the site by the state as a National Priority Listing, a move that would then result into gross losses by all the concerned parties that were involved in benefiting from the particular site area (Stillman, 2009). This indeed necessitated for political bargains as well as coalition building to save the situation.
There are various means through which the political dimensions of IGR analyzed by Conlan are illustrated in the above case study that involve on how Wichita confronts contamination, though the most the most conspicuous aspect analyzed by Conlan as is illustrated in the case study is how the government had to convince the banks to provide the required funds for the implementation of the various strategies that had been developed for the cleanup process of the contaminated city. Since the main contamination area was within the central business district, a location where a majority of the booming businesses were located including the different banks, the contamination was therefore a problem that was affecting a broader array of organizations. Since different agencies had been provided with different responsibilities to handle in order to effectively handle the situation, they required the necessary resources that would be enough to fully implement the strategies.
It is in that particular area that the bank would play a significant role by providing the needed resources to be used in the cleanup process.
Reference
Stillman, Richard j., 2009. Public administration concepts and cases 9th edition. Cengage Learning.
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