Peter Clenott

If you simply must read one local government management book this year, then this is the one for you. Bauer, the autobiographical author, after eighteen months service, just got fired as county manager for no good reason from a county in which he had previously managed for six years. Bauer chronicles the ensuing five months of his life: his thoughts, prayers, actions, successes, failures. For students, practitioners, and local taxpayers worldwide, the book is replete with improvement suggestions for more than thirty service areas, ranging from agendas to water and sewer. You will discover recommendations like tax churches in order to lower local property taxes, pay people to vote to increase turnout, and have professional juries in order to decrease administrative costs as well as reduce the unemployment rate. It is all based on Bauer's personally odd and oddly personal thirty years of local government experience. Things not taught in school; you will find them here. Things you were taught in school and want to forget; you will find them here. Thoughout, Bauer contemplates and answers the age old question: does God have a place in local government and more particularly, county management? Hint: God never had to balance a budget nor recommend raising taxes, but He did have to reprimand an employee or two. At the end of the day, you enjoy unraveling life's knots and accepting God's rescue boats; you are seeking a down-to-earth, tongue-in-cheek, efficient/effective, suprisingly uplifting textbook; you wouldn't be reading this promo if you weren't half-interested; it is now up to you to welcome and appreciate the ironies of other things.