One Question

So in '06 there was a big to-do over the "Knox County One Question" initiative and out of it came this guide to local government. I find it to be a wonderful source of information on topics that most people know little about, namely county commission.

I mean, how many people know that the county is responsible for the Air-quality around town but that both the city and county have a say over the "environmental codes enforcement"? The county runs the schools, that's pretty well known, but the city runs the buses. Both city and county have animal control resources, but only the county has a public health system.

My point is, not many people have a full understanding of what their government does. Much less what their two governments do. Part of this blog is going to be an attempt to clear up confusion about the roles of County Government vs. City Government. To be honest the most common question I get when I say, I'm running for County Commission, is, "What do they do"?

I'd like to be able to lay out to everyone clearly what job I'm running for, what I will do when I get there, and how it can be achieved. In order to do this tough there needs to be an understanding of our system and how it works (and doesn't work).

Every once in a while when I find a topic that shows a bold distinction of the functionalities of County Commission and City Council, I will post about it and hopefully, help everyone to get to know better what it is why they vote people into office.