UPComing Event 1
“Our mission in local government is to take care of people,” emphasized Dianne Miller, City Administrator of Eagan, Minnesota. In order for a citizenry to thrive, the residents and business members need to be able to trust that their government is capable of providing public services. “At the same time, as employees and staff, we need to have a level of trust in our community [to allow us to authentically engage with the community],” explained Miller.
The panel described a vacuum of information (caused by a decrease in local media coverage) and the influence of social media narratives that often distort reality and sow discord at the local level. Local leaders must step into that vacuum and build legitimacy of the institutions they represent, or else politics will fill the vacuum, explained Paul Grimes, City Manager of McKinney, Texas. He noted that legitimacy must be practiced in both formal and informal ways: The institution itself, its policies and processes are the formal aspect.