is the citizen advisory committee a threat to representative government?

Is the Citizen Advisory Committee a Threat to Representative Government?Author(s): Lyle E. SchallerSource: Public Administration Review, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Sep., 1964), pp. 175-179Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Society for Public AdministrationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/973647 .

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Is the Citizen Advisory Committee a Threat to Representative Government?

By LYLE E. SCHALLER

T HE professionalization of local government is one of the most important con- temporary trends in public administra-

tion. Concurrent with this increased reliance on professionally trained employees in both administrative and technical posts is a new emphasis on citizen participation.

The concept of citizen participation is not a new one in American local government but today's emphasis is quite different from that of yesteryear. For many decades the common pattern was to have citizens serve in a part- time or full-time capacity in the actual opera- tion of local government. They served as mayors, councilmen, or commissioners; as members of the planning commission, zoning board or civil service board. In recent years the authority of such part-time citizen partici- pants has decreased with the increased reliance on the full-time professional. The growth of the city manager profession is one evidence of this trend. The widespread shift toward increasing the power and the authority of the municipal chief executive at the expense of the various semi-independent boards and commissions is another manifestation of this shift as is the diminishing popularity of the commission form of municipal government.

This reliance on professional skill would seem to indicate that the citizen's role in local government is diminishing. However a coun- ter trend has emerged which encourages citizen participation in a different form. This is the growing popularity of the citizen advisory committee.

Evolution and Advantages as a Political Instrument

The use of citizen advisory committees is far from a new concept in local government. For many decades short term committees com-

> The use of citizen advisory committees has been encouraged by legislative requirements in urban renewal and other areas of public policy. While finding many communication advantages in its use, the author concludes that advisory committees do not constitute a final answer to the growing problem of the alienation of significant segments of the citizenry from the processes of government.

posed of leading citizens had been appointed to study and report on specific issues and problems. But with the amendment of the National Housing Act in 1954 and the re- quirement for a "Workable Program" added to urban renewal legislation, a new dimension was added to the idea of citizen participation in local government. Each local public agency seeking federal funds for its urban renewal efforts was required to submit an official plan of action for dealing with its slums and blight. This Workable Program was based on a seven point schedule of requirements which, if im- plemented, would aid in preventing the spread of blight, facilitate urban renewal efforts at the local level, improve the quality of local government and, hopefully, result in an extensive degree of citizen participation in the total renewal effort. As a result of this legislation literally hundreds of additional citizen advisory committees have been organized during the past decade.

The widespread popularity attained by the citizen advisory committee has been heralded by many as the flowering of American democ- racy. Yet the more cynical regard the citizen advisory committee as mere paper compliance with political and legislative pressures to in- volve "the people" in the decision making process. Examples could be cited to support both contentions. Perhaps more common than either of these extremes is the situation in which good intentions mark both the selection of the committee and acceptance by the members, but little that is really significant

175



176 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW

ever takes place. The variety of results ob- tained from the use of advisory groups has led many to question their value and usefulness. Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

The citizen advisory committee concept would not have achieved its current widespread use and popularity unless it had some merit and value. Some of its advantages accrue to the benefit of the general public while oth- ers yield benefits only to the person or agency which appointed the group. Both the public administrator and members of the general public have a clear interest in the use of advisory groups and should understand both the advantages and limitations of this concept. While much of the current interest in citizen advisory committees has resulted from the ex- panding urban renewal program, many of the points in this discussion are equally relevant to citizen advisory groups concerned with other governmental functions and services.

A Channel for Communication Perhaps the most important single contri-

bution that a citizen advisory committee can make to the political processes of local government lies in providing a significant channel of communication between the professional ad- ministrators and the general public. While some, including many elected officials, object to this short circuiting of the "political chain of command," the establishment of such an additional channel does have genuine value. This is particularly true in such areas as city planning, urban renewal, and financial administration, where the complexity of the task has greatly increased the power, the autonomy and the influence of the staff person in government.

A citizen advisory committee often can be of tremendous assistance to planners in the formulation of general planning goals. A representative committee should be able to provide new insights to the officials and technicians charged with the preparation and execution of a community's urban renewal program. Frequently the citizen group may be able to supply information on attitudes, needs and wants which would be difficult to secure through any other means.

If the committee acts only as a one-way channel of communication in which the citizen members attempt to convey the views of

the greater community, the effort may yield significant dividends. Where this becomes a two-way channel of communication, important additional benefits may be realized. Popular reaction is provided the government agency while simultaneously the formulations of city hall technicians and officials are exposed to citizen scrutiny. For example, in many communities advisory committees can arrange neighborhood meetings in which "the experts from city hall" come out and discuss their proposals with residents of the neighborhood. When the citizen committee itself schedules and presents these forums, considerable pressure is removed from elected officials who do not even have to be present and certainly do not have to be on the defensive. The resulting atmosphere is frequently more conducive to a helpful interchange of ideas and facts than the official public hearing where the administration frequently is on the defensive and less open to constructive criticism. This procedure has been especially beneficial in the preparation of plans for neighborhood conservation or rehabilitation programs.

A closely related advantage of the citizen advisory committee is its ability to serve as a sounding board for preliminary ideas and proposals. Trial balloons can be sent up, and perhaps shot down, without political embar- rassment or permanent damage to the effec- tiveness of the governmental process. Here there may be provided the opportunity for developing creative ideas in an atmosphere not immediately subject to the restraining pressures of deadlines and political considera- tions. The staff people of government can get reactions and helpful suggestions from representative citizens in a manner which has the approval of the administration and which places the general welfare above partisan political advantages.

A Focus for Public Interest and Activity Citizen advisory committees can be ex-

tremely valuable in overcoming public apathy and opposition toward necessary public proj- ects. The local administration may see a great need for a new library or other public im- provement but be reluctant to expend any of its reservoir of good will by "forcing" this on an apathetic public. Where a citizen committee is formed to study the question and to "advise" the municipal chief executive, its find-



CITIZEN ADVISORY COMMITTEES 177

ings and recommendations may help to educate the public and arouse support for the proposal. Similarly a citizen group can be ex- tremely helpful in creating a favorable climate of opinion for many issues and referenda questions which require voter approval, such as a tax levy, a bond issue or a reorganization of the structure of local government.

Usually the educational efforts of such an advisory committee are scored as failures unless the proposal is approved by the electorate. While it is easy for supporters of a proposal to reach such a conclusion, it also can be ar- gued that the efforts of the advisory committee are successful regardless of the outcome of the election. If the committee was organized to combat public apathy and if the publicity generated by the group's activities resulted in a large turnout at the polls, then the committee achieved at least a small measure of success, for in the democratic process it is more important that people do participate and have the opportunity to register an informed opinion than it is how they vote.

Another potential advantage of the citizen advisory committee is that it can become a visible and responsible pressure group on a recalcitrant administration. This is often most apparent in the advisory committees on urban renewal appointed in response to the requirements of a workable program. Sometimes de- scribed as "federal fleas on the official city hall dog" such citizen groups can encourage the local public agency to make adequate provi- sion for the relocation of displaced persons. It can assist in securing better housing for minority groups. It can keep attention focused on the need to renew blighted residential neighborhoods even though local officials may be more concerned with redeveloping com- mercial or industrial districts in an attempt to enhance the city's tax base. Moreover, advisory groups can function in a similar manner in areas of public policy other than urban renewal. They can encourage, goad or heckle a reluctant administration to improve personnel practices, to increase the tax rate or to re- duce unnecessary expenditures. Frequently there is a greater need for encouraging the addition of new services than there is for cur- tailing existing programs, for raising taxes rather than for reducing expenditures, for adding personnel rather than for eliminating jobs. The citizen committee can render a ma-

jor civic service by evaluating the needs and the resources and urging the elected officials to take appropriate steps for meeting these needs.

In some communities these civic groups have helped raise the funds necessary for a specific project when the local government was unable to do so because of legal, financial or political limitations. These are usually single purpose efforts and may range from the con- struction of a community swimming pool to financing a research program on the structure of local government to financing a pilot project in neighborhood conservation. Through such efforts the entire community often benefits from an expenditure which normally would be made from the public treasury but without either the cost or the delay which might be involved in securing public financing.

Filling the Governmental Void One of the least publicized, but certainly

one of the more vital, potential advantages of citizen advisory committees is that they do act as a counterforce against the growing void between the government and the governed. This is a major problem in America where an ever increasing proportion of the population is concentrated in a few hundred urban cen- ters. The severity of this problem is enhanced by the fragmentation of local government which not only encourages the residents of one municipality to ignore the problems af- flicting the adjacent communities, but which also discourages all efforts to arouse citizen interest in problems which are metropolitan in scope.

The members of a citizen advisory committee frequently can be drawn from the residents of many political subdivisions and thus partially overcome the disinterest induced by the fragmentation of local government. Fur- thermore increased reliance on citizen advisory committees in metropolitan areas does provide an opportunity for participation by many who otherwise would be completely alienated from government. While it is both easy and dangerous to overrate this factor, the use of citizen advisory committees may be one means of encouraging some of the alienated individuals to become a part of the social, political and economic order in which they exist.



178 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW

At this point one might well ask why there is any opposition to citizen advisory committees if they have so many advantages.

One part of the answer to that question can be found in the comment made by Robert C. Weaver, Administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency:

Every public official approaches the formation of an advisory group of any kind with extreme caution. Although he well understands the function such a group is supposed to play, he is not sure the members of the group will understand that. Public officials have learned from sad experience that such committees have a way of trying to promote themselves from an advisory to an operating role, and to try to seize control of the redevelopment program. This is in the nature of power. Whenever someone gets close to it he tries to grab a piece of it for himself.'

Representation- The Heart of the Matter

Dr. Weaver's comment pinpoints a crucial problem in the use of advisory groups. Rep- resentative government means responsible government and the members of citizen committees are continually confronted with the temptation to irresponsible use of power. They may acquire considerable power without ever hav- ing to answer to the electorate and may seek to become a "third power" in local government with authority equal to that of the legislative and administrative agencies. The members may brush aside objections to their recommendations as "mere political consid- erations" when in fact these objections are a legitimate reflection of opposition by the voters. It is very easy for a citizen committee to fail to distinguish between what they be- lieve the people need and what the electorate wants. Voter rejection of many proposals for metropolitan government advanced in recent years offer several outstanding examples of this difference in viewpoint between the "lead- ers" and the bulk of the voters.

A Tendency to Exclusion Whenever a citizen advisory committee is

organized, a potential threat to representative government is created. The threat may never materialize but the danger is there. Perhaps the best way to avoid this danger is to em- phasize to the members of the committee that

'Address to The Better Housing League of Greater Cincinnati, Inc., May 15, 1963.

they have the responsibility to advise, to rec- ommend and to suggest; but they do not have the power to approve, to execute or to imple- ment. The committee must remember that its role is to assist the duly elected policy makers, not to usurp their authority.

The chief failure of the citizen advisory committees organized in recent years is that few of them have been representative of the citizenry. The racial, economic and social com- partmentalization of urban society has inten- sified this problem. The great inarticulate masses normally concentrated in a few sec- tions of the central city seldom are repre- sented on civic committees. Many persons who might be able and willing to serve are dis- qualified by the meeting requirements which the committee imposes on its members. Some citizens are able to take a two hour period for lunch or to leave their job in the middle of the afternoon for a meeting of the committee. Some citizens are suitably dressed every day to enable them to be at ease while attending a luncheon in one of the city's best dining places. But many are not, and the representative character of the committee is thus reduced. All too often the void between the members of the typical citizen advisory committee and the general public is as great or greater than the void between the government and the governed. Instead of reducing the degree of alienation an unrepresentative advisory group may intensify this condition.

A third defect of this type of civic associa- tion is the method of selection or appoint- ment. Usually the initiative for the organization of a committee will come from an appropriate governmental agency. A local board of education appoints an advisory committee to study building needs or the urban renewal commissioner selects a committee to advise him on problems arising out of the activities of his agency. Thus the committee is born with two limitations. First of all, since the members are selected with a specific problem in view, presumably an attempt will be made to select persons who will be sympathetic to the agency's or official's point of view. Thus the citizen advisory committee becomes in fact either a device by which a respectable rubber stamp may be applied to one of the administration's proposals or a pressure group in disguise. Second, usually only those governmental agencies willing to cooperate with an



CITIZEN ADVISORY COMMITTEES 179

advisory group use this method of gaining greater citizen participation. The agencies most in need of the assistance which can be rendered by a citizen advisory committee are often the ones most reluctant to create such a body.

Closely related is the problem of staff assistance to the committee. Most of the problems confronting the typical citizen advisory committee are so complex that professional staff assistance is necessary to gather, sort and interpret information needed by the members. Regardless of the source of this help, whether it be from within the agency itself, from an independently supported taxpayers group, from a university or even the committee's own private staff, they will bring a point of view to their work which must affect and influence the deliberations and recommendations of the committee. While this appears to be an un- avoidable problem it must be considered when evaluating the validity and usefulness of the committee's recommendations.

The Abrogation of Decision Making Citizen advisory committees also may en-

courage irresponsible decisions by the elected officials who seek to escape the responsibility for deciding controversial issues. There is the ever present temptation for the elected officials to abdicate their responsibility and dele- gate to the advisory group the power to decide important matters of public policy which should not be delegated. These may range from the decision to raise taxes to the question of constructing an expensive new building to the choice of sites for a new city hall. There is a vital distinction between seeking the advice of a citizen group and turning over to such a group the final responsibility for an important decision. Closely related are the problems growing out of partisan politics. A "non-partisan" committee may be appointed to lend respectability to proposals which have a strong partisan flavor. On the other hand citizen committees have been known to attempt to politically embarrass the person who appointed them, also under the guise of non-

partisan public service. Such actions raise important ethical questions about the responsi- bilities of members of a citizen advisory committee. This is not to imply that partisan issues must be avoided by the members of such committees. However the man in the street will soon lose whatever respect he may have had for the recommendations of citizen committees if he discovers that party politics is the prime motivating factor in their deliberations.

Conclusions A review of these general advantages and

disadvantages and of the actual performance of a number of citizen advisory committees suggest two main conclusions on their future role in local government.

It appears clear that these groups can make a significant contribution to the governmental process if both the appointing officials and the committee members clearly understand the limited authority which properly can be vested in such a group. Many of the disadvantages of such committees result from a failure to understand these limitations. As long as they serve as advisory bodies, citizen committees can be of significant value and their use should be encouraged.

On the debit side, citizen committees of all types, advisory or self-appointed, have failed to adequately bridge the widening gulf between government and the growing body of alienated citizens. As this gulf grows it finds not only the officials and technicians of government, but also most of the persons who usually served on civic committees on one side, and the alienated masses on the other side. These millions of citizens who are the discards of our urban society-the disinher- ited, the dispossessed, the despondent, the de- prived and the depraved-must be reached and brought into a meaningful relationship with the processes of government which affect their lives. Apparently this goal requires a form of community organization far more sophisticated than the citizen advisory committee.



is the citizen advisory committee a threat to representative government?

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