Thanks for posting this. As a recent elected county official, I was alway intensely interested in even the domestic mischief and further centralized control that could further weaken the local officials in representing their property owning constituents positions.
This is an equally interesting concern, maybe even a little more so.
C.O. Is the GIS touched upon in your newly published book, Natural Process? I want to discuss it with you further. Our County has the ONLY elected County Surveyor in CA and we as electeds, had numerous intense discussions, especially since during the 1994 election process, many constituents were intensely interested in "Devolution," to the point of "County Supremacy!" It was right up there with "Home Rule!"
I've found that one way control is centralized is the tactic of "bringing our rules into compliance with state or federal guidelines". That is the reasoning I hear for some of the resolutions or actions taken in county government on a wide range of issues. Also, in Tennessee, the budget mess is hanging over the county's heads right now with the possiblilty of the Legislature withholding state shared revenue...money is always the best way of "control"...