Actually all you need is to know who is above who and how to talk to them politely about what their peons are doing.This is why I tell tcmtech to rejoice about not living in a big city.
I don't golf but my dad does and apparently he is golfing buddies with every person who has any degree of power in the area. If we need something done all we need to do is know our rights and what is legal and who to talk to that's above the immediate source of blockage.
Very few of those who are at the top want their sub idiots getting them and their departments in legal trouble because they don't know the actual legal ins and outs of the work they do to keep their jobs.
I can't say much but a local city engineer and fire marshal got their pee pee's slapped pretty hard not to long ago for playing petty politics and holding things up with a local school system that turned out to not even being in their jurisdictions to mess with to begin with. I mean as a city engineer and fire marshal you should probably know what is inside the city limits and what is not right before you go tossing their weight around with a well liked and ran pubic school?