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A Goodbye From Kirsten

Dear ELGL friends, My last day with ELGL will be June 15, 2022, and I wanted to send you a note about my departure and what’s in store for ELGL. Kent and I founded ELGL at our kitchen table after a lunch with some other local government folks in the Portland area. We saw the...

Your Comments Welcomed: ELGL's Strategic Plan Draft

Thank you for all your feedback and help with ELGL's strategic plan! The comment period is closed and the final plan will be published soon. After months of member outreach and engagement, we are ready to share the first draft of the ELGL Strategic Plan for 2022 through 2025. Please use the link below to...

Be Critical

This guest article is by ELGL member Matt Hirschinger, Assistant to the City Manager for the City of Arvada, CO. Read all of Matt's other articles at the Social Justice --> Government homepage. I took a Planning Law and Institutions class so I could tell Colorado City Planners that they have the ability to make...

On Coaching vs. Management

Today’s Morning Buzz is brought to you by Ido Ivry, co-founder and CTO of Zencity Follow Ido on Twitter and LinkedIn. What I’m Reading: Principles for dealing with the Changing World: why nations succeed and fail, nothing beats reading about Macroeconomics when they change. By Ray Dalio. What I’m Listening to: Cautionary Tales, a great podcast about disasters, stupidity and plain...

Podcast: Tulsa Community Partnerships & ARP Funding with Jen Tolentino & Alisa Dougless

Alisa Dougless Program Manager City of Tulsa, Oklahoma LinkedIn | Twitter Jen Tolentino Director of Local Practice Results for America LinkedIn | Twitter | Bio Alisa Dougless, Program Manager at the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Jen Tolentino, Director of Local Practice at Results for America, joined the podcast to talk about spending federal funding...

Nominations Open for the 2022 Sharman Stein Award!

ELGL's friends at Results for America are accepting nominations for this year's Sharman Stein Memorial Award for Storytelling Changemakers! The award recognizes a local government employee or team that uses public communication to cultivate trust and collaboration between residents and their governments. Learn about last year's winner, Port St Lucie, Florida. The application takes about 10 minutes....

Grief in the Workplace

Today’s Morning Buzz is by Kayla Barber-Perrotta, Budget & Performance Manager for the City of Brighton, CO. Connect with her on LinkedIn. What I’m Listening to: Random music on my phone What I’m Reading: The Sensitive Striver What I’m Watching: Servant of the People What I’m Doing: Reflecting Grief is inevitable. At some point in...

Curbside Disposal Education Campaign Pilot

This case study is brought to you by our friends at the EPA's Trash Free Waters Program. The Curbside Disposal Education Campaign Pilot took place from July 2020 to May 2021 in Washington, D.C., through a partnership between the EPA’s Trash Free Waters Program (TFW) and the local District government. The primary goal of this...

Play and Personality in Park and Recreation Stories

Today’s Morning Buzz is by Mary Elise Conzelmann, AKA – ME. She is a cyclist, tree hugger and wine enthusiast from Northern California. She serves the public sector as a communications, marketing and outreach consultant. Connect with Mary Elise on LinkedIn or by emailing maryelise@jpwcomm.com. What I’m Reading: Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard What I’m Watching: Penguin Town What I’m...

The Art of Self Discovery (and Why It Matters in Local Government)

Today’s Morning Buzz is brought to you by Maggie Jones - connect on LinkedIn and Twitter! What I’m Reading: Just finished Book Lovers by Emily Henry, bookended with Octavia Butler’s Parables with a bonus of I’ll Show Myself Out by Jessi Klein for fun. Who reads one book at a time anyway? What I’m Listening...

Call for Proposals: Civic Design Conference, November 16-18, 2022

Our friends at Rosenfeld Media are looking for great ideas for an upcoming civic design conference. Learn more below! Civic Design Conference Virtual Event November 16–18, 2022 Submit We're looking for speakers—especially from under- and mis-represented communities, and from all over the planet—to join the program. Check out the Call for Proposals and submit your...

Local Government 2030 – “Lessons for the Future: A Convening of Practitioners”

The convening is being organized by the Local Government Big Thinkers, a grassroots group of local government professionals and academics founded in 2020 to identify and implement initiatives addressing the NAPA Grand Challenges. Local Government 2030 – “Lessons for the Future: A Convening of Practitioners” will bring together 50 delegates under the age of 40...

Podcast: Ocean Protection & Climate Action with Dr. Tiffany Wise-West, Santa Cruz, CA

Dr. Tiffany Wise-West Sustainability and Climate Action Manager City of Santa Cruz, CA LinkedIn Sustainability steps for the future. Dr. Tiffany Wise-West, Sustainability and Climate Action Manager for the City of Santa Cruz, California, joined the podcast to talk about local government ocean protection and planning for sea level rise. She discussed the City's Climate...

Podcast: Building Organizational Culture with Scot Simpson, River Falls, WI

Scot Simpson City Administrator City of River Falls, Wisconsin LinkedIn | Twitter One City, one team. Scot Simpson, City Administrator for the City of River Falls, Wisconsin, joined the podcast to talk about strategies for shaping organizational culture. He shared how they prioritized employee engagement and created opportunities to build relationships between employees across departments....

You Can't Teach an Old Dog...

Today’s Morning Buzz is by Jackie Wehmeyer, Senior Director of Strategy and Intergovernmental Affairs for the City of Parkland, Florida. Parkland was named one of the Best Places to Work in Local Government in 2021 by ELGL and a Top Workplace in 2022. Connect with Jackie on LinkedIn. What I’m Reading: You Couldn't Ignore Me If...

The Opportunity Project: User Advocates Needed

This post is shared with ELGL from our friends at The Opportunity Project (TOP). You are invited to apply to participate in a technology development sprint program called The Opportunity Project (TOP), facilitated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) in partnership with the U.S....

Meet the Transformative Water Leadership Cohort: Leslie Moening

Meet the Transformative Water Leadership Cohort! We're profiling the local government leaders who were accepted into this cohort to build resilient organizations that are unafraid to try new things, reform and improve business processes, and encourage empathy throughout the organization. Leslie Moening Greater Cincinnati Water Works Lead Program Manager How would you explain your job...

Smart Investments for Water Systems & How to Pay For Them

ELGL is proud to feature the writing and thinking of longtime member Mark Funkhouser. Here’s his latest post, and you can also sign up for his newsletter here or connect with him via email. In 2017, main breaks, lapses in service and billing errors were frustrating facts of life for customers of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority...

Exchanging Ideas and Engaging Employees

One of the most prominent buzzwords that continues to trend in a “post-covid” world is organizational culture. Benefits, salary, policies, flexible scheduling – they are all under the microscope and if you are not taking a deeper look, someone in your organization is. Employees who feel that their employer cares about their wellbeing are more productive and more likely to be satisfied in their overall lives. People want to be happy and the work that they do should not put a restraint on that.

Podcast: Troubling Signs at the Supreme Court with Amanda Karras, Lisa Soronen, & Brian Connolly

Amanda Karras Executive Director / General Counsel International Municipal Lawyers Association LinkedIn | Bio Lisa Soronen Executive Director State and Local Legal Center LinkedIn | Bio Brian Connolly Attorney Otten Johnson LinkedIn | Bio Three guests joined the podcast to discuss the City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising Supreme Court case. They provided in-depth...