The Life of an Engaging Local Government Leader

Posted on December 4, 2025

Today's #MorningBuzz is brought to you by Katie Ludwig, Director of Resource Development, Government Finance Officers Association. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. What I’m Reading: “Demon of Unrest” by Erik Larson  What I’m Watching: The latest season of “Stranger Things” What I’m Listening To: Olivia Dean, Role Model, and…Taylor Swift I’ve been listening...

Santa’s Real Elves

Posted on December 1, 2025

Today’s Morning Buzz is by Jackie Wehmeyer, Senior Director of Strategy and Intergovernmental Affairs for the City of Parkland, Florida and proud Secretary of ELGL’s Board of Directors Connect with Jackie on LinkedIn. What I’m excited about: The ELGL Mug Exchange – I can’t wait to add to my collection! What I’m baking tonight: Double Chocolate...

The Joy of Budgeting

Posted on November 25, 2025

Today's Morning Buzz is cooked up by Andrew Kleine, Managing Director, Government & Public Sector at EY-Parthenon, Ernst & Young LLP. He is the author of “City on the Line: How Baltimore Transformed Its Budget to Beat the Great Recession and Deliver Outcomes” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018) and has served as a county administrator and...

We Analyzed 5,718 Local Government Strategic Plans; Here’s What We Found

Posted on November 21, 2025

Today’s Morning Buzz is by Ted Jackson, Co-Founder of ClearPoint Strategy. Follow Ted on LinkedIn. What I’m reading: "Mornings on Horseback" by David McCullough What I’m watching: "Poldark" on Netflix What I’m listening to: Snowball Podcast ClearPoint just published its first-ever Strategic Planning Report. We analyzed 20,582 strategic plans across seven industries, all of which...

Your City’s Greatest Strength is its People; Let’s Start Saying that Out Loud

Posted on November 19, 2025

Today's Morning Buzz is by Caitlin Lewis, executive director of Work for America. Connect with Caitlin on LinkedIn. What I’m watching: "Slow Horses" and "Department Q" What I’m listening to: The Moth Radio Hour What I’m eating: White chicken chili  Every public servant knows the feeling of doing too much with too few people. Across...

Cloud Migration in Local Government: A Snapshot of Progress

Posted on November 17, 2025

Today’s Morning Buzz is brought to you by Clayton Thomas, vice president of cloud strategy at Tyler Technologies. Connect with Clayton on LinkedIn. What I’m reading: “The Creative Act: A Way of Being” by Rick Rubin What I'm listening to: The HardFork podcast What I'm working on: Enabling our teams, partners, and clients to more...

Pilgrimage and Passing Stones: A Leadership Lesson from the Camino

Posted on November 14, 2025

Today’s Morning Buzz is brought to you by Sheila Shockey, Founder, CEO, Futurist, Shock Talk Podcast Host at Shockey Consulting and artist/gallery owner at 80 Santa Fe in Downtown Overland Park, Kansas. Follow Sheila on LinkedIn and Instagram, and Shockey Consulting. What I’m listening to: They turned the Christmas music on at work today — bah, humbug! What...

Surfing the Silver Tsunami: How Albany is Navigating a Quarter of Our Workforce Retiring

Posted on November 12, 2025

Today’s Morning Buzz is by Kayla Barber-Perrotta, the Deputy City Manager for the City of Albany, Ore. Connect with Kayla on LinkedIn. What I’m eating: Ghost pepper beef jerky What I’m watching: Agenda management demo recordings What I’m working on: Post-ICMA conference catch-up We’ve all been hearing about the “silver tsunami” for years. Seriously, it’s been...

It’s 5:00 — Do You Know Where Your Employees Are?

Posted on November 10, 2025

Today’s Morning Buzz is by Greg LeBlanc, Assistant Town Manager for the Town of Snowmass Village, Colorado. Connect with me on LinkedIn. Where I see myself in five years: Celebrating the fifth anniversary of this question! Will ICMA let me do my stand-up routine at next year’s conference?: I hope so! Which hobby excites me:...