Sometimes Bigger Isn't Better....

...or another tale of centralization failing to meet expectations.  The Okaloosa, FL county commissioners recently adopted a resolution authorizing their county emergency management team to take whatever actions they deem necessary to protect the coastal waters of Okaloosa county.  With or without permission for "higher authorities".

County commissioners voted unanimously to give their emergency management team the power to take whatever action it deems necessary to prevent oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill from entering Choctawhatchee Bay through the East Pass.

That means the team, led by Public Safety Director Dino Villani, can take whatever action it sees fit to protect the pass without having its plans approved by state or federal authorities.

...

While Martha LaGuardia, a commander with the Coast Guard, argued that moving ideas and plans through the chain of command was the proper way to do things, Harris made it known the County Commission was tired of the often tedious and sometimes unproductive bureaucracy.

“We’ve played the game. We’re done playing the game,” he said.

Perhaps a few more local agencies ought to take similar steps to remind those higher authorities that if their services are not effective at solving the problem, then their services are no longer required.