As San Rafael's new municipal government approaches its first year in office, I begin to explore how it all works.  

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ow that local government officials in San Rafael de Heredia have begun tackling more complex community issues, my aim to chronicle their progress comes more into focus. That is, describing and documenting the processes they apply to develop, propose and carry out community solutions while simultaneously abiding by norms, regulations and the laws of Costa Rica.

As different community groups navigate towards specific objectives in an often unsteady political climate, the analyses in this particular study aim at the solutions resulting from the planning, execution and outcomes of community-government interactions. In this case, the canton of San Rafael de Heredia will serve to illustrate such interactions.

The Officials:
Because of his role as mayor, much more attention is given to Jorge Arias Santamaria. The next in line by order of political relevance is municipal council president Minor Robles Vargas. Both officials respectively are in charge of the municipality and the local parliamentary body.

The Others:
The Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) lists all the local government officials in a downloadable document called Nuestros gobernantes (Our Leaders) available from the Election Results section of the TSE’s website. They’re listed by province, canton and/or district. The elected officials are as follows:

• One mayor and two vice mayors
• Seven council members and their respective alternates
• Five district council members for each district and respective alternates

Each of the five districts selects one council member to represent them before the general municipal council. These representatives are known as a síndicos or síndicas.