As long as I can remember, there have been complaints about the permitting process at City Hall. It seems that it takes too long for plans to be checked in the development department and those dealing with the department are asked to jump through hoops just for the amusement of bureaucrats. That has become one of the issues in the current mayor's race. Everyone is pledging to make the permitting process more efficient.
Here's my problem with this complaint: Four of the mayoral candidates are on the City Council, or just left the council. Another is the deputy mayor. They have been in a position to fix the problem -- if there's really a problem -- and they haven't.
They say that as mayor, they'll have more authority to make City Hall operate efficiently because they will have direct control over city departments through the city manager. The city's two strong mayors -- Jim Patterson and Alan Autry -- have previously pledged to fix the permitting process.
Either this issue is too big to resolve or it's a bunch of baloney. I'm going with the latter.
I am also going with the latter. As in any position they only think they have power but they really don't because they are always working against one another instead of for the better of the people. Everything has to go before the city council and go to a vote which rarely allows anything to get done. They sit on the council bickering at each other and accomplishing little to nothing. They are babies in training for political ladder climbing.
Why can't things run smoothly at City Hall? Politicians ... bureaucrats! Duh!
"Government machinery has been described as a marvelous labor saving device which enables ten men to do the work of one." John Maynard Keynes
"Any sufficiently advanced bureaucracy is indistinguishable from molasses." Unknown
good one T.C. Keynes nails it.
All of your comments are great and hit the nail on the head. The real problem is there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians. There are also too many special programs that the state mandates and never repays the local government back. If you think city hall doesn't run smoothly you should try looking at the school districts. How many assistants to the deputy’s assistants, too the deputy’s assistant's assistants do they need? Now that is overkill! Cut those admin positions and hire more workers (the grunts) to do the job for the people who come into city hall or any government building.