Voices in Local Government

In part two, Santy and Hemant continue covering these topics:

• How should IT or HR departments answer when employees ask: "How will AI make my job easier instead of replacing me?"
• How residents can use AI to help themselves and create better interaction with local government.
• What is the next step for local governments and individual staff after experimenting?
• AI architecture.
• Creating internal guidelines.
• Fear and optimism from our favorite fictional AI.

Resources

City of Boston Interim Guidelines for Using GenerativeAI

ICMA's Local Government Reimagined Conferences:

Explore the Future of AI in Local Government

One Topic.  Two Locations. ICMA is headed to Boston, MA and Palm Desert, CA for the Local Government Reimagined Conferences. From cutting-edge applications to strategic insights, discover how AI is reshaping the landscape of local government. Register here.

Government AI Coalition

Join over 140 government agencies in creating standards for responsible AI procurement and governance for public agencies. Learn more.

Additional Content

Zencity: Using Generative AI for Community Engagement, from our partner named a 2024 GovTech100 company.

• Define AI, GenerativeAI and dismiss common myths or misconceptions.
• How can AI can be used as a precise tool for a specific project right now?
• How can local governments vet vendors?
• Application for smaller towns and counties.
• Are GenerativeAI tools going to remain free?
• AI’s ability to help and/or hurt public discourse and local government employees caught in the middle.

Resources

City of Boston Interim Guidelines for Using GenerativeAI

ICMA's Local Government Reimagined Conferences:

Explore the Future of AI in Local Government

One Topic.  Two Locations. ICMA is headed to Boston, MA and Palm Desert, CA for the Local Government Reimagined Conferences. From cutting-edge applications to strategic insights, discover how AI is reshaping the landscape of local government. Register here.

Government AI Coalition

Join over 140 government agencies in creating standards for responsible AI procurement and governance for public agencies. Learn more.

Additional Content

Zencity: Using Generative AI for Community Engagement, from our partner named a 2024 GovTech100 company.

Resources:

ICMA Economic Mobility and Opportunity Tools and Resources
 

ICMA Annual Conference, Austin, Texas

Free Breakfast Workshop with Danielle Arigoni: Affordable, Climate-Friendly Housing as a Pathway for Economic Mobility

October 2, 2023
7:45am to 9:45am CT

Austin Convention Center
Room: Meeting Room 4

Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation, by Danielle Arigoni. Use promo code "webinar" for a 30% discount.

More from ICMA strategic partner, Cigna:

Local government healthcare resources

ICMA experts on brownfields, Clark Henry and Chris Harrell, explain why brownfields are a problem and how to transform them into sustainable spaces with positive economic, social, and environmental impact. Often at no cost to the local government. Then they preview the Brownfields Conference, August 8-11 in Detroit.

Resources

Technical Assistance to Brownfields Communities: Free technical assistance and workshops (in-person or digital) via ICMA in region four, or find your representative organization on the resources page.

Brownfields Conference, August 8-11 in Detroit

Brownfields University, a foundational pre-conference training program, free with registration for Brownfields 2023 conference. 

ICMA Brownfields topic page, for the basics all the way through advanced studies and resources.

Free copy of the ResourceX Annual Impact Report

City and County government organizations face significant challenges, including budget constraints, changing regulations, and increasing demand for transparency and accountability. Finance transformation can help address these challenges by improving financial processes, increasing efficiency, and enhancing decision-making capabilities. 

Jim McClurkin and Miriam Rayward explain how initial assessment, defining vision and objectives, developing a roadmap, engaging stakeholders, and implementing and monitoring progress, local government organizations can begin their finance transformation journey, including:

• Integration across multiple functions, departments, and projects. HR, payroll, t+e, accounts payable, compliance, etc).
• Talent and change management.
• Analytics for real-time decision making instead of waiting until "budget season".
• Tips on how to optimize processes with new technology

Resources

Free eBook: 4 Ways to Turn AP More Productive for Cities and Counties

ICMA's A Budgeting Guide for Local Government, Fourth Edition

Local government spends 2 trillion dollars annually on procurement. Co-founder and CEO of Pavilion, Mariel Reed, shares her unique perspective working in both local government and technology to create solutions that improve the often tedious, slow, and painful procurement processes, including:

• Drastically reduce buying cycles.
• Maintain compliance.
• How city/county managers and department heads can empower purchasing managers to transform the dreaded procurement headache into a strategic advantage.

Resources

Pavilion's free platform for local governments.

Connect with Mariel on LinkedIn to continue the conversation or ask questions about procurement. Include ICMA podcast in your message!

Emergency preparation and response resources from Hagerty Consulting.

ICMA Southeast Regional Director, Randy Reid joins the share nearly 50 years of wisdom on:

1. Advocating for the profession of local government administration.
2. Responding to public criticism and handling an unwanted spotlight as a city/county manager.
3. Separating local government service delivery from the partisan pitfalls of national or local politics.
4. Specific strategies to identify and support the next generation of managers.

Resources

ICMA Local Government Reimagined Conferences, Louisville, May 10-12 and Long Beach, June 7-9.

Free E-Book: The 2023 State of Local Government Report

Mental health for local government leaders, their staff, and their residents is discussed with Johnny Crowder. ICMA Affinity partner, Cope Notes, is a daily text service that interrupts negative thought patterns with positive stimulus to help improve mental wellness.

Co-hosts Jessi Atcheson and Joe Supervielle collected questions about mental health and the Cope Notes model from ICMA  members, staff, and others for an Ask Me Anything interview, including:

• How does peer support connect with neuroscience?
• How does it fit in or compliment with seeing a professional, certified therapist?
• Stigma to even have a conversation about mental health has made progress, but how do you show people it's okay to seek support?
• How can text messages possibly make a meaningful impact on mental health?
• How do local governments or other organizations with group subscriptions measure success if it's all anonymous?

Resources

Preliminary effectiveness study of the Cope Notes digital mental Health program in the Journal of Mental Health.

Recap from Crowder's session at ICMA Annual Conference Columbus, and his TEDx Talks.

Local government healthcare resources from Cigna. 

Lawrence E. Henderson, Jr., President & Chief Learning Officer, Business Operational Support Services (BOSS), LLC, shares insights on how to move from leadership clichés to behavior and habits that:

• Build and maintain high performing teams
• Effectively delegate
• Inspire and support

Resources

Message Lawrence Henderson on LinkedIn and mention ICMA's Voices in Local Government podcast for a free 1-1 consultation.

Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize tasks by urgency and importance (or a lack of) to decide what to do, delegate, or hold.

Free, self-guided website solutions demo from CivicPlus.

Cedar Park, Texas deputy city manager, Katherine Caffrey created the TEXChange program in Texas to benefit assistant city/county managers in their daily work . In this episode, Caffrey outlines the goals of the exchange for participant and host, lessons learned in the inaugural group of 14, what's planned for 2023, and how to set up a similar informal program in your own region or state.

Resources

ICMA Blog: How We Created a Successful Exchange Student Program for Assistant and Deputy Managers

katherine.caffrey@cedarparktexas.gov

Free, self-guided website solutions demo from CivicPlus.

Sue Lessard, town manager, Bucksport, Maine, tells a familiar tale of a small town struggling after a major industry closed its doors. With renewed focus on economic development but still searching for a way to reshape the town's identity, local government determined how to get out of the way when it comes to community engagement - Community Heart and Soul.

Jane Lafleur explains that it is a resident-driven process that relies on in-person interviews along with other digital methods to engage the entire population of a town. This identifies what is most loved about the community, the future the residents want for it, and how to achieve it. Local government can secure grant funding and provide the infrastructure.

The result is participation based on positives, not complaints, and real data to inform council decisions. 

Resources

Apply for a $10,000 seed grant for communities under 30,000 population

Obtain Community Heart and Soul's free intro book or email them at info@communityheartandsoul.org

ICMA's Local Government Reimagined initiative and conferences

ICMA's Strategic Planning in Small Communities: A Manager's Manual

• Why local governments are the best stewards of federal funding opportunities.
• How investment decisions can help address issues of inequity and expand upward mobility and opportunities for all residents.
• How specific cities like Tacoma, Washington; Baltimore, Maryland; and Union City, Georgia are using their federal funds, included in NLC's ARPA Investment Tracker.
• How small and mid-sized communities in particular can get access to technical assistance for grant writing to apply for federal funds.
• Why it’s so important for communities to gather community input on the front end of city projects and then communicating intentions and results across various channels to a diverse public.

Resources

Zencity 360: essential tools to help government agencies improve services, build community trust, and increase overall satisfaction, from our partner recently named a 2023 GovTech100 company.

ICMA's Local Government Reimagined initiative and conferences

ICMA's Strategic Planning in Small Communities: A Manager's Manual

In this episode of CitiesSpeak, NLC CEO and Executive Director Clarence Anthony sits down with Emily Larson, Mayor of Duluth, Minnesota to talk about how the city of Duluth is addressing big issues from revitalizing its downtown core coming out of the pandemic to addressing the impacts of climate change and building a more sustainable community.

• Show before, during, and after shots of projects to communicate progress with the public, council, and commissioners.
• Capture multiple high-resolution images per location per year.
• Integrate at an enterprise level with cross-department functionality.

Resources

Exclusive free two-week trial: Enhance government workflows with premium aerial intelligence from Nearmap. 

ICMA's Strategic Planning in Small Communities: A Manager's Manual

Leaders from Baldwin Park and the San Gabriel Valley Regional Housing Trust explain:

• How Tiny Home sites are selected and set up.
• Scalability to show how this program can help your town address the homeless crisis and reduce service calls. This is not just an L.A. problem or L.A. solution.
• Complementary programs, including: workforce development, food recovery, landlord outreach, recreation, crisis intervention, prevention, and diversion.
• Funding and the financial case for the program.
• How to engage with city council and the public.

San Gabriel Valley Regional Housing Trust with RFP templates, case studies, and more to help take a first step.

Contact Brielle Acevedo with questions about Tiny Homes or Regional Housing Trusts at bacevedo@sgvrht.org.

ICMA Annual Conference Presentation Slide Show

Sponsor Resources

Exclusive free two-week trial: Enhance government workflows with premium aerial intelligence from Nearmap. 

LTC Dean Huard, ICMA Fellow, Georgetown, Texas, and Lynn Phillips, ICMA senior program manager, explain the process, benefits, and challenges of ICMA's Veterans in Local Government Management Program for transitioning service members and local governments.

• The program is zero cost for the organization, with no obligation to make a permanent hire.
• What fellows typically do day-to-day to gain critical experience and fill needs for the host organization.
• Creating a work plan to maximize impact and measure success.
• Transparent and calibrated expectations by the host locations and fellows, including what locations and position-level to target.

Cohort dates cycle throughout the year, but can be adjusted for specific situations:

January - April

May - August (Applications open in January)

September - December

Contact Lynn Phillips at lphillips@icma.org for next steps on becoming a host.

Resources:

Download the Free EBook: Measure What Matters: Tips for Aligned Strategic Priorities  and watch the video on How Minneapolis Prepares for the Future with Strategic Budgeting

Specific topics include:

• How to standardize customer data and experiences across unique departments and situations.
• What resources are needed to implement this kind of program. And why it's important to find small and big wins to show the value of the work.
• Forming "CX Core Teams" to keep the framework and process sustainable even without constant support from an analyst.
• Working with IT to figure out software solutions.
• Reconciling how a disproportionate percentage of feedback is extreme positive or negative compared to the silent middle.
• Equity in CX and data analytics.

Customer Experience Measurement Guidebook for a replicatable step by step process about how to implement a measurement framework to get customer feedback.
 

Resources:

Download the Free EBook: Measure What Matters: Tips for Aligned Strategic Priorities  and watch the video on How Minneapolis Prepares for the Future with Strategic Budgeting

Charlie Nichols, director of planning & development, Linn County, Iowa joins the show to explain the planning and process needed to turn a decommissioned nuclear plant into a solar farm.

1. Why the county was interested in solar, and how the project started.
2. The time and resources needed during the application process, and how that was accounted and paid for.
3. How to best communicate to the public and remain a-political on a controversial topic.
4. Lessons learned that other locations can benefit from on their own current or future large-scale energy projects.

Resources

ICMA's Solar@Scale Guidebook

Linn County's solar project webpage. An example on collecting and communicating all the relevant information to the public.

Sponsored by CivicPlus Municipal Websites

Planning committee co-chairs, Emily Muzzarelli and Alex McIntyre preview this year's ICMA 2022 Annual Conference: Achieving Excellence Together, September 17-22 in Columbus, Ohio.

1. What they've learned at a previous event that was put into practice at their local government.
2. Speakers or sessions they're most excited for.
3. Benefits and tips for attendees other than city/count managers, covering assistant CAOs, department heads, and early to mid-career professionals.
4. Networking.
5. Suggestions for Columbus.

Then, Ohio local, ICMA marketing coordinator and host of ICMA Member Spotlights, Jessi Atcheson joins to give more info on the Columbus airport, walking/ride-share situation, best restaurants and bars, and THE Ohio State University Saturday game day experience.
 

Sponsored by CivicPlus Municipal Websites
 

Resources

Registration

Agenda and Full Schedule

Conference App

Digital Event

Experience Columbus deals and discounts

Send questions to membership@icma.org or conferenceteam@icma.org

Sessions Referenced During the Episode to Bookmark:

Self-Compassion: A Key to Resilience-Featuring Betty Hart-Sponsored

Governing in a Disruptive Environment: Charting a Course in a Stormy Sea

The Balancing Act of Being a Parent and a Chief Executive
 

Jessi's recommendations:

OSU Pregame: Little Bar, Midway

Restaurants: Condados, Bakersfield, Standard, Foodhall, Lincoln Social, Hubbard, Local Cantina, Marcella’s, TownHall, The Eagle, Brassica

Breweries: Hoof Hearted, Seventh Son, North High Brewing, Columbus Brewing Company, Ohio Brewing Company, Whistle and Keg, BrewDog, Elevator Brewery & Draught Haus

Other Attractions: COSI, Columbus Zoo, North Market, German Village, Franklin Park Conservatory, Easton Town Center

Jeannetta Maxena, Assistant to the City Manager, City of Mary Esther, Florida, explains the frustrations experienced and resiliency needed during her job search. Then she shares five tips for job seekers:

1. Explore the ICMA Local Government Management Fellowship (LGMF) or similar program on a state level. These don't always mean internship or low pay.
2. Stay visible. Get published, go to events, and more.
3. Use a variety of digital platforms to search.
4. Improve (and sometimes customize) your resume/cover letter.
5. Establish good working relationships.

Jeannetta then recalls her experience working on ICMA's soon to be released Job Hunting Handbook, and closes the show with final advice to job seekers and decision makers looking to hire them.

Resources

ICMA Local Government Management Fellowship. Applications open September, 2022.

Fellows | Host Organizations

ICMA's Job Hunting Handbook update coming soon!
 

Career Resource Guides
 

Sponsored by Smarsh