SOME ASPECTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CITY OF GOLD COAST

The Administration appointed to take over the Gold Coast City Council was constituted as follows. An Administrator was appointed by the Governor in Council on 4 March 1978. He became Administrator and Chairman of the Executive Committee. The Administrator thus became the Council of the City of Gold Coast. Two Members of the Executive Committee were appointed on the same date by the Minister for Local Government and Main Roads to assist the Administrator. The initial term of appointment was to 30 June 1978, later extended to 30 September 1978, and finally extended to 31 March 1979 to coincide with the Triennial Local Government elections in the State of Queensland. In each case it was the Governor in Council who extended the term of the Administrator and the Minister who extended the terms of the Committee Members.     

THE ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS OF FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LEGISLATION

Abstract: Freedom of information legislation is now an item on the political agenda. In the debate about the scope of such legislation, however, some important administrative questions have been ignored. Relevant overseas experience, particularly that of North America, has not been given the attention it deserves. By 1972 the Labor Party had made "open government" an electoral issue, although four distinct notions were involved in this concept, namely administrative review; public comment by public servants; more helpful institutions; and autonomous access to information in institutions. However the efforts of the Labor government during 1972-75 to implement freedom of information proposals foundered partly because issues of procedures, cost and personnel were not perceived as being salient; and the situation has not changed much since. Questions about the administration of freedom of information legislation are discussed in relation to the recommendations of the Coombs Report, and it is argued that the matter needs to be approached in new ways, one of which is through action research.     

PROBLEMS OF CONTROLLING THE EFFICIENCY OF BUREAUCRATIC BEHAVIOR

The purpose of this paper is to discuss problems of controlling the efficiency of bureaucratic behavior. There are two broad approaches to the topic: One is a general discussion of systemic complications that mitigate against efficiency; the second centers around the study of productivity and efforts a t instituting program changes which result in more efficient operations. The former, constituting the first part of the paper, is, by nature, a more theoretical and, unfortunately, less positive statement. The latter portion of the paper is a more practical and more optimistic discussion. Taken together, it is hoped that the two approaches will provide a balanced overview of efficiency as it relates to bureaucratic behavior.     

A TYPOLOGY OF IMPLEMENTATION BEHAVIORS OF STREET-LEVEL BUREAUCRATS

The role of the individual implementer in the process of policy implementation deserves more attention. This paper focuses on the behaviors of individual implementers at the street-level. A typology of fourteen compliant and non-compliant behaviors is introduced and i t s application in studies of micro-implementation is discussed.