CitySpeak Podcast

In addition to these 10 goals the new Finance Director must achieve as discussed in this podcast, there will also be many projects the City Manager will “delegate” to the new Finance Director.  You must learn how to say “no” sometimes.  Or you can say “yes" if you provide me the resources”.The point is that you will have 12 to 18 months to meet "What City Hall Needs from its New Finance Director".You CAN achieve the "10 Goals" in addition to your regular duties as Finance Director, plus help the City Manager with his special projects requests!Next week's CitySpeak Part III episode will focus on the 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) for Finance Directors who want to succeed "without burning out" at City Hall.Remember that 20% of everything you do as Finance Director creates 80% of your value at City Hall.Do you know which 20% is the most important?  Come back next week to find out.

Whether you are looking to transition from the private sector or you're an “up and comer” in municipal government, you may be interested in listening in on this 3-part series of the CitySpeak blog and podcast as follows:Part 1 – Character traits and skills the municipal finance officer (Director) must have.Part 2 – 10 most important goals to achieve as the “new” Finance Director at your City.Part 3 – Keep the 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) in mind to keep your job at City Hall.Read or listen in on today's CitySpeak blog and podcast which covers part 1.  In the next two weeks, we will cover parts 2 and 3.  Enjoy the CitySpeak podcast!

In today's CitySpeak, we discuss six points that all municipal employees can think about to on-board new Council members next month: 1. Support the City Manager even if he's a “lame duck” leader who may be fired by the new City Council.2. City Managers, you can survive the new City Council if you're willing to do whatever it takes to keep your job.3. Good communication from the City Manager is key to maintaining staff morale.4. Adhere to professional public management protocols.5. Embrace change, a reality at City Hall after elections.6. Accept all newly elected officials voted in by the community, and uphold democracy and the constitution. To hear the complete discussion on how and why municipal employees are needed to help their City Manager onboard new Council members listen in on today's CitySpeak podcast.

There are 6 main points highlighted about allowing municipal employees to work from home, and the constraints municipal managers will have to overcome to maximize the benefits of WFH initiatives.  John also addresses the risks and disadvantages of municipal employees working from home, with suggestions for mitigating these risks through systems and internal controls.  Listen in on today's episode for ideas and suggestions you may find of value.

Do you want to learn more about why the stock market is doing so well on Wall Street when the jobs picture is poor on Main Street?Do you want to learn about interest rates and why it is a very risky monetary policy of the Federal Reserve Bank to keep printing money and going into debt?Do you want to learn what personal financial decisions you should be taking to weather the economic recovery from this 2020 recession?Tune in and listen to this half-hour presentation of how the national and state economy and their budget decisions affect the budget at City Hall and potentially the jobs of many municipal employees who work in local government in 2020 and beyond.

Here's the point of this CitySpeak episode:  Think long-term, the rewards are great!  In today's CitySpeak podcast, I present three (3) important benefits we can all enjoy from “thinking long-term”… about our careers, our relationships, and our life in general.  Here they are as follows:1. Long-term thinking… allows us to weather economic recessions like any planned event.2. Long-term thinking… is smart, short-term thinking is not smart.3. Long-term thinking… gives us greater health, wealth, and happiness.My grandfather reminded me constantly, saying, “A prepared man is worth two”.  And we have all heard the general definition of “luck”, right?  It says, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”.  Also, another saying, “Good luck is the result of good planning”.  Lastly, I like the saying, “The harder I work, the luckier I get”.There are many, many more sayings I could quote, but they all have the same theme, “Plan long-term, work hard even when nobody is watching, and good things come to those who wait”.  In today's CitySpeak podcast, I'm taking these sayings and adding a twist to make it my own, and here it is:  “Think long-term about everything you sow or plant and you will reap proportionately”.What do I mean by this?  Basically, you reap what you sow, but with a lot of examples and stories to support this point to show why thinking long-term is the smart way to think and realize greater rewards than thinking short-term, which is not smart.

Local governments welcomed the year 2020 with a clear vision of optimism, with a focus successful achievement of our fiscal and organizational goals.  Today we're facing a world of massive uncertainty.Our optimism dropped instantly when the Coronavirus threat was finally announced in March.  Before the end of the first quarter, our Cities were shut down, unemployment spiked from 3.8% in February to 13% in May. TIME TO REINVENT GOVERNMENTWith these tough economic times we're facing, it is more important than ever for local governments (and government in general) to “reinvent” how they do business and how they provide public services to the communities they serve.Whether Millennials are reinventing government at the City, County, or Special District level, we must remember to respect the Politics vs Administration dichotomy, while making positive change in municipal organizations from the inside out.Tune in to today's CitySpeak podcast where we discuss how Millennials can reinvent government as they take the baton from Baby Boomers.  With an entrepreneurial spirit and a focus on re-engineering municipal organizations, Millennials are in a unique position to create solutions, not just deliver services to the communities they serve.

In this episode, John shares his story on why he chose a career in municipal government. When still in college, he took a career assessment called SIGI, a comprehensive, interactive, computer-assisted career guidance program designed to assist students in making career choices.SIGI suggested to John that he would make a good City Manager.  This opened up the world of municipal government to John.  This CitySpeak podcast seeks to open up the world of municipal government to its listeners as well.Keep in mind that to enjoy your job and succeed in your career as a municipal employee, you need to have a love of neighbor and a passion for public service. When you work for an organization that serves the community, this is a huge responsibility.  And you have a sense of pride and responsibility for the work you do. Take a listen to this episode to learn more about municipal careers and about how  "temp" assignments through MuniTemps can help you land a "perm" job with a City or other local government organization.

John has been involved in the municipal industry for 30+ years and through his experience, he knows certain conversations you should indulge in, and certain conversations you should not indulge in.Local government politics that belong in the realm of elected officials, this tends to cause problems in the workplace if the municipal employee “take that bait”.It is imperative to be very careful about your approach when talking to someone who has power over your career.  As a municipal employee, you have to respect the hierarchy of your organization, preserve political neutrality and integrity, and have honest communication without taking sides in the politics of the Governing Body that leads your organization.With this professional approach, you will be able to grow and develop your career within the organization and gain the respect of your peers and your superiors.Take a listen to this episode as you will learn the different ways to stay out of office politics in order to keep your job and advance in the municipal career track of your choice.We look forward to following your municipal career!

John's passion in this episode will encourage any municipal executive, City Manager, and/or Director that right now is the time to be a leader.Customer satisfaction is an important part of keeping a business open, municipal organizations are no different.To keep your customers happy, you have to identify who your customer is and know what makes them happy.Even though we are facing a COVID-19 recession, now is the time to be creative by implementing new systems that will create higher productivity in the workplace.If you already have an ERP / database program in place, build your “systems” from there and make it better.  Being stagnant and comfortable with old ways will not help you succeed during these times.  Take a listen to this episode as John breaks down the three ways of systemizing your municipal Department to allow you to do more with less.This is the time to work smarter, not harder.Get your pen and paper out because school is back in session!

Municipal employees get nervous, anxious, and stressed about their jobs during times of fiscal crisis.  This episode of CitySpeak reminds you that this economic recession is  "not our first rodeo".  We've been here before, we got through the last one, and we'll get through this COVID-19 recession too!By approaching the existing recession as a challenge to be overcome with creative solutions, we can take the "bad stress" that hurts us and turn it into "good stress" that energizes us.  Proactive action gets us off our laurels and gets our creative juices flowing so we can survive and even thrive in our jobs during this fiscal crisis.

This is the first-ever CitySpeak podcast, with John Herrera, who is the founder, President, and CEO of MuniTemps.  In this episode, we will spend the first 20 minutes getting to know John Herrera, as we hope this will help our listeners get a better perspective on where we are coming from in all future CitySpeak episodes.