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The Burden of Leadership

Right Now with Kevin Teater What I’m Listening to – My dog snoring ? What I’m Reading – The Death and Life of Great American Cities – Jane Jacobs What I’m Watching – University of North Carolina basketball ☹ What I’m Doing – Learning how to play ukulele The Burden of Public Service Leadership The...

All 2020 #NDOSC Locations & RSVP Links

The National Day of Supper Clubbing (#NDOSC) is on March 5 in cities across the United States! Check out the list below and RSVP for the location near you. This event is free for ELGL members and includes snacks and ELGL swag, and then a no-host dinner to visit with fellow local government friends. Tickets...

How to Test the Health of Your Local Government Website

There are core areas that are key indicators of how “healthy” a government website is when it comes to digital best practices.

The Culture of Overwork

Today’s Buzz is by Meredith Reynolds, Park Planning & Partnerships Manager for the City of Long Beach. Follow Meredith on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. What I’m Listening To: The new vinyl record my husband gets me each year for my birthday, this year is Chris Stapleton’s Traveller What I’m Watching: The Wire What I’m Planning:...

Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge

This post is shared from our friends at the National Association of Counties (NACo): Overview As public funding becomes increasingly strained, counties must search for and employ new strategies to improve their communities and make healthier, more equitable places for residents to live, work and play. The Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge invites counties with populations of...

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

The Buzz with Jordan Rae Hillman, Director of Planning & Development for the city of Jackson, Mississippi What I’m Listening To: Jack White What I Want for Lunch: Wings! What I’m Watching: Jeopardy Greatest of All Time Over the holidays I actually took time off work. Up to this point in my career taking time...

Podcast: Creative Placemaking in Local Government with Lyz Crane

Lyz Crane Deputy Director Artplace America Bio | LinkedIn | Twitter Using arts and culture to shape communities. Lyz Crane, the Deputy Director of Artplace America, joined the podcast to talk about the work strengthening the field of creative placemaking, which is about integrating arts into community planning and development. She gave examples of how...

Government websites

How to buy, build, launch and manage great local government websites.

I Have to Ask: Asking Powerful Questions

ELGL Co-Founder Kent Wyatt poses a question and a guest columnist answers it. This week, Meredith Hauck, writes about how to ask better questions. Hello, my name is Meredith. Yes, I am a Leadership + Life Coach. No, I don’t have all the answers. I know, I’m disappointed about that, too. I thought they came...

Strategic Planning Process, Step One- Input

Today’s Morning Buzz is by Josh Edwards, so be kind or not– either way, connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter!!! What I’m Listening To: Willie Nelson What I’m Reading: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief What I’m Watching: Disney Plus reliving my childhood I will be jumping into the 3rd post in my Foundations of Local Government Strategic...

Building a Diverse & Inclusive Profession: Practice What You Preach

This post is by ELGL member Heather Geyer, City Manager, City of Northglenn, CO. She's also the Mountain Plains Senior Vice President on the ICMA Executive Board. Follow Heather on Twitter and LinkedIn. “You can’t be what you can’t see.” These words have always been with me throughout my local government career, but especially so since I...

Scholarship Opportunity: 2020 ICMA West Coast Regional Conference

2020 ICMA West Coast Regional Conference Scholarship Opportunity from Cal-ICMA! The 2020 West Coast Regional Conference is March 18 - 20, 2020 in Vancouver, Washington. Cal-ICMA is offering scholarships to attend for first time attendees residing in California and a current member of ICMA. Four scholarships offered Complimentary conference registration Stipend to cover lodging &...

Elected Officials and Workplace Harassment

Beginning in January 2020, a new Oregon law goes into effect which requires public employers to note in their workplace anti-harassment policies that the policy applies to elected officials. The new law, SB 479, does not create a legal liability that was not already present. Although an elected official is not a traditional “employee,” even...

Marketing Your Online Engagement Site

Brought to you by Engagement Manager, Meghan Ruble, of Bang the Table. Today is the day! Your online engagement site is going live, a culmination of months, perhaps years of work to foster internal buy-in, secure funding, identify projects, create content, gather images and finally launch your site. Congratulations! Now the real work begins. In my...

Podcast: Putting People First in Birmingham, AL with Ed Fields

Ed Fields Senior Advisor and Chief Strategist City of Birmingham, Alabama Bio | LinkedIn Engagement from campaigning to governing. Ed Fields, Senior Advisor and Chief Strategist for the City of Birmingham, Alabama, joined the podcast to talk about how they engage residents in the work of local government. He also discussed transitioning a new mayoral...

The Customer is Always Right…

This Morning Buzz is by Christian Williams, a Planner with the City of Goodyear, AZ and an ELGL Board of Directors member! Planner of the Week My city has what is called a “Planner of the Week” (POW); my three colleagues and I rotate through being the POW (for a weeklong period). During this weeklong...

Make GovLove Your Valentine this February

For the month of February, we are asking you to make GovLove your valentine with a donation to ELGL to support the podcast you know and love. Our goal is to raise $2,500 for new equipment and professional development training for our hosts. That means, if only 100 ELGL members donate $25, we can reach...

Recap: Strategic Government Resources Conference

ELGL was proud to sponsor the 2020 Strategic Government Resources Conference in Hurst, Texas. Michael Montgomery shares his conference experience below. Michael currently serves as the Town Administrator for the Town of Bartonville, Texas. He received his undergraduate degree from Colorado State University and Masters of Public Administration from the University of North Texas. In...

Don't Take Away My Professional Development!

Today’s Morning Buzz is by Brian Southey. Connect with Brian on LinkedIn and Twitter. What I’m Reading: Dare to Lead by Brene Brown What I’m Watching: Vanderpump Rules (Between by wife and daughter, I normally always lose control over the remote) What I’m Listening To: Mac Miller: Circles This week the Illinois City/County Management...

Real Talk about Residential

Cities aren’t cities without people. That’s, of course, why residential zoning makes up such a large part of every community. The talk of 2019 in planning circles largely focused on single-family zoning reform that made headlines in cities like Minneapolis and Seattle and led to sweeping changes in states like Oregon and Virginia. The realization...