Part I: Factors affecting the contexts of local government administration Reinventing what?: the uncertain context of local government administration - Judith A. Garber Federalism and state law: legal factors constraining and facilitating local initiatives - Timothy D. Mead Managing alternative approaches to the provision and production of public goods: public, private, and nonprofit - Paul J. Castellani The practical application of organization development to local governments - Gerald T. Gabris and Robert T. Golembiewski Part II: Local government management practices: the importance of doing the basics well Strategic management: a core responsibility of local government administrators - Theodore H. Poister and Gregory Streib Structural arrangements in local government: organizing for effective management - David R. Morgan Financial management: the centrality of the fiscal in local government and politics - W. Bartley Hildreth Managing human resources: personnel administration in local government - Ronald D. Sylvia Total quality management in local government - Evan M. Berman and Jonathan P. West Local government capacity building through performance measurement - Gerasimos A. Gianakis and Clifford P. McCue Local court administration: making the judicial trains run on time - James A. Gazell Part III: Administering generic types of local governments Town and township government: serving rural and suburban communities - Alvin D. Sokolow Small community governance: some impediments to policy making - Gary Mattson Professional administration (and representative governance) in the council-manager city - James H. Svara The changing landscape of big city management - H. V. Savitch and William A. Tharp County government as the "administrative arm" of state government - William L. Waugh, Jr Coping with externalities: regional councils and challenges of management and governance - Patricia S. Atkins Managing single function governments: the promise and challenge of special districts - Peter J. Haas Political and administrative complexity in governing central city schools - Marilyn Tallerico Management and governance in Midsized urban and suburban school districts - Nancy McCarthy Snyder Part IV: Concluding assessment Local government governing capacity: challenges for the new century - John J. Gargan