GovLove: Recent Episodes
GovLove
A podcast about local government. Hosted by Kirsten Wyatt, Ben Kittelson, and Caroline Smith. Recorded at SeeClickFix and ELGL HQ.
The Finance Directors of Milwaukie, OR and Canby, OR join Kirsten to discuss the pros and cons of annual budgeting and biennial budgeting. Casey Camors and Haley Fish share their experiences and trade jabs in this week's episode.
Clackamas County, OR Finance Director and incoming GFOA President, Marc Gonzales, joins us this week. Marc discussed everything from how he got into local government accounting to joining GFOA and seeing Bruce Springsteen in concert.
For this week's episode we sat down with New York City Parks and Recreation Commissioner Mitchell Silver. He's a planner with over 30 years of experience and took the helm of the big apple's parks system in 2014 after serving as the top planning official in the city of Raleigh, NC.
This week on GovLove Kent Wyatt sits down with Josh Dukelow and Jon Stehle on what it's like to run for local elected office. Everything from dealing with the pressure of debates to endorsements and fundraising. This episode was also streamed live on Periscope back on April 26th.
This week we sit down with Professor Philip Joyce from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. He recently wrote an article for Governing Magazine on what governments at every level need to do to attract millennials to the sector. We go through his five recommendations and explore how to make those changes.
Intern takeover! The Oregon local government fellows, Roger Gonzalez and Mark Yager take the reigns on this week's episode. They chatted with Hillsboro, OR City Manager Michael Brown on everything from his hatred of email and why he plays with fruit to attracting businesses and engaging the youth.
This week's guest went viral recently with his honest and straightforward tweets about the state of public transportation in San Francisco, CA. Taylor Huckaby chatted with Kirsten Wyatt about the importance of transit, why local government needs to communicate more openly and more.
Kent Wyatt sits down with Gabe Klein and Leah Treat to talk about their time in the City of Chicago Mayor's Office, Leah's work as Portland's director of transportation, and Gabe's book, "The Start-Up City." Their conversation covers everything from innovation in city government to balancing parenthood and a career.
BONUS - This week GovLove is bringing you a bonus episode! Kirsten Wyatt sat down with West Linn City Councilor Jenni Tan to talk about the work she's done as a member of several National League of Cities committees with emphasis on developing leaders both at home and abroad.
Gaming and urban planning meet in this week's episode. Lisa Nisenson and Sarah Lewis from GreaterPlaces join GovLove to talk about how they are using a card game to help people talk about their communities. They are the minds behind 'Cards Against Urbanity' and their next project will work to help communities engage with citizens in their planning efforts through games and more.
On this week's episode we have two administrators that work for special districts to explain the benefits of this unique form of government. Cassandra Ulven from Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue in the Portland, OR metro region and Bobbi Nance from the Park District of Oak Park, IL lend their perspective and expertise.
Bridget Doyle and Kirsten Wyatt get together to recap their #Frank2016 experience. The Frank conference is all about public focused communication. Between quoting Damn Daniel and avoiding bats Kirsten and Bridget learned some communications tips and ideas for future ELGL conferences.
We've got a ground breaking episode for you this week. Host Kirsten Wyatt sat down with Oxnard, CA Police Chief Jeri Williams and Gilroy, CA Police Chief Denise Turner. These two women both rose through the law enforcement ranks on their way to sitting in the big chair. Each Chief shared their perspective on women in local government, law enforcement and the work it takes to be a leader.
It's polling season! With primaries across the nation underway and the national election coming this fall the news and internet have been flooded with poll results. Kent Wyatt talked with Dr. Kenneth Fernandez from Elon University to talk about the Elon Poll, which acts at the poll of record in North Carolina. They discussed everything from the presidential race to the nitty gritty of polling.
What if there was a way to get local governments, school systems and non-profits all working toward the same goal of improving student achievement? That's precisely the mission of Say Yes to Education. This organization works to support kids so more of them graduate high school and go to college. Ben sits down with Mary Vigue, the executive director of the newest Say Yes community Guilford County, to learn more about the program and how it works.
The Oregon local government interns are back! Roger Gonzalez and Mark Yager sat down with ICMA president Pat Martel for an edition of Between 2 Interns. They chatted about everything from getting started in local government and standing out in a pile of resumes to Pat's goals for her ICMA presidency.
A few months ago, ELGL Co-Founder and occasional GovLove host, Kent Wyatt sat down with two people active in the local government tech scene. His guests were, Tamara Manik-Perlman, CEO of Next Request and Chris Maddox, CEO of Seneca Systems. Their conversation covered everything from transparency in government and user experience to the Warriors win streak and celebrity look-a-likes.
This week GovLove sits down with Lee Worsley the Executive Director of the Triangle J Council of Governments in North Carolina. He explains what a COG does and the role they play in everything from elderly care to high speed internet. Lee also tells us about leading small and big counties and where he stands on the east vs. west Carolina BBQ debate.
After one of the worst tornados on record, many thought the city of Joplin, Missouri would never be the same. But local residents, nearby agencies and volunteers from across the country banded together to help the battered town. City Manager Sam Anselm describes what the recovery was like and how far the city of 51,000 has come in the last 5 years.
What's it like to balance a two career household when both people are in local government? Meet Bo and Michelle Ferguson, they've been doing just that for most of their careers and have found a way to make it work. Listen as they discuss their career paths, work-life balance and eggnog recipes with GovLove producer Ben Kittelson.
By day, Nadine is a small business owner, by day AND night, Nadine is a champion community advocate for her neighborhood nestled in New Haven, CT. Alone she is a force to be reckoned with, but one of her true strengths has been in bringing her neighbors in to work together for causes and projects too big for any one individual.
This week GovLove has a guest host! Kent Wyatt of ELGL and Tigard, OR fame stops by to discuss veterans in local government. His guests are Will Doerfer and Darrin Tangeman, two local government administrators who also happen to be veterans.
During this special 30th episode of GovLove Podcast, we sit down with these three community champions: all women, all hired exclusively to engage with their surrounding communities for organizations that are working to make New Haven an increasingly more connected place to live.
Join Tim Wolff (Lake Isabella, MI), Matt Yager (Plano,TX), Mike Ekey (Raymore, MO) and Ben DeClue (Lebanon, MO) as they discuss the benefits and drawbacks of ICMA's Tenet 4, which includes a guideline directing ICMA members to serve a minimum of two years in a job. Tim, Matt, Mike and Ben bring their unique perspectives to this GovLove episode.
This week the GovLove team sits down with Martha Perego from ICMA and Julie Underwood the Assistant City Manager of Daly City, CA to discuss one of the hotly debated guidelines for ICMA members, the two year job requirement. This is part of the ICMA code of ethics and essentially encourages members to stay in a position for at least two years before moving on. Ben explores this guideline and more in our latest episode.
Michelle Lee is CoFounder and CEO at Textizen, an SMS civic engagement platform that combines the best of analog and digital outreach. Michelle went from UX Designer at Google to Code for America Fellow in the City of Philadelphia — dedicating her work to thoughtful, user-driven projects and initiatives spanning the public and private sector. In this episode we discuss a range of ideas, from exploring the intersection of civic technology and community organizing to how local governments can operate in a world of fragmented communication.
In honor of the recent holiday we've got a local government themed halloween story. What would your town do if about 80,000 people descended upon it for a night? That isn't a bad dream, it happened to the Town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 2007 and even in the years since, with efforts to reduce crowd size, about 40,000 costumed revelers come to the town annually. Ben talks with Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue and Matt Sullivan, the interim Fire Chief on all the work that goes on behind the scenes to make this event work.
In Episode 25 of GovLove, we talk with Greg Stopka, Central Regional Director at Alliance for Innovation. Not only does Greg break down for us the definition of innovation, giving it new and tangible meaning, but he tells us what it what it means to build a culture of innovation and the next big things facing local government.
We introduce a semi-recurring series called 'Between Two Interns,' and talk with the Oregon Local Government Interns. Roger Gonzalez and Mark Yager discuss everything from their impressions of Oregon to the term millennials and the projects they're working on.
Liana Epstein tells us about City Atlas: New Haven, a new project about the future of New Haven. City Atlas is a bottom-up publication that highlights the good initiatives happening throughout the city with the goal of working together toward a greener, greater future for the city. In particular, Liana talks about the powerful role of listening in community intitatives - and listening a lot.
In this episode of GovLove, we talk with Cam Marston, an expert on the impact of generational change and its impact on the marketplace. As an author, columnist, blogger, and lecturer, he imparts a clear understanding of how generational demographics are changing the landscape of business. Recently, Cam shook things up at the League of California Cities Conference during his presentation on generational differences. Several ELGL members took notice and engaged in a lively Twitter discussion focused around some of Cam’s research and comments.
Kirsten, Ben, and Caroline recap the final days of #ICMA15 - including our highlights and major take-aways. We also breakdown our vision for the future GovLove podcast and how'd we like it to continue to elevate the voices of a diverse range of local government folks.
During #ICMA15, Kirsten, Ben, and Caroline sat down with Chris Fabian, Co-Founder of the Center for Priority Based Budgeting. Chris talks highlights from #ICMA15 and the trends he's seeing in local government.
The hosts and producers of GovLove podcast, a podcast on local government, are all at the Annual #ICMA15 Conference in Seattle, WA! We’ll be doing a quick podcast every morning during ICMA to tell y’all what’s on tap for today, what we’re most excited about, and how to keep in loop.
This episode is super special and super short episode. Our guest/co-host/champion is Ryan Mannion. Ryan was a Co-founder of GovLove podcast -- producing the first couple episodes to the millisecond, navigating the world of podcasting/RSS feeds, and being an all-around generative idea man. In this episode, Ryan will be telling us a little about what he’s doing now: in particular, focusing on #opendata and the upcoming ICMA conference.
Anyone that works in local government knows that the annual budget is one of the most important efforts an organization goes through each year. But getting citizens involved can be challenging. Our two guests on this episode of GovLove have made efforts to make the City of Asheville more open so that more citizens can get involved and be heard. Eric Jackson is the Co-Founder of DemocracyApps, the non-profit company that created the Asheville Budget Explorer. And Tony McDowell is the Budget and Financial Reporting Manager for City of Asheville.
VetWheels is a program started in New Haven, CT in which veterans with serious mental illness learn bicycle repair, maintenance, and safety in a small group setting as they rebuild a used bicycle to keep for their personal use. In this episode of GovLove, we sat down with the Program Coordinator and Bike Mechanic of VetWheels to hear how this small program tapped into broader community efforts and how it can be replicated in other towns.
From intern to County Manager, Tom Lundy has become a legend in Catawba County, NC. He's been the Manager at Catawba for 36 years as well as served as the President of ICMA, the National Association of County Administrators, and the North Carolina City-County Management Association. In this GovLove Episode, Lundy talks about his perspective on local government, how things have changed during his career, and some of his advice.
"A computer beat me once at chess, but it was no match for me at kickboxing." Glen Oscko is chock full of these kinds of equal parts hilarious and true -isms for local government folks. As the founder of WeLoveLocalGovernment.com and a private consultant for public sector digital solutions in the United Kingdom, he knows what he’s talking about.
Guilford County has had the most domestic violence related homicides in North Carolina. The Director of the Guilford County Family Justice Center discusses her innovative approach "to protect the vulnerable, stop the violence, restore hope, and make our community safer."
How can governments up their twitter followers? Increase traffic to your parks? Lori Hall, the Citizen Engagement Coordinator at the City of West Linn, breaks down her strategy in detail.
This week’s episode of GovLove, our podcast on local government, Larry Laconi of SeeClickFix sits down with Denise Mercer, the Public Relations Specialist for Macon-Bibb County, GA. Denise has a tough role managing the concerns of both citizens and various departments in the county -- but she does it all with poise, kindness, and humility.
In this week’s Episode of GovLove, Kirsten Wyatt of ELGL and Bridget Doyle, Community Relations Director for Sterling Heights, MI, dive into the important issue of increasing the percentage of women in local government. These two women have been champions in leading the conversation on how to speed up the glacial pace of women entering into the local government space.
This week’s episode of GovLove is a little bit special. On Wednesday, at SeeClickFix, we did a webinar with two of our partners: St. Petersburg, FL and Pinellas County, FL. We weren’t planning on turning the webinar audio into a podcast but it turned out to be not only a densely informative and interesting conversation, but also an crucially important one. The theme was “How counties and municipalities can work together to improve citizen services” -- and more than that it was at its core about a county and city who are standing side by side to strive for open, public, and accessible government for their citizens. Featuring Larry Laconi of SeeClickFix, Stella Mansfield and Michael Roiland of Pinellas County, and David Flintom of St. Petersburg.
Mayor Freddie Odom of Bluffton, GA wears many hats as an actor, published author, teacher, and the 1st Mayor with autism in the United States. In this episode, he tells hilarious stories and gives advice worth writing down to remember.
Tucker Severson of SeeClickFix sits down with Chris Osgood and Nigel Jacob, Co-Founders of the City of Boston's Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, the research and development group for the city. These two have been tasked with solving really hard problems facing the city in innovative ways. How can you be an urban mechanic for your city?
Ben Kittelson of ELGL sits down with Bertha Johnson and John Allore, Budget Director and Assistant Budget Director of Durham, NC. They'll be discussing Durham's tremendously successful e-Town Hall.
Kirsten Wyatt of ELGL sits down with Casey Camors, Finance Director of City of Milwaukie, OR. This episode walks through Casey's creative path to local government finance leadership!
Ben Kittelson is the awesome and dedicated local gov aficionado who is a Budget and Management Analyst for Guilford County, North Carolina.
Ron Cochran is the Communications Director at the City of Malden, MA. He's developed an EPIC communications strategy in Malden -- and he's got some buffed-up metrics to prove it.
Kirsten Wyatt, co-founder of Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL), oversaw the City of West Linn transition out of an embezzlement scandal to become one of the best cities in America to live.
The inaugural GovLove podcast featuring Kent Wyatt, Co-Founder of Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL). Caroline and Kent explore what it takes to innovate in local government.