#27 – Building relationships with local governments and nonprofits; with Dr. John Diamond, Dr. Sarah L Young and Dr. Thomas Bryer.

How would you describe the relationship between academia and practitioners, in the field of public administration and non-profits? My guests today take a deep dive into this conversation. Dr. John Diamond, Dr. Sarah L. Young and Dr. Thomas Bryer are actively engaged with this question. We begin and end with the idea that relationships between […]

Today Eric Norenberg takes us inside the world of regional government. Eric is the Executive Director of the Centre Region Council of Governments in Pennsylvania. Whether or not you have contemplated regional models of governance, this episode will open your mind to an alternative way of delivering local government services. We are talking this month […]

Ralph Hutchison, or as he is known around these parts, “Hutch”, is manager of East Lampeter Township in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. Today we take an inside peek of what it looks like to manage a municipality that is situated in the heart of Lancaster County. As Ralph says, “there are two things people don’t like. […]

Today my guests are two distinguished municipal managers from Pennsylvania, Jerry Andre the former manager and Dan Santoro, the current manager, of Cranberry Township in Butler County Pennsylvania We are going to talk about regional partnerships. Why are they important and what are the skills you need to be successful in this arena? We are […]

Today an episode about the ways municipal managers think about their work and the challenges that they learn to embrace. Tom Vernau has been managing Lower Allen Township in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania since 2005. Like all the best managers, Tom makes those around him look good while staying under the radar. Today we shape the […]

Several years ago I met Ben Kafferlin at a County Commissioners conference in Pennsylvania. At the time, he was new to office and not surprisingly, he had some ideas about how to improve the organization structure. He invited me up to Warren County in northwest PA to interview a few key staff and share my […]

Today on the podcast I have five articulate women guests. Together, they represent different generations and different experiences of work. They share how early life experiences have formed their ideas of leadership. They talk about the importance of support in their environment and in particular, what it means to have other women and men pave […]

My guest Seth Higgins, is the former Chief Clerk in Elk County Pennsylvania. He now provides consulting services to help local governments navigate the maze of state and local fiscal recovery funds. In this episode, we return to his early interest in process improvement and talk about what grounds his thinking. He illustrates how it […]

Professional municipal managers think about ethics and in particular the ICMA Code of Ethics which guide their profession. Although the term “neutrality” is never mentioned in the tenets, it is a foundational idea, or shall we say, ideal, in the management of local governments. Today our guests, Matt Candland and Dave Pribulka, two professional managers, […]

This is a special PCC Local Time podcast episode hosted by some of the members of the Pioneering Change Advisory Team. For many years I have heard anecdotal comments from managers that go something like, “I would not mind a contract like Ron Wagenmann’s!” Or, Everything I know about negotiating a manager contract I learned […]