public administrator is to provide services to the public -- and to keep the public interest in focus -- whether the administrator is an elected official or not. A public administrator might be responsible for enforcing a city or county ordinance when it comes to property values, which can become contentious because homeowners have their own ideas as to the value of their property. Public administrators might be heads of regional or local or state or even federal departments. A city manager is not elected but he or she is on the job to provide responsive leadership to laws and to the elected officials' (council members) directives.

Public policy is not made exclusively by elected officials. The word "policy" in fact just means a government is taking some form of action in response to a public need, and an administrator of a county health department, for example, makes policy regarding...
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