OUTSIDE THE BOX: Does Falls Church City Need More Democracy?

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By Stephen Siegel
Falls Church Times Staff
July 28, 2013

The pace of change and progress in Falls Church City can sometimes be numbingly slow. Things are talked about, discussed, and debated ad nauseam. All that is direct democracy in action. So is it possible we need still more democracy?

Despite the abundance of democratic debate, I think the answer is yes ? we do need more.

We don?t need to extend any longer the discussion of things that already are being debated. But some things that aren?t getting much play in the democratic sphere should be getting more.

A timely example is the recently-concluded debate over substandard lot development. Whichever side you were on, the city?s elected officials now have spoken. That?s as it should be. But it took forever to get to this point.

The issue initially became controversial in 2005 because of an interpretation by City Zoning Administrator John Boyle. Mr. Boyle decided at that time that the city code allowed a property owner who had a house straddling two substandard lots to tear down the house and build two new houses in its place.

This was a major change from previous practice. In an ideal world, such a significant change would be ratified by the elected officials of the jurisdiction in question ? in this case, the City Council. The Council wasn?t consulted, but did take up the issue the following year following complaints from some residents.

But the Council decided not to take any action in 2006, which, it could be argued, is making a choice. However, it wasn?t an affirmative choice, and thus it was a failure to take responsibility, one way or the other. The Council either should have endorsed Mr. Boyle?s interpretation and given it the force of law, or it should have reversed it. It should not have just punted.

Now, not every decision of government can be handled at the level of elected officials. Modern government, even at the small town level, is too complicated and multi-faceted to have elected officials weigh in on everything, especially when City Councilors have day jobs. That?s why Falls Church City, and every other government, employs a full-time staff.

But does the City have the ideal balance of democracy by elected official and decisions made by the full-time staff?

As the substandard lot example suggests, it may not. Although the Council finally did make a decision and ended the controversy, it took an extra seven years, during which time dozens of substandard lots were developed and the city code was not clear.

Beyond that, the city staff make major decisions that affect everything from quality of life to public safety ? and it all is beyond the reach of democratically elected officials.

For example, some cities require commercial establishments that produce a large amount of garbage to have a trash compactor. The compactors keep the garbage tightly enclosed, preventing it from befouling the surrounding landscape.

A compactor also reduces the need for garbage pickups, reducing the noise and pollution associated with the big waste hauling trucks. Giant Food has voluntarily chosen to have a compactor, and I wondered if the city might be able to require them elsewhere, at other large garbage producers.

I inquired with a city councilor, who thought it was a great idea and mentioned it to City Manager Wyatt Shields. Mr. Shields inquired with Bill Hicks, who was director of public works at the time (he recently left for a job in Fairfax).

Mr. Hicks quickly ended discussion by vetoing the idea. He said it wasn?t financially feasible to require businesses to get a compactor. It?s not clear if he?s right; it depends on the business and the situation, and how much they?re paying now for their waste disposal.

Regardless, the most interesting question here is whether this is a decision that should be left to a public works director to make. Certainly he or she could be consulted. But this ultimately is a political choice, best handled by a political body, directly accountable to the voters and the residents.

In Chicago, the city code requires businesses that produce more than 50 cubic yards of garbage per week to have a trash compactor. The same could be done here. Or the amount of garbage required before a compactor is mandatory could be higher, to make it less onerous on the business.

And the city council should be the one to decide.

Of course, the problem of decision-making being done by officials not accountable to voters is not unique to Falls Church City. It?s a major problem in Washington, and a bright light was shined on it recently by Jonathan Turley, a professor of public interest law at George Washington University.

In an opinion piece on his blog and in the Washington Post in May, Mr. Turley bemoaned what he called ?the rise of the administrative state,? which he referred to as the ?fourth branch? of government, along with the legislative, judicial, and executive branches.

Our system, he wrote, ?is being negated by the rise of a fourth branch, an administrative state of sprawling departments and agencies that govern with increasing autonomy and decreasing transparency.?

The administrative state in Falls Church City may not be sprawling, but it does seem to have substantial autonomy and little transparency.

And that?s not a good thing. Both here and in Washington, it means government is further away from, and less accountable to, the people it represents.

Of course, we don?t want our legislators to micromanage everything; as in most things, there is a balance to be found.

But we may not have the right balance now.

Outside the Box is an opinion column. Read it every Sunday in the Falls Church Times.

Source: http://fallschurchtimes.com/40955/outside-the-box-does-falls-church-city-need-more-democracy/

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