Locally Focused Government
El Dorado Hills and the County could both benefit by various forms of locally focused government.
This is not entirely a well defined subject area. The least
clear part is to observe by comparison that many processes are not
occurring at a local level that probably should
take place here. For example, the EDH Community Services District
calendar shows 14 public meetings at CSD in the month of February,
2007, but CSD meetings cover only part of the processes normally
involved in local government.
A clearer aspect involves operations of various County departments,
where basic functionality and efficiency both encourage stationing
physical facilities and staff at or near the point of delivery of
services.
For example, a resident in high density residential areas produce a
significant rate of barking-dog complaints to Animal Control. When
animal control responds promptly by sending someone out from
Placerville to El Dorado Hills they usually arrive about 40 minutes
after the call. By that time the dog in question typically has stopped
barking. Without being able to observe the problem, they talk with the
complainant and return to Placerville, having achieved nothing except
to expend about an hour and a half of a County employee's time and to
leave behind a frustrated resident. Local service would be more
efficient to the county and more effective for EDH residents.
Analogous situations apply to policy-making bodies and those attending
their meetings. This is not only a question of travel time to and from
Placerville: It includes time lost in public meetings as EDH residents
wait through other County business and as other County residents wait
through EDH business. As EDH grows its share of the County's
overall workload will grow. At some point it may be appropriate for
bodies such as the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission to
organize meeting agendas to cluster EDH-only business into sessions
which meet in El Dorado Hills.