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Show would work here, too Recent newsrraner and television editorials? coming com-ing from Salt Lake City have re-stated the need for a metropolitan form of government in th'at erea, to replace the out-modeil and inefficient overlapping governmental units now conducting business there. Whether or not this will ever come to pass in Salt Lake due to the violent opposition of certain pressure groups, is a good question. Since enabling legislation was passed several years ago by t'he Utefo Legislature, every attempt to implement the plan in various metropolitan communities has met with defeat de-feat at the hands of voters, who harkened to the voices of those who feared that more- efficient government govern-ment would be a contributing factor to a loss of personal per-sonal liberty. Unfortunately, wlren the enabling legislation was passed in 1965, it excluded all except first and second sec-ond class counties from getting involved in metropolitan metropoli-tan types- of government. And because of this exclusion exclu-sion (which was put in the bill to make it more attractive at-tractive to rural legislators), counties and communities communi-ties such as Moab and Grand county, are prohibited from trying to make it work on a legal and official basis. Combining certain city and county functions here not only would work, it just makes good sense. There is little real reason for having a County Sheriff's Department De-partment and a City Police Force, occupying separate separ-ate quarters and undoubtedly duplicating work of the other. The same could be said of bookkeeping functions, func-tions, road building and maintenance, and other sim-KvilarcQjunty-city responsibilities. We have heard (usually before each election) that combining of functions was going to be done on an informal and unofficial basis, even though it was not authorized by law. But apparently, it will take the legal status to make it stick. Because even though we have heard promises of cooperation, city and county coun-ty related functions appear to go tWeir separate ways (save in the road department where close cooperation coopera-tion has been working out well). Metropolitan government could undoubtedly be made to work easier in a small community than a larger one. It is unfortunate that th'e present legislation legisla-tion prohibits smaller areas from establishing pilot programs pro-grams for consolidation which might be followed later lat-er by the larger, more complex metropolitan centers. |