Predicting the Future: Why Citizen Engagement No Longer Is Optional

For years, we who are involved in local government have treated citizen engagement as an option to enhance policymaking and community building in local government. I would argue that now engagement no longer is an option; it is imperative. It is made mandatory by the challenging and often confusing context of contemporary local governance, increasingly characterized by the ad hoc presence of foundations, nongovernmental organizations, private firms, and other nongovernmental actors in processes and decisions that significantly affect community development and well-being. If we are to anticipate effectively and plan for coherence in community building as an overarching goal of professionalism in local government, we must find a way to channel toward the collective good the diversity of actors, their energy, and their collaborative minds. One way to do this is through a significant commitment and more systematic approach to planned citizen engagement. To understand the role of engagement, first we must distinguish two types. The initial form is spontaneous. This is the expression of citizenship that local government professionals have grown to expect and often dismiss as emotion driven, self-interested, and influence yielding. Planned engagement, an alternative form, has taken time to reach a place of legitimacy in the administrative arsenal in part, I would maintain, because we lump all engagement under the same rubric—the one we would prefer to avoid! But we must realize that planned engagement is different. It leads to an expression of the rational community mind as it deals with issues of community importance, as a balance to the emotion that comes from the heart in spontaneous engagement

Cross Sector Collaboration and Politics

This document presents the transcript, in outline form, of a presentation given to the Civic Council of Kansas City, Missouri on June 23rd, 2011

Defining Facilitative Leadership: A View from Inside the Mayor’s Office in Lawrence, KS,

This article combines practice and theory in describing the experiences of a mayor who also was a public administration faculty member

Public Personnel Update

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from "http://www.jstor.org"

Politics and Administration in Council-manager Government: Differences Between Newly Elected and Senior Council Members

This study examines the different attitudes of newly elected officials and senior incumbents on variables that are considered to be the building blocks of the relationship between local elected officials and professional civil service staff. council respect for the city's professional staff; a clear understanding of the roles of council and the staff, and the governing body's commitment towards working as a group and toward consensus. Governing body members who have served for eight or more years show greater respect for staff, have greater role understanding, and value teamwork among their colleagues more than their newly elected counterparts. While there are differences, the attitudes of long-term officials appear to change little while in office. They enter office with the building blocks of their own success. These findings are based on a cross-sectional and modest longitudinal survey research design, supplemented by in-depth interviews

Reflections of Pracademic on the Logic of Politics and Administration

What is different about politics and administration? The answer is found in the ways public officials experience and think about their work rather than in their behavior, according to John Nalbandian. Here, he differentiates ''constellations of logic'' that separate politics from administration and suggests that successful council-staff relations in local government depend upon the presence of a ''translator,'' usually the chief administrative officer. After outlining the elected official's role as an arbiter of values and community builder, Nalbandian suggests that professional staff's success in recognizing council needs-as the governing body experience them-and then configuring staff support within that context

Facilitating Community, Enabling Democracy: New Roles for Local Government Managers

City management professional have identified four changes that have occurred over the past 10 years in their roles, responsibilities, and values. First, community building has become part of the city management professional's role and responsibility. Second, managers ave increasingly expected to facilitate participation and representation, and to develop partnerships. Third, there is less adherence to the council-manager plan as the "one best form "of government. And last, the manager's internal administrative vole has become more process oriented. At a time when the value of government is being questioned these changes provide direction for strengthening the local government professional's legitimacy in the eyes of citizens

Contemporary Challenges in Local Government

Describes contemporary challenges in local government focusing on roles and responsibilities, structures, and processes

Preparing Councils for Their Work

The legitimacy of an individual councilmember’s power comes directly from the electorate, but respect and influence cannot be presumed; they have to be earned through action. The manager’s position, however, comes from professional qualifications to manage and provide policy guidance. In contrast with members of the council, the local government manager and professional staff benefit from a long-term familiarity with issues, specialization, and technical expertise and also from an organizational structure familiar to all. As we know, linking politics and the work of a governing body with the management of government involves an ongoing set of tasks and challenges. The idea of council-manager government is that political and administrative realms can be in partnership and not dependent on the system of checks and balances that characterizes our state and federal governments, where separation of legislative and executive powers is valued. The relationship between the manager and the elected officials sets a tone for the entire local government. Although some elected officials shy away from acknowledging a team or partner relationship between and among members of council and between the council and the staff, it is critical that the professional manager prepares the council for its work. In part, this takes place as the manager helps the council build its capacity to work as a body, earning respect for one another and in an effective partnership with staff. In this article, we set out some of the ways the manager can facilitate the building of council capacity

The Future of Antitrust: New Challenges to the Consumer Welfare Paradigm and Legislative Proposals

On November 14, 2019, the Federalist Society\u27s Corporations, Securities, & Antitrust Practice Group hosted a panel for the 2019 National Lawyers Convention at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. The panel discussed The Future of Antitrust: New Challenges to the Consumer Welfare Paradigm and Legislative Proposals”