Shaping Orange County's Future Final Full Report

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RESPONSIVE GOVERNANCE AND QUALITY PUBLIC SERVICES GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY AND SERVICE PROVISION The Town and County governments have found new ways to reduce redundancy in service provision, and provide services efficiently, and in a cost - effective way. Inter - organizational and inter - governmental collaboration and coordination are the norm. The governments cooperate on regional issues, and together rethink and redefine their responsibilities developing new ways to address inter jurisdictional issues. Turf issues that arise are settled through use of facilitators and a dispute resolution process. The governments of the county have combined some services to achieve greater fiscal efficiency. As a result some services that used to be provided separately by the towns and county are now provided for all citizens by a countywide agency. Other policies to improve fiscal efficiency include multiple use of government facilities, selective economic development that helps balance the residential to non- residential ratio of the tax base, and other techniques to address growth impacts. Governments provide quality services efficiently with clear, fair and timely administration of regulations. Ongoing environmental, economic and social data acquisition and creation of a central information base for decision - making is a key priority for monitoring success of government programs and spending, and to determine community progress toward sustainability. CinzEN REPREsENTA TION AND PARTICIPATION The elective process for the County Commission has been changed to ensure that the diverse interests of all the county's residents are fully represented. All citizens, rural and urban, feel well represented. The governments within the county actively pursue community involvement in decision making. An ongoing Citizen's Roundtable, modeled after the Shaping Orange County's Future Task Force, is relied upon by the town and county governments to provide an avenue for citizens' concerns to be transmitted and heard by the elected bodies. The Roundtable is charged to examine issues, gain broad citizen input, come to consensus, and then make recommendations to the governing boards, who give serious weight and consideration to this input. The Roundtable is also charged with monitoring implementation of the adopted SOCF recommendations and examining the county's vision for any necessary course corrections. Roundtable members are volunteers who are selected for appointment by each of the governing boards in the county to reflect the diversity of Orange County's citizens. The Roundtable, as well as other advisory boards and the governing boards, use facilitation and dispute resolution techniques to solve community issues. 104