Policy-Making Introduction
MRSC, September 2000
"My experience in government is that when things are non-controversial
and beautifully coordinated, there is not much going on."
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Policy-making is often undervalued and misunderstood, yet it is the central role of the city, town, and county legislative bodies. The policies created by our local governments affect everyone in the community in some way. Public policy determines what services will be provided to the residents and the level of those services, what kinds of development will occur in the community, and it determines what the community's future will be. Policies are created to guide decision-making. Elected councilmembers of cities, towns, and counties have public policy-making responsibilities. County commissioners also set policy, but have an executive role of administering policy as well.
Local policy-making is complex. It demands the very best of local officials. The public policy-making process is highly decentralized. Policy initiation, formulation, adoption, and implementation involve many interests. This process has been characterized as tending to be "fluid, incremental, confused, often disorderly and even incoherent." [Public Policy Making, Washington Style, Bone et. al., p. 4]. And yet, from this, the destiny of a community - the fulfillment of its dreams and aspirations - flow out of the exercise of the policy-making process.
Purpose and Scope
This Web page provides an overview of the local government policy-making process. It does not discuss theories, nor does it deal with the "art and science" of policy-making. It is written from a practical standpoint and is intended to provide the reader with a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities of legislators as policy-makers. It discusses how local public policy is created and provides practical tips, based on experience, on how to make the policy-making process more productive and satisfying for participants.
Since confusion or disagreement about policy-making has been a frequent source of conflict for local governments, an important objective of this publication is to help Washington local government officials distinguish between policy and administrative matters.
What Is Policy?
Formally adopted policy generally takes the form of a governing principle, plan, or course of action. In the public sector it generally evolves from a deliberative process, and is adopted by an ordinance or resolution. Legislative bodies make public policy decisions; others perform the administrative task of implementing those policies. The decisions could be the adoption of a vision for the community, a comprehensive plan, a budget, or a policy relating to a specific issue, such as allowing or prohibiting local gambling activities. Policy-making requires political wisdom, diplomacy, and prudence to bring diverse community interests together around a shared purpose. Common usage of the term "policy" also includes the wise and expedient conduct of management; thereby blurring the line between policy and administration and causing confusion in the roles of elected legislators.
Public policy is a combination of basic decisions, commitments, and actions made by those who hold authority or affect government decisions. The policy-making process weighs and balances public values. Often there is no "right" choice or correct technical answer to the issue at hand. Policy-making can be an adversarial process, characterized by the clash of competing and conflicting interests and viewpoints rather than an impartial, disinterested, or "objective" search for "correct" solutions for policy issues. The larger and more diverse the constituency, the more difficult policy-making becomes, particularly when addressing regional issues. Democracy is sometimes messy. Since our government is a representative democracy, an effective policy-making process insures that all relevant viewpoints are heard, and that the rights of individuals are protected.