Environmental policy creation : examining the Ontario municipal approach

This thesis examines the environmental content of municipal official plans in Ontario, Canada. It is an exploration of how environmental policy can be measured, categorized and compared at the municipal level. The legislative and societal framework from which municipal environmental policy emerges is examined before a method for measuring the level of the policy is proposed. The results of the policy measurement are then analyzed quantitatively for relationships with demographic characteristics and qualitatively for strength of language and level of policy as well as for spatial patterns in policy levels. From these analyses conclusions are drawn regarding the presence of significant variation in the environmental content found in municipal official plans. Conclusions are also made regarding the attention given to individual components of municipal environmental content. Finally, recommendations for future environmental policy integration into municipal official plans are suggested as are recommendations for future research.

Environmental policy creation : examining the Ontario municipal approach

This thesis examines the environmental content of municipal official plans in Ontario, Canada. It is an exploration of how environmental policy can be measured, categorized and compared at the municipal level. The legislative and societal framework from which municipal environmental policy emerges is examined before a method for measuring the level of the policy is proposed. The results of the policy measurement are then analyzed quantitatively for relationships with demographic characteristics and qualitatively for strength of language and level of policy as well as for spatial patterns in policy levels. From these analyses conclusions are drawn regarding the presence of significant variation in the environmental content found in municipal official plans. Conclusions are also made regarding the attention given to individual components of municipal environmental content. Finally, recommendations for future environmental policy integration into municipal official plans are suggested as are recommendations for future research.

Municipal service Institute at the present stage: a comparative and legal aspect

In the context of the local self-government system dynamic reform in Russia, the role of the municipal official is significantly increasing, the re-quirements not only for his professional education, skills and abilities, but also for ethics, business behavior and attitude towards service are increasing. In contradistinction from Western countries, where it is customary to con-sider the general institution of state service, the municipal service in the Rus-sian Federation is clearly separated from the state civil service. In the context of the research, we analyze the approach to the regulating issues of municipal official’s ethics and professional conduct of in the European practice of young democracies. We carry out a broad analysis of the codes provisions of official’s ethics and conduct in a number of former Eastern bloc countries: Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Macedonia. We establish that the domestic and foreign approaches are very similar to each other, and the main goal of adopting the relevant codes is the desire for transparency and the eradication of the communist era foundations. We establish that the domestic and foreign approaches are very similar to each other, and the main goal of adopting the relevant codes is the desire for transparency and the eradication of the communist era foundations. At the present stage, the document requires flexibility and a transition from formal to more informal and understandable for the municipal official.

Evaluating the Quality of Municipal Official Plans in the Ontario-Greater Golden Horseshoe Region, Canada

The focus of plan quality is on evaluating plans-as-objects against normative characteristics researchers and planning practitioners believe contribute to a high quality plan. This study builds on the established plan quality literature and methods to assess the quality of official (comprehensive) plans from sixty-three of the most populous municipalities in the Ontario-Greater Golden Horseshoe region (Canada). Three key themes emerged from this analysis. First, the provincial government plays a role in municipal official plan quality. Second, monitoring and evaluation is underutilized in many plans. Third, the communication of plan contents could be improved to enhance its use and readability.

Kibice Lecha Poznań a władze miasta — rekontekstualizacja toposów populistycznych w nowych i starych mediach

This article is devoted to the question of the recontextualization of populist topoi in the public sphere. Recontextualization is a process by which a change in the author, recipient, or context of a communication alters its meaning. Populism is understood as a discursive strategy in reference to a limited number of topoi, such as values (for in stance, freedom); criticism of authority; appeals to emotions (for example, the sense of threat and fear); and reference to national identity and history to obtain social support. The authors of the article analyze how these topoi change during their flow between various channels of communication: the internet forum of the Lech Poznań fan club, the local press (Głos Wielkopolski and a local supplement to Gazeta Wyborcza), the blog of the city mayor, and the facebook page of a municipal official. The research, based on a historical, critical analysis of the discourse, shows that when the press and local politicians’ discuss topics with the fan forum, the result is the legitimation of the fan forum’s position and its broader effect in the public sphere.

“Pay Now or Pay Later”: Training and Torts in Public Sector Human Services

Public sector training is put in a legal context for administrators of government and nonprofit agencies. Failing to train can lead to tort claims in an environment of diminished sovereign and charitable immunity. Torts can encompass constitutional and non-constitutional claims. A non-existent training policy may be seen as being deliberately indifferent to the need for one, and hence be viewed as a policy itself. Municipal official liability has increased as has that of executives and directors of nonprofit organizations. To minimize exposure to suits, government and nonprofit administrators must assess the current state of training in their organizations and provide effective, documented and evaluated training for key positions in their agencies.

Accurate Selection of Police Officials within Small Municipalities: “Et Tu Assessment Center?”

Two unique issues raised in using an assessment center to select a municipal official were successfully addressed. Community input, involvement and acceptance of an innovative selection process (i.e., the assessment center method) was gained through the use of interviews, a mail-out survey and by training selected community residents to serve as assessors. Expenditure for the selection process was minimized by using unpaid professionals as assessors and by utilizing city offices as the setting for the assessment center. A mail-out survey approximately one year later indicated the community residents perceived the project and candidate selection as successful.

C. G. Ehrenberg (1795–1876). A Biographical Note. (Portrait-Plate XXV.)

Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, one of the outstanding scientific figures of last century, was born on Easter Sunday, 19 April 1795, at Delitzsch. In this town—then in Saxony, but now in Prussia—his father, Johann Gottfried Ehrenberg, was a municipal official, who was thrice married; his second wife being the mother of Christian Gottfried, who was the eldest son. His mother's maiden name was Christiane Dorothea Becker, and she was the daughter of the innkeeper of “The Red Lion” in Delitzsch. The forefathers of these Saxon Ehrenbergs were mostly millers, and they appear to have been unrelated to the noble family of the same name.