Little vs Big: Can you be effective AND efficient?
In the St. Louis region, and probably other places as well, we like living in places where our opinions matter and have sway. We like the feel and identity of a small community. That is why we have more municipalities in the St. Louis region than you can shake a stick at.
Yet we also know that there is great redundancy across these communities. We have a multiple police and fire departments, school systems, library systems, road maintenance crews, … These small units can not easily benefit from the economies of scale. They need to duplicate what others do. They need to spend a more time coordinating with their sister agencies in neighboring communities.
Our small communities are more effective at attending to their citizens. Yet larger organizations are more efficient. What governmental or organizational structures exist that could do both?