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Institutional Knowledge with Bill Monahan, Part 1

As a part of the Institutional Knowledge project, we are recording the wisdom and experience of retiring and retired leaders in local government. If you know someone who could add something to this project, let me know! You can reach out to me on Twitter/ LinkedIn or send me an email. Cities of Milwaukie, OR and Tigard, OR … Continued

Introducing New Blog Series: Intersection of Faith and Public Service

By Rafael Baptista, Durham County Strategic Initiatives Analyst and ELGL Management Team As an aspiring local government manager and a Catholic, I regularly reflect on the intersection of my faith and my public service career. This regular reflection is not unique to me, many of you may deal with this intersection as well. As a … Continued

Beyond Bean Counting: How to Lead

This is the second installment of a four-part series on how local government finance officers can make a BIG impact when given a seat at the table!  In a previous post, we looked at why finance professionals can help their organizations and themselves by assuming a leadership role in strategic planning. For those who want … Continued

Best-Ever Mentor? Al Johnson, Retired City Manager

If you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s mentoring month! Yay! Julia Burrows shares her Best-Ever mentor with us in this edition. Connect with Julia on LinkedIn. Al Johnson served as City Manager of Roseville, CA for 15 years. Al was a leader, visionary, brilliant negotiator, sportsman, gifted storyteller and provided the foundation for my continuing … Continued

Relationship Status: It’s Complicated

January 2017 is Local Government Mentor Month! All month long, we’ll be learning from people about how to be an effective mentor (as well as celebrating the people who have mentored us). In this installment Kathy Lang, Environmental Services Department IT Manager, City of San José gets real about her relationship with mentoring. Connect with Kathy on Twitter and LinkedIn. Relationship … Continued

Beyond Bean Counting: Leading from the Finance Department

This is the first installment of a four-part series written by ELGL member organization Management Partners on how local government finance officers can make a BIG impact when given a seat at the table. Be honest: do you sometimes see finance officers as giant buzzkills who come in at the end of all the hard … Continued

About Me: Jacob Johnson, #InstitutionalKnowledge Project Coordinator

Meet Jacob Johnson, ELGL’s new project coordinator for the #InstitutionalKnowledge project. As part of this project, we’re interviewing retired or soon-to-retire local government pros about their careers, lessons learned, and perspectives on the future of local government. Hi, I’m Jacob! I am currently studying as an undergraduate in English at Brigham Young University in Provo, … Continued

“Go Home, Scot” And Other Words of Wisdom from Local Gov Mentors

January 2017 is Local Government Mentor Month! All month long, we’ll be learning from people about how to be an effective mentor (as well as celebrating the people who have mentored us). Scot Simpson, City Administrator of City of River Falls breaks it down in this installment. Scot Simpson City Administrator, River Falls, WI, Connect: LinkedIn & … Continued

Sources Say: Going “Off the Record” with Reporters

By Ben DeClue, City of Lebanon, MO, LinkedIn and Twitter One of the most misunderstood tools in public communications today is source anonimity. Too often, sources decline to be identified, no matter how mundane, trivial, or freely available the information being revealed.  Some journalists aid and abet this bad behavior, allowing the words “off the record” or “for background … Continued

Staying on TOP: High-Impact Employee Benefits

Editor’s note:  This is the latest blog in the Staying on TOP series from Seneca Systems CEO Chris Maddox. High-Impact Employee Benefits Before Seneca Systems, Nick (co-founder/CTO) and I worked for a startup building back-office HR software for small businesses. Like startups and local government, hiring in small businesses can be difficult. Given our size, we … Continued

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