GovLove - A Podcast About Local Government

Cool things about parks. To celebrate the start of the #ELGLKnope Award contest for the best Park facility in the country we have an interview between Eleanor Wyatt and Bobbi Nance. Eleanor is a 9-year-old that has strong opinions about parks and Bobbi is the President of Recreation Results, a company that uses data and strategy to advise local governments in the parks and recreation sector.

Using scrum in local government. Michelle Thong, the Digital Services Lead at the City of San Jose, CA, joined the podcast to talk innovation, iteration and engaging the tech community. She shared the three innovation behaviors her office works to encourage in the organization and how she works to be a multiplier. Michelle also talked about starting the Code for San Jose brigade and how the City works with volunteers.

Transforming data into action. Miguel Sangalang, Deputy Mayor for Budget & Innovation, and Amanda Daflos, Innovation Team Director, joined GovLove to talk about their work at the City of Los Angeles, California. They discussed earning the top level of the What Works Cities Certification and how they are pairing budget with innovation. They also shared why they think data is important and how the City uses data to make decisions.

Measuring employee engagement. Bob Lavigna the Director of the Institute for Public Sector Employee Engagement at CPS HR joined the podcast to talk about why organizations should take employee engagement seriously. He argues that there is a business case to keeping employees engaged at the workplace and that the best organizations have recognized this. He also shared his path into working with governments and the value of employee surveys.

Communications and media relations. Chris Floore, the Assistant to the County Manager for Public Affairs in Macon-Bibb County, Georgia, joined the podcast to talk about his work and building relationships with the media. Chris discussed the importance of the public information officer role and how he prepares staff to work with the media. He also responded to a report from the Society of Professional Journalists says public information officers are making it more difficult to get access to interviews and information.

Battling disparities through planning. Two people from the City of Minneapolis, MN join the podcast to talk about the hottest comprehensive plan in the country, Minneapolis 2040. Heather Worthington is the Director of Long Range Planning and Paul Mogush is the Manager of Community Planning for Minneapolis. Heather and Paul discussed the goals of the new comprehensive plan, which put dealing with racial disparities at the center of their work, and how they engaged the public throughout the process. The new plan will make big changes to land use in the city including eliminating single family zoning and parking minimums.

The best episodes of the year. All five regular GovLove hosts teamed up to hand out awards and recap the year of GovLove. Kirsten, Alyssa, Javon, Kent and Ben all selected four of their favorite episodes to honor with the most prestigious award in local government podcasting, a GovieLovie. In addition to handing out awards, the hosts shared what they hope to cover on the podcast in the future, their favorite holiday food and highlights from ELGL's 2018. The Top Episodes of the Year: Kirsten #195 Innovation & Equity in Parks & Recreation with Kylie Bayer-Fertterer, Justin Cutler & Peter Cosmiano #236 Local Reporting in San Antonio with iris Dimmick, The Rivard Report #206 The First Lady of Water Cathy Bailey, Greater Cincinnati Water Works #232 The Best of Nextdoor with Jenn Takahashi Javon #179 The Gatekeepers, Chiefs of Staff in Local Government #171 The City of Detroit's Chief Storyteller, Aaron Foley #238 PennDOT Connects with Secretary Leslie Richards & Brian Hare #217 Parkour & Parks with Colin MacDonald, Parkour Visions Alyssa #176 NBC Parks & Rec Memories with Jim O'Heir (Jerry Gergich) #228 Crisis Ready, Building an Invincible Brand with Melissa Agnes #213 University of Alabama Game Day in Tuscaloosa with Mayor Walt Maddox #219 Karen Pinkos, ICMA President & City Manager, El Cerrito, CA Kent #188 NFBPA & Diversity with Christine Edwards & James Gaston #210 Oregon's Most Wired Community - Independence #222 The Poisoned City - Flint's Water & the American Urban Tragedy with Anna Clark #185 Public Service in the NFL & City Management with Tom & Connor Barwin Ben #233 What Government Innovation Really Looks Like with Hana Schank #223 Changing the Local Government Workplace #225 Evaluation & Good Government in Washington, DC with Jenny Reed #193 The Color of Law with Richard Rothstein

Problem solving in government. Brian Platt the Business Administrator of Jersey City, New Jersey joined the podcast to talk about managing the day to day operations of the city, innovation in local government and being named a babe of Jersey City. Brian previously served as the Chief Innovation Officer and he shared the work of the city's i-Team and how they've approached problem solving.

Hungry for democracy. The national non-profit, Pizza to the Polls, tries to make waiting in line to vote a little better. They take reports of long lines from people around the country and then find local pizza places to deliver slices to voters. Scott Duncombe is one of the founders of Pizza to the Polls, he tells the story of how it started and how they delivered over 10,000 pizzas in the 2018 election.

Transportation & engagement. The Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, Leslie Richards, and the PennDOT Planning Chief, Brian Hare, join the podcast to talk engagement and the future of transportation. They shared their PennDOT Connects initiative which works to engage Pennsylvania residents before they implement transportation projects. Secretary Richards and Brian also talked about their career paths and how the State works with local governments.

Economic development at the state level. Stefan Pryor, the Secretary of Commerce for the State of Rhode Island, joins the podcast to talk about his work attracting companies to the state. Stefan discussed the policies they've used to turn around Rhode Island's economy. He also shared his career path to the position, which included a stint as Deputy Mayor in Newark, NJ.

The City Hall beat. Iris Dimmick, Senior Reporter at The Rivard Report, talks covering local government in the City of San Antonio, Texas. She talked about the non-profit journalism that The Rivard Report conducts, her path to becoming a reporter and the future of local journalism. Then Iris discussed three propositions that were voted on by residents in November, each had a different impact on the City of San Antonio, including one that targeted the City Manager.

Applying technology to make things better. John Covey, Chief Information Office of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, joined the podcast to talk about software, local government IT and improving processes. John shared his career path to working at the Town of Shrewsbury, his definition of a technologist and what he sees as trends in the field. He also shared their experience working with ViewPoint Cloud to improve the permitting process.

Putting people first. Mike Sarasti, the Chief Innovation Officer and Director of Innovation & Technology for the City of Miami, Florida, joined the podcast to talk about his role driving innovation and scaling solutions throughout the organization. He discussed his path to becoming a CIO, how they put users first through process design and working with Code for Miami. He also talked about how adding IT to his portfolio has impacted the innovation work in Miami, from training his employees on these tools to using tech as an entry point for process improvement.

Getting the work done. Hana Schank, Public Interest Technology Fellow for New America, joined the podcast to talk about her recently published report on innovation in government. She interviewed problem solvers working across Federal, State and local governments to learn how they are trying to make government services better for residents. From what this field of innovation should be called, what teams across the country look like and common projects that teams are working on, Hana gave more info on what she found in her report. She also talked about the necessity of buy-in from top leadership and the importance of process over technology. Read the report: Getting the Work Done - What Government Innovation Really Looks Like

Quality neighborhood drama. Jenn Takahashi, the chief lurker and founder of the parody account Best of Nextdoor, joined the podcast to talk about sharing the entertaining drama that happens on Nextdoor. Jenn shares what caused her to start the account, what the Nextdoor CEO thinks of it and what it's been like to have the account get so popular.

Budgeting for Outcomes. In his new book Andrew Kleine, the former Budget Director for the City of Baltimore, MD, challenges how local governments budget. He writes about how he changed budgeting in Baltimore to focus on outcomes rather than line items. He joined the podcast to talk about how he learned about outcome budgeting, the process of writing a book, and his career path in government.

LouieStat and changing culture. Daro Mott, the Chief of Performance Improvement for the City of Louisville, Kentucky, joined the podcast to talk about their use of data and focus on process improvement. Daro described Louisville's particular focus on professional development and training employees to change culture. He also shared his path into local government and their work to earn the What Works Cities Certification.

Navigating the Supreme Court decision. Earlier this year the case of Janus v. AFSCME changed part of the relationship between local governments and unions. No longer can cities and counties collect union dues for non-union employees that benefit from union negotiations. Matthew DiCianni from the Chicago based law firm, Ancel Glink, joined the podcast to talk about the role of unions and the impact of the Janus decision.

Talking crisis management and communication. Melissa Agnes, the author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, joined the podcast to talk handling crises. Melissa shared her perspective on plans versus programs and the importance of communication.

A lot of preparation and work goes into hosting a Super Bowl. Two communications professionals from the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota shared their story of hosting Super Bowl 52 in their city. Greta Bergstrom is the Communications Director and Jordan Gilgenbach is the Digital Media Relations Coordinator for the City of Minneapolis. They talked about the working with dozens of partners to keep residents and guests informed, how they prepared for cold weather and all the rowdy fans, plus they also described the training and support they got from the Federal government in preparation for the game.

The President of the Greater Providence, Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce, Laurie White, joined the podcast to share how Providence works to attract businesses and entrepreneurs. She talks about how important it is to know your workforce, what businesses are looking for and how she works together with the State Secretary of Commerce.

Good government for the people. Jenny Reed the Director of the Office of Budget & Performance Management for the City of Washington, DC joined the podcast to talk about how they use evaluation and performance management. She shared the work of the Lab @ DC, how they want to make a more data driven budget process and their use of low cost evaluations. Jenny also shared the process of earning the What Works Cities Certification and how that process helped her office and the City improve.

College Football and Local Government. We continue our series on the relationship between local governments and universities. Tom Casady, Director of Public Safety, joined the podcast to talk about the game day atmosphere in Lincoln, the preparation it takes to get ready for the influx of fans and his favorite memories. On Saturdays enough people come to Lincoln to make it the third largest city in the state. Prior to being named Public Safety Director, Tom was the Lincoln Police Chief from 1994-2011.

A panel of local government staff, an elected official and a tech company staffer discussed the changing workplace. They shared their opinions on what they want to see from their employers, how government can better engage with residents and how local government needs to deal with diversity and inclusion. The group also took questions from the audience that hit on the urban-rural divide, the role of elected officials and white male privilege. The panel included: Lacey Beaty, City Council President at Beaverton, OR; Kylie Bayer, Human Resources Manager at McMinnville, OR; Jose Esparza, Community Engagement Specialist at Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District; Pat Rollens, Public Information Specialist at Corvallis, OR; and Casey Earp, Engagement Manager at Bang the Table. This episode was recorded live from 2018 League of Oregon Cities conference in Eugene, OR.

The author of a new book on the Flint water crisis joined the podcast to talk about what happened. Anna Clark, the author of "The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy," shared her perspective on the role of government in the crisis, the decline of local journalism and the importance of infrastructure. Anna also talked about instant replay, what a book tour is like and whether she still has trust in government.

Trust and accountability in local government. Kevin Knutson, the Vice President of Customer Success at Envisio, joined the podcast to talk about strategic planning, accountability and his view on the biggest challenges facing local governments. He also shared how Envisio, a software company, is helping organizations stick to and achieve their strategic plans.

Game day for one of college football's storied rivalries. Every year, the City of Jacksonville, Florida plays host to the Georgia-Florida Game (or Florida-Georgia, depending on the year) and welcomes two fanbases from rival schools for events, tailgating and more. Brent Fine, the Special Events Manager for the City of Jacksonville, and Rick Catlett, the President/CEO of Gator Bowl Sports, joined the podcast to talk about the planning it takes to pull off the annual event. They shared how they manage relationships with both universities, the unique history and tradition associated with the game, and the coordination on everything from parking enforcement to trash pickup.

Live from the 2018 ICMA Conference in Baltimore, MD. The new ICMA President, Karen Pinkos, joined the podcast to talk about her career path, leadership and her tips for young professionals. She answered questions from the audience and talked about her new role as ICMA's 4th female President. Karen was recently selected to serve as the next City Manager of El Cerrito, CA, where she has been the Assistant City Manager since 2001.

Transparency before it was cool. Three people from the City of Kansas City, Missouri joined the podcast to talk about how KCMO uses data to inform their decision making and how they hold themselves accountable to achieving their strategic plan. Kate Bender, Deputy Performance Officer, Bo McCall, Performance Analyst, and Chris Hernandez, Communications Director, shared the story of KC Stat, a monthly data and performance meeting. They also explained how the What Works Cities Certification helped them and what they learned from going through that process.

Parkour! Running, jumping and climbing through the urban landscape is catching on as a new form of play. Colin MacDonald the Design Director for Parkour Visions came on the podcast to talk about adding parkour elements to parks and teaching parkour. He explained how parkour can activate otherwise bland landscape and teaches people how to fall.

College Football and Local Government. GovLove is looking at how local governments across the country deal with game day. Glenn Bartolome, a System Impacts & Events Coordinator for King County Metro Transit, joined the podcast to discuss how they get thousands of fans to the University of Washington football stadium. The stadium is located in a dense urban neighborhood and both the University and the county encourage fans to take transit to the game, Glenn explains how they work together to provide that service, how it impacts operations and who pays to shuttle fans from across the city.

Getting outcomes from engagement. Kit Cole is a public engagement consultant and a board member of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). She discusses the value and types of engagement, plus the importance of engagement in local government. Kit also compares the approaches to engagement in big, urban cities like Los Angeles versus small, rural communities like Brownsville, Oregon. Prior to becoming a consultant Kit worked for public utilities, Waste Management Inc. and the California state government.

Preserving quality of life in shrinking Iowa cities. A grant from the National Science Foundation is exploring how communities can protect quality of life and community infrastructure while they lose population. The Shrink Smart Project aims to develop data-driven tools to assist towns in actively planning for shrinkage. Three people from Iowa State University joined the podcast: Kimberly Zarecor is an Associate Professor of Architecture, Sara Hamideh is an Assistant Professor of Community & Regional Planning, and Eric Davis is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science. They discussed how they are using both data and qualitative research to figure out why some rural communities are maintaining their quality of life while they shrink and others don't.

College Football and Local Government. Fall is here and that means football season, and at GovLove we are taking a look at how local governments across the country deal with game day. Mayor Walt Maddox from the City of Tuscaloosa, Alabama talked about how they handle the influx of fans filling the University of Alabama stadium, which seats over 100,000 people. From trash pickup and security to planning and transportation Mayor Maddox gives a behind the scenes look at one of the most raucous game day atmospheres in the county and how local government makes it possible.

Playing matchmaker and reducing implicit bias. The CEO of Strategic Government Resources (SGR), Ron Holifield, joined GovLove to talk about how they are pushing local governments to change how they recruit. He shared his career path from time as a City Manager to leading a recruiting firm. Ron talked about his company's philosophy, the hierarchy of leadership and the SGRecruiter tool, which will match passive job seekers with organizations and help reduce implicit bias.

Using data and design to creatively solve problems. Tina Walha the Director of the Innovation & Performance team at the City of Seattle, Washington joined the podcast to talk about her team's work. She shared her path into local government, which started with a stint in Mayor Bloomberg's administration in New York City. Tina discussed the work of Seattle's i-Team, how they are building on the use of data and what Seattle did to earn a What Works Cities Certification.

A smart rural community. David Clyne the City Manager and Shawn Irvine the Economic Development Director join GovLove to talk about their work for the City of Independence, Oregon. This small city of about 9,000 people has used technology like municipal broadband to infuse a culture of technology into the work of the City and the culture of the community. They have worked on projects using a virtual situation room, agricultural technology and more.

Code for America recently hosted a National Day of Civic Hacking as a call to action bringing together civic leaders, local governments, and community organizations. Groups across the country got together to work on some of our toughest challenges. ELGL Executive Director, Kirsten Wyatt, was down in San Francisco, California at the Code for America headquarters and talked to three participants in the National Day of Civic Hacking. Alex Gaesser discussed working on bike transportation, Connor English talked about a project dealing with foster care and Matt Castillon lead a group working with building inspections data to deal with affordable housing.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health Prize recognizes communities that have placed a priority on health and are creating powerful partnerships and deep commitments to provide everyone, especially those facing the greatest challenges, with a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being. Katie Wehr from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Julie Willems Van Dijk from the University of Wisconsin's Institute of Public Health joined GovLove to talk about what a culture of health is, stories from communities that are doing it well and different approaches to public health.

The City Manager of Hillsboro, Oregon, Michael Brown, joined GovLove to talk about his approach to recruiting for department directors and other top level vacancies. Michael shared how when his Assistant City Manager announced their retirement he spent time rethinking the position and allowing the departments and staff that will report to the new person to have input on what to look for. He also shared his career path into local government and his passion for the band Tool.

The Director of the Greater Cincinnati Water Works Department, Cathy B. Bailey, joined GovLove to talk about her career path. Cathy started as a chemist in 1992 for the Cincinnati, OH water department and was named the director in 2015. She talked about how her department is removing lead lines by working with partners across the community, what her job is like day to day, and her perspective on diversity in local government.

In Governing and Living Cities' 2018 Equipt to Innovate survey the City of Fayetteville, North Carolina was chosen as the top overall performer. Rebecca Jackson, the Strategic Performance Analytics Director, joined the podcast to talk about her work and what it means to be chosen as the most innovative city in the nation. Rebecca shared Fayetteville's approach to strategic planning, how they include resident input and their process improvement work. This interview was recorded from the North Carolina Local Government Budget Association (NCLGBA) 2018 Summer Conference in Atlantic Beach, NC.

Why not Dodge? Melissa McCoy, Assistant City Manager/Public Affairs, joins GovLove to talk about the tourism industry and the old west. The City of Dodge City, Kansas turned around the old phrase "get the heck out of Dodge" into an effort to bring people to the queen of the cowtowns. In 1997 residents of Dodge City voted to approve a dedicated portion of the sales tax to fund projects to encourage tourism.

Managing change and investing in dignity in Mississippi's state capital. Dr. Robert Blaine joined the podcast to talk about his role as the Chief Administrative Officer for Mayor Chokwe Lumumba in Jackson. He shared what it's like setting up an administration and what they've dealt with in the first year in office. Dr. Blaine described his path into local government, he was a trombonist, conductor and academic before making the leap into managing a city. He also talked about Jackson's strategic plan and taking over the Jackson Public Schools.

Trends in civic technology. Andrew Kirk, the Chief Revenue & Operations Officer for CitySourced, joined the podcast to talk about civic technology from his vantage point as a vendor. Andrew shared his path to civic tech, how he sees government changing, and CitySourced's efforts to build a mobile City Hall.

Two Innovation & Technology staff from the City of Boston, Massachusetts joined the podcast to talk about their work. Laura Melle is the Sr. Procurement Lead and Stefanie Costa Leabo is the Interim Chief Data Officer, both shared how they are using their positions to be a resource for city departments. They discussed how Boston is doing procurement differently (including more RFPs), how they are using data to make decisions, and how What Works Cities helped them do those things.

The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati was the inaugural winner of ELGL & The Atlas' Water You Waiting For Award, recognizing the best water project. Reese Johnson, Principal Engineer for the sewer district, came on the podcast to talk about their smart sewers project and his passion for wastewater. Reese explained how smart sensors are helping to keep wastewater out of local streams and rivers in Cincinnati. Plus he describes working with IT staff and gives tips to other people that want to change their industries.

From municipal bankruptcy to universal basic income. Kurt Wilson, the City Manager of Stockton, California, has managed the city through a lot of change. Kurt came on GovLove for a wide ranging conversation that covered his path into public service, principled policing in Stockton, working for Governor Schwarzenegger's administration and more. He described what it's like to manage a City through the bankruptcy process and how Stockton will be the first city to pilot a universal basic income program.

Performance and analytics in the City of San Diego, California. Almis Udrys, Deputy Chief of Staff for Innovation & Performance, and Maksim Pecherskiy, Chief Data Officer, joined the podcast to discuss their work solving problems and improving customer service using data. Each talked about their path into local government, why pandas are their department's mascot, and what San Diego did to earn a What Works City certification.