Center of Government

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." - Thomas Jefferson

Think about the third President's words for a moment, and realize just how big government really is.  Especially here...at just about every level.
I'm not just talking about our elected leaders and appointed officers, but the staffs that support them.
And the mounds of paperwork that make it all run smoothly.  
Or so it seems.
Here in Butler County, Pennsylvania, where I've been based for the past seven years, our county commissioners have come under fire for an annex they wish to attach to the county courthouse because they're running out of room.
In this forum, I'm not going to chide nor praise by name any of the three commissioners currently in office for this reason: many of the county's residents have already formed their own personal opinions of each of the commissioners.  Their character flaws or gifts are not the issue here.  It's all about money and how it's spent.
Just about every county seat in this country has outgrown its original courthouse.  They either add another building onto it like in Westmoreland and Butler Counties, vacate it completely and move into an entirely new one, like in Indiana County or in Seneca County, Ohio, or keep the existing building and rent or buy space in neighboring buildings that are but a short walk away, as is the case with Armstrong and Jefferson Counties.  
Since those buildings were first erected, populations were beginning to grow in the areas that surrounded them. With population growth, there comes problems that create a need for "growing the government" in kind.
Public safety.  Social welfare.  Parks and Recreation.  Public works and the relative infrastructure.  Those are just a few examples.
Fifty years ago, the ills that face our society today simply didn't exist.  That's not to say that things like drug abuse, rape, incest, assault, robbery and theft, and murder weren't around, but they were in far fewer numbers than what they are today, and much went unreported or journalists were told to shy away.
In many cases, much of these crimes involve suspects and victims known to each other, and not random crimes committed by strangers.  These are crimes borne out of bad choices made by mature adults capable of taking responsibility for their own actions, yet many choose to make victims out of suspects and place the burden of it all on society's shoulders.
A great example of this is Children and Youth Services.  This agency has been praised, feared, damned, and celebrated because of the unenviable job its people are tasked to do.
The essence of the job involves removing children from dangerous situations, and also removing them from society where they pose a danger to others.
The commissioners say that this particular agency has outgrown its space and needs room to expand.  Not in terms of staff, but the mounds of paperwork from the multitude of files that have to be at near-arms-reach of a caseworker at any given moment.
Thus the basis of the need for the new building, known as the "Government Center Annex", that two of the three commissioners want to attach to the existing Government Center, which is the courthouse annex (an annex for the annex, yes).  The third wants to purchase a building down the street that he claims will cost less than building new.  The two others claim that cost will be inflated by necessary construction upgrades to bring that building to suit the needs of the CYS office.
A former co-worker of mine inspired me to write this, saying that the money used to buy or build the building could be better spent on fixing roads or giving police departments K-9 officers or other tools necessary to combat the growing threat of drug-related crimes in town.
I couldn't agree more.
Unfortunately, it's not that simple.  Even more unfortunate than that, is that the elected leaders at the county level often get an unfair rap that they don't deserve.
Like other municipal governments, counties are restricted on how they raise revenue on their own, and spend money they receive at the state and federal level.  It must be documented in painstaking detail.  Not only that, they're required by state law to provide human service programs, yet be totally on their own insofar as raising money to fund those programs.
Unfunded mandates, if you will.  They're not the only ones.  Special education programs that school districts are mandated to have are all funded through local real estate tax revenue.
When more people depend on 'the system' to carry them through life, these programs are forced to grow in size, because the caseload size grows.  Though western Pennsylvania has experienced a 'brain drain' over the past two decades with our native-born population fleeing to a more prosperous job climate, we've become a haven for welfare-dependents from other states who come here after they've exhausted their benefits from their own points of origin.
Thus, western Pennsylvania has earned the nickname "Pennsyltucky".
The paperwork involved with these programs, along with CYS and juvenile courts is monumental...more than you could ever imagine.
But we could make those forms and that paperwork electronic, right?  
Not that simple.
Unlike the federal government, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not have a Paperwork Reduction Act, geared towards making forms simpler and only available through electronic means.
We need one.
Though Common Pleas (in Pennsylvania, circuit court elsewhere) Judges are housed in a county-owned edifice and are elected by county residents, the county has little to no jurisdiction over the judges.  They collect a state-issued paycheck and answer to the state.
And Judges want to see real paperwork written in one's own handwriting, if that's the case.  The reasoning behind it is because our justice system is so detail-oriented that one little typo or missing word could make the difference between a conviction or acquittal.
Case files need to be on live paper and have to be easily accessible under rules of criminal procedure in just about every state governing disclosure in the court system.  
In case this week's column is too long, it's the shortest, yet most concise answer I can give regarding this subject.  
That money could be better spent elsewhere.  But state law says it can't be.  That's what needs to change, and it's up to us to lobby our legislators to make this change happen.  If they can't do it, we can elect someone who will.
When we talk about spending millions of dollars for a new courthouse annex for the existing courthouse annex built over a decade ago, BUT have no money to buy the City of Butler a K-9 officer (money for that was raised mostly through private donations spearheaded by a local businessman), yeah, something's wrong!
The county eventually did kick in some cash towards the dog after it became clear that this is what private citizens in Butler wanted, and proved it through a very successful fundraising campaign.
There's also bickering over office space sizes and parking.  Let's settle this once and for all.  All department heads get the same office size!  Your subordinates are doing the legwork, they need room for all the required paperwork.  As for parking, let's not put the cart before the horse.  I think employees will take any free off-street parking that's available to them.  Umbrellas and overshoes were invented for this reason.
Ron, I thank you for your challenge.  
I hope this gives you the answer you were looking for.



NEXT WEEK:  Disconnect or Reconnect?