Local Government Management: Practices and Trends [1 ed.] 0367029030, 9780367029036

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
About the editors
List of contributors
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Elected Officials and City Managers
Chapter 3 The City Manager’s Perspective
Chapter 4 Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management through Digital Strategy and Communication Networks
Chapter 5 Budgeting and Financial Management
Chapter 6 Human Resources
Chapter 7 Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience Impact on Growth Policy
Chapter 8 E-Government, Privacy, Technology, and Innovation
Chapter 9 The Sharing Economy: A Disruptive Innovator for City Government
Chapter 10 Business Stakeholders in Local Government and the Community
Chapter 11 Local Government Management and Paramedicine
Chapter 12 Municipal Government Relations
Chapter 13 School Districts
Chapter 14 Local Government and Nonprofit Relationships
Chapter 15 Urban Planning and Affordable Housing
Chapter 16 Homelessness and Affordable Housing in the Urban Areas
Chapter 17 Immigration and the American City
Chapter 18 Green Movement: Environmental Concerns
Chapter 19 Accountability
Chapter 20 Strategic Planning and Non-Routine Management Challenges: Homeland Security and Emergency Management, e.g. COVID-19
Chapter 21 Epilogue: Trends and Current Issues
Index

Citation preview

Local Government Management

In a recent paradigm shift, local governments find themselves shouldering more responsibility for day-to-day governance and crisis management, thanks to regulations and federal spending cuts. While 20 years ago a book on local government administration might have been considered complete with chapters on budgeting, public personnel management, productivity and responsivity, and community engagement, any discussion of local government must now also include resilience, emergency management, climate change, smart cities, social media, and infrastructure funding. Bringing together key voices from the academic and public sectors, Local Government Management offers techniques and insight into how local government can most effectively lead and manage their resources in an evolving political—and environmental—landscape. Featuring examples from expert contributors’ own decades of public service and research, this forward-thinking book explores the rapid speed of change in local communities and the need for local government to not only adapt but also proactively plan for the future. Local Government Management is essential reading for local government officials, public stakeholders, practitioners, and students of public administration and management. Nicolas A. Valcik works as the Director of Effectiveness Analytics for a college based in Texas. Previously he worked for Texas Tech University as the Director of Institutional Research, UT-Permian Basin as the Director of Institutional Research and Business Intelligence, Central Washington University as the Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness, and the University of Texas at Dallas as the Associate Director for the Office of Strategic Planning and Analysis. He additionally held a faculty appointment for the Program of Public Affairs in the School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is the editor/author of numerous books and chapters for Routledge/ Taylor & Francis. Teodoro J. Benavides serves as a faculty member and the MPA Director for the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) in the School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences’ Public and Nonprofit Management Program. He previously served as a Senior Vice President for the Waters Consulting Group and served from 1998 to 2004 as City Manager of Dallas, Texas. He was responsible for administering all programs and services for the city’s 1.2 million people, overseeing an annual $1.9 billion municipal budget, and directing a workforce of 13,000 employees. Benavides serves as a member of the City of Glenn Heights, Texas, Economic Development Corporation. He is the co-author of City Planning for the Public Manager (Routledge, 2018), Non-Profit Organizations (Routledge, 2015), and Practical Human Resources Management for Public Managers (Routledge, 2011).

American Society for Public Administration Series in Public Administration & Public Policy David H. Rosenbloom, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief

Mission: Throughout its history, ASPA has sought to be true to its founding principles of promoting scholarship and professionalism within the public service. The ASPA Book Series on Public Administration and Public Policy publishes books that increase national and international interest for public administration and which discuss practical or cutting edge topics in engaging ways of interest to practitioners, policy makers, and those concerned with bringing scholarship to the practice of public administration. Recent Publications Making Collaboratives Work How Complex Organizational Partnerships Succeed Susan Meyers Chandler Dwight Waldo Administrative Theorists for our Times Richard J. Stillman II The Practice of Government Public Relations, Second Edition Mordecai Lee, Grant Neeley, and Kendra Stewart Effective Nonprofit Management Context, Concepts, and Competencies Shamima Ahmed Government Contracting Ethical Promises and Perils In Public Procurement William Sims Curry Local Government Management Edited by Nicolas A. Valcik and Teodoro J. Benavides

Local Government Management Edited by Nicolas A. Valcik and Teodoro J. Benavides

Designed cover image: © dibrova (Getty Images) First published 2023 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Nicolas A. Valcik and Teodoro J. Benavides; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Nicolas A. Valcik and Teodoro J. Benavides to be identified as the author[/s] of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Valcik, Nicolas A., editor. | Benavides, Teodoro J., editor. Title: Local government management: promises and perils/edited by Nicolas A. Valcik and Teodoro J. Benavides. Identifiers: LCCN 2022048990 (print) | LCCN 2022048991 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367029036 (Hardback) | ISBN 9780429001086 (eBook) Subjects: LCSH: Local government–Management. | Local government–Study and teaching–United States. Classification: LCC JS78 .L6544 2023 (print) | LCC JS78 (ebook) | DDC 320.8068–dc23/eng/20230113 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022048990 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022048991 ISBN: 9780367029036 (hbk) ISBN: 9781032459851 (pbk) ISBN: 9780429001086 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086 Typeset in Sabon by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

Nicolas A. Valcik and Teodoro J. Benavides would like to dedicate this book to our practitioner colleague, Paul Erik Frederiksen, who passed this March 12, 2021. Paul had an unbelievable impact on his family, friends, and all his public sector colleagues. Whatever we said about Paul’s legacy would only provide a hint of the mark that he left on those that knew him. Nick and I miss every day his wit, humor, and pugnacious personality.

Contents

About the editors List of contributors Foreword Preface Acknowledgments

ix xi xv xviii xx

1 Introduction 1 PAUL G. GRIMES

2 Elected Officials and City Managers

32

ARETHA R. FERRELL-BENAVIDES

3 The City Manager’s Perspective

46

JAMES FISHER, JEFFREY H. MOSHIER, AND TEODORO J. BENAVIDES

4 Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management through Digital Strategy and Communication Networks

62

SANA SALMA SYED

5 Budgeting and Financial Management

82

TEODORO J. BENAVIDES

6 Human Resources

96

SAMANTHA DEAN

7 Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience Impact on Growth Policy

109

TRENT O. PETTY

8 E-Government, Privacy, Technology, and Innovation

130

JOE BEAUCHAMP



viii Contents

9 The Sharing Economy: A Disruptive Innovator for City Government 144 JEFFREY H. MOSHIER

10 Business Stakeholders in Local Government and the Community 167 JOHN JACOBS

11 Local Government Management and Paramedicine

181

KRISTI L. VALCIK

12 Municipal Government Relations

195

BRETT WILKINSON

13 School Districts

217

TEODORO J. BENAVIDES

14 Local Government and Nonprofit Relationships

233

TODD JORDAN

15 Urban Planning and Affordable Housing

247

PAUL FREDERIKSEN

16 Homelessness and Affordable Housing in the Urban Areas 264 CELESTE HAIDUK COX AND ALMA HERNANDEZ

17 Immigration and the American City

295

JESUS NAVA

18 Green Movement: Environmental Concerns

316

JILL JORDAN

19 Accountability 336 TARRON J. RICHARDSON

20 Strategic Planning and Non-Routine Management Challenges: Homeland Security and Emergency Management, e.g. COVID-19

350

NICOLAS A. VALCIK

21 Epilogue: Trends and Current Issues

363

NICOLAS A. VALCIK AND TED J. BENAVIDES

Index

375

About the Editors

Teodoro J. Benavides currently serves as an Associate Professor of Practice for the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) in the School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences’ Public and Nonprofit Management Program. In addition, he serves as the Director of the Master of Public Affairs Program and the department’s Internship Coordinator. Benavides has co-authored a textbook on human resources titled Practical Human Resources for Public Managers with Nicolas A. Valcik, a textbook on nonprofits titled Non-Profit Organizations: Real Issues for Public Administrators with Nicolas A. Valcik and Kimberly Scruton, and a textbook on urban planning titled City Planning for the Public Manager with Nicolas A. Valcik, Todd Jordan, and Andrea Stigdon. Benavides just recently completed co-authoring with Nicolas A. Valcik and Meghna Sabharwal the book Human Resource Information Systems: A Guide for Public Administrators. Benavides served from 1998 to 2004 as the City Manager of Dallas, Texas. From 1996 to 1998, Benavides was the City Manager of Denton, Texas. Previously, he held several other positions with the City of Dallas, including Assistant City Manager, Director of Budget and Research, Assistant Director of Human Services, Assistant Director of Capital Budget Programs, Capital Budget Administrator, and Budget Analyst. Benavides earned a bachelor’s degree in education, political science, and history from Texas A&M University-Kingsville and a master’s degree in public administration from Southern Methodist University. Benavides is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). Nicolas A. Valcik currently works as the Managing Director for Institutional Research at Texas Tech University. Previously Valcik was the Director for Institutional Research and Business Intelligence at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, the Executive Director for Institutional Effectiveness at Central Washington University, the Director for Institutional Research for West Virginia University, and the Associate Director of Strategic Planning and Analysis for the University of Texas at Dallas. In addition, Nicolas held an academic appointment as a clinical Assistant Professor for Public Affairs 

x About the Editors at the University of Texas at Dallas. Prior to 1997, Valcik worked for a number of municipalities across different departments, as well as for Nortel. He received a doctorate degree in public affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2005, a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1996, a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1994, and an associate’s degree in political science from Collin County Community College in 1994. Valcik has authored the following books for Taylor & Francis: Institutional Research Initiatives in Higher Education (2018) co-edited with Jeffery Johnson, City Planning for the Public Manager (2017) co-authored with Teodoro J. Benavides, Todd Jordan, and Andrea Stigdon, Case Studies in Disaster Response and Emergency Management: Second Edition (2017) co-authored with Paul Tracy, Strategic Planning, Decision-Making and Practical Aspects for Public Sector and Non-Profit Organizations (2016), co-authored with Teodoro J. Benavides and Kim Scruton, Non-Profit Organization Case Study Book (2015), Hazardous Materials Compliance for Public Research Organizations: A Case Study (2013), co-authored with Paul E. Tracy, Case Studies in Disaster Response and Emergency Management, co-authored with Teodoro J. Benavides, and Practical Human Resources Management for Public Managers: A Case Study Approach (2011). Prior to 2011 Valcik authored Regulating the Use of Biological Hazardous Materials in Universities: Complying with the New Federal Guidelines, which was published by Mellen Press in 2006. He has served as editor for three volumes of New Directions for Institutional Research (volumes 135, 140, 146, and co-edited with Gary Levy 156) in addition to writing numerous articles and book chapters on institutional research topics and homeland security issues. He specializes in several areas as both a researcher and a practitioner: higher education, information technology, human resources, homeland security, organizational behavior, and emergency management.

Contributors

Joe Beauchamp is the President and Founder of Brigade Management, Inc., a management consulting company specializing in technology solutions for public safety agencies. Currently, Beauchamp serves as the Director of Academic Technical Services for Academic Information Systems and is the Course Director for Data Analytics at UT Southwestern Medical Center. His current research focuses on using data analytics to understand the impact calls for service can have on the mental health of first responders. Samantha Dean currently serves as the Workforce Services and Civil Service Director for the City of Carrollton. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas and is a certified professional in human resources. Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides has served over 30 years as a public servant, marked with significant and successful community engagement, fiscal management, and economic development professional experience. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a Master of Arts in Public Administration from Howard University in Washington, DC. James Fisher has been in public service since 1989. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business management from West Texas A & M University and a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas. James is active in the Texas City Management Association, serving on the Membership Committee and as a past Board of Directors member. He is also active in the International City Management Association serving on the Graduate Education Committee and the Members in Transition Task Force. Fisher is also a past recipient of the Texas City Management Association City Administrator of the Year. Paul Frederiksen earned an undergraduate degree from Southern Methodist University and later dual master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Arlington in city and regional planning and public administration. He dedicated his career to public service in municipal management roles for 

xii Contributors the City of Dallas, as the City Administrator for Shenandoah, Texas, Assistant City Manager of Colleyville, Texas, Vice President for the Las Colinas Association, Town Manager of Argyle, Texas, and Assistant City Manager and Interim City Manager for the City of Duncanville, Texas. Paul G. Grimes is the City Manager for McKinney, Texas. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from Indiana University’s Graduate School of Public and Environmental Affairs and a BA in history and political science from Purdue University. Grimes is also an alum of the Senior Executive Institute for Local Government Professionals at the University of Virginia and is credentialed with the International CityCounty Management Association (ICMA). Celeste Haiduk Cox is the President/CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Collin County, Texas, where she has been a servant leader for the past 18 years. She also serves as the President of the Foundation for the Rotary Club of McKinney and previously worked in local city governments in the areas of planning, economic development, community development, downtown revitalization, and historic preservation. Alma Hernandez is an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M UniversityCommerce where she teaches social welfare policy to bachelor’s- and master’s-level students. She also works with the homeless population at the Samaritan Inn in McKinney, Texas. She is a Licensed Social Worker in the State of Texas and a member of the bar in the States of Texas and Florida.  She  holds a Juris Doctor from Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio, and a Master of Social Work from Texas A&M University-Commerce. She spent 15 years in active practice as an attorney, eight of those years in the US Army as a Judge Advocate General. She is a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2006–2008. John Jacobs is an economic development practitioner with over 40 years of experience working with all types of businesses through private and non-profit entities. For the past 25 years, he has served as the Executive Vice President of the Richardson, Texas Chamber of Commerce and its Richardson Economic Development Partnership with the City of Richardson, one of Dallas-Forth Worth’s most successful public–private partnerships in economic development. He is the Executive Vice President, Economic Development for the Richardson Chamber of Commerce and for the Richardson Economic Development Partnership, a joint city/chamber effort. Jill Jordan is a consultant, a rancher engaged in the State of Texas’s wildlife management program, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Affairs and Planning at the University of Texas at Arlington. She was previously a former Assistant City Manager for the City of Dallas, Texas. She has a Master of Science in Environmental

Contributors  xiii Engineering from Harvard University, a Bachelor of Engineering in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering from Vanderbilt University, and a Certificate in Ranch Management from Texas Christian University. Todd Jordan is the Chief Community Engagement Officer for United Way of Greater Kansas City (UWGKC), has been a leader of multiple nonprofit–local government partnerships, and serves on several nonprofit boards of directors. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the University of Kansas and completed his PhD in Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Dallas where he focused on qualitative and quantitative research in organizational change, public policy, and city planning. Jeff Moshier earned a PhD from the Public and Nonprofit Department of the University of Texas at Dallas, where he also worked as a consultant and lecturer. His interest in local government started as he served more than 20 years at a local municipality. This time was spent working directly with the city manager’s office, providing communications services, technical support, and policy perspectives. Jesus Nava is a former city manager. He served local governments in Texas, New Mexico, and California. Nava is a graduate of the Edwin O. Stene Master’s in Public Administration program at the University of Kansas and earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from the University of Texas. He is the proprietor of Chuy Productions, an independent film company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Trent Petty is the President of Petty & Associates, Inc. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas of Permian Basin and has a Master of Public Administration from Texas Tech University. Trent is a past Chairman of the Board of JPS Health Network and is currently the Chair of Planning as well as chairing the JPS Network Bond Steering Committee. Tarron J. Richardson is the City Manager/Chief Executive Officer for the City of Charlottesville, Virginia. He is an alumnus of Lincoln University where he received a Bachelor of Science degree. He is also a graduate of Temple University where he received a Master of Education degree and a PhD in Public Policy and Administration from the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. Sana Syed is the Executive Vice President of Community Outreach and Development for Nicholas Residential. She is also the Founder/CEO of Kimiya International, a 501(c)(3) elevating humanity through human rights documentaries and trauma therapy programs for women. Syed holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from UTA, a Master of Science

xiv Contributors in Journalism from TCU, and a PhD in Planning and Public Policy from UTA. Kristi L. Valcik is a Medical Technologist working for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Texas Women’s University in 1994, a Medical Technology— Clinical Laboratory Science certification from the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in 1997 (ASCP Certified), and a master’s degree in public health from West Virginia University in 2016. Brett Wilkinson has spent over 20 years serving as the Government Relations Director for the City of Dallas. During his tenure, he has worked on protecting and promoting the city’s interests in both Austin and Washington. Brett holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Foreword

Local governments in the United States (US) provide employment to approximately 14.2 million people. Within this, the top five employers are elementary and secondary education, higher education, hospitals, police, and fire protection (Grundy, 2020). Local governments are highly impactful in a citizen’s everyday life—they decide where we eat, shop, and live, what school district our children go to, what commercial activities and investments are promoted, our access to protection services like police and fire, clean drinking water, roads, parks, and recreational activities, hospitals, etc. Local governments clearly impact our quality of life, health, and security, and it is where “the rubber meets the road.” Eleanor Roosevelt said in her speech “The Great Question” to the United Nations on March 27, 1958, in New York: Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home—so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world. (Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1958.) While her statement forms the basis of the universal declaration of human rights, one cannot seem to ignore the importance placed by Eleanor Roosevelt on local governments and their role in ensuring that the basic rights and needs of citizens are met. It is at the local level that solutions to community problems are created and sustained. Local governments serve as the laboratories for innovation where solutions to problems that impact our everyday living are sought.



xvi Foreword There are over 38,000 general purpose governments in the US and an additional 51,296 special districts that comprise school districts, water authorities, parks, etc. and serve specific functions (Maciag, 2012). Thus, we cannot underestimate the importance of local governments in the functioning of a healthy democracy. Given how impactful local governments are, I was excited to hear that my friends and colleagues, Dr. Nicolas Valcik and Professor of Practice Ted Benavides asked me to write a foreword for their book on Local Government Management. What makes this project impactful is the decades of combined wealth of knowledge and years of practice Nicolas and Ted bring. Nicolas has authored, co-authored, edited, and co-edited over a dozen books in the areas of higher education, emergency management, strategic human resources management, decision-making, and human resources information systems in public and nonprofit organizations. Ted has more than 45 years of public service experience, of which he served as a practitioner for over 30 years and an academic for about 15 years. In 2000, he was elected as a fellow with the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). He has had an illustrious and extremely successful career as a city manager for two large cities in Texas (Denton and Dallas) and continues to impact the lives of future public servants as an educator and MPA director at the University of Texas at Dallas. They have both assembled an impressive set of academics and practitioners to write on various aspects of local government management. This book will provide students of public administration/policy, or for that matter anyone trying to understand the intricacies of the functioning of local governments, vital information on the subject. The range of topics covered in this edited volume is impressive and focuses on the role of local governments within the US federal structure, civic engagement and communication, e-government privacy, technology and innovation, environmental challenges, emergency management, healthcare, inter-governmental relations, homelessness, and immigration, to highlight a few. Each chapter provides the readers with important and practical information that can serve as a key resource for further research and investigation. Local government management is a practice, and thus it is befitting that the authors of the chapters are individuals with years of on-the-ground practical experience who have done an excellent job of blending research with practice in their writings. The present book provides an in-depth and insightful look into the various areas of local government that impact our everyday lives. The book serves as an excellent resource for both undergraduate and graduate education in public affairs/management and policy. The edited volume introduces students to the myriad challenges and opportunities a career in local government provides by highlighting vignettes from key actors and relevant examples and cases that provide a better understanding of ways to enhance service delivery to citizens. Teaching and researching in the field of public administration for close to 15 years, I have often felt

Foreword  xvii the need for a book that provides students with the breadth and depth of knowledge in local government—this book certainly fills that gap. Meghna Sabharwal Professor and Program Head Public and Nonprofit Management Program, School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences The University of Texas at Dallas

References Grundy, Adam, 2020. “The 2019 Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll Is Out”, United States Census Bureau. October 7, 2020. Retrieved on February 10, 2022. https://www​.census​.gov​/library​/stories​/2020​/10​/2019​-annual​-survey​ -of​-public​-employment​-and​-payroll​-is​-out​.html Maciag, Michael, 2012. “Number of Local Governments by State”, Governing. September 14, 2012. Retrieved on February 10, 2022.​https:/​/www​.governing​ .com​/archive​/number​-of​-governments​-by​​-state​.html Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1958. “The Great Question” speech delivered to the United Nations, New York, New York, March 27, 1958.

Preface

As professionals and practitioners often discuss topics with one another, gaps of knowledge and materials for students and practitioners alike appear to be obvious to those who teach or are in the professional field. Thus the discussion with myself and Ted usually follows this pattern: Ted, “I wish I had a book to teach from for my class.” Me, “There is no book for your class?” Ted, “Gee, let’s write one that will work for my class.” Thus, the trap has been set to work on a book project that will work for students and practitioners alike that will be comprehensive and up – to - date. A book project such as this one is laden with tasks from day one including to determine what topics should be in the book, is this a manuscript or edited project and if it is edited, recruiting the best and the brightest to contribute chapters for the book. The next step in the process is to manage the process of getting authors to deliver their chapters, all the while knowing they have other full-time jobs. Luckily, the authors who agree to these types of projects are participating with the thought they will assist in educating practitioners and students alike in important topics. Local government management is a very complex topic since there are so many entities that are involved. Most students and practitioners understand pieces of local government management, but they do not have a full comprehension of all of the facets that govern and impact an entire community. Effective and efficient local government management is critical to having a well-served community that is able to be viable for its residents. This book has been developed to bring forth a multitude of topics and issues students and practitioners alike should be aware of in order to be able to allocate resources for the well-being of its citizens, visitors and for that matter their employees. Throughout this book, authors have compiled and written chapters on a variety of topics that face local government management on a regular basis. Everything to urban planning to E-governance is discussed in the book with information that is up-to-date and with cutting edge topics for 

Preface  xix local government management. Often books that professors or practitioners have to rely on are either out of date or incomplete in regard to the subject matter. There are also many topics that traditional academic programs contending with local government management either have no expertise in certain fields or very little curriculum for instruction in certain areas. This book is designed to shore up areas that academic programs traditionally avoid or have a difficult time instructing to students. Practitioners are also in need of up-to-date materials on newer topics, which local government management has not kept pace with over the last few years. It is the editors and authors hope that this book will prove to be useful for both students and practitioners.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge many people for their time and effort in assisting them with the production of this book. The authors who spent their time and effort developing the chapters for this book are acknowledged by the editors since we know many of these individuals have overcome several challenges with the COVID-19 environment to deliver amazing chapters for this book. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Taylor McMichael for additional work provided on this manuscript. Most importantly of all, we would like to thank our proofreader and illustrator, Andrea Stigdon, who did a phenomenal job with all aspects of this book. Ted Benavides provides the following acknowledgments. I have to start by thanking my awesome wife, Aretha. From reading early drafts to giving me advice on who to ask to write chapters for the book and keeping me on task, she was as important to this book getting done as I was. In addition, I cannot go without thanking our personal editor Ms. Andrea Stigdon, who made sure that every page and chapter was readable and understandable. Thank you so much to Aretha and Andrea. Nicolas Valcik would also like to thank his staff, co-workers, and colleagues, who were very supportive of his efforts while he was working to co-edit this book. Nicolas would like to thank his mother Linda Jo Valcik for all her support throughout his career. Nicolas would like to thank all of the authors of all of the chapters who did such amazing work. Nicolas would like to thank his mentors for providing amazing guidance throughout his career. Most of all, Nicolas would like to thank his wife Kristi, who has always been there to provide moral support and who believed in him in all aspects of his career.



1

Introduction Paul G. Grimes

Introduction Of all the disciplines of public administration to study, local government management is often the least understood, and still more so, least appreciated—the “poor handmaiden of government” (Dollery & Wallis, 2001). In most of our experiences, local government regularly gains the least attention from the media, the public, and subsequently, the voters, yet it remains the most pertinent to the daily lives of most of us. Local government, primarily in the forms of special purpose school or utility districts or general-purpose municipal corporations, impacts us far more than the decisions made by distant federal or even state policymakers. Local government entails an array of essential and core services provided to people and places. The field is broad and diverse; there are over 90,000 units of local government in the US (Berman, 2020). Most commonly known districts are general-purpose districts that capture what most of us are probably familiar with: city or municipal services. In the US, of the approximately 38,000 cities, towns, and villages, typically referred to as municipal governments, plus counties and township governments, public safety, waste collection and recycling, water and wastewater services, and street and road maintenance are consistently recognized as core services provided at the local level. Other familiar services are provided by specialpurpose districts. Schools, some utility services, and even mosquito abatement districts fall into this category. The number of units of government is only part of the picture. According to data assembled by the Urban Institute, state and local governments spent $3.1 trillion in direct general government expenditures in 2017. Of that number, about $1.6 trillion was attributed to the states, and the other approximately $1.4 trillion to the cities. However, since the states often transfer funds to the cities for locally administered programs, local expenditures exceed those of the states (Urban Institute, 2020). Local government is a major economic player in socioeconomic activity. While state and local expenditures fell below the $4.3 trillion federal expenditures, nearly twothirds of federal funds are transferred to state and local governments. (Tax DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-1

2  Paul G. Grimes Policy Center, 2020) As such, the expenditures at the state and local level surpass federal expenditures. How those monies are spent—when, where, and by how much—is the fundamental question of political economy and politics. For the purposes of this text, most reference will be made to city or town management as a subset of the larger field of local government. Use of terms such as “local government,” “city management,” or “city administration” all refer to the functions of providing local services within a local government jurisdiction, typically in the form of incorporated cities or towns. City or town administration is the most reachable form of government. The issues raised by community constituents and the challenges of local service provision have little separation between those being served and those providing the services. Additionally, the kaleidoscope of local governments reveals the diversity in our country. While certain characteristics are common hallmarks of city management, such as governance, core services, and public accountability, there are always exceptions and outliers. But for the most part, the nearly 20,000 municipal governments are concerned with delivering core services and additional services that their respective communities may desire.

Local Government and Political Economy When we think of local governance, it is natural to think of it in terms of local politics, economic development, public safety and welfare, and other additional services. However, any study of local government must start with an understanding of its place within a wider political economy, or the environment in which production and trade and distribution of wealth occur within a system of law, custom, or government. The topic of political economy has its roots in the works Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and even Karl Marx. Fundamentally, these philosophers all understood that politics and economics are inseparable (O’Brien & Williams, 2016; Bladen, 1941). Local government does not occur in a vacuum; rather, it is part of a complex system of socioeconomic activity in which services are delivered. While certain professional functions of local government are highly technical and require exacting skills in financial management, civil engineering, regulatory compliance, and so on, the discipline falls within the larger field of public administration. Social Capital Local government management, as a discipline of public administration, is first and foremost a study and practice in social sciences. This definition of local government management will surprise many students and prospective public administration professionals. For persons learning the “hard skills” of civil engineering, water system management, finance and budgeting,

Introduction  3 geographic information systems and spatial planning, information technology, and security—all critical skill sets in local government management— the notion that they are preparing to work in the social sciences may strike them as odd. With this broader perspective, however, the definition of local government management begins to make sense. The idea of public administration as a social science is perhaps best explained by contrasting with business administration. In the American capitalist experience, business administration is fundamentally and primarily concerned with building financial or economic capital. The great early theorist of economic sociology, Max Weber, noted the role of rationalized markets as providing the “maximal amount of calculability for the individual entrepreneur” (Collins, 1986). To be a capitalist means to generate wealth for society through “contributive economic activities” that lead to the accumulation and multiplication of capital, and eventually improving the material wellbeing of a society (Dumas, 2011). In contrast, public administration, and local government specifically although not exclusively, are focused on the question of social capital. Local government practitioners are social capitalists; they are first and foremost focused on building and strengthening social capital within their communities. To be sure, social capital can certainly be improved with the growth of traditional economic capital; and it may make the job of building social capital easier than in a society with very limited economic resources. However, the primary aim is to mine, develop, build, and maintain social capital so that the institutions of a functioning society can effectively deliver important public goods and services. These goods and services, as determined by the people, create better quality of life by having secure communities, safe streets, clean water, good parks for recreation and physical and mental wellbeing, and schools with which to invest in the future productive capacity of our children. Social capital is the currency of local government. Robert Putnam offers the perspective that institutions work better when social capital is present. More trusting and civic-minded regions or communities receive services more effectively than in less trusting areas. Thus, Putnam’s hypothesis was that social capital has a beneficial effect on institutional performance (Putnam, 1993). Moreover, authors Hilde Coffé and Benny Geys offer two elements that explain government performance. First, social capital improves performance to the extent that it makes citizens sophisticated consumers of politics. That is, politicians have to have something to offer to please residents and that those residents can recognize and punish underperformance. Second, social capital contributes to a society in which “habits of cooperation, solidarity, and public-spiritedness” between people are facilitated (Putnam, 1993, pp. 89–90; Coffé & Geys, 2005). In short, social capital building is about generating trust. Trust must exist (1) between the institutions and the people being served, (2) among the institutions themselves, and (3) between the institutions (and the public

4  Paul G. Grimes administrators that lead them) and the elected officials who must make political decisions about the allocation and distribution of resources for public services. Without trust, the public institutions charged with serving the public simply cannot be very effective. Understanding Economic Capital While local government managers may primarily be focused on building social capital, the understanding of the role of economic capital is essential for a public administrator. Simply put, economic capital is what will ultimately determine a thriving community from one that struggles. This is not to say that a local government manager cannot enjoy the challenges, the people, and the culture in a community with limited economic capital. Indeed, many managers will point to these experiences as some of the most fulfilling and challenging they have faced. Still, the growth of economic capital will invariably be a primary, if not explicitly stated, aim of most elected officials. Even no-growth officials in a wealthy coastal Californian city would not argue with the desire to grow the economic health of their communities. Rather, they would merely respond that the growth can be done in manners that do not contribute to population growth or by placing further environmental stress upon their community. Lloyd Dumas brings this concept of economic capital into fuller relief in his analysis of contributive and non-contributive economic activities. The economic system is largely comprised of these two types of activities. Contributive economic activities are those that provide the goods and services that take care of our material needs and our standard of living. Economically contributive activities are those that satisfy immediate material needs and wants (e.g., consumer goods) as well as those involved in building up the economy’s capacity to satisfy material needs and wants in the future (e.g., industrial equipment, machinery, infrastructure, etc.). Non-contributive economic activities are those that service some purpose other than material wellbeing. They do not contribute to the purpose of the economy, per se, and they do not add to material wealth. Nonetheless, these activities are crucial to building and improving the wellbeing of a society. A community that pays for public schools and a good police force does so not for the material wellbeing but to improve a community’s social capital by protecting (police) and educating (schools) a society to improve the social and cultural capital of its people. Likewise, churches contribute to the spiritual capital of a community, and recreation and certain school functions may also add to a community’s cultural capital (Dumas, 2011). Indeed, some public services may even redistribute certain wealth attained from contributive economic activity in order to improve the lot of certain members of a community or to reduce inequities. It is important to note that both activities, contributive and non-contributive, make claims on a society’s economic resources. The local government

Introduction  5 professional works to ensure both contributive and non-contributive ­activity can grow together. Indeed, without contributive economic activity, it is much more difficult to pay for the latter.

Local Government, the States, and Federalism In considering local government in the context of political economy, it helps to first understand the role that government plays in the American system of production, trade, and the distribution of wealth. Federalism Much of the understanding of the US system of governance is focused on the separation of powers and the system of “checks and balances” inherent in the three branches of government: the executive, legislative, and judicial. However, the Constitution also sets forth the division of responsibilities between federal and state governments. This is commonly known as our system of federalism. In the US, federalism balances the complex needs of a vast geographic country with diversity of religions, ethnic heritages, land resources, urban or rural considerations, and so on. Any discussion about the levels of government must begin with an understanding of federalism. While state and local government are different from the relationship between the federal and state governments, there are aspects of these relationships that share characteristics. Moreover, since the 1930s, a sort of relationship triangle has emerged wherein the federal government would collaborate directly with local governments and bypass the states (Berman, 2020, p. 27). Thus, the federalism relationship has evolved and become more complex with the three parties—federal, state, and local— vying, competing, collaborating, and scheming for resources and policies that advance their own interests. The history of federalism in the US is characterized by conflict between levels of government, from federal and state to local. Federal and state governments are well-documented with extensive literature, largely due to the US Constitution, which enumerates powers to the federal government and the others left to the states. This system begets a certain flexibility for states to manage and adapt to their own affairs, so long as the Constitution is not violated. As offered by Bowling and Pickerill, “federalism by nature creates variation across states; states serve as the laboratories of democracy” (2013, p. 316). State-local relations are also shaped by conflict between state legislatures and the largest cities in the states, and increasingly with suburban cities as well. It starts with understanding a concept of home rule authority. Home rule is the idea that a sub-unit of state government, or constituent part, is delegated authority to pass laws to govern themselves as they see fit, so long as those laws do not violate state or federal constitutions. Berman and

6  Paul G. Grimes others argue that the drive for local home rule authority derived early on from charters granted by colonial governors. During the pre-revolutionary period, these effectively served as binding contracts that could not be revoked or altered without the consent of city officials. With the American Revolution came the state legislatures, and the legislatures essentially abandoned the notion of charters as inviolable contracts, and, rather, viewed them as statutes that could be amended (Berman, 2020, p. 43). Part of this motivation by legislatures was an altruistic sense of democratizing the preexisting city charters, often viewed as closed corporations run by oligarchies. The result of this, however, effectively asserted state legislative control over local governments (Berman, 2020, p. 43). The second hallmark of the state–local relationship is the suspicion between urban and rural communities. A long tradition of anti-city sentiment exists in the US, and one can still see it manifest today in legislative action. As will be offered in the following section, Texas legislative actions over the past three biennial legislative sessions have been marked by legislative hostility to cities. Individuals from Jefferson to de Tocqueville, influential pro-rural voices, warned of the threat by cities to “the morals, the health, and liberties of man” (Glaab, 1963). A third hallmark of the state–local relationship is the concept of home rule and the emergence of the Dillon Rule. Home rule arose in the late-1800s after nearly a century of states slowly asserting supremacy over local governments. It was not always this way. Federal constitutional silence on the relationship between state and local governments ultimately led the states, utilizing inherent suspicions referenced earlier, among other things, to assert control and preeminence over local authorities. This “subordinated instrumentality view” is best captured in the Dillon Rule, after John F. Dillon, who served as an Iowa Supreme Court justice and as a US circuit judge. Dillon argued that local governments, as administrative conveniences of the state, had no inherent lawmaking authority, possessing only those powers expressly delegated to them by the state (Davidson et al., 2020, pp. 8–9). After the Civil War, urbanization and rapid growth in cities across the country led to movements to affirm and/or re-assert local authority, with reforms shifting from incremental constraints on the worst state abuses to a broader expansion of local power. Missouri was the first state to enshrine home rule into its constitution in 1875. This home rule embodied the idea that cities could adopt charters, a sort of local constitution, which would give them the power to act with respect to what were considered local or municipal affairs (Davidson et al., 2020, p. 11). With the backdrop of the early sentiments and origins of local government in the US, the die was cast for future relations between state and local government. Even though the experience of local government, as a subunit of state government, has generally been in the form of a parent–child relationship, significant autonomy still remains for local governments. Over the years, that autonomy has ebbed and flowed, depending on the variety

Introduction  7 of factors that influenced the larger environmental circumstances. What has remained steadfast, however, is as Matthew Holden points out: that American federalism in a sense is analogous to nation-state relations in that it often is a problem of diplomacy. Cities in metro areas are competing for state resources, favorable policies, or regulatory forbearance that advances their interests vis-à-vis the others (Holden, 1964). In addition, the relationship between rural towns, suburban cities, and urban centers adds layers and texture to the nature of this diplomatic game. This pursuit of self-interest is what, ultimately, manifests the local community’s desire to advance the community’s economic and physical status and ultimately enhance its social capital. Thus, state–local–federal relations (i.e., federalism) are situational and dependent upon a series of environmental factors that govern the nature of that relationship. Those factors serve as intervening variables in determining the form of the relations among the three levels of government. The effectiveness of the American system of federalism is largely dependent on how those variables are managed. And for local government purposes, that is the subject of local government management. Figures 1.1 and 1.2 help illustrate the relationship of the federal, state, and local governments with the intervening variables (Figure 1.1) and an illustrative example of overlapping functions by each level of government in the US (Figure 1.2).

Local Government and Future Challenges When reading a book about local government management, one presumes it is, in part, to gain insights into future challenges. Like all professional disciplines, the field is subject to changes and evolving circumstances over time. People do not work in a vacuum, disconnected from a wider world

Creave State-Local Relaonship

Coercive

Cooperave Intervening Variables

Figure 1.1 How intervening variables can affect the form of the state–local relationship

8  Paul G. Grimes

Figure 1.2 A partial illustrative example of the overlap of certain functions at federal, state, and local levels.

of political, economic, social, and cultural changes. The city management professional must have a command of the wider trends in society, whether at the local level or the national or international level. Leadership and City Management An understanding of the social, economic, and cultural milieu requires a heightened skill in situational awareness, and an understanding of the role

Introduction  9 of leadership is in order. As discussed earlier, local government management, among other public sector functions, falls largely within the practice of social sciences. The work of managing, procuring, and delivering public services is to maintain or improve a society’s social capital. However, the type of leadership required for the public sector differs from that of the other sectors. The idea that government should be run like a business is no more valid than expecting a church to be run like a business. Each of these areas is primarily concerned with providing a different type of capital, whether it be social (public sector), economic (business sector), or spiritual (churches, synagogues, and mosques). Of course, this does not mean that each of these sectors cannot be efficient or effective within their respective disciplines. But what might be effective in a for-profit capitalist context is completely different from a social capital mission. Moreover, the form of leadership is different. Business leaders, for example, may place great leadership value on risk-takers, visionaries, and hunter-like motivations, particularly in sales production settings. Now picture yourself in a church leadership position. Do the traits of risk-taking, hunter instinct, and highly competitive personality traits fit well into the service mission of the church? Or, would servant leadership, compassion, patience, and placing everyone else first seem like the traits that would likely be more successful? Even among business professions, skills may change. Entrepreneurial businesses place higher value on risk-taking, vision, and creativity than corporate “suits” would exhibit in an established company. In fact, there may be much higher value placed on risk aversion and a record of steady, calm judgment to align with a leadership imperative to preserve corporate value and branding. So, now we come to city management. Great emphasis is placed on cultivating the professional standards of local government managers. Much of this is attributed to the significant trust that must be present for city management to be effective. This trust is assured through strict adherence to certain guiding principles that accompany the servant leadership roles in professional city management.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: A KEY MISSION OF THE ICMA In the field of professional city management, the leading organization that enshrines the principles of conduct for its members is the International City-County Management Association (ICMA). The ICMA has existed since 1914 with a mission of advancing the field of ethical, effective professional local government management. Among the many services of advancing the field of professional city management, the ICMA requires all members to adhere to a

10  Paul G. Grimes professional code of ethics, with members subject to censure or ejection, depending on the severity of violation of the code. Moreover, the ICMA offers a professional credentialing program for senior managers, organized around 14 practice areas. Credentialed managers are required to cultivate and develop their skills in each of the practice areas throughout their careers and to maintain their credentialed city manager status. More can be found on the ICMA website, specifically on the 14 practice areas that are considered the bulwarks of skills that city management professionals must develop and practice to be effective (https://icma​.org​/practices​-effective​-local​-government​-leadership).

Forms of Government In the US, cities and towns are governed primarily by a marriage between the political imperative of popularly elected officials and the professional knowledge, skills, and abilities of staff. Some of these staff are senior managers and others are front-line employees who enjoy working to serve the residents and businesses in a community. Most local government professionals are motivated by a high degree of servant leadership and building bonds of trust between themselves and those they serve. In city administration, and across the 20,000 or so cities, towns, villages, boroughs, townships, and places, there are two primary forms of organization for local government that exhibit this arrangement. The first is known as a mayor-council government and is often referred to as a “strong mayor” government. Whether the local charter confers particular authority upon the office of the mayor depends on each city, but the mayor is considered both the titular and administrative head of the executive branch of local government. This form of government comprises a little less than half of the local governments in the US and represents the oldest form. There is an intuitive simplicity to mayor-council government: the mayor is who one goes to in order to get things done. She appoints her cabinet of department directors and top executive staff, typically loyalists who may have assisted in some way in her campaign for elective office. The value proposition for mayor-council government rests on the simplicity of understanding and perceived political accountability. Larger, older cities in the US still embrace this form of government. The counter to the value of this form of government is that local communities and their voters can make a mistake in the election of their mayor. Typically, voters find their mayor likable and energetic, but they do not know if the mayor has the professional background and skills for not only leading a municipal organization but even hiring and retaining the right staff that can bring the best success. Often, the “strong mayor” has political debts to pay and

Introduction  11 more value is placed on staffing loyalists, which brings suspicion and morale ­questions among the career staff. The second form of government which comprises a little more than 50% of local governments is council-manager. Born out of the local government Reform Era that began in the late-1800s—Staunton, Virginia, became the first council-manager local government in 1908—this type of leadership organization is premised on the assumption that professionally trained staff can keep politics out of the day-to-day operations of local government and leave the political and policy decision-making to the elected officials. The city manager serves as the chief executive officer and directs the administrative activities of the city or town organization, while the mayor serves as the chief spokesperson and political leader of the community. The structure is akin to that of a corporate board of directors, whereby the city council serves as the board of directors and the mayor as the chairman of the board. The city manager is accountable to the city council and is hired and or replaced by this governing body. While political power remains with the elected representatives, authority is divided and shared between the elected body and the city manager. The value proposition for this form of government is that the community and city council are best served by a cadre of professional staff, within their respective service disciplines, and are left to do their work without undue political influence or meddling. This form of government is very common in suburban communities, likely a result of more affluent, educated voters demanding a certain degree of apolitical professionalism. It is not unlike a school board with an appointed superintendent who directs the efforts of schoolteachers and staff. Over the years, debate and discussion have been had in various communities on which form of government is best suited to their needs. The reality is that some communities will change from council-manager to strong mayor, citing the need for direct political accountability, while others will lament the over-politicization of local government and advocate for a council-manager form of government. Mayor-council government is often best suited to communities that need or require major reforms, perhaps a financial crisis due to mismanagement or overburden under the weight of union labor contracts. Having the voters and citizens behind an elected chief executive can be a very effective political tool to accomplish controversial or difficult reforms. Or, for very large cities, particularly those with a cultural history of “strong mayor” government, the direct accountability of a mayoral administration to the voters may be the most responsive format. The complexities, diversity, and social challenges unique to large urban cores lend themselves to this format. Working with other government entities, state agencies, and even federal units may be more effectively served with a directly elected chief executive. On the other hand, there are limitations to the mayor-council form of government. This form tends to lend itself to political partisanship and

12  Paul G. Grimes conflict, and reform is a short-term proposition, subject to reversals with the election of the next administration. Moreover, patronage and nepotism are at a much higher risk under mayor-council government, and examples are abundant of campaign volunteers or donors finding themselves employed by the city under a newly elected mayoral administration. This tends to diminish morale and create division within the ranks of staff, i.e., fostering a political team of insiders versus professional, career civil servants. In contrast, for a relatively stable suburban community that has a clear city charter and a culture of professional city management, the community may best be served by a team of dedicated, apolitical professionals who guide the elected officials through a series of policy decisions and strategic planning efforts.

MAYOR-COUNCIL AND COUNCIL-MANAGER I have worked in both forms of local government, and both are suited to serving their communities effectively, but it largely depends on the leadership imperative. In my experience, mayor-council government may offer the political governance structure needed for bringing about major reforms or to change policy direction. This could be due to a financial crisis, high taxes, or other local concerns that can stir the community into action. In 2002, Cranston, Rhode Island faced a financial crisis that resulted from years of mismanagement, underfunding of the city’s police and fire pension system, and lack of will to increase taxes and revenues to meet the obligations. The result was a junk bond status rating and possible bankruptcy. The community elected a new mayor on the platform of restoring the city’s finances. The entire community was furious about the bitter medicine that was going to be required to restore fiscal order, including a mid-year supplemental property tax in 2003, union contract reforms, and other cost-cutting requirements demanded in return by the voters and the city council. The partisan council, however, disagreed on the reforms needed, but the superb communications efforts by the Harvard-educated mayor, Stephen Laffey, helped steer the community to do what would have to be done to reach the reforms, in spite of union and council partisan opposition. Having the voters and citizens behind an elected chief executive can be a very effective political tool to accomplish controversial or difficult reforms. In fact, in my experience in Cranston, Rhode Island, in 2003– 2007, the reforms we had to undertake would likely not have been possible under a council-manager form of government. A city manager

Introduction  13 does not have the political authority or position to galvanize a reform program, as s/he does not have a vote on the council. The authority structure of a council-manager city charter, in turn, does not give the mayor the chief executive power of the city manager. Thus, the ability to garner political support for major changes is greatly hamstrung in a council-manager format.

Leadership The key personality and professional traits of local government professionals have remained particularly resilient over time. While technologies, tools, politics, and priorities change, the standard archetype of local government management looks pretty much the same today as it did at the beginning of the Reform Era in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Jim Collins, known for his work on leadership in the business world, offers a view of the local government manager as, perhaps, a prime example of the “Level 5 Leadership” archetypical leader in his books, Good to Great and Great by Choice. In Collins’ research, he finds that great leaders of local government were not particularly charismatic, visionary, or bold, at least not any more so than others. Rather, they shared three basic traits: (1) more discipline in achieving their “20-mile marches”; (2) empirical creativities within a system that values process, experimentation, and “beta” projects; and (3) productive paranoia—VUCA management and the ability to zoom in and zoom out, controlling risks and situational awareness. His study reinforced the importance of Level 5 Leadership, which Collins identifies as having ambition for what he/she is in service to other than themselves. In the local government, that service is generally framed around what they will build for the community or citizens (Collins, 2001; Collins & Hansen, 2011). Thus, the leadership demonstrated by local managers necessarily subordinates their own personal ambition to the larger good of a community. The local manager recognizes that she must be prepared to operate behind the scenes, be humble in service toward a greater good, and be prepared to not be seen when things are going well and be seen when things do not go so well. Moreover, local managers have to be prepared to work in a world of relentless “20-mile marches” in the midst of political, economic, and social uncertainties. In a separate monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sectors, Collins continues the contrast of leadership in business and social sectors. According to Collins, “social sector leaders are not less decisive than business leaders as a general rule; they only appear that way to those who fail to grasp the complex governance and diffuse power structures common to social sectors” (Collins, 2005). Collins reiterates the “flywheel” metaphor in social

14  Paul G. Grimes sector organizations. The slow pushing of the flywheel, first by a few hands and then by more and more, continues to accelerate as the organization builds its own brand. Collins references NASA, the Marine Corps, the Girl Scouts of America, and the Cleveland Orchestra as just a few examples of highly successful social sector organizations that have tended to their own unique brand. “Success breeds support and commitment, which breeds even greater success, which breeds more support and commitment—round and around the flywheel goes” (Collins, 2005, p. 23). The key point of emphasis for the student of local government is that leadership is situational. The challenge of leadership in this context is to marshal disparate experiences, expectations, agendas, and personalities, informed or uninformed, toward a common objective to advance the social condition of a community. Add racial, ethnic, cultural, and economic diversity, and crises, whether natural, economic, or civil, and things can begin to get fairly complicated. Because leadership is situational, leaders are selected in large measure according to the situational needs of their community. Those needs change over time and space, and thus, leadership either adapts, changes, or both.1 It is fundamental to understand that the structure or form of local government management is a systemic approach to bringing official, formal leadership to the community.2 In other words, it is a leadership delivery system. An understanding of how local government is organized provides a window into how leadership is done in any one community.

BETRAYING THE COMMUNITY’S TRUST: DIXON, ILLINOIS Rita Crundwell, the former comptroller of Dixon, Illinois put her struggling small town in the spotlight when the FBI arrested the former comptroller and treasurer for embezzling $53 million. Despite a city salary of just $80,000 a year, Crundwell lived extravagantly, spending huge sums on her horse farms in Dixon and Beloit, Wisconsin, that raised champion quarter horses, as well as $340,000 on jewelry since mid-2006 and $2.1 million to buy a luxury motor home fit for a rock star, authorities said. James Burke, mayor of the town of 15,000 about an hour southwest of Rockford—best-known as the boyhood home of President Ronald Reagan—told the Tribune that townspeople figured her wealth came from her successful horse business. “I guess people assumed she was making a ton of money in the horse business,” he said. In reality, she used a secret bank account to conceal

Introduction  15 her lavish spending on personal expenses, according to the mayor. (Grimm & Jenco, 2012) Crundwell, who was known for building a horse-breeding empire and throwing lavish parties, made headlines in 2012 as the mastermind behind the largest municipal fraud in American history, catching the attention of Kelly Richmond Pope, a CPA and accounting professor at DePaul University. “I was amazed at how one person could really do this,” Pope said Wednesday on Morning Shift. “As the story played out in the media, there’s so much focus on how this person steals this money, and buys horses, and lives this lavish lifestyle. But how it happened and why it happened wasn’t really discussed a lot. I wanted to start digging.” (Pope, 2017) Pope, director of the documentary All the Queen’s Horses that chronicles the story, joined Morning Shift to discuss how Crundwell did it, how she got away with it for so long, and how fraud easily happens. On how Crundwell did it Pope: I think it happened because everyone trusted Rita. And like we say when I teach my forensic accounting class: Trust is not an internal control. But, we all have a Rita in our organization— someone who we unconditionally trust—and when they tell us something, we don’t check up on it because we know them well. Especially when you don’t have a lot of internal controls around a process, it can easily happen. This is a simple scheme. It’s not an Enron-type scheme or extremely complicated. She literally set up a bank account and moved money from one legitimate account into this secret account. And just did that 179 times with phony invoices. It just amounted to a lot of money. On how the scheme unraveled Pope: Kathe Swanson was the city clerk that reported to Rita. One day, when Rita was out at a horse show, and Kathe was busy doing work and needed to do her treasurer’s report, she requested information from the bank. The fax came in, and she saw this secret account with money coming in and money going out. She was shocked and stunned. The film centers so much around Kathe’s experience because how many people turn in their boss? That’s tough.

16  Paul G. Grimes On how easily fraud can happen Pope: You would think there’d be more checks and balances, but many organizations operate like this. I think we stress moving quickly, innovation, and efficiency. Oftentimes, the rules may be written on paper, but we may not follow them just so a process can be done faster. When you start getting familiar with people working on a team, you often don’t feel comfortable asking a person, “Well, let me follow up on what you just said.” Sometimes, that familiarity makes it tough to enforce all the internal controls that are often put in place to protect us. (Sources: WBEZ, November 15, 2017; Chicago Tribune, April 18, 2012)

BETRAYING THE COMMUNITY’S TRUST: BELL, CALIFORNIA In July 2010, when two Los Angeles Times reporters, Jeff Gottlieb and Ruben Vives, were investigating possible malfeasance in the neighboring city of Maywood, it was revealed that Bell city officials were receiving unusually large salaries, perhaps the highest in the United States. The salaries came into the public eye after the newspaper’s investigation, based on California Public Records Act requests, showed that the city payroll was swollen with sixto seven-figure salaries. Robert Rizzo, the City manager, received $787,637 a year, almost double the salary of the President of the United States. Including benefits, he had received $1.5 million in the last year. (Gottlieb & Vives, 2010) Rizzo’s assistant, Angela Spaccia, was earning $376,288 a year, more than the top administrator for Los Angeles County. The police chief, Randy Adams, was paid $457,000, 33% more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck. All three resigned following news reports and public outcry. All but one of the members of the city council were receiving $100,000 for their part-time work, salaries which were authorized by a sparsely attended special election, giving the city “Charter” status. By comparison, council members in cities similar to Bell in size make an average of $4,800 a year, prosecutors have noted. (Knoll, 2010) On September 21, 2010, former city manager Robert Rizzo, Mayor Oscar Hernandez, former assistant city manager Angela

Introduction  17 Spaccia and council members George Mirabal, Teresa Jacobo, Luis Artiga, George Cole and Victor Bello were arrested and charged with misappropriation of public funds. The mayor and council members all either resigned or were recalled. Of the eight, only Luis Artiga was found not guilty. The revelations about the salary amounts paid to city officials in Bell led media inquiries into salaries paid in other cities. After a review, the L.A. Times found frequent failures in audits of public agencies in other municipalities in California. (Halper, 2010) (Source: Wikipedia)

The Future of Council-Manager Form of Government With the previous discussion on forms of government and leadership, it is helpful to examine the particular format of the council-manager form of government. According to the National League of Cities, as of 2006, about 55% of cities or towns were organized under this form of government, an increase from 48% just ten years earlier. Council-manager government, as previously mentioned, arose out of the local government Reform Era of the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was a direct effort by progressive reformers to bring a business-like approach to “cope with the pressures of industrialization and urbanization” (Berman, 2020, p. 50). It was also formed to decouple, inasmuch as practicable, the political influences in cities or towns from the task of delivering public services. In 1908, Staunton, Virginia, instituted the first position legally defining, by ordinance, the broad authority and responsibility associated with today’s professional local government manager. Sumter, South Carolina, was the first city to adopt a charter incorporating the basic principles of council-manager government in 1912. Westmount, Quebec, introduced the form to Canada in 1913. The first large city to adopt the plan was Dayton, Ohio, in 1914. The city manager serves as the chief executive and chief administrative officer for the municipal organization and is selected by a board of directors: the city council. This is not dissimilar to a corporate structure, and many charter documents refer to the city council as the “corporate authority.” While organizing city charters may vary among municipalities, the general rule is that the city manager has the responsibility for hiring, evaluating, training, and dismissing staff. The city council has no official role in staffing, other than the selection of the city manager, city attorney (general counsel to the city), and sometimes the city clerk or secretary, who serves as the official keeper of vital records and elections. The city manager directs and prepares the city council agendas and serves as the primary liaison between the city council’s political priorities and wishes and the

18  Paul G. Grimes professional staff’s ability to execute those priorities by separating wishes from priorities. As Professor Nalbandian at the University of Kansas School of Public Administration says, the role of the manager in this regard is to balance what is politically desirable and what is administratively sustainable (Nalbandian, 2014). Because elected officials come from varying backgrounds and are elected to represent the citizens of a community, they naturally desire to make an impact during their terms of office. It is a natural and desirable state of democracy that passionate elected officials pursue the political objectives that they were elected to advance. That is the foundation of democratic representation. The practice of clarifying, sequencing, prioritizing, and helping elected officials achieve their political objectives ethically, fairly, and in a manner that builds trust in local government is the eternal challenge of executive city management. It is also the most likely source of friction between city councils and city staff. In this manner, a metaphor of a bicycle is in order. In essence, the city council steers the bicycle (that is, the direction of the community), and the staff’s role is to pedal the bicycle (execute the direction). The city manager serves as the bridge between the handlebars of the bicycle and the pedal; one might say the seat, along with all the connotations that the metaphor may bring! While the city manager has official responsibility and domain over organizational matters, few practicing city managers would deny that unofficial influences happen in the organization. Mostly, those influences are in the form of relationships between and among council members, unofficial leadership actors (e.g., church leaders, community activists, non-profits and philanthropists, unions, etc.), and staff. Union influences are particularly impactful on the politics of an organization, and a city manager must understand the ecosystem of influences in each community. The locus of power in a community will define the leadership imperative needed to effectively serve, and an astute city manager will identify that locus of power as she scans the leadership environment. The city manager role requires an extraordinary ability to adapt and adjust leadership tactics to meet the challenges at hand. The following breakout box demonstrates just how much demand and expectation are placed on a city manager and senior city management staff.

WANTED IN A CITY MANAGER: SUPERMAN OR SUPERWOMAN In 2014, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price was asked to share her perspective on the city’s search for a new city manager. Mayor Price, always pithy and outspoken, offered her perspective as such:

Introduction  19 We began our conversation about Fort Worth’s next city manager this week. It’s one of the most important decisions we will make as a city council—a decision that will shape the very future of our city. I have no doubt that this council will make the right decision. Taking on the responsibility of managing the 16th largest (and best) city in the nation—a city that is in the fastest-growing metropolitan area—is no easy task. We are doing our homework. We are taking as much time as we need. We are not simply looking for a job to fit a person—we are looking for the person who is best for the job. In a nutshell, we are looking for Superman or Superwoman. A little about what we’re looking for in the next city manager: Proven leader Dynamic change agent Ability to break down silos An innovator who is tech savvy Business eye for maximizing productivity and customer service Able to be transformational while also taking care of the daily transactional tasks Someone who is comfortable balancing a tight budget with the great demand for essential city services Fort Worth’s new city manager must be able to build a lean and responsive organization while meeting the needs of our growing population. He or she must keep our focus on redeveloping our city’s urban core while responsibly managing growth in outlying areas. The next city manager must be ready to deal with the North Texas challenges of mobility and water. And our next city manager must be able to improve customer service, expand the city’s use of technology and strengthen transparency and public engagement. We are looking at strong candidates by conducting a national search, which is absolutely mandatory for this level of leadership. We will leave no stone unturned. Yes, the tasks ahead of the new city manager will be great, but he or she will have had a lot of help from our current manager, Tom Higgins. Higgins paved the way for Fort Worth’s upswing through sound and prudent leadership. We are honored to have had Mr. Higgins as our city manager, and I know his replacement will be grateful, too. Our next city manager will take Fort Worth to new heights. We’ll see progress like we’ve never seen before. There is no place to go but up. If you haven’t bought stock in Fort Worth, now’s the time to go all-in.

20  Paul G. Grimes It’s our city council’s responsibility to hire the city manager, and that’s what we plan to do based on sound priorities and the input we’ve received from fellow Fort Worthians. (KVIA, ABC-7, November 25, 2014)

In the 21st century, in which volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) are de rigueur, is the council-manager form of government still relevant to continue to meet the demands? There is substantial debate about whether the role of a professional but unelected (and, rhetorically but inaccurately framed as “unaccountable”) chief executive continues to meet the needs of a city organization. According to Benjamin Zimmermann of the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania, this debate has waxed and waned over the years and will continue to do so (Zimmerman, 2017). Certainly, as cities grow past small city size and approach a population of 100,000, they tend to migrate toward the council-manager form of government. However, large cities, approaching one million residents, tend to choose a mayor-council format. Midwestern and Eastern cities, even the smaller ones, remain somewhat loyal to the traditional mayor-council government. Southwestern and Western cities tend to lean toward councilmanager. And there are always exceptions, as leadership matters likely played a key role in the formation of city governing charters—all with history, and none the exact same (see Maciag, 2012). In reality, over time cities may change their governing structure to meet the demands of the time. Some cities will decide that a more stable, professional councilmanager form is best suited to the community, and at a different time and place with different political imperatives, that same city may opt for mayor-council government. In the following are discussed three ways in which the future of the council-manager form of government may be threatened. The ability of this institutional form of government to adapt to these challenges will largely determine its relevancy and longevity. Social Media and Speed (Direct Government) The proliferation of instant communications has greatly complicated the conduct of institutional processes and norms. In previous eras, local media served as a filter for various forms of local chatter, accusations, conspiracies, or the like. Professional journalists followed certain accepted standards of verification and fact-checking. Today, local media is virtually non-existent, and most of their sources of news are following up on social media posts. As such, the information vacuum left by the retreat of the institution of local

Introduction  21 media has been filled by local bloggers and town criers. Elected officials, themselves subscribed to social media as a necessity of communicating their message, often find themselves directly responding to certain elements that previously would not have found an audience. This has effectively elevated the stature of the crier, and a dizzying array of untruths, half-truths, wildly inaccurate rumors, and so on has followed. Elected officials, as is expected, want to respond and get answers, as access to factual information (albeit, often lacking context or nuance) and being the first to respond is perceived as an advantage in the intersection of politics and social media. This places pressure on staff to set aside longer-term, highly impactful project work to deal with the immediate distraction of a social media storm. Because professional staff have a natural inclination to analyze and establish processes, it can be perceived by elected officials and citizens as unresponsive or sluggish, and thus raises the chorus of questions about the effectiveness of professional city management. Of course, the alternative view is that it is not certain that another form of government would be more responsive or effective at delivering municipal services, other than perhaps creating a small army of social media responders to address each elected official’s social media responses. Communication and marketing departments sit at the fulcrum of this challenge, and those that can adapt the best, through structure and systems for handling and monitoring the social media environment, will in large part influence the perceived responsiveness of professional staff. Changes in the Political Economy In 2013, I wrote a piece in the trade publication for professional city managers, Public Management (PM), about challenges facing the US and Western nations due in part to lower fertility rates and an aging population. Specifically, the article focused on the old age dependency ratio, or the ratio of elderly, non-working population to the working population. Citing data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the article showed the trend of a growing elderly cohort not just in the US, but in Western nations and emerging economies (Grimes, 2013). China, for its part, has among the most rapidly aging populations on earth, with enormous consequences for the global economy. Not only do aging populations place changes in public spending priorities, but the pressure that it places on younger generations can create fissures in generational cooperation. An aging population changes political and economic priorities. For example, investment and risk-taking—hallmarks of the creative, evolutionary economy—may give way to Keynesian economic systems that emphasize stability and growth over disruption and creative destruction. Inward-looking foreign trade and diplomatic policies affect local communities’ abilities to tap into the international marketplace, and diversification in the economy affects cities’ economic strategies. Trade barriers through

22  Paul G. Grimes protective or retaliatory tariffs, for example, change how international firms make decisions about investment, and the resulting uncertainty delays decisions for firms on where and when to make significant investments in local communities. These are questions for political economy, and cities and states are the engines of the global economy. Generational Change With changes in generations come changes in social norms and structures and, ultimately, the very institutions that stitch together societies. Neil Howe, perhaps the most prolific author of generational theory—the idea that generational cycles shape American history—wrote in 1997 about the upcoming “crisis era” in the US (Howe & Strauss, 1997). Today, he asserts that the US is in the midst of this cyclical crisis era that began with the Great Recession in 2008–2009 and, in keeping with previous cycles, will remain for about a 20-year period (Interview, 2020). The hallmark of crisis eras is the fracturing of institutions, the very edifices that carried our country and communities forward after the last crisis era, the Great Depression and World War II. It is no surprise that certain institutional pillars are facing enormous change and are undergoing major challenges, from international post-war institutions such as NATO to the World Bank and the WHO, just to name a few. Media institutions such as the great newspapers and print media, shopping malls and venerable retail stores, the entertainment industry, universities, and academia—all those that ushered forward the modern liberal world order largely shaped around American soft power projection—are either facing extinction or undergoing major transformations. The dizzying array of change may, in some circles of thought, lend itself to directly elected officials to manage the political demands and imperatives to cope with these institutional changes. What better way, it might be said, for society to adapt to these changes than to have organizations more accountable to the voters by having a directly elected mayor run the organization? In 2020 alone, a global pandemic and the explosion of civil unrest in the US attributed to racial and social justice issues placed enormous pressures on traditional community institutions such as police, schools, churches, and social settings where people could gather and interact and build trust. While the three primary challenges identified above are real, there is cause for optimism that the council-manager form remains the best way to address the challenges. Professionally Trained Managers with VUCA Skills If there is one certainty about the three previous challenges, it is that competency and the ability to facilitate community discussions through turbulent times will be required to navigate the manifold crises that are likely to be forthcoming over the next decade. While directly elected leaders

Introduction  23 represent the views, emotions, and feelings of the citizens they represent, it will take professionals who know how to synthesize emotive issues into policies that can be implemented and sustained. This of course can be done in a mayor-council form of local government, so long as the mayor has access to professional talent that will commit to the uncertainties and vicissitudes of working in a political environment, with a position that is always subject to the next election cycle. Thus, the Achilles heel of mayorcouncil government: it is not typically constructed to attract stable professional talent that values longer-term institutional growth and change over short-term political needs. Oftentimes, in the mayor-council form of government, there is no time or political will to pursue long-term strategic or financial planning. Managers who possess adaptive leadership skills and the ability to facilitate will be particular strengths in local government management in the coming years. Leading in an environment of change ushered forward in a crisis era brings volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, or VUCA. Thus, VUCA leadership skills, in both public and private sectors, will be essential for successful managers. The council-manager form of government, insofar as schools of public affairs and administration can produce graduates with VUCA skills in addition to technical and financial acumen, may continue to offer the best chance of success in navigating the uncertainties ahead. Elected officials will continue to lean on professionally prepared staff to navigate the turbulent waters of change. School districts will continue to need superintendents, and cities will continue to need professionally trained, highly ethical management staff to maintain the community’s trust in their most trusted institutions of local government. Women leaders are particularly well-suited to the demands of 21stcentury leadership. Women are particularly adept at facilitation and emotional intelligence and having the ability to listen and bring disparate parties together in a world that relies on networked relationships (Young, 2018). Living off the Land Requires Professionals The economic challenges in the previous section will require particular creativity at the local and state levels to experiment and find better, most efficient ways to deliver public services. The federal government, which reached its height in revenue-sharing with state and local governments in the 1970s, has seen an inexorable and steady decline in revenue-sharing since then (Berman, 2020). The federal spending on entitlements (i.e., those associated with aging populations, such as Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, etc.) will greatly restrict the federal government’s resources for local communities. Moreover, the enormous borrowing during the economic crisis of the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will further restrict the federal government’s resources for the coming generation. Thus, local government will have to live off the land, so to speak. That means identifying

24  Paul G. Grimes alternative or supplemented revenue sources or, as likely, cheaper or simpler ways of providing services. Younger generations of taxpayers will likely be in no mood for excuses of business-as-usual spending at the local level, and their ability to influence policy changes is always easier at the local level. Those managers who can navigate the trends toward citizen self-services, while freeing up resources to maintain a degree of high-touch, relational services will be an advantage. The political imperatives will be established by the elected leaders of the time, but it will take highly skilled navigators who possess systems-thinking skills to bring these desires into reality. Perhaps a seafaring metaphor illustrates this point. No elected official, who procures the Navy ship and may even make the financial decision of what shipboard platform and weapons systems to outfit it with, would ever take over as captain of the ship. Rather, our elected leadership relies on professionally trained officers and crew to operate the ship and carry out national policies with respect to the sea lanes. The same is likely true for city management. Local elected officials will make spending decisions, some of which are informed and guided by professional staff, but they will rely on trained staff and leaders to navigate and carry out the policy imperatives of the day. Level 5 Servant Leadership Perhaps no attribute of professional city managers is more pervasive or important than the emergence of Level 5 Leadership. Selfless leadership, which is not a strength in the mayor-council form of government, is a latent strength of council-manager government. Level 5 Leadership is a special leadership skill that can lead an organization with highly motivated elected officials, typically exhibiting strong personalities and even narcissistic attributes. City management staff, professionally trained across the various disciplines of city services, take a back seat to the political leadership, as is necessary for effective democracy. To reiterate Jim Collins’s observation of city management: we live in world that is full of uncertainties and full of disruptions, and of course in any kind of elective politics there is chronic inconsistency. Yet, behind the scenes—making our cities work, making our counties work, making the communities in which we actually live operate on a day to day basis—you have these exceptional managers and leaders, who are often unknown, unheralded, that everything is working well means that they are kind of unseen, and if something doesn’t go well, then they are seen. So it requires leaders who are able to operate in that kind of environment, and that’s a very special and important kind of leadership. (Collins J. , Author, Great by Choice, 2014) (ICMA, Great by Choice video interview)

Introduction  25 Public sector leaders have to architect the conditions for the right decisions to happen, even though s/he does not possess the power to make those decisions happen. (Collins J. , Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer, 2011) (ICMA, Good to Great video interview, 2006) Given the varying levels of political sophistication among urban core cities, the relatively affluent and socioeconomically homogeneous suburban enclaves, and the unique demands and needs of rural areas, it is likely that both forms of government will co-exist indefinitely. The council-manager form will likely continue to be the dominant form in suburban areas, which will likely flourish in the next several decades. For urban cores, with the aging and gentrification of certain areas, and relative socio-economic inequalities common to high-immigrant areas, mayor-council is likely to remain the best form for the leadership needs of the city. Rural areas, facing debilitating depopulation, remain a question mark. Rural communities that have the will and relative sophistication to invest in a professional town manager and planning staff may be better positioned to adapt to rural challenges. The likelihood, however, is that most will not. The demand for professional city managers, those with varied experiences and particular acumen in people and managing and formulating processes for which governing bodies can make decisions, will continue well into the next decades. In spite of institutional change, over the coming years, it is likely that the public will demand some order and stability in a flood of crises and social change. The institutions of local government are, in many respects, the piers on which local communities can moor to provide stability. Those who can navigate these changes, with professional city management staff serving as the chief navigators, will be best positioned to endure the coming challenges. There are certain characteristics, traits, and skills that professional city managers must have, and have generally proven timeless. The following vignettes offer a summary of perspectives and reflections among three wellrespected former and current city management professionals and a unique perspective from a mayor of a large Texas city on what they were looking for in a city manager.

Vignette I: Service to People Is the Highest Calling—Tom Muehlenbeck Tom Muehlenbeck retired in 2016 after a remarkable career of over 45 years as a professional city manager, culminating in 24 years as the manager for Plano, Texas. A tall, imposing figure with earnest features and discerning eyes, he strikes the image of a serious city executive, one with the presence of a military general. A short conversation with Tom reveals an even more imposing intellect and presence, a man whose professional life

26  Paul G. Grimes brought many people and challenges through his career, which shaped him and prepared him to quickly scan your face and words to tell if you were full of malarkey or a straight shooter. For Muehlenbeck is a straight shooter, and one gets the sense that he has little patience for anything other. But in that firmness, he has developed a sincere sense of empathy, a man who developed and mastered the art of listening. In Muehlenbeck’s view, the key skills of professional city management staff are the following: Desire to serve the public Strong ethical standards Ability to work with diverse governing bodies and communities Must have a constant desire for learning Stay involved at the state and national levels Desire to mentor others Ability to recognize and encourage talented employees Follow up, follow up, follow up Ability to develop researched recommendations with alternatives Treat each citizen request as important as a council request The Golden Rule is a must Be open to new ideas and concepts Be involved and engaged in the community Understand social media Must understand all financial matters—balance sheets, bond requirements, and budgeting With the perspective of a career that began in the late-1960s, Muehlenbeck shares his insights about how the profession has changed, and how it may continue to change in the future. In Muehlenbeck’s view, the profession has evolved a strong code of ethics and enforcement (see the ICMA’s professional code of ethics) and professionalization of the field. Master’s degrees have become the norm for top public executives, and the professional accreditation process through the ICMA evokes a commitment to learning and maintaining high standards. Muehlenbeck has seen the growth in women and minorities in top positions, which he considers essential to bringing different ways of looking at problems. Finally, Muehlenbeck shares his perspective on the changes in citizens’ and governing body (city council) expectations. City councils are more reliant upon social media to inform them and are often quick to criticize before the facts are obtained. On the other hand, Muehlenbeck has seen how council members are requiring more data to support municipal decisions. Similarly, citizens’ expectations for responses and service delivery have become impatient and shorter. There is a prevailing distrust among certain citizens that can become pervasive when all the others are passive. This makes it harder to adopt government reforms and new initiatives or pass necessary taxes or water rates (Muehlenbeck, 2020).

Introduction  27

Vignette II: Q&A with Doug Schulze, City Manager of Banning, California Q: When you reflect on your career in city administration and management, what stands out as the key skill sets that you think are necessary to succeed in this role? Have those changed, or are they pretty much timeless in your view? A: While each individual organization may require unique skill sets from its city manager, it is essential for a city manager to have strong financial management skills because each day decisions are made that can have long-lasting impacts on the fiscal stability of an organization. This is a skill set that is just as important today as it was over 30 years ago when I began my career in local government management. In fact, financial constraints that many local governments face today make it even more important for the city manager to have strong financial management skills. In my view, this skill set is timeless as it relates to the profession. One of the first projects I was assigned as a young manager was the acquisition and implementation of the first computer network for the City of Savage, Minnesota. The transition from electric typewriters to desktop PCs was difficult for many staff members, but it improved efficiency tremendously. Since the 1980s, information technology has transformed local government service delivery at every level and continues to change rapidly. Information technology is probably the skill set that has changed the most during my career. Leadership is another skill set that has become increasingly important for the city manager to succeed. With the complexity, political pressures, and increased demands placed on local government, the city manager must understand and be capable of leading without taking the spotlight from the elected officials. This can be an extremely delicate issue depending upon the expectations of the elected body. During my career, I have worked for elected officials who expected the city manager to be “out front” and a visible leader in the community and, I have worked for elected officials who expected the city manager to work quietly behind the scenes. In fact, in a previous city, I had a newly elected Council Member schedule a meeting with me for the sole purpose of informing me that I was not a community leader. I think he was quite surprised when my reply was affirmation that I viewed my role as being responsible for helping the elected officials be the best community leaders they could be. Of course, it is obvious that many of the most effective leaders in history were successful because they led from behind. However, I also pointed out that my role involved being a leader for the municipal corporation, which shouldn’t be confused with community leadership. Q: From your perspective, what aspects of city administration have changed the most from your early career to today? When answering, think about

28  Paul G. Grimes the various dimensions of social, cultural, financial, economic, physical, or other in shaping your response. What do you see as the key issues/ demands for future city management professionals? A: I think the general attitude toward government has deteriorated substantially during the past 30 years. While most of the negative attitude toward government is focused at the national and state level, local government is closest to the people so that is where frustrations are most easily directed. In general, local government has not done a good job of promoting the good work that is done every day to serve our communities. Data-driven decision-making has become much easier as a result of technology so there are many good stories for local government to share. Due to the lack of promotion of the quality services provided by local government, many states have seen voter initiatives that have been financially crippling. For example, California’s Proposition 13 and Washington State’s Initiative 695, which severely limited local government taxing authority. The impact of the initiatives have [sic] been so severe that cities have been forced to reduce levels of service or eliminate services. Yet, the taxpayers still demand a high level of service. As I thought about this question, the phrase, “All politics is local” immediately came to mind. Since the 2008 presidential election, but certainly more intense since 2016, national politics have become more integrated in local government. Issues of immigration, climate change, and discrimination have become significant policy concerns at the local level. While these issues are important, they are federal policy issues that cannot be solved at the local level. The time spent deliberating over local proclamations and resolutions to express positions on these matters has become significant in the past several years; taking time and resources from local projects and issues. An emerging issue that will likely consume substantial time at the local level is the real pandemics of 2019–2020, which are homelessness, addiction, and untreated mental health problems. In most cities across the United States, there are currently more people living on the streets suffering from addiction and mental health issues than the number who have tested positive for COVID-19. In 2019, there were 52,000 homeless people in Los Angeles and 80,000 homeless people in New York City. A vast majority of homeless people suffer from addiction and mental health disorders yet, cities across the United States are failing to address the problem in meaningful ways. As housing prices continue to escalate in our major employment areas, more people are unable to afford housing. Q: How would you describe the state–local government relationship today, and how has it changed over time? What are the biggest contributors or circumstances present to support your viewpoint? A: During my career I have observed a significant decline in the relationship between state and local government in the states of Washington and

Introduction  29 California. Ironically, many state legislators and governors once served as local elected officials, so they should understand the needs of local government. Moreover, unfunded mandates and draconian regulations that create increased costs and inefficiencies are increasingly common and burdensome on local governments. (Schulze, 2020)

Vignette III: The Future of City Management— T. C. Broadnax, Dallas City Manager As city manager of Dallas, Texas (population 1.4 million), T. C. Broadnax has a big job. Broadnax returned to Texas in 2017 after a successful stint as city manager of Tacoma, Washington. Like most city managers of his era, Broadnax has seen a lot of change in the environment within which the city management profession operates. Most of that change is in the form of shifting social and political views as social norms evolve over time. Yet some skill sets remain as relevant today as they did early in Broadnax’s career. When asked what he thought were the most important skills that city managers had to have in the profession, Broadnax listed five, with the last one representing a new addition in his opinion: (1) budget and finance, (2) communication skills (written and verbal) and various media, (3) team dynamics and organizational alignment, (4) ability to collaborate and partner, (5) diversity, equity, and being able to focus on soft-service aspects of local government, i.e., solving or responding to social issues. More than ever, Broadnax avers, people want to be heard. As a city manager in a large urban city, Broadnax notes the increased acrimony between state and local government. It’s a “troublesome” trend, according to Broadnax, and one that will have to be addressed and tended to by local leaders. An African American city manager, Broadnax reckons that there will be more opportunities for “managers of color,” particularly in larger urban settings. Even at mid-levels, professional development opportunities have grown since early in his career. Managers have to push for diversity, he acknowledges, particularly at mid-levels so that future managers of color can develop. Broadnax notes that there is still some fear of Black public administrators not hiring other Black staff for fear of the perception of cultural bias, so they can find themselves in an odd situation. He also notes that it is not uncommon for first-time African American city managers to get their opportunities in a “clean-up” environment, or in municipalities with some financial or political crisis, and he encourages them to seize the opportunities and trust their education and training. Finally, Broadnax offers advice for students of local government management. “You have to pick a side. You can’t be political or professional management at the same time.” Ultimately, Broadnax notes, professional

30  Paul G. Grimes managers have to be non-partisan, politically astute leaders who can navigate organizations around institutional barriers and biases, with the goal of advancing the community’s interests. (Broadnax, 2021)

Notes 1 For a much more in-depth review of leadership styles, see Van Wart (2015). 2 The presence of informal leadership in local government management, among other areas, should also be noted. Informal leaders are particularly important in leadership transitions, at the beginning of new initiatives, or when formal leadership is weak or diffuse (Van Wart, 2015, p. 125).

References Berman, D., 2020. Local Government and the States (2nd Edition). New York: Routledge. Bladen, V., 1941. An Introduction to Political Economy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Bowling, C., & Pickerill, M., 2013. Fragmented Federalism: The State of American Federalism, 2012–13. The Journal of Federalism, 43(3), 315–346. Coffé, H., & Geys, B., 2005. Institutional Performance and Social Capital: An Application to the Local Government Level. Journal of Urban Affairs, 27 (5), 485–501. Collins, J., 2001. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't. New York: Harper Business. Collins, J., 2005. Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking Is Not the Answer. New York: Harper. https://icma​.org​/member​-exclusive​-leading​ -ideas​-series​#jcollins2. Collins, J., & Hansen, M., 2011. Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All. New York: Harper Business. Collins, R., 1986. Weberian Sociological Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Davidson, N., Briffault, R., Diller, P., Fox, S., Reynolds, L., Scharff, E. A., … Su, R., 2020. Principles of Home Rule for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: National League of Cities. Dollery, B., & Wallis, J., 2001. The Political Economy of Local Government. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. Dumas, L. J., 2011. The Peace-Keeping Economy: Using Economic Relationships to Build a More Peaceful, Prosperous, and Secure World. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Glaab, C. N., 1963. The American City. Homewood: The Dorsey Press. Grimes, P. G., 2013, September. The Growing Challenge of Shrinking Birthrates. Public Management, 95 (8), 23–25. Holden, M., 1964. The Governance of the Metropolis as a Problem in Diplomacy. Journal of Politics, 26(3), 627–647. Howe, N., & Strauss, W., 1997. The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy. Three Rivers Press. New York. Howe, N., 2020. Interview, “Power Lunch,” CNBC, April 24. (T. Mathisen, Interviewer).

Introduction  31 Maciag, M., 2012. Growing Cities Swap Council-Manager, Mayor-Council Governments. Governing, June 25, 2012. https://www​.governing​.com​/archive​/ government​-mayor​-council​-manager​-form​-changes​.html. Muehlenbeck, T., 2020, July 16. Retired City Manager. (P. Grimes, Interviewer). Nalbandian, J., 2014. Political Astuteness: Bridging the Gap between Politics and Professionalism. ICMA Annual Conference. Charlotte: Nalbandian. O’Brien, R., & Williams, M., 2016. Global Political Economy: Evolution & Dynamics (5th Edition). New York: Palgrave. Putnam, R., 1993. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Schulze, D., 2020, July 7. City Manager. (P. Grimes, Interviewer). Tax Policy Center, 2020, July 26. Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Revenues. Retrieved from Tax Policy Center’s Briefing Book: https://www​.taxpolicycenter​ .org​/briefing​-book​/what​-breakdown​-revenues​-among​-federal​-state​-and​-local​ -governments. Urban Institute, 2020, July 26. State & Local Finance Initiative. Retrieved from State & Local Expenditures: https://www​.urban​.org​/policy​-centers​/cross​-center​ -initiatives​/state​-and​-local​-finance​-initiative​/state​-and​-local​-backgrounders​/state​ -and​-local​-expenditures. Van Wart, M., 2015. Dynamics of Leadership in Public Service: Theory and Practice (2nd Edition). Oxford: Routledge. Young, G., 2018. “Women, Naturally the Best Leaders for the 21st Century,” Transpersonal Leadership Series: White Paper Two, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, Zimmerman, B., 2017. Does the Structure of Local Government Matter? Philadelphia: Fels Institute of Local Government - University of Pennsylvania.

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Elected Officials and City Managers Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides

Introduction A saying among government professionals declares, “You’re not really a city manager until you’ve been fired.” Yes, getting fired may be on the merit badges you earn when you work under the stress and pressure of several bosses who are all elected officials. City managers describe the profession with words like “fearless” and “not for the faint of heart” and emphasize the need for individuals with strong shoulders and thick skin. The fact is that city managers are in the hot seat and must focus on addressing the priorities of all city council representatives, even when they differ from their colleagues. Managers are also expected to lead a variety of specialists with varying degrees of experience in the very complex system that makes up municipal government, all while guiding the city into the future. On top of that, a city manager’s decisions are made in front of the public. With today’s online communication explosion, this public extends far beyond your community, so there’s no room for error in city management. So, what makes this profession worthwhile? City managers say it’s the ability to impact people in all segments of the community and see that impact, in some cases, instantly. Each day is a new challenge and can vary as the demand for the manager varies with the community’s needs. That’s exciting! There is no other profession where one will negotiate the removal of a family’s pet chickens in the middle of a residential neighborhood one day, deal with the aftermath of a major F3 tornado through our city the day after Christmas, and figure out an equitable way to deal with delinquent water/sewer customers in the middle of a pandemic. The role of the city manager is no less than being the ultimate problem solver for the everyday life of the community. It is very demanding but also very rewarding. It is also an essential role for our communities to be successful and meet the demands of modern city government.

Types of City Government A variety of municipal government forms are practiced in this country, ranging from the simple town meeting form where neighbors from a small DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-2

Elected Officials and City Managers  33 community gather to discuss issues, to the mayor-council form of a large community, with as many as 51 representatives gathering for all-day meetings which are broadcast to the public. The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) surveyed cities in the US and found that the most common forms are the council-manager and mayor-council (ICMA, 2019). The size of both types of cities impacts the job. The leading officials face the same issues in a large city, structured for a manager to supervise a group of experts, as in a small city where everything is more hands-on for the city manager. What stands out as different is the authority of the city manager vs. the counterpart in the mayor-council form, the chief administrative officer (CAO). The city manager is ultimately the chief executive officer (CEO), who reports to a board of directors. However, the chief administrative officer is more like the president of a company that reports to the CEO. Now both the city manager and the CAO handle day-to-day operations, including budget preparation, hiring people, and advising the council, and have the authority to make decisions and enter contracts, usually with the city council’s prior approval. In the mayor-council form, the mayor holds this authority, although they may delegate some of the responsibility to the CAO. The CAO is hired by the mayor and implements the final decision as they report to the mayor.

Career Challenges It is important to note that while women and other disenfranchised groups have made inroads into the city manager profession, their professional experience is often quite different from that of their counterparts. For example, pay differentials still exist, and although great strides have been made over the years, this gap continues. If your education, experience, and overall qualifications are equal to or greater than the person you are replacing, you should receive the same or greater pay. One Hispanic ex–city manager of a major metropolitan community stated that he insisted that he received nothing less than his non-Hispanic predecessor when the city tried to give him a lower offer. His reasoning was that his worth was no less and, in fact, even greater than that of his predecessor. Implicit bias has become a common theme in today’s workforce, specifically in hiring, promoting, and evaluating people. This bias reaches beyond one race or gender toward another, as it can be within the same group. Some examples include fear of the hiring optics by minority managers of hiring other minority managers. The authors also note that having a family is a positive for male candidates, while it may be seen as a liability for women. An ICMA survey in 2013 had a real impact when it showed that 13% of chief municipal officials in the US were women. However, this was the same percentage that was found in a 1981 survey, more than 30 years earlier! The finding was

34  Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides perceived as so outrageous that it led to the evolution of the #13Percent movement, dedicated to raising the number of women city managers (Vorhees and Lee-Skaggs, 2014). A 2020 conference presentation by the California City Management Foundation (CCMF) noted that the number had risen to 21.7% in California (CCMF, 2020). Bias can also include the expectation of different management styles, such as having to prove yourself in a stagnant department first before joining the management team. Men also may perceive women as being overly assertive, not assertive enough, or not deserving of respect (Vorhees and LeeSkaggs, 2014). A diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) resource site from Washington state maintains that DEI initiatives improve decision-making, increase trust in city government, realize a better distribution of public resources, and improve employee satisfaction (MRSC, 2021). Researchers in the UK also found that diversity produced an inclusive work environment which lowered discrimination and bullying (Andrews and Ashworth, 2015). Finally, in a positive step forward for the goals of the #13Percent movement, ICMA’s PM Magazine for September 2021 headlines “Equity and Inclusion” and includes advice for keeping your integrity while moving up the professional ladder (ICMA, 2021).

Council-Manager Form The ICMA defines the council-manager form as a city where “Elected council or board and chief elected official are responsible for making policy with advice of the chief appointed official (e.g., administrator/manager)” (ICMA 19). There are more council-manager cities than any other form, but there is also research that indicates that this form and the mayor-council form are becoming more alike (Frederickson, Johnson, and Wood, 2004). The council-manager form combines the strong political leadership of elected officials with the strong managerial experience of an appointed city manager. All power and authority to set policy rest with an elected governing body, the city council. The council, in turn, hires a nonpartisan manager who runs the organization. The elected city council members represent their community and are responsible for developing a long-range vision for its future. They establish policies that affect the overall operation of the community and are responsive to residents’ needs and wishes. To ensure that these policies are carried out and that the entire community is equitably served, the governing body appoints a professional manager based on his/her education, experience, skills, and abilities (not political allegiances) (Cedar Rapids, 2021).

Mayor-Council Form The ICMA defines the mayor-council form as a city where an “Elected council or board serves as the legislative body. The chief elected official (e.g., Mayor) is the head of government, with significant administrative authority,

Elected Officials and City Managers  35 and generally elected separately from the council” (ICMA, 2019). While similar in function to the council-manager form, the mayor serves as both the lead elected official and the chief executive officer in the mayor-council form. In many cases, the mayor will hire a CAO to handle the day-to-day administration and focus on managing the council’s policy deliberations. The mayor, however, as the CEO, is both administrative and political. The basis for decisions as mayor will generally be based on the mayor’s political agenda rather than a collective vision of the council. The council, however, in this form still has a significant amount of power over the community’s operations; as in the council-manager form, they have budgetary and legislative approval.

The City Manager’s Role The city manager is hired to serve the council and the community and brings to the local government the benefits of their training and experience in administering the municipal government, including management of staff, projects, and programs. The manager prepares a budget for the council’s consideration; recruits, hires, supervises, and terminates government staff; serves as the council’s chief advisor; and carries out the council’s policies and desires. The manager makes policy recommendations to the council for consideration and final decision. Once a decision is made, even contrary to the manager’s professional advice, the manager is bound by whatever action the council enacts. The council is the final authority on decisions, which ensures that control is always in the hands of the elected representatives of the people. Appointed managers serve at the pleasure of the governing body. They are hired by the council and can be fired by a majority vote of the council, consistent with local laws or any employment agreements the city may have made with the CAO (Cedar Rapids, 2021). In some council-manager communities, the mayor supervises the day-today activities of the city manager even though the manager works for the whole city council. In this scenario, while all the council members are free to interact with the city manager on a regular basis, the number one contact for the manager is the mayor. It is important for the mayor and the city manager to have a trusting and respectful relationship. However, ensuring that information and decisions are shared equally is a top priority of the manager. The need to report to each member equally often requires the manager to juggle multiple priorities. In other communities, the role of the mayor may be ceremonial in nature, but the manager still depends heavily on developing and maintaining an open and transparent relationship with the mayor. Whether elected by the people or by the council, the mayor is responsible for conducting city council and legislative meetings. No matter which scenario is used in the council-manager system, the city manager must always remember that the mayor is only one vote, and the manager works for the entire council. One of the strengths of the councilmanager system is that power is invested everywhere in the system, but

36  Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides its weakness can be the same condition, that power is across the political spectrum. For a council-manager system to operate effectively, it needs the city council to work well as a unit and for the staff to work well for the city manager. An effective relationship between the mayor and city manager bridges the two sides of the system. The mayor and the city council make policy, and the city manager and staff implement the policy for the benefit of the community (ICMA, 2018).

City Council’s Role The city council is the community’s legislative and policymaking body. Power is centralized in the elected council, which, for example, approves the budget, approves zoning cases, and determines the tax rate. Setting the vision for the city is a major function of the governing body, in which the city manager and staff supply the council with information and depend on it for direction. The council focuses on the community’s goals, major projects, and such long-term considerations as community growth, land use development, capital improvement, financing, and strategic planning. The council hires a professional manager to implement the administrative responsibilities related to these goals and supervises the manager’s performance (Duggan, 2017). Because decisions on policy and the future of the community are made by the entire governing body rather than a single individual, council-manager governments more often engage and involve their residents in decision-making. Residents guide their community by serving on boards and commissions, participating in visioning and strategic planning, and designing community-oriented local government services. The manager carries out the policies established by the elected governing body with an emphasis on effective, efficient, and equitable service delivery. In this way, the elected officials are free to devote time to policy planning and the development of the community. As mentioned earlier, the mayor is a voting member of the city council who presides at council meetings and represents the city in ceremonial relationships. Other roles may vary and include assigning agenda items to committees, facilitating communication and understanding between elected and appointed officials, assisting the council in setting goals, and advocating policy decisions. The mayor, by some laws, may declare a state of emergency for the city and is named the head of government in such a situation. In larger jurisdictions, the mayor even has the authority to appoint members of citizen advisory boards and commissions (with the advice and consent of the council) (NCU, 2022).

The Professional Staff’s Role In a council-manager form of government, staff report to the city manager. Although in some charters or by state law, some councils ratify directors,

Elected Officials and City Managers  37 the city council has no role in staff personnel issues. The city council can hire and fire only the city manager, city attorney, or other council-appointed officers according to the city’s charter. Examples include city auditors, city secretaries, and municipal judges. In addition, some jurisdictions prohibit city council members from even reaching out to city staff, requiring all contact for official business to go through the city manager. The manager then holds staff accountable on the council’s behalf for implementing their policies and directives. The entire council, in turn, holds the manager accountable for the staff’s overall performance (Nadler and Schulman, 2015). An advantage to this arrangement is the fact that the professional staff, unlike many elected officials, are not subject to term limits, which means that they have time to develop institutional knowledge or history. This is very beneficial in advancing the concrete plans that put policy decisions into practice because the staff knows how to get things done in accordance with state laws and city statutes. They may also have advanced degrees in management, engineering, finance, and other technical areas, providing a knowledge base they can bring to bear in devising solutions to local problems (Nadler and Schulman, 2015).

Changes in Municipal Government In many municipalities, city council members are elected by wards or districts. Once elected, they are supposed to serve the entire city, but they often feel a special responsibility to the constituents who elected them. By contrast, the city manager and the staff are mandated to serve the needs of the municipality with no partiality to the area where they reside (Nadler and Schulman, 2015). Typically, elected officials may make inquiries or exchange information, but they cannot issue directives. In some cases, making directives is strictly prohibited by the city’s charter and can result in the official being removed from office. However, over time, elected officials are becoming more involved in administration and management in local government. The blurring of the lines in their role is partially due to the changing demographics of elected officials. Historically, in small towns they were farmers and local businessmen; today we see individuals with similar specialized education as the manager and/or staff. Given the increased knowledge of operational areas, they will tend to sway to the familiar rather than focusing on setting policy. At the same time, due to greater communication tools, such as social media and the internet, city managers have become more visible to the public. In response, city managers are often looked at as community leaders and facilitators of policy-making. We have come a long way from the days of Woodrow Wilson’s concept of the administrative–political dichotomy. It is often argued that elected officials play a role in administration and management and city managers are now players in vision, mission, and policy. However, as any city manager that has been on

38  Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides the witness stand will confirm, when a lawyer asks if they made policy, the city manager always responds that the city council makes policy.

A Successful City Manager If a city manager is to be successful, they need to know their council, the city, the organization, and themselves very well to operate in the complex world that every city inhabits. While the city manager is a contract employee, the manager is more than a mercenary or “hired gun” for the city council. The manager is a city employee with limited rights and, as an “at will” position, not protected under many employee policies such as civil service protections. The manager must always be on the side of the city council, but must also give the council frank and open advice. Given the diversity and complexity of today, this can prove very challenging as the council may be divided into two or more sides on any given issue. Managers spend a great deal of time deciding how much to invest in running the organizations they lead by communicating and relating to the elected officials that hire them. One opinion is that the best way for a manager to extend their tenure with a city is to put their head down and take care of the city’s business. Others argue that in the social media world that we live in, taking care of the city council is what is going to extend a manager’s longevity. Either way, the city council comes first, they must know all the city manager knows, and they should never be surprised by information from sources other than the city manager. Surprises are a quick way to a short tenure as a manager. Some managers have had to tell their employees that we must ensure that the city council will be the first to know anything affecting them and, given the nature of social media they will most likely be the last to hear any news about themselves. Regardless of the choices a city manager makes, she/he must hire an excellent staff to take care of all the duties that the city has entrusted them with. Governments are expected to be adaptive and responsive in addition to effective and efficient. Managers play a different role for their staff, which involves supporting them, mentoring them, allowing them to take risks, running interference for them when needed, and showing them love when no one else will. It also means holding them accountable when necessary. The staff depends on the manager for motivation and leadership. It is important for the manager’s success to provide the staff with the training, support, and resources they need for their success. Ultimately, managers must handle all the big and little things that their elected officials value as important. While big policy decisions like whether to raise the property tax rate, where the next 50 years of water supply is coming from, or what the best land use policy is to create a sustainable economic environment for the community are all vital. However, other concerns such as illegal signs on the right of way, mowing the grass along the railroad tracks that go by city hall, or missed trash pick-up seem to take

Elected Officials and City Managers  39 center stage. A manager must maintain regular contact with elected o ­ fficials and understand their issues, views, and communication styles. It is easy for a manager to spend hours with elected officials at the expense of other duties. Members of the profession would tell you that you must spend huge amounts of time with the elected officials who like you and even more hours with the ones who do not. Tenured professionals recommend that managers need to provide council members with their best advice, but always in private; speak only enough to make yourself understood, and do not seek the limelight. In addition, always speak when spoken to, take criticism well, not personally, take no credit while making elected officials look good, and above all, be successful. It is said that the most important three things in real estate are: location, location, location. In the city manager profession, the most important things are communication, communication, communication. One of the most important characteristics of a successful city manager is effective communication. This is closely linked to a manager’s ability to gain and retain a clear understanding of each city council member and the factors that impact their definition of success or failure. Although this definition can and will change with increased communication, you will also be better at gauging when the change occurs. Remember, effective communication starts with the ability to actively listen. When managers go within the elected officials’ arena, they must be honest and listen to not only what is being said but what is being implied. That is why it is more important to listen than to speak. When in private consultation with elected officials, it is essential to make your point of view known and know when to push your agenda or priorities. Listen carefully to them to understand where they are coming from and where they would like to go. Learn how to integrate all the views on the city council into one cohesive view to move the city forward. However, in public settings like city council meetings, the manager is there to provide support and technical expertise when asked but must be reluctant to interject themself too actively into the public debate. Managers must be ready to provide information and to give advice but must also be as concise as possible so that they are not intrusive. Just let the city council exercise its public policy role. Mayors and council members need to have effective working relationships with several key audiences to successfully undertake their responsibilities. These audiences include citizens/voters, community groups, the press, other governmental agencies, other elected officials, nonprofit organizations, and many more. However, critical to a successful and satisfying career on the city council in a council-manager form of government is a successful and effective working relationship with the city manager. Mayors and city council members must work well with their city managers if the city is to operate effectively and serve all the people of the community. Whether a city manager works for a seven-member city council with one selected by their peers as mayor and one as vice-mayor, like Petersburg, VA, or an elected mayor and 14 council members like Dallas, TX, the rules of engagement

40  Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides are the same. The only difference is the time it takes the manager to contact everyone when something happens. Every manager works very hard to get along with all their elected officials. If the city council and the city manager have an effective and mutually supportive working relationship, the likelihood of the policy and administrative roles being effectively coordinated increases significantly, resulting in more successful city governance and management. Among the issues to consider in trying to establish the best possible city council/city manager working relationship are the following: ●

The relationship cannot be taken for granted and requires attention and work to establish and maintain. If not diligently pursued, it will not flourish. The work of city councils is not easy! Consider the following: The issues can be weighty and controversial. Not only do you confront the typical challenges of group decisionmaking, but the “group” in this case may not have a great deal in common. The decision-making is also done in public, often on television or the Internet, and is scrutinized by the public and the press. Anyone can join the deliberations. The factors that can get in the way of an effective relationship include: Not understanding/appreciating/respecting each other’s roles. Differing philosophies. Differing personalities. Challenging issues. External pressures from the media, community groups, or employee organizations, for example. The relationship with the city council is a major factor impacting a city manager’s job satisfaction. The reasons for this include: City councils are the source of formal performance feedback. City councils control the city manager’s job security. City councils determine the city manager’s compensation. City councils establish the city manager’s “parameters of success.” ● ●

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Do not underestimate how important it is to a city manager to have a good working relationship with the city council. City council support for the city manager, particularly during tough times, is of tremendous value (Duggan, 2017). Too many times city managers think that because they might have an excellent relationship with one or all the council members, they are almost friends. Regardless of how good your relationship is with any of your elected bosses, you are still a contract worker, and if you ever stand in the way of something the elected official wants, then your relationship stands a good chance of being pushed aside to achieve a political or personal desire

Elected Officials and City Managers  41 of the elected official. After the conflict, be ready to be told by the elected official that the disagreement was not personal and that you should not take it personally. It’s always good to post a note for yourself to read daily, that no matter how popular you are with the community and even the council, you are an employee, and although in your personal sphere you relate well to your council members, you are not equal to an elected official. This attitude is also valuable when it comes to your performance evaluation. Normally, city council members do not like developing annual performance plans for their city managers, filling out evaluations, or even scheduling an evaluation of the city manager. In fact, because they sometimes confuse their working relationship and their supervisory responsibilities, the evaluation of the city manager is often critical and severe and not in keeping with their normal and casual relations with the city manager. This situation causes issues because the public and the media want to see the written evaluations and performance ratings, which leads to divisive public discourse due to critical written comments about the city manager that are difficult to take back or explain away when the day-to-day relations appear to be satisfactory. Another possibility is that the council may ask you to review yourself, and then they will comment on your review. Either method can be exacerbated when you consider that over time the makeup of the council that selected the manager may have changed and the newly elected officials are now rating the performance of someone that they were not involved in selecting.

Department Management Another very important function for the city manager, besides carrying out the council’s policy direction, is the oversight of city departments. Key tasks associated with this role include the hiring and supervision of department heads, the recommendation and implementation of the annual budget, and the assurance of quality service delivery. The council-manager form of government is predicated on the philosophy that elected representatives are better able to make community value judgments on behalf of residents and translate these values into policy direction—the “what” in city government. It is also based on the belief that professional staff members are best able to determine the “how” of implementing policies and delivering day-today services expeditiously, due to their experience and training. Since both roles are closely related, it is the city manager’s responsibility to coordinate between both realms to assure the effective delivery of services consistent with city council direction (Svara, 1999).

Conclusion There is a huge divide between the individuals that have the education and experience to be city managers and those that enter the field looking for a

42  Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides challenge. Ambition is such a funny motive and not everyone has it or is ambitious. If you are the person in the chair, you are truly on an island by yourself. Only other city managers understand the pressure and stress that you face or the demands of several bosses that are all elected officials. If you choose to be a city manager you are expected to be charismatic and dynamic enough to motivate an organization, accomplish all that is entrusted to you, execute your duties perfectly, and do everything in a fishbowl; there are no secrets. When you are with your elected bosses, you must hide your light, take no credit for success, and take the blame if things go wrong. You know that you are not a saint, but the closer you can get to achieving that high standard, the better you will be able to lead your organization, serve the city council well, and be able to walk away from your assignment as city manager bruised, but with your head held high. This situation is why being a city manager is such an enjoyable and challenging experience. It is essential that we continue to produce individuals that want to be city managers, so our communities have a chance to be successful and meet the challenges and demands of urban environments.

Case Studies Case Study 1: Fallout from a Jailbreak In 1996, the city police officers of a North Texas city made a Class C felony arrest. Following procedure, the prisoner was held in the city’s jail until he could be taken to the county’s jail the next day. During the night, the prisoner escaped. The police chief felt that the prisoner was not a serious criminal and not a huge threat to the community, so he did not inform the city manager of the escape from the city’s jail. However, the community newspaper heard about the escape and reported the story on the front page of the newspaper, above the fold, just two days after the escape. When the mayor and the city council members read the story in the paper, their reactions were somewhat less than happy. That day, the mayor and the city council members let the city manager have an earful about their displeasure with the performance of the city manager and the police chief who did not notify them of the escape. After a few days, the mayor and the city council members cooled off. However, the city manager had to promise the city council that staff efforts would be redoubled to keep surprises such as this from recurring. The city manager had the staff develop new procedures to keep the council alerted to issues of sufficient gravity that needed to be brought to the city council’s attention. The city manager spoke to his police chief and all the other city top management officials about the new procedures for making the city manager’s office and the city council aware of all important activities and actions in the city. While no one was reprimanded or punished for this lack of effective communication, the organizational lines of communication

Elected Officials and City Managers  43 were reorganized to keep everyone informed of the important happenings in the city. Case Study II: The Financial Peril of COVID A city on the brink of financial disaster in 2016 was confronted with another significant financial peril. Surprisingly, the peril came in the form of delinquent water/sewer collections. The city hired a transition management team to create a financial stabilization plan for the city. One key source of revenue was the over $3 million in past due receipts for water/sewer services. The main culprit for the uncollected revenue was the troubled implementation of a new meter system for the Water and Sewer Department. The initial installation and operation issues resulted in halting the billing and disconnection of services for a huge number of non-payments. Once the system was fixed, the city resumed collection of past due receipts which included a structured disconnection process for individuals with severely overdue bills. At the onset of the city’s stabilization process it had a 68% collection rate, which started to improve by 2019, in part due to a new disciplined delinquency process. However, in February 2020 the COVID-19 virus was taking over US communities, including this southern city. The manager directed staff to look at the overall impact the virus could have on the city’s finances and the financial health of the residents. Ultimately, the potential of quarantine and the need to shelter in place as well as an increased focus on sanitation and hand washing caused a wave of fear in the community. As a result, a council member questioned if residents in the community were being endangered by the city’s aggressive water/sewer collection and disconnect policy. The council member wondered if the city should reconnect all services regardless of the citizens’ past due balance and ability to pay in the future due to the COVID pandemic’s economic impact. Unsure of the fiscal impact of the decision to reconnect everyone and to stop aggressive collection efforts, the staff began to develop reconnection scenarios for those whose services may have been impacted. The key factors they considered are: ●

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The disconnections represented a value of over $3,000,000 in outstanding revenue. The length of the delinquency began at one year and extended up to four years without payment prior to disconnection. The city purchased the water and sewer services and simply served as a re-seller. It was required to pay regardless of their decision to collect or not. The current city policy allowed for partial payment plans with only a 50% payment upfront and very generous payout plans that were regularly allowed to default, without serious consequences.

44  Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides Staff developed potential operational plans for reconnection that went beyond the existing policy and allowed staff to make individual decisions about amounts and terms of payments for reconnections. However, after much debate, the council made the decision to take no action and stick with the current policy. The decision was based in part on the need to continue the effort toward fiscal stabilization. The state, however, stepped in and did not allow the city to disconnect any citizens, which resulted in the city collection rate dropping into the low 60% collection range again. The possibility of financial default became real for the city. The situation left no one certain of the city’s financial stability due to half of the city’s residents needing some form of financial assistance.

References Andrews, Rhys, and Rachel Ashworth. 2015. “Representation and Inclusion in Public Organizations: Evidence from the U.K. Civil Service.” Public Administration Review 75(2): 279–288. CCMF. 2020. “13Percent Update: The Rise of Women in City Management.” Retrieved on April 20, 2022. https://www​.calcities​.org​/docs​/default​-source​/city​ -managers​-conference--​-session​-materials/​-13percent​-update​-the​-rise​-of​-women​ -in​-city​-management​.pdf​?sfvrsn​=213d323e​_3. Cedar Rapids. 2021. “What Is the Council Manager Form of Government.” Retrieved on December 2, 2021 (cedar​-rapids​.​org). Duggan, Kevin C. 2017. ICMA. “A Key Ingredient for Success; an Effective City Council/City Manager Relations.” Retrieved on December 2, 2021. Microsoft. Word - 679-11-30-10A-E^.doc (ca​-ilg​.​org). Frederickson, H. George, Gary Alan Johnson, and Curtis Wood. 2004. “The Changing Structure of American Cities: A Study of the Diffusion of Innovation.” Public Administration Review 64(3): 320–330. https://doi​.org​/10​.1111​/j​.1540​ -6210​.2004​.00376.x Heidi, Vorhees, and Rachel Lee-Skaggs. 2014. “Women Leading Government.” ICMA: PM Magazine. Retrieved on April 15, 2022. https://icma​.org​/articles​/pm​ -magazine​/women​-leading​-government. ICMA. 2018. Ask an ICMA Manager: Three Key Elements of Council-Manager Relations. Washington, DC: ICMA. Retrieved on December 2, 2021. http://icma​ .org. ICMA. 2019. 2018  Municipal Form of Government Survey – Summary of Survey Results. Washington, DC: ICMA. http://icma​.org. ICMA. 2021. “Equity and Inclusion.” PM Magazine. August 30, 2021. Retrieved on April 15, 2022. https://issuu​.com​/icma​-pm​/docs​/pm​_sep​_2021 MSRC. 2021. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources for Local Governments. Seattle, WA: MSRC. 2021. Retrieved on April 15, 2022. https://mrsc​.org​/ Home​/Explore​-Topics​/Governance​/Citizen​-Participation​-and​-Engagement​/DEI ​ -Resources​-for​-Local​-Government​.aspx. Nadler, Judy, and Miriam Schulman. 2015. “Relationships between Elected Officials and Staff.” Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Retrieved on December 3, 2021. (scu​.e​du)

Elected Officials and City Managers  45 Svara, James H. 1999. “The Shifting Boundary between Elected Officials and City Managers in Large Council-Manager Cities.” Public Administration Review. Retrieved on December 3, 2021. The Shifting Boundary between Elected Officials and City Managers in Large Council-Manager Cities on JSTOR. University of North Carolina School of Government and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill 2022. Forms of North Carolina City Government. Retrieved on December 16, 2022. https://www​.sog​.unc​.edu​/resources​/microsites​/ forms​-north​-carolina​-city​-government

3

The City Manager’s Perspective James Fisher, Jeffrey H. Moshier, and Teodoro J. Benavides

We do not pay attention to public affairs, and this gives wicked men a chance to rule over us. (Plato, 2022)

Local government is where the rubber meets the road, in terms of services to the citizens of the community. Decisions regarding schools, parks, streets, utilities, community and economic development, taxes, and public safety are made locally because they have the greatest impact on the people who utilize these services. Local citizens live, work, and play in their neighborhoods and the investment by their local government affects their finances and their quality of life. Citizens who choose to get engaged with local officials ensure that the needs of their neighborhood are being met by their community leaders. However, effective engagement requires an understanding of how the community is operated and who the key players are within local government. Every city, town, or village has officials who manage the daily affairs of the community. These officials can be elected or appointed. The elected city officials, the mayor, and the city council are selected by the community during an election for a specific term. The term of office, the authority, the responsibility, and the accountability of the office are determined by state statutes, local ordinances, or in some cases, a city charter. Appointed officials are selected by the mayor and city council, who hire staff to manage the daily affairs of the community. Again, the authority, responsibility, and accountability of these appointed officials will vary depending on statutes, ordinances, or charters. This chapter will explore three types of local government with the greatest emphasis on the council-manager form of government (Demir, Reddick, Sculley, and Taylor, 2012).

Commission Form of Government In 1900, a devastating hurricane hit the city of Galveston, a major city on the Gulf Coast at that time. The hurricane killed thousands and leveled approximately two-thirds of the island city. The recovery and restoration work was DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-3

The City Manager’s Perspective  47 overwhelming, but the community faced this challenge head-on. A group of businesspeople known as the Deep-Water Commission asked the Governor of Texas to appoint a commission to oversee the rebuilding of Galveston. The commission would divide the city departments among commission members to provide greater focus on unique areas and to ensure timely recovery. Some members of the community did not like this idea, primarily since members of the commission were appointed and not elected. After some legal challenges and intervention by the Texas Legislature, all members of the commission were to be elected by the people they would represent. The success of the commission form of government encouraged other cities in Texas to adopt it. As the commission form spread throughout Texas from 1905 to the 1920s, it gained national attention, and Des Moines, Iowa, was the first city outside of Texas to adopt this form of government (Blodgett, 1988). In this form of government, the executive and legislative functions are combined into one body of government. The role of the mayor tends to be more ceremonial. Commission members oversee individual departments that they may or may not have any expertise in leading, and it may be challenging to unify with regard to municipal goals as commissioners get caught up in politics or accountability for their department’s fiscal responsibility. The largest city with the commission form of government is Portland, Oregon (Conduff, 2011).

Mayor-Council Form of Government This form of government is comprised of two types: strong mayor and weak mayor. In the strong mayor form of government, the mayor is the chief executive, and the city council serves as the legislative body. The mayor proposes the city budget, appoints department directors, and has veto authority. The city council approves the budget and sets the agenda for the council’s consideration. The cities of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston are considered strong mayor cities. In Houston, the mayor serves as the chief administrator, appoints department directors (with city council approval), prepares the budget, ensures the enforcement of ordinances, presides over city council meetings, and is the official representative of the city (Svara 1999). A weak mayor form of government is traditionally a council-manager form of government.

Council-Manager Form of Government The council-manager form of government began in 1904 in a small city called Ukiah, California, and Staunton, Virginia, followed in 1908. The manager would be a person who would have authority over all departments and the knowledge to ensure that all were effectively managed. In 1912, Sumter, South Carolina, was the first city in the nation to adopt the council-manager

48  Fisher, Moshier, and Benavides form of government by charter, with authority granted by the state, and to place all city operations under the authority of the city manager. According to the National League of Cities, a charter is the basic document that defines the organization, powers, functions, and essential procedures of city government. Charters may be granted by the state legislature or by a local referendum authorized by the state. Within the charters, you will find the authority and responsibility of the elected officials and the city manager if the local referendum calls for this form of government. A city may also create the position of city manager by ordinance that outlines the duties, responsibilities, and authority of this position (Morgan and Watson, 2008). So, what is a city manager? The city manager is the chief executive (or administrative) officer for the city and is appointed by the city council. The city manager is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the city and the hiring of all personnel, except the ones specified by the charter or ordinance. The city manager prepares and submits the city budget for Council consideration of action. The city manager implements the policies and goals and establishes the direction of the city staff per council directives. The city manager coordinates all city projects and is accountable for the completion of those projects. The city manager listens to all citizen concerns and assists in the resolution of those concerns. The city manager will attend all city council, board, and commission meetings and other community meetings to ensure that the city is represented and the will of the city council is understood. Finally, city managers serve at the pleasure of the city council and can be released from their position by a simple majority of the city council. In 1914, 32 local government managers, including one from Westmount, Quebec, Canada, which adopted the council-manager plan in 1914, gathered to share their experiences, collect added information, and discuss the challenges in the local government arena. The group called itself the City Manager’s Association; today it is known as the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). The managers met annually and in 1924 adopted a Code of Ethics to serve as the bedrock for local government managers. Members of the ICMA agree to follow and adhere to the Code of Ethics when they apply for membership. The Code of Ethics adopted by the ICMA Executive Board in 1924, and most recently revised by the membership in June 2020, consists of 12 tenets which are as follows (ICMA, 2021): 1. We believe professional management is essential to efficient and democratic local government by elected officials. 2. Affirm the dignity and worth of local government services and maintain a deep sense of social responsibility as a trusted public servant. 3. Demonstrate by word and action the highest standards of ethical conduct and integrity in all public, professional, and personal relationships in order that the member may merit the trust and respect of the elected and appointed officials, employees, and the public. 4. Serve the best interests of the people.

The City Manager’s Perspective  49 5. Submit policy proposals to elected officials; provide them with facts, and technical and professional advice about policy options; and collaborate with them in setting goals for the community and organization. 6. Recognize that elected representatives are accountable to their community for the decisions they make; members are responsible for implementing those decisions. 7. Refrain from all political activities which undermine public confidence in professional administrators. Refrain from participation in the election of the members of the employing legislative body. 8. Make it a duty continually to improve the member’s professional ability and to develop the competence of associates in the use of management techniques. 9. Keep the community informed on local government affairs; encourage communication between the citizens and all local government officers; emphasize friendly and courteous service to the public; and seek to improve the quality and image of public service. 10. Resist any encroachment on professional responsibilities, believing the member should be free to conduct official policies without interference, and manage each problem without discrimination based on principle and justice. 11. Handle all matters of personnel based on merit so that fairness and impartiality govern a member’s decisions pertaining to appointments, pay adjustments, promotions, and discipline. 12. Public office is a public trust. A member shall not leverage his or her position for personal gain or benefit. A code of ethics does not guarantee perfect local governance, but it is a beginning point for integrity, honesty, transparency, and confidence that the manager is held to a higher standard of public service. Tenet 1 is a belief that professional management is essential in local government management, and the ICMA supported the Austin for All People coalition when there was a movement by the Austinites for Progressive Reform to change the form of government to strong mayor (ICMA, 2021b). The ICMA helped Austin for All People understand how the councilmanager form of government is beneficial to everyone and creates open opportunities for all citizens to be heard. Tenet 2 affirms the benefits of local government services and the deep sense of social responsibility of public servants to the community they serve. In Austin, there was a movement to change the form of government and while this occurring the city management team continued to provide exceptional services to the community and to address challenges caused by a global pandemic. Tenets 3 and 4 challenge ICMA members to conduct themselves to the highest standards, not because they are better than anyone, but to be sure their actions, words, and deeds are above reproach. Members are to be servant leaders who place others’ needs above their own and constantly seek ways to serve the best interest of their

50  Fisher, Moshier, and Benavides employees, community, and elected officials. This is also the place where members hold other members ­accountable to the Code of Ethics. Tenets 5 and 6 remind members of their responsibility to elected officials. Members should provide officials with complete information on a policy or project and then implement that policy or project once the decision is made to move forward by the council. Tenet 7 prohibits members from engaging in political activities that may undermine the members’ ability to perform their job. Members need to remember that the council-manager form of government was created to avoid political influence; leave that to the elected officials. In his article, “Advocacy: Authority versus Power,” Jason Grant states that “the council-manager form of government is a system of government that strategically limits undue political influence in the operation and administration of government while strengthening the power of the elected body who represent the interests of the people” (Grant, 2021). Tenet 8 requires members to continually educate themselves through professional development, training, reading, mentoring, and self-assessment. Socrates once said that the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing (Pick Short Quotes, 2022) (Plato, 1966). Tenet 9 encourages members to utilize all tools of communication to keep the council, staff, and community informed. This also means being receptive to hearing from these folks about concerns, ideas, or compliments. Tenet 10 is hard to understand, but members should perform their job to the best of their ability and fulfill the duties/responsibilities outlined in their enabling legislation. Tenet 11 challenges members to remove all obstacles in the hiring and promotion process, expand the recruiting process to welcome all candidates, hire and/or promote the best candidate based on merit, and ensure that it is fair to all concerned. Tenet 12 reminds members of the greatest gift given to public servants: public trust. This should never be taken lightly as it can easily be lost by a simple action or word. Members should strive to do the right thing and remember that perception can be reality in some people’s minds (especially with social media). Always think before you act and place yourself on the outside looking in; what does it look like? All these tenets work together to help the member stay on a solid bedrock of public service, earning the public’s trust and providing exceptional services with professionalism and integrity (Svara, 1999).

Council-Manager Form of Government Staying Relevant The mayor-council and the council-manager are the most prevalent forms of local government in wide use in the United States. Some are now arguing that as cities get more diverse and become larger, they should migrate more to the strong mayor-council form, as large cities with racially diverse populations would find it more productive to employ the strong mayor-council form of government. In 2021 the city of Austin held an election to consider moving from council-manager to strong mayor. The proponents of the movement to push the strong mayor plan argued that the strong mayor format would

The City Manager’s Perspective  51 give voters more power. In the proposed ballot, the plan would allow the stifling of council members and by extension the ­constituents of their districts. It was the desire of the proponents of the plan to diminish community voices and furnish the mayor with veto power. The proposal would allow the mayor to veto council decisions he or she did not agree with and would require a two-thirds vote of the council to override that veto. In the current council-manager form of government, there is a balance between the mayor, the city manager, and council members and the districts that they represent, so you are hearing a lot more voices in city discussions on policymaking. The proponents of the new plan stated that the mayor would be accountable to all the voters and thereby the people would have a more powerful voice in policymaking than they currently have. The mayor would be accountable to the taxpayers. They said that is not the case now with the city manager, who is hired by the city council and not elected through a city-wide vote. In the current system, the mayor’s voting power is equal to the ten district representatives on the council. The mayor has no power to make city hires other than his office. In the current system the power balance is in the hands of the city manager, according to the proponents of the strong mayor plan. The proponents argue that entrenched interests want to protect their power and their access to power. They are saying the power should reside with the people and that is why they wanted to move to a strong mayor system. In conjunction, the proponents pushed moving the council elections from the midterms to presidential elections and moving to ranked-choice voting to give the citizens more power (Jankowski, 2021). The reform movement of the 1900s pushed the adoption of the councilmanager government to make government more efficient. This model of government was to make the government operate more like a business. The government would have a stronger orientation to the bottom line and wring out as much of the politics as possible from governmental processes. Now, as cities get larger and more diverse, can the council-manager form adapt to deal with the challenges that come with the increasing diversity of communities and the complexity of competing community interests? Do public administration and affairs schools feel that they need to increase their emphasis on training future and current public servants to cope with the increasing politicization of local governments? Is there a need for public servants to be more adept at community relations and racial politics? In addition, can the council-manager form of government be more adaptive in dealing with the increasing participation of city managers in mission and policymaking and more involvement by elected officials in administration and management? Can the system stand more interaction of all levels of local government by city managers, their staff, and their elected leaders while still being true to the philosophy of local government being efficient while still being responsive to community needs and interests? It will be interesting to see if public administration schools need to teach students to be more policy-oriented without getting too political and to remain the

52  Fisher, Moshier, and Benavides neutral experts that advocates of the council-manager systems say is its strength (Hays, 1964). Can you eliminate politics totally from municipal government? That seems highly unlikely but that was the hope of the council-manager system. All cities are attempting to provide basic services such as police, fire, streets, sanitation, and other regular city services. Strong mayor, commission, and council-manager cities all try to provide efficient and equitable city services. It was the hope of reformers to free cities from partisan politics. They were also trying to eradicate corruption. Another objective was to exclude political parties from local public affairs. However, with the increasing political polarization at all levels of government, that is surely going to drift into local government administration and policymaking. If large cities still using council-manager are facing more pressure to be more responsive to community needs, will they have to become more political and be more aggressive in engaging in the vision and mission aspects of community activities? Could professional local government officials deal with increasing involvement by political parties in local governments? Many council-manager cities have dealt with increasing sizes of their councils, annual election cycles, partisan elections, and more single-member representatives. Large council-manager cities are still getting bigger, as the 2020 census shows, and large cities are becoming even more diverse. All these trends are not new, and public servants in these communities are adapting to these political realities and dealing with them effectively. As the polarization increases, one could argue that professional staff found in council-manager systems could provide the continuity that these highly charged communities need to stay efficient and effective in their delivery of services while damping the effects of increased political infighting, competition, and more disparate voices in the community. Is it possible that the professional staff found in the council-manager system could provide the ballast that larger, more diverse, and polarized cities need to stay afloat? When a professional city manager is hired, they go through a political process to become selected and appointed to be a city manager. They are appointed by the city council, and to think that it will not be political is to deny the facts of how the city manager selection process works. While the city manager is selected in a political process, they are professionally trained and selected to conduct the policymaking made by the city council. The manager will do everything within their authority to conduct the city council’s policy decisions. The manager takes direction from the elected officials, while the primary role of the city manager is to manage the day-to-day operations of the city. The manager does things like recruit employees, hire employees, terminate employees, and supervise the entire organization. The manager carries out the council policies and prepares budgets for the council’s consideration. Finally, city managers adhere to a code of ethics that makes the council-manager system so effective. The professionalism of staff in council-manager systems allows

The City Manager’s Perspective  53 the council to focus on the important things and goals that will help the community thrive, which will undoubtedly involve politics and policymaking. The city manager will ensure that the collective will of the council will be implemented. The system provides a process for all council members to receive the same information to make informed decisions. The system also provides professional management expertise for the various disciplines of city government (Williams, 2022). Even as cities get bigger, more complex, and more diverse, the councilmanager system allows the manager to provide the organization with professional management that allows the organization to deal with the political and policymaking chores of the city. The city manager hires competent staff and contractors to ensure that the functions of the city operate smoothly and that the organization remains responsive. They ensure accountability for performance and ethics. This is an exercise of stewardship over public dollars to get the best value for the taxpayer’s money. The city manager continuously improves service delivery and practices to be responsive to the needs of the elected officials and the citizens. This will enable the organization to train all employees on the values desired in order for the city to be effective. The city manager supported by a professional staff can be responsive to the community by providing analysis and expertise to give power to the elected and the citizens to keep the city organization sharp and functioning properly as it becomes more complex and political (ICMA, 2022b). City managers need a blueprint for how to be politically effective enough to hold off a substantial change like conversion to the strong mayor system. The city manager should not try to go it alone. The manager needs the help of all kinds of city stakeholders, must keep learning the best ways to compromise, and must respect all involved in the city’s business. One of the most important things for the city manager to remember is that there should be no surprises for the council members. Elected officials always have it at the front of their minds to be pulled in and informed of what is going on in the community. Elected officials of all stripes just detest surprises. In this social media world, it seems unreasonable to have no surprises, but that is the standard that all city managers must adhere to in the conduct of their jobs. You always need to be prepared for all eventualities. One Dallas city manager was well known for his philosophy of the need to “anticipate and avoid.” This need to be transparent is vital to allow communication between and among elected officials and city staff in every direction. The willingness to be open and transparent will show the organization to be adaptive and responsive, while the organization collects all the communications between elected officials and staff to be aware of all the current issues and be able to anticipate new demands or needs in the city. An integral part of constant sensing and awareness is the requirement that the city manager and the entire staff be engaged in learning something new every day. The city manager and staff must fully engage with the elected officials to ensure that they are all successful. In the end, city managers must have fun, enjoy

54  Fisher, Moshier, and Benavides their jobs, and have other areas of their lives that also bring light into their world. You must find your light in more places than your work. This diversity of purpose is essential to keeping an even keel and never forgetting rule number six, “which is do not take yourself too seriously” (Bluestein and Joyce, 2022). To make sure that the elected officials and the city manager are in alignment, they need to establish a list of goals for the organization. Then the elected officials and the city manager need to keep each other informed of all things of importance. The city manager needs to know each elected official that they work for who wants to be kept informed and what style of communication works best for each one. The following insights have been given to a wide variety of city managers from council members and mayors to school them on the best way to keep the partnerships between council members and managers viable. Here are some of the soft and technical skills needed to be a successful city manager and for the council-manager system to remain sustainable. When you look at the suggested skills needed to be successful, it can look daunting, but if the requirements are spread over the entire staff, it can be accomplished. You are expected to have good financial skills in these times that are in a constant state of fiscal stress. It is a given that the city manager must possess good management and leadership skills. One of the skills that are increasingly important is media skills. It is vital to have the ability to succinctly state an issue so that the public will understand any news story regardless of its complexity. It is also vital to continually improve the city by implementing innovative ideas and embracing change. Since cities are required to juggle so many projects, it is incumbent on the management team to balance the execution of hundreds of projects at one time. Familiarity with legislation at the state and national levels that impacts the city is needed daily, as is a thorough knowledge of the city charter and city ordinances, especially those involving zoning (Michael, 2016). Foremost of all the skills required is problem-solving. You need to be able to solve problems while casting a wide net to involve as many partners as possible to ensure the solutions agreed upon will hold and lead to the continuing success of the community. While needing to be intelligent is a given, you must also be emphatic and reasoned without being too emotional. You must keep your composure and cool so that you do not give your power away to others. As John Ashworth stated, it is vital to stay humble and have a low ignition point if you are going to be successful in the public service profession (Ashworth, 2001). The list of soft skills is substantial but one the foremost is always listening carefully and writing precisely and concisely. It is never prudent to be circumlocutory; be clear, accurate, and thorough in what you say or write without being wordy. Be transparent, which will build your trust with those who are listening to or reading your work. You need to be always trustworthy. Please never give anyone a reason to doubt your work. It is best to

The City Manager’s Perspective  55 be fair-minded, even-tempered, always honest, and straightforward. Never, never lie or mislead, as that is an absolute career-breaker. Be the first to say so when you make a mistake. Accept responsibility for mistakes regardless of who in the organization is responsible. Council members want to hear a solution to the mistake and do not want to hear who is to blame or see finger-pointing (Ehrenhalt, 2019). When it comes to running the organization, you must always be tolerant and accepting of everyone with no exceptions. Be a motivator and continually grow people in the organization as well, always hiring people better than yourself. Show patience and always be caring with everyone. It is also helpful to be diplomatic to smooth over situations and find solutions to problems. Bringing consensus among diverse opinions and groups is invaluable. In addition, always remain politically sensitive but politically neutral and deal only with facts and not politics. These lead to avoiding political battles among council members. It helps to have a thick skin and be resilient in the face of controversy or criticism. Finally, when dealing with staff, be loyal to them, but when you become aware of a problem with an employee, be willing to terminate people who cannot perform or adjust to a new or changing environment (ICMA, 2016). Respond quickly even if the request or solution to the problem is going to take some time. Let the person asking the questions or making the request know an anticipated timeframe. To make sure that the professional stays current with all the challenges to the council-manager form of government, some of the state city management professional organizations have established programs to keep the profession and the universities and colleges that train the country’s future public servants current. The Texas City Management Association has created a committee of practitioners and academics to keep both sides of the public service equation relevant and current. The Texas City Management Association (TCMA) and University Partners Committee serve on the City Managers of Tomorrow Committee. The TCMA does not want to leave it to chance that the state’s universities are providing the type of knowledge and training to all future public servants to effective members of local government. The City Managers of Tomorrow committee assigns a member of TCMA to be a liaison to every university in the state with a public affairs or administration program. In Dallas, for example, the Town Manager of the Town of Fairview is the Manager in Residence with the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). UTD in return appointed one or two professors from the public administration program to liaise with the City Managers of Tomorrow Committee. The partners review curricula, provide internships, facilitate faculty, student, and practitioner meetings, and review the technical and soft skills needed to train everyone to deal with every new trend in the changing city management profession (Wallach, 1975). To hold off the movement to strong mayor systems, universities are going to have to do more than teach future public servants in the following areas:

56  Fisher, Moshier, and Benavides ● ● ● ● ●

Policy analysis Budget management Business management People management Project management

Schools of public affairs or administration are going to need to educate future city managers and their staff in the following soft skills: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Communication Teamwork Problem-solving Time management Critical thinking Decision-making Organization Stress management Adaptability Conflict management Leadership Creativity Resourcefulness Persuasion Openness to criticism

Conclusion This chapter has looked at three forms of local government. There have been numerous articles written about local government and arguments made as to which provides the better form of local governance (Carr, 2015). The common theme in all reviews is the ability of the community to engage with their local government leaders and believe that their voices are important, that they will be heard, and that together they will build a future that everyone can be proud of and be a part of together. Local government leaders, whether appointed or elected, must collaborate with their community to ensure that the doors of communication and opportunity are open for everyone. Community members should take the time to learn what type of government their community operates under, who the local government leaders are, who they are accountable to, and what the most effective means of communicating with the local leaders is. Since the emergence of new public administration, some believe that as cities get larger and more diverse, the council-manager system cannot adapt, be responsive to minority interests, or learn to be political while staying true to its neutral and expertise-based roots. We have made the case that public servants such

The City Manager’s Perspective  57 as city managers can be trained to be more political without abandoning their professional skills. I believe in democracy, because it releases the energy of every human being.

(Wilson, 1912)

Case Study I: City Manager Gets Political, Succeeds, and Lives for Another Day It came time to do another disparity study to determine whether the city, either in the past or currently, engages in exclusionary practices in the solicitation and award of contracts to minority, women‐owned, and disadvantaged business enterprises (MWDBEs). The city commissions periodic disparity studies to determine if there is a disparity between the availability of firms and the utilization of those firms in its market area. If disparities exist in certain categories, then goals are established to rectify the situation. The city had established good faith effort purchasing goals, but city management and the local contractors believed that it was time to update the last disparity study to see if new minority/women business enterprise (M/ WBE) good faith goals were needed. The local contractors were certain that the current good faith goals were too high and needed to be lowered as the current M/WBE program had reduced the amount of disparity in minority and women’s business utilization. City management was also anticipating that the goals would have to be reduced. However, that year, several more minority city council members were elected to the city council. The resulting new additions to the city council led to most of the city council being Black and Hispanic. The minority council member coalition upon being seated on the city council made it clear to the city manager that the M/WBE good faith effort goals for the city needed to be increased substantially. The city manager informed the council members that not only did he not think the goals would go up but that the city would have difficulty keeping the current good faith effort goals. The council members were in no mood to hear such information. They indicated that since most of the city population was now composed of minorities that higher good faith effort goals were a necessity. The city manager reminded the council members that due to the US Supreme Court decision Richmond v. Croson you cannot have purchasing or contracting quotas but only goals that were not supported by statistical analysis. However, in private, the city council members were not accepting the city manager’s assessment of the situation. The city manager went on further to inform the council that the local contractors were looking for a substantial reduction in the city’s good faith effort goals (Richmond v. Croson, 1989). The city manager made it clear that the city council should expect political fireworks, possible legal action, and a great deal of public discord on

58  Fisher, Moshier, and Benavides this matter. The city council members instructed the city manager to go out for bids for a new disparity study and they were expecting the goals to go up. The city manager was also instructed to speak to the head of the local contractors to inform them that they would be going out for a new disparity study and that the city council was looking for the goals to be increased. The city manager put in motion the process to issue a request for proposals to conduct another disparity study. The city manager informed the local contractors and the other relevant business community stakeholders that the city was proceeding with commissioning a new disparity study. Then the executive director of the local contractors asked for a meeting with the city manager. The city manager and the executive director of local contractors met to talk about how the disparity study was to proceed and how the new M/WBE good faith effort goals were to be adopted for the city. The executive director asked the city manager for his political assessment as to how the goal setting would play out. The city manager informed the executive director that he thought the process was going to be problematic and that there would be political pain felt in all quarters of the community. The city manager said that a qualified consultant would be hired to conduct a fair analysis of M/WBE utilization and that statistically valid good faith effort goals would be produced and recommended to the city council. The executive director stated that if the good faith effort goals did not drop significantly, the contracting community would be extremely disappointed. The city manager said that if the good faith effort goals were not at levels equal to the city’s new and higher population percentages, there would be adverse reactions from the city council and the minority communities within the city. They both agreed to speak to their superiors to see if a path forward could be found or if a compromise to this situation could be worked for both sides. The representatives agreed to meet again after having a chance to consult with their superiors. The city manager proposed to the executive director that, if the contractors were willing to extend the current good faith effort goals for another two years, there would be a commitment from the city that after the next city council election in two years a consultant would be hired to develop new good faith effort goals that would be adopted by the city council in conformance with the analysis.

Case Study II: Can the City Manager Bend Enough to Deal with the Reality of the Situation? The city charter clearly stated that the city manager was responsible for the staff. It came time for the city manager to remove the police chief for performance issues. Under normal circumstances, the city manager would have informed the mayor and all the city council members before such a momentous action. The city manager knew that the decision would not be well received by all the city council members or all segments of the community.

The City Manager’s Perspective  59 The manager also believed that the city council could not or would not keep the upcoming personnel action against the police chief a secret. The manager felt that the best decision to terminate the police chief was to do it without consulting with any members of the city council. When the council found out through the media that the city manager had fired the police chief without consulting with them, they demanded an executive session at the earliest opportunity to question the city manager on the action that was taken against the police chief. In an executive session, the city council asked why the city manager did not even tell the mayor about the coming action to terminate the police chief. The city manager told the council that he did not believe that the mayor could keep the pending action a secret. The city manager believed that by not telling anyone on the city council, then if the firing were not well received by the public, the council could overturn the city manager’s action. In addition, the city manager felt that the action would be unilateral if done without consulting any of the elected officials. The city council decided to wait to see the public’s reaction to the city manager’s action. After about a two-week period the city council decided that the city manager’s action was viewed as appropriate by most of the public. The city manager made the judgment that if the firing did not go well the city council could overturn the action and even fire him. The city manager judged correctly that no matter how they felt about the police chief, they did not want their fingerprints on the action. The city manager further determined that while the police chief’s performance was totally appreciated by most of the city council, he was not sure they were ready to seek the police chief’s removal from his position. In the end, the city manager’s judgment was upheld and the city moved on to hire a new police chief.

References Ashworth, Kenneth, 2001. “Caught between the Dog and Fire Plug, or How to Survive Public Service, Georgetown Press”. Georgetown University Press. Blodgett, Terrell, 1998. “City Government That Works – The History of CouncilManager Government in Texas”. Texas City Management Association. Bluestein, Frayda S. and Joyce, Robert P., 2022. “What Is the Difference between a Council-Manager System and a Mayor-Council System?” UNC School of Government. Retrieved on January 19, 2023, https://www.sog.unc.edu/resources/ faqs/what-difference-between-council-. Carr, Jered B., 2015, September/October. “What Have We Learned about the Performance of Council-Manager Government?” Public Administration Review, Vol. 75, No. 5, pp. 673–689. City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 469 (1989). Conduff, Mike, 2011. “Democracy at the Doorstep”. Retrieved on December 16, 2022. https://icma​.org​/publications​/democracy​-doorstep Demir, Tansu, Reddick, Christopher G., Scully, Sheryl and Taylor, Ivy, 2012, July/ August. “Understanding Shared Roles in Policy and Administration: An Empirical

60  Fisher, Moshier, and Benavides Study of Council-Manager Relations”. Public Administration Review, Vol. 72, No. 4, pp. 526–538. Ehrenhalt, Alan, 2019. “Well-Run Governments Must Have Clear Lines of Leadership, Just Ask Pueblo, Colorado”. April 11, 2019, Retrieved on May 19, 2022. https://www​.governing​.com​/archive​/gov​-strong​-mayor​-cities​.html. Grant, Jason, 2021. “Advocacy: Authority versus Power” by Jason Grant. Public Management. ICMA PM Magazine, Retrieved on December 16, 2022. https:// icma​.org​/articles​/pm​-magazine​/advocacy​-authority​-versus​-power Hays, Samuel P., 1964. “The Politics of Reform in Municipal Government in the Progressive Era”. The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 4, pp. 157– 169 (13 pages), October 1964, University of Washington, Retrieved on May 19, 2022. The Politics of Reform in Municipal Government in the Progressive Era on JSTOR. ICMA, 2016. ICMA PM Magazine, April 2016, 8 Keys to Operational Excellent: Pulling it All Together. Retrieved on December 16, 2022. ICMA, 2021. “Austin for All People – Final Report”. May 2021. International City/ County Management Association, Retrieved on Final Report: ICMA and Austin for All People Campaign. ICMA, 2022a. “Code of Ethics, International City/County Management Association”. Retrieved on May 19, 2022. https://icma​.org​/icma​-code​-ethics. ICMA, 2022b. “Making It Work: The Essentials of Council-Manager Relations”. International City/County Management Association, July 3, 2016, Retrieved on May 19, 2022. https://icma​.org​/articles​/article​/making​-it​-work​-essentials​-council​ -manager​-relations. Jankowski, Philip, 2021. “Voters Reject Austin’s Strong Mayor’ Proposal”. Austin American-Statement, May 1, 2021. Retrieved on https://www​.statesman​ .com​ / story​ / news​ / 2021​ / 05​ / 01​ / austin​ - election​ - results​ - prop​ - f​ - strong​ - mayor​ /7220543002/. Michael, L. Dennis, 2016. “Navigating the Ups And Downs of the Council-Manager Relationship”. Western City, August 1, 2016, Retrieved on May 1, 2022, https:// www ​ . westerncity​ . com​ / article​ / navigating​ - ups​ - and ​ - downs ​ - council ​ - manager​ -relationship. Morgan, David R. and Watson, Sheilah S., 1992, September/October. “Policy Leadership in Council-Manager Cities: Comparing Mayor and Manager”. Public Administration Review, Vol. 52, No. 5, pp. 438–446. Pick Short Quotes. “35+ Famous Plato Quotes on Love, Education and Democracy”. Retrieved on May 23, 2022. https://pickshortquotes​.com​/plato​ -quotes/. Plato 2022, We do not pay attention to public affairs, and this gives wicked men a chance to rule over us. https://nam02​.safelinks​.protection​.outlook​.com/​?url​ =https​%3A​%2F​%2Fwww​.goodreads​.com% ​ 2Fauthor​%2Fquotes​%2F879​.Plato​ %23​%3A~​%3Atext​%3D​%25E2​%2580​%259CThe​%2520price​%2520good​ %2520men​ % 2520pay​ % 2520for​ % 2520indifference ​ % 2520to ​ % 2Cruled​ %2520by​%2520evil​%2520men.​%25E2​%2580​%259D​%2520​%25E2​%2580​ %2595​%2520Plato​%2520tags​%253A​%2520philosophy​&data=​​05​%7C​​01​ %7C​​tjb05​​1000%​​40utd​​allas​​.edu%​​7Cf1b​​21c4b​​8cc54​​6ae16​​5908d​​adfae​​5699%​​ 7C8d2​​ 8 1d1d​​ 9 c4d4​​ b f7b1​​ 6 e032​​ d 15de​​ 9 f6c%​​ 7 C0 ​ % 7​​ C 0 ​ % 7C​​ 6 3806​​ 8 2371​​ 33872​​154​%7​​CUnkn​​own​%7​​CTWFp​​bGZsb​​3d8ey​​JWIjo​​iMC4w​​LjAwM​​DAiLC​​ JQIjo​​iV2lu​​MzIiL​​CJBTi​​I6Ik1​​haWwi​​LCJXV​​CI6Mn​​0​%3D%​​7C300​​0​%7C%​​7C​

The City Manager’s Perspective  61 %7C​​&sdata​​=8xtC​​8VKYX​​0Effc​​sTAF2​​tyEVg​​TDAOA​​i44Os​​IJ8LB​​wPi4%​​3D​ &reserved​=0, Retrieved on December 17, 2022. Svara, James H., 1999. “Conflict and Cooperation in Elected-Administrative Relations in Large Council-Manager Cities”. State and Local Government Review, Vol. 31, No. 3 Autumn, pp. 173–189. Svara, James H. and Nelson, Kimberly L., 2008, August. “Taking Stock of the Council-Manager Form at 100”. Public Management. Retrieved on December 16, 2022. https://icma​.org​/sites​/default​/files/​%7BB14D75E4​-C2A4​-4C1B​-84FD​ -E9E8B7A20A9C​%7D​.pdf The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library, 1975. Woodrow Wilson 1856–1924. 28th President of the United States. “I Believe in Democracy because it Releases the Energy of Every Human Being”. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections​ .nypl​.org​/items​/32a0ad80​-ca98​-0132​-a862​-58d385a7b928. Williams, Michael, 2022. “Keeping Political Partisanship out of Local Government”. ICMA-CM | PM Magazine, August 1, 2021, Retrieved on May 1, 2022. https://icma​.org​/articles​/pm​-magazine​/keeping​-political​-partisanship​-out​-local​ -government. Wit and Wisdom of Woodrow Wilson (ed. Best Books, 1916). “I Believe in Democracy Because It Releases the Energies of Every Human Being.”—At the Workingman’s Dinner, New York, September 4, 1912.

4

Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management through Digital Strategy and Communication Networks Sana Salma Syed

Introduction The year 2020 changed the way we live, work, and play. Government and business communities are still struggling to evolve as the new normal changes week to week. As we are forced to evolve with the once-in-ageneration global pandemic and one of the greatest civil rights movements in our country’s history, it provides us the opportunity to evaluate how organizations have been engaging the public and ask if it can be done better. Communication has been key for government organizations to inform the public of policy changes daily due to the pandemic. It is what brought hundreds of thousands to unite across the world during a pandemic to stand up against systemic racism, particularly against the Black community. We have witnessed the power of social networks and how quickly communication can change our reality. It is no secret that cities have struggled with how best to engage the public, inspire them to be civic-minded, and provide them with avenues for discourse. The public’s increased use of online information and interactive civic messaging through a website or electronic forum has had a significant influence on civic engagement over the past ten years, more than traditional print, broadcast, and face-to-face communication, signaling the need for more digital engagement (Castells, 2013). As we see infighting over who is in charge and a tug-of-war between those who want full jurisdiction over policies and responses to protests, the public continues to be on the losing end of those who were elected to serve. But in the age of Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, how do cities rise above the noise to meet people where they may engage, effectively communicate, and disseminate information about policy? To understand social media as a communication tool, we must first fully comprehend the current dynamics of communication with an eye toward engagement, policy, and management by government organizations.

DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-4

Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management  63

Civic Communication Today With ongoing feedback from social media platforms and community surveys, cities are being responsive to the increased demand for connection while taking advantage of new technology to reach those who have become isolated or difficult to reach through traditional means of press releases and town hall meetings. Vision Internet, a lead contractor for government website design, development, and hosting, is focused on increasing government efficiency, building transparency, and promoting engagement with citizens (PR Newswire, 2018). In its 2014 survey, the company found that municipal and county governments are relying more heavily on the digital sphere—websites, social media, and mobile services—to connect with the public, but struggle to make them effective (Hughes, 2015). Among the 334 municipal and county governments, the 2015 survey findings include: ●

● ●

77% of respondents rated their websites as essential to their overall communication 82% felt social media had a significant impact on operations 49% provided citizen-facing services via mobile devices

Government is full of information, data, facts, figures, numbers, and statistics that are sometimes complicated to explain (Olson, 2015). The key to engaging residents is to not overwhelm the public with information but to help interpret the information to more fully raise the issues that impact them. Governments, particularly cities, are challenged to make complex operations and services understandable and to communicate specific information in the right amount using the proper channels to ensure that the message is understood (Olson, 2015). Some steps to help develop a clear, concise, consistent, and effective message are: identify your audience, define the problem, identify the solution, and identify potential questions and arguments (Olson, 2015).

Digital Channels Only 34% of municipalities rated their websites as effective, and 29% rated their social media presence as effective (Hughes, 2015). Vision Internet claims the findings are relevant because of the dramatic shift in how local government is utilizing technology to communicate (Hughes, 2015). Government agencies overwhelmingly understand the significance of technology in their service to the public but cite obstacles such as culture, procurement, and competing priorities within city budgets. The majority of

64  Sana Salma Syed respondents cite funding issues for not moving forward with technological advancements (Hughes, 2015). Those who invest in technology reduced the size of their websites from thousands of pages to a few hundred, increased the bounce rates (how long people stay) from a few seconds to a minute, and used social media to engage with the community, attracting thousands of users (Hughes, 2015). Social media is also having an impact on the communication efforts of local governments (Hughes, 2015; Graham and Avery, 2013). Facebook and Twitter are the most widely used, and cities appear to focus most posts on events instead of promoting citizen dialogue and government transparency on substantive issues (Graham and Avery, 2013). There is room for improvement, as substantive and transparent engagement will help build trust and encourage accountability (Graham and Avery, 2013). Social media’s popularity, low cost, ease of use, and large reach make them tools that public information officers (PIOs) must utilize to engage with their communities to meet democratic ideals (Graham and Avery, 2013).

Communication Networks Habermas (1987) stresses the significance of communicative action, twoway communication, and communication as a public good. Castells (2013) builds on these conceptual ideas and proposes an approach for examining these dynamics through his communication network theory. This offers an opportunity for researchers to expand upon his work to address the specifics of how major urban cities are developing their own networks in the age of mass self-communication, where organizations disseminate information to the masses on their own, autonomous of powerful media networks. New technologies provide a tremendous opportunity for cities to be more responsive and dynamic in engaging in two-way communication with the public and encouraging greater civic participation, but Foucault warns about the power of the networks that serve as gateways for knowledge for the public. For Foucault, danger arises when power is misused to constrain knowledge, resulting in communication networks that can become oppressive or coercive (Foucault, 1977). The new era of hybrid communication includes various modes of sharing information which provides opportunities to reach residents through many modalities, or channels, extending and deepening the role communication plays in shaping the power-making processes in institutions and the public domain (Castells, 2013). Castells (2013) claims that the diffusion of horizontal communication networks and multiple entry points into the communication system have increased the influence of the average citizen. I argue that technological advances have allowed cities to create organizational communication networks that are circular while also having multiple entry points into the communication network through mass self-communication and social media. The ease of accessibility to the networks can greatly

Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management  65 impact an organization and its respective audience. This research outlines the four key elements of organizational communication networks in cities: access, information, engagement, and crisis communication. These networks are also challenged by the expansion of mass self-communication, resulting in grassroots support from the average citizen and allowing social actors to stand up to the power of the state (Castells, 2013), as we witnessed during the Black Lives Matter movement and the Arab Spring. The use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, websites, texting, and new technology tools allows every citizen with a device to immediately engage with thousands of viewers around the world. But there are challenges posed by this immediacy in terms of the accuracy of the information conveyed and assumptions made by viewers as they view a picture, watch a video, or read a post. Another major source of power is the networks’ programming capacity, which depends on the ability to generate, diffuse, and affect the discourses that form human action (Castells, 2013). Discourses shape the public’s view on issues through communication networks because they organize socialized communication, which allows the public to contemplate issues that affect their lives (Castells, 2013). It is also critical to understand the role of communication as a public good and its role in civic participation. Communication is an effective tool to wield power, but while there are no laws governing it, there are often policies and ethics guidelines within municipalities that outline the proper way for public servants to communicate what would be considered unethical or an abuse of power. Habermas and Foucault agree that the abuse of power is one of the greatest issues of our time, but they disagree on how best to address this abuse (Habermas, 1987; Foucault, 1977; Flyvbjerg and Richardson, 2002). Castells has illustrated the power and ethical implications of media communication networks, but these have been reconstructed by organizations (with the help of the Information/Digital Age and mass self-communication) to create organizational communication networks. This suggests the need to explore how discourse and strategy of inclusion and exclusion are connected to organizational communication networks, but also to explore power and ethics dynamics in communication as a service to the public (Sassen, 2015; Habermas, 1987; Foucault, 1977; Flyvbjerg and Richardson, 2002). This research provides insights into switchers and programmers within the city of Dallas to illustrate how they shape and operationalize a network. I was able to contribute to this research because, in my former capacity as the director of the city’s Public Information Office, I was authorized to operationalize a network—to be both a switcher and programmer of a network.

Map Your Network When we serve as representatives of cities, counties, police departments, and other government entities, we are not as powerful individually as

66  Sana Salma Syed we are with our network and the relationships between networks. The three largest news agencies in the world are Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France Press (AFP). The power does not belong to individual reporters or producers, but to the news agencies and their respective networks, which share the information and news they develop. For example, Associated Press will write an article about a news piece and then push it to the wires. Every newsroom in the United States has access to wires. They supplement their local news coverage with AP, Reuters, and AFP news throughout their newsrooms across America. Today, with the advancement of technology, companies and organizations no longer have to rely on traditional networks such as media to disseminate information. Anyone with the resources and time can develop their own network. What does that look like today? A city government has its own network, connected to the networks of politicians, board and commission members, universities, school districts, health departments, media, and the public. When Dallas encountered the first Ebola case on US soil, the city went into a tailspin. Because the United States was not prepared to address Ebola, the City of Dallas was left attempting to provide answers on what Ebola was, how it could be contracted, and if people should panic. Parents were arriving at schools to pull their children out of class and running back to their cars with their children in their arms. Decontamination crews in full HAZMAT suits were seen in neighborhoods, surrounded by news helicopters and press from all over the world, and nurses were diagnosed with Ebola. The city was in chaos. After the first week of devastating coverage from news outlets around the world, the city partnered with the county, the 311 department, the Office of Emergency Management, the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas Fire Department, the Dallas Independent School District (DISD), the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), the Texas Medical Association, the Dallas County Medical Society, the Dallas County Community College District (now Dallas College), and student groups. Together, with support from medical officials, we created the Know Ebola campaign. Our campaign material and messaging were created by the city and disseminated by each of the aforementioned organizations. Dallas ISD translated correspondence into multiple languages. This way, there was no mixed messaging, confusing details, or multiple efforts happening at once. Instead, we pushed a collaborative campaign to educate the public about what Ebola was and how it was contracted, and reassure them that they were not in danger. We created a campaign website that each of the participating networks would also link to (see Figure 4.1). Each website had information about Ebola and information that could be printed and shared by teachers, HOA presidents, neighborhood associations, and more. Each piece of collateral was translated into Spanish and everyone who communicated about the virus used the hashtag #KnowEbola (see Figures 4.2 and 4.3).

Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management  67 Redundancy creates salience in people’s minds—the more networks and their agents can communicate the same message and points, the more the message will “stick” with people.​

Mapping Your Network When mapping your network in an organization, begin by asking what areas of focus your organization frequently addresses. For most public organizations, people are typically trying to access data and information; you are trying to push information, and you and the public are engaging in two-way communication. The crisis piece can only be completed once all the other sections are completed—because the crisis area puts the channels in the other areas on steroids in an emergency. This mapping exercise (see Figure 4.4) will help organizations map their networks and build critical communication infrastructure before a crisis occurs. Map Your Network Access Engagement

Information Crisis

Completed Network Example Once an organization has mapped its network, one can visualize all the channels under its purview. As organizations continue to push information, provide access, and provide opportunities for engagement, it will become evident which channels have the most reach in the shortest amount

Figure 4.1 Website in English. 

68  Sana Salma Syed

Know Ebola

Know the Facts. Take Action.

#KnowEb ola

1. Know the Facts :

►

► ►

You can only get Ebola from direct contact with a person who has symptoms Ebola can enter the body through broken skin and unprotected eyes, nose and mouth You can't get Ebola through the air, water or food

2. Symptoms Symptoms appear 2 to 21 days after exposure and include: Fever greater than 100.4° F

► ► ► ► ► ►

Headache Muscle pain or weakness Diarrhea or vomiting (sometimes bloody) Stomach pain Unexplained bleeding or bruising

jG)

3. Take Action

► ►

► ►

Wash your hands often with soap & water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer Avoid contact with the body fluids (blood, vomit, pee, poop, spit, sweat, semen) of a person with Ebola Avoid contact with items (clothes, linens, needles, syringes) that have come in contact with the blood or body fluid of a person with Ebola Educate yourself and others

4. If you have symptoms ...

►

► ►

Call your doctor immediately if you have symptoms AND have been in direct contact with a person who has been diagnosed with or is at risk of contracting EbolaIf you can 't get in touch with your doctor, call 91-1 Self-isolate to minimize contact with others For more information, visit KnowEbolaDallas.com

Figure 4.2 Rack card and poster in English. 

Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management  69

Figure 4.3 Rack card and poster in Spanish. 

70  Sana Salma Syed

Figure 4.4   

Figure 4.5  

of time—and the utilization of these strong channels will be added under the crisis section. If an organization has a website listed as a channel, how is it used in a crisis? It can be used to create banners and pop-ups with emergency messaging. Traditional press conferences can be live-streamed on social media. If multiple news agencies are asking for the same information, the city may consider a mass release of information. For those that have video capabilities, the video can be provided as raw footage to media during

Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management  71

Figure 4.6  

a crisis—if it includes video that the media would not have access to. In the end, it is about feeding the beast—the press, which in turn responds to the public. This helps organizations show values of transparency, accountability, and consistency during a crisis. But this infrastructure is not possible to build during a crisis—it must be built beforehand and then implemented in crisis mode.​

Digital Strategy In 2011, Google introduced the ZMOT model, “zero moment of truth” (Anderson, 2016). Back in the day, when life was much simpler, we would see a commercial on television—let us say it was for Jif peanut butter. We would actually stop what we were doing to watch the commercial and if we liked it, we would go to the grocery store to purchase the peanut butter. When we took it home, if it was as delicious as advertised, we enjoyed the peanut butter. The end. If we look at this scenario through the ZMOT model, this is how it would flow: 1. Stimulus: the commercial; an advertising agency created a commercial and strategically placed it during programming when the most people would be watching television 2. Zero moment of truth (ZMOT): it piqued our interest; we take the time to consume this commercial; perhaps it was the music, imagery, or voice-over, but it allowed us a moment to watch the commercial 3. First moment of truth (FMOT): this is the action step; after watching the commercial, we actually take the action of going to the grocery store to purchase that jar of peanut butter 4. Second moment of truth (SMOT): evaluation; we are so impressed or unimpressed that we share our opinion with our neighbor, who will likely act based on information provided by us, a trusted source. That

72  Sana Salma Syed

Figure 4.7   

neighbor may purchase a jar of peanut butter and then tell someone they know, serving as the zero moment of truth to continue a new cycle for a new prospective peanut butter customer How does this change our Jif peanut butter example? Under the ZMOT model, if you return home and find the peanut butter to be as delicious as advertised, you tell your neighbor, and the neighbor goes to the grocery store to try the peanut butter. If they like it, they tell someone and they go buy it. The interaction between people serves as the zero moment of truth. There are applications for the public sector that we can derive from the same model for public service campaigns to ask people to stop leaving pets and children in hot cars, to recruit police officers, or to share information about a global pandemic. In the following, we will illustrate an example

Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management  73 of how we may use the ZMOT model while launching a public service ­campaign to curb illegal dumping in neighborhoods in the City of Dallas. In 2016, the City of Dallas was confronting a major issue involving illegal dumping. In certain parts of the city, people and construction companies indiscriminately dumped dead animals, toxic chemicals, construction materials, and more. The city launched a digital campaign called Real Trash Talk. In this campaign, branding guidelines (see Appendix 4.1) were developed to outline what colors, fonts, and styles would be used in the campaign. The Public Information Office managed the campaign but included the police department, SPCA, code enforcement, the marshal’s office, community groups, and the sanitation department. Every group that was part of the campaign used their network to push the same messaging, same visuals, and same font/colors/graphics that were created by the Public Information Office. To follow the ZMOT model, we defined what each component of the model would be, as illustrated here: 1. Stimulus: billboard series, Facebook advertising, campaign trash bags, educational mailers, campaign magnets, yard signs, posters, t-shirts, and water bill inserts. This is how we were trying to get people’s attention 2. ZMOT: campaign website content, snackable imagery on social media, Trash Talk Tuesday Facebook Live campaign, Marshal’s Facebook, campaign video footage, tweet- along with police and Crime Stoppers Reward. This is the moment we knew someone connected with the message/content 3. FMOT: Warrant roundup, group cleanups, community task force, Coffee with Cops, City Hall on the Go, Volunteers in Patrol, and the sanitation department’s Free Dump Day. This is how people took action based on the message/content they connected with

Figure 4.8   

74  Sana Salma Syed 4. SMOT: Google analytics, monthly campaign reports, public access cable show, DallasPETS campaign to encourage fostering animals, Crime Watch group meetings, Nextdoor, homeowners associations, and DPD Quarterly Captains Meeting. These are all the ways we gleaned how the campaign performed and how successful we were in addressing illegal dumping in the city​ Figures 4.9–4.15 are samples of visuals created for the Real Trash Talk campaign. Digital campaigns set in motion a concerted communication that combines various networks and channels and contains a feedback loop to learn from and make adjustments to the model. With government organizations focusing more on meeting people where they are—in the digital sphere— these campaigns help messages rise above the noise to reach people. They also create opportunities to monitor and evaluate metrics to understand ROI (return on investment); this allows organizations to measure impact.

Figure 4.9  Billboard. 

Figure 4.10  Yard sign. 

Figure 4.11  Brochure. 

RealTrashTalk.com

IT’S TIME TO GET REAL ABOUT ILLEGAL DUMPING IN DALLAS.

THE ISSUE

THE COST

The community bears that cost as well as the burden of lower property values, because the area then becomes less attractive to prospective commercial and residential landowners.

It’s estimated that local governments spend $10 million a year removing and properly disposing of illegally dumped materials. For large cities, the cost can be as high as $400,000 annually.

Financial Cost

Social Cost

Illegal dumping contributes to blight and creates physical and chemical hazards for anyone who ventures into the area. Dump sites attract rodents, insects and other vermin that pose health risks. Thousands of volunteer hours are spent participating in clean up initiatives at a significant cost to the community. Dump sites tend to attract further dumping and other criminal activities, such as graffiti and arson, which decrease community pride and further exacerbate the problem.

Illegally dumped items are also a lost resource. Many items that are dumped could be recycled, particularly garden organic material, beverage containers, refrigerators, computers, tires and car bodies.

Illegal dumping degrades the land and damages plant and animal habitats, reduces biodiversity and hinders revegetation. Runoff from dump sites contaminates lakes, creeks and even drinking water. Dumping can make areas more susceptible to flooding and erosion by clogging creeks, storm drains and gutters. Dumped materials can catch fire either by spontaneous combustion or arson, damaging property.

Environmental

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE

The most common illegally dumped waste is white goods such as refrigerators and washing machines, furniture and mattresses. Other waste includes household trash, larger domestic items such as mattresses and furniture, construction and demolition waste including excavation waste and asbestos, garden and organic material, chemicals and other hazardous waste, abandoned vehicles, car parts and animal carcasses.

What are they dumping?

Builders and contractors who dump construction and demolition waste or hazardous materials, such as asbestos and chemicals.

Businesses and homeowners who dump unwanted items and trash in other areas.

Private and commercial operators who have been paid to dispose of waste appropriately but who choose to dump the waste illegally to avoid paying a fee.

Businesses, shop owners and contractors who place commercial waste beside or into a public waste bin.

Residents who place discarded and unwanted items in these areas in the hope that someone else will haul them off.

Who does it?

Illegal dumping is the unlawful deposit of waste larger than litter onto land or into water. Illegal dumping includes waste materials that have been dumped onto land where no license or approval exists to accept it. Illegal dumping occurs on streets, roadsides and highways, vacant lots, private property, parks and other areas across Dallas.

What is illegal dumping?

Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management  75

Figure 4.12 Water bill insert. 

These materials may only be transported in a passenger car, station wagon, pick -up truck, or single axle trailer. Proof of Dallas residency must be provided in the form of a valid driver’s license or a current City of Dallas water bill.

Dallas residents may dispose of non-hazardous household solid waste at no charge at the landfill or transfer stations.

LANDFILL AND TRANSFER STATIONS

• Most auto repair shops accept used batteries and car oil.

• Take heavy trash to a neighborhood depository for free.

• Leave your heavy trash (furniture, appliances, bulky items or bundled tree limbs) at curbside on your designated bulk trash day.

NORTHEAST (FAIROAKS) Transfer Station 767 Fair Oaks Ave. 214-670-6126

• Organized volunteer cleanups of illegal dumpsites. People are less likely to litter in clean areas.

Call 311 to report illegal dumping Call 911 to report illegal dumping in progress

SOUTHWEST (OAK CLIFF) Transfer Station 4610 S. Westmoreland Rd. 214-670-1927

NORTHWEST (BACHMAN) Transfer Station 9500 Harry Hines Blvd. 214-670-6161

MCCOMMAS BLUFF LANDFILL 5100 Youngblood Road 214-670-0977

LANDFILL AND TRANSFER STATIONS

• Do not transport unsecured debris in the back of a vehicle – always use a tarp or other cover.

HOW TO HELP

RealTrash Talk.com

$1,500 REWARD

EARNCASH

76  Sana Salma Syed

Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management  77

Figure 4.13 Snackable social media image. 

Figure 4.14 Snackable social media image. 

Figure 4.15 Snackable social media image. 

78  Sana Salma Syed

The Analytics Surrounding Digital Strategy For optimal results on digital platforms, organizations must monitor and review analytics monthly. Reviewing once a month allows leadership to see gains and losses, content that connected with the audience, and content that didn’t make much impact. Data also tells you how many unique users you have each month, what the bounce rate is on the organization’s website (how long someone stays there), how many new followers you have, how many engagements you have, and what the best day and time are each week to post, based on the social media platform.

Finding the Data Websites can be connected to Google Analytics, and Google Analytics is an important piece of understanding web traffic. Not only is Google Analytics free to use, but it also helps track and understand analytics such as unique visitors, conversion rates, bounce rates, where people are spending the most time on your website, what people are searching for on your website, what they click on the most, what the most popular content is, and which webpages are performing poorly. These bits of data can paint a picture of your audience and help you create a website that is easier to use, provide more content the audience is interested in seeing, help make information in demand easily accessible from a menu bar or quick links, and help you rethink pages that are not seeing any traction. Google Analytics helps organizations create websites that are designed for the audience, not the organization. For social media, the most effective platforms for municipalities are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Instagram can be considered if the department has the budget or resources to produce high-quality stories with photography and/or video. TikTok would be an option for organizations such as school districts and higher education that communicate with the younger generation. LinkedIn is a tool for organizations to recruit, hire, blog, and share important announcements and successes with a network. Facebook is used for longer-format content, Facebook Live, advertising, and stories. Facebook owns Instagram, and thus shares similar site architecture. Instagram is ideal for high-quality photos and videos and can be long or short format, and it also has stories. Twitter is best for active situations, live-tweeting, short videos, photography, and sharing links. Twitter’s audience likes information quickly and promptly. It is the most used social media platform by organizations for crisis communication. For Instagram analytics, you would go to the Menu button and click Insights. Instagram provides information on how many accounts were reached, how many people interacted with the content, audience growth, top locations where followers are from, age range, gender, and the most active times they are on Instagram. This helps those posting know what days/times to post a major announcement or story.

Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management  79 For Facebook, you must go to the organization’s page and find Insights. There you will find post reach, engagements, new page likes, clicks to the website, and page views. Under Audience Insights, you can see more detail, such as follower age, gender, and top locations they are from. For Twitter, visit analytics​.twitter​.​com from a desktop, as analytics is not currently available on mobile. From there, click More in the Menu section and find Analytics. Here, one will find tweet impressions, how many people have visited your profile, how many people have mentioned you, and how many new followers you have. All analytics must be compiled and reviewed monthly to allow time for content to reach the audience and to have enough time to illustrate trends in behavior. The data points provide insights to aid audience segmentation, content development, and digital strategy. Without following the numbers, organizations are unable to use the platforms effectively and diminish their capacity to reach more people, which will hinder their ability to communicate during a crisis.

Network Disparities These disparities lead to a weakening of political accountability and a lack of citizen participation (Castells, 2001). The critical role of cities is that leaders can geographically and digitally share a closer spatial platform with their community and therefore be at a greater advantage to serve the needs of their respective communities (Castells, 2001). Castells (2001) claims that while there is not much political legitimacy left in the world, the little that is left exists at the local level. Castells (2001) defines the local level as a network state that is comprised of local governments (cities, regions) as nodes in the state’s network. As Fuchs (2009) pointed out, the gap in this research is the real-life application of this theory. In Texas, for example, cities are constantly looking for ways to circumvent state law, and there are fierce fights between state and local governments (Diaz, 2018). Local governments want to govern themselves, and this has serious implications for messaging at the local level (Diaz, 2018). Texas city officials have publicly made statements against state policies and proposals, including issues such as immigration, police pensions, bathroom bills, and abortions, and assured their respective communities that they break from the state on these issues and will continue with their local policies (Diaz, 2018). This is why researchers must challenge Castells’ claim about the network society at the local level being comprised of the network state that encompasses the revolution of information technology, the process of globalization, and power networking that is possible through communications technology. The network is about more than just communications technology; it is also about communication messaging—the message being disseminated.

80  Sana Salma Syed

The Future of Communication for Local Government Organizations have an opportunity to rise above the noise to connect communities to content relevant to them—such as information about highway closures, public health, active shooters, major events, natural disasters, and more. If organizations begin communication when an incident happens, they are unable to reach as many people because the communication network, the infrastructure, was not developed beforehand. The channels and the associated metrics must be understood beforehand. By doing this work, government organizations will be better prepared to approach communication with strategy and they will be able to measure the impact of their communication efforts. Branding allows for communication to be consistent in redundancy, shape, and form, allowing salience with the public. Branding guidelines support multiple networks conveying the same information and provide a thread of cohesiveness between communications from various channels. The word of caution associated with communication networks for cities is to understand that with power comes the potential to marginalize groups and voices that are part of the community. Cities must stay vigilant and responsive to community needs, working to ensure the network is reflective of the community’s desires to understand government with more transparency, accountability, and consistency.

References Anderson, C., 2016. Google’s zero moment of truth. Emfluence. Retrieved from https://emfluence​.com​/blog​/googles​-zero​-moment​-of​-truth​#gref. Castells, M., 2001. Local and global: Cities in the network society. Retrieved from https://pdfs​.semanticscholar​.org​/5810​/17a​974e​51d3​02af​974d​eef9​35b5​ 611d8c1a6​.pdf. Castells, M., 2013. Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Diaz, J., 2018. Many Texas cities have policies completely opposite from the state. It’s not an accident. Texas Standard. Retrieved from http://www​.kut​.org​/post​ /many​-texas​-cities​-have​-policies​-completely​-opposite​-state​-it​-s​-not​-coincidence. Flyvbjerg, B., 1998. Habermas and Foucault: Thinkers for civil society? British Journal of Sociology 49(2), 210–233. Foucault, M., 1977. Power/Knowledge. New York: Random House, Inc. Fuchs, C., 2009. A contribution to the critique of the political economy of transnational informational capitalism. Rethinking Marxism 21(3). Retrieved from http://fuchs​.uti​.at​/wp​-content​/uploads​/RM​.pdf. Graham, M. & Avery, E.J., 2013. Government public relations and social media: An analysis of the perceptions and trends of social media use at the local government level. The Public Relations Journal 7(4), 1–21. Habermas, J., 1987. The Theory of Communicative Action. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Hughes, J., 2015. For local governments: Digital communications are essential services. Digital Communities. Retrieved from http://www​.govtech​.com​/dc​/ articles​/for​-local​-governments​-digital​-communications​-are​-essential​-services​.html.

Civic Engagement, Policy, and Management  81 Olson, R., 2015. 4  steps for effective communication in local government. LinkedIn. Retrieved from https://www​.linkedin​.com​/pulse​/4​-steps​-effective​-communication​ -local​-government​-rebecca​-olson. PR Newswire, 2018. Granicus announces acquisition of vision internet. Retrieved by https://www​.prnewswire​.com​/news​-releases​/granicus​-announces​-acquisition​ -of​-vision​-internet​-300599384​.html. Sassen, S., 2015. Who owns our cities—And why this urban takeover should concern us all. The Guardian. https://alfred​-herrhausen​-gesellschaft​.de/​_trash​/2015​.11​.24​ _Who​_owns​_our​_cities​_S​.Sassen(1).pdf.

5

Budgeting and Financial Management Teodoro J. Benavides

Introduction Ever since 1965 when James M. Banovetz said that the age of excessive government began in the United States (Banovetz, 1994), states have been trying to limit the amount of money that local governments can generate from property tax revenue but not limited to that source of income. Fortysix states and the District of Columbia have some limit on the amount of property tax revenues that local governments can generate. It is well known the property tax is one of the most disliked taxes by citizens and elected officials at all levels of government. During this time the federal government has reduced its provision of revenue assistance to the local governments and the states have done the same (Lave and Leachman, 2018). For example, in Texas, it is very common for cities to allocate their entire property tax revenue in the general fund budget and most if not all sales tax revenue to fund the police and fire department budgets. Most cities expend 50% plus of their general fund budget for police and fire, and some cities like Dallas are now allocating more than 60% of their general fund budget to police and fire. The remaining funds in the general fund go to support all the remaining expenses in the general fund. State elected officials believe that city property tax levels are getting too heavy and burdensome for taxpayers in their communities. Property tax limits hamstring localities’ ability to provide services that boost opportunity for their residents. States haven’t made up the revenue that localities have lost due to property tax limits. State and federal aid has declined as a share of local revenue since the late 1970s (Broadnax, 2021). Beginning in the 1970s, many states adopted new limits that sharply reduced funding for education and other important services by capping property taxes. In 2019 the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 2 further restricting the amount of revenue that local governments could derive from property taxes (S. B. 2, 2019). It also provides for the limitation of the levy of property taxes (S.B. 2, 2019). This is the second year of this latest legislative effort to limit property tax revenue for local governments. In this chapter, we will review how cities responded to this further limitation DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-5

Budgeting and Financial Management  83 of property tax revenue in the development of annual budgets in Texas ­cities. The Texas Municipal League provides a news clipping service to all its direct members and affiliate organizations that shows every news report of city action being taken by their city councils and/or management. Most Texas cities have fiscal years that run from October 1 to September 30. In addition, city charter usually requires the mayor or the city manager to submit a proposed budget by around July 31 to give the city councils and the citizens sufficient time to review the recommended budget, hold public hearings on the budget, set the property tax rate, and adopt the tax rate and budget for the upcoming fiscal year before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1. We want to assess how local governments responded and adapted to the increasingly restrictive property tax revenue cap and if local governments are responding with pragmatism and complying to the best of their abilities with the new revenue limits (Israelson, 2021). A careful review of dozens of budgets in Texas cities for the upcoming 2021–2022 fiscal year identified common themes and strategies in communities from small to large. They remarked on the difficult past two years that they had dealt with and managed through. The commentary included references to the global pandemic, the economic downturn, a historic winter storm, and social unrest. These unforeseen and uncontrollable factors had a significant impact on our Texas communities, as well as our state and nation. The budgets in cities this fiscal year reflect these community impacts and recognize the reality of a recovering economy. The annual budgets serve as strategic policy documents for each city council and each city. They define the service priorities and project financial resources for each city. The budget process allows city councils the opportunity to balance the needs of their communities with available resources provided by the community. Cities every year attempt to implement projects to continue economic recovery and position their communities to meet citizen and business needs. Most cities in Texas anticipated during last year’s budget cycle that property tax revenues could be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To the surprise of many overall, existing property values showed a positive increase. However, every city recognizes that we are in the middle of economic recovery and Texas cities are hopeful for a recovery in commercial values in 2022, provided businesses return operations to the workplace after the subsiding of COVID-19 (Sheimer and Campbell, 2020). Cities in Texas mostly tried to keep to three to five basic budget themes for the upcoming fiscal year, such as these: 1. Personnel Cities are firm believers that their employees are their greatest asset. Everyone’s goal is to continue to attract and retain high-performing professionals to provide programs and services to the community. They recognize

84  Teodoro J. Benavides that they are in a competitive marketplace and must compete for talent within our market including the public and private sectors. There are some signs in the economy of budding inflation and cities continue to monitor the market for salary and compensation changes to ensure that their organizations remain competitive for talent. This year’s trend in salary adjustments is running in the 2% to 3% across-the-board increase range, with few compensation plan adjustments, and selected staff increases in high-demand labor categories. 2. Quality infrastructure Cities continue to maintain city assets at a high level and proactively provide needed repairs. Cities are also attempting to keep the capital improvement program investments on track by monitoring the situation closely to keep debt service costs in line. 3. Service demand Cities continue to provide high-value programs and services for our citizens and businesses. Cities, in addition, are trying not to add any programs or new service levels onto their budgets in the 2021–2022 fiscal year due to the ever-tightening property tax revenue growth limits. 4. Financial policies Staff are recommending balanced budgets and the cities continue their commitment to sound city financial policies. Cities are also modifying their sales tax policies by using three-year averages which are critically important during this pandemic-driven financial crisis. Some cities like Plano are beginning the process of programming the new bond authority approved by voters to be shifted from the operating tax rate to debt service to service future bond program principal and interest costs. 5. Affordability/property tax Cities this year have been ensuring that they are complying with their city’s financial policies and carefully using the one-time American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, resulting in cities staying within the current property tax rate or reducing the property tax rate for FY 2021–2022. One of the common patterns in Texas cities was to see an increase in residential property values and a decrease in commercial property values due to the COVID pandemic adversely impacting the use of office space as a result of working remotely (Israelson, 2021). Due to the State of Texas legislation to limit the growth and use of property tax revenue, cities across Texas have proposed few if any new programs

Budgeting and Financial Management  85 or services. The focus this upcoming year is on the enhancement of ­existing programs and services provided. In addition, a big focus of this year’s budget across the state is on providing for the employees’ health benefits and compensating the employees fairly as well as providing the employees with the necessary tools, equipment, and resources to carry out their jobs. Many budgets provide for continued maintenance and improvements to the infrastructure. Many cities facing aging infrastructure are finding it critical to reinvest in maintaining the community’s infrastructure. Fortunately, cities in Texas have been experiencing increased property values, and resulting revenues as well as increased sales tax receipts are allowing cities to increase funding for infrastructure maintenance and repair.

General Fund Revenues Funding for the general fund is commonly generated in Texas cities through three primary sources. Revenues from property taxes provide for 50% of total revenue. Revenue from sales tax collections generates another 25%. The remaining is derived from franchise fees. Ad Valorem Taxes Ad valorem taxes are almost always the largest revenue source in cities. This revenue source is an extremely reliable and stable income stream for cities which makes the state’s latest limitation on property tax revenue even more problematic for cities. Sales Tax Sales tax receipts are normally the general fund’s second-largest source of revenue for Texas cities. Luckily many Texas cities had healthy increases is in response to increased consumer spending after emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic in the later half of the fiscal year. Cities are anticipating sales tax collections to continue to be robust as businesses continue to return to a level of normalcy both locally and across the country. Franchise Fees The final major component of general fund revenue to balance the city budget in Texas is franchise fees. Cities receive funds for the telephone franchisee fee, the cable television franchise fee, the fiberoptics franchise fee, and the electric and natural gas franchise fee. Since 2019–2020, both telephone franchise fees and cable TV franchise fees have decreased due to the passage of Senate Bill 1152 (S. 1152,

86  Teodoro J. Benavides 2019) which provides for the elimination of either the assessment of ­telecommunications or cable TV gross receipts taxes as described in (S. 1152). This changes the way that municipalities may charge telecommunications providers for use of the Texas city’s right-of-way (Texas, 2019). If a provider provides telephone and cable over the same line, under current law that provider must pay twice for the same line in a single right-of-way because the fees are duplicated. S. B. 2 1152 requires the provider to pay the city the larger of the two fees, but not both. This reduction in revenue from franchise fees was just another reduction in the revenue stream for cities, just like the property tax limitation in Senate Bill 2. Fines and Forfeits Cities all over the state had to estimate their municipal court fines and forfeits, which are projected downward for the end of the fiscal year, as a result of having to revise citizen contact procedures due to the COVID pandemic. This sharp decrease is of course attributable to the longer-than-anticipated COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021–2022, municipal court fines and forfeits are projected to return to a somewhat more normal level as the COVID pandemic impact is diminished. In addition, the COVID-19 situation coupled with the recent passage of House Bill 2048 (HB 2048), which provides for the allocation of state highway fines and has led to higher court costs imposed by the state and less money to the cities, has really impacted this major general fund revenue source (Texas, 2019). Other Revenues All other general fund revenues that round out the list of revenues provide the closing amount of funds to balance the general fund.

Balancing the Budget and Setting the Tax Rate How do cities balance their budgets in this limited property tax environment? Cities obey a simple step-by-step process on how they decide their property tax revenue and property tax rates. First of all, the city departments develop expenditure budget requests for current service levels and requests to increase their base service levels. Then they use this to project all their revenue streams except for property tax revenue. Then the city must review the value of the tax base based on the limitation of the property tax rate as well as the levy that is allowed to be used in calculating the property tax revenue. A city can then project its property tax revenue. What usually happens is that management has to figure out how to squeeze the most costs it can into its revenue forecasts. Management is almost always brought to the point where they must not ask for a tax increase because it is not viable to propose such a thing to their elected

Budgeting and Financial Management  87 bosses. There is an unspoken code that says management does not place the elected officials or the community in that situation. Even if a property tax increase can be justified, it can never be requested.

The Pragmatic Response The pragmatic response to the COVID pandemic induced an economic slowdown on top of the latest State of Texas initiative to limit property tax revenue even further in 2019, which has a continuing impact in the 2021– 2022 fiscal year. The Texas Municipal League (TML) provides a news service that publishes all the city-based stories in all the newspapers in the State of Texas and it delivers all these news stories to all its members. The listing of related city stories is delivered to all its members each day Monday to Friday. We did a careful review of the stories in the TML news service that dealt with the property tax settings and annual budget adoptions for the fiscal year 2021–2022. We surveyed the news stories to see if the cities were complying with the latest requirement of Senate Bill 2 property tax limitations. The following is a compilation of how the cities in Texas are complying with the property tax limitation and the lingering effects of the COVID pandemic impact. City of Baytown The city passed its proposed $245.4 million budget, which lowers the property tax rate by a penny. This marks the fourth consecutive year the city has reduced the tax rate (Baytown, 2021). City of Burleson The city council approved a budget for the 2021–2022 fiscal year which lowers the rate to $0.6859 which is $0.0252 lower than last year’s rate. City of Fort Worth The city council approved a rate of $0.732500 which is lower than last year’s rate of $0.747500. City of Frisco The city council approved a new budget that brings in seven new police officers, expands fire operations, and introduces market salary increases of 3% for police and fire officers. The new budget will maintain the same tax rate of $0.4466. The city certified that they had sufficient revenues to keep services at current levels with some strategic increases (Payne, 2021).

88  Teodoro J. Benavides City of Georgetown Due to record-setting growth, the city council adopted a $483 million budget with a new tax rate of $0.401, down from $0.418, while the budget itself is an increase from last year’s budget of $396 million (Andres, 2021). Gun Barrel City The city approved a balanced $5,128,211 budget that contains an estimated 15% increase in sales tax revenue with a tax rate reduction and a 5% increase in compensation (Flowers, 2021). City of McKinney The city council voted to approve the fiscal year 2021–2022 budget of $618 million, resulting in just a one-cent reduction in the city’s tax rate. The budget approved 43 additional staff members for the general fund. This includes 13 additional staff in the police department, ten in the fire department, six in parks and recreation, four in development services, and ten to support various city departments (McKinney, 2021). Missouri City The city council passed the fiscal year 2021–2022 budget and set the tax rate of $0.598035 which is $0.03 less than last year. The property tax revenue accounts for 55% of the city’s total general fund revenue (Maness, 2021). City of Nixon The Nixon City Council ratified the tax rate of $0.3450, a decrease from the previous year’s rate of $0.3929. The city council also adopted the proposed city budget for FY 2021–2022. City of San Antonio The city council approved the 2021 budget of $2.9 billion, with no cuts to the police budget. This was a huge accomplishment considering the fact that the city saw massive declines in sales tax and hotel motel revenues due to COVID-19. The city council rejected a call from citizen activists that wanted an $8 million cut in the police budget (Palacios, 2021). City of Somerville The city council approved a $2.7 million city budget and a tax rate of $0.67924 without an increase.

Budgeting and Financial Management  89 City of the Colony The city lowered the tax rate by one-half cent to $0.65 per $100 valuation. The budget included five new police officers, six new public works employees, and six new firefighters (The Colony, 2021). City of West University Place The city council approved a $421.7 million budget with a 5% decrease in the property tax rate to $0.204066 with a salary increase for employees of 2.5% (Morrow, 2021).

Discussion There is evidence that since the mid-1960s Americans have believed that the size of government and government spending has been excessive. We have endured this situation for just over 55 years. That is just over half a century with no sign of abating. Management, regardless of what size city or the political environment of the city, is rarely if ever going to recommend a property tax rate increase. You can see that we have disliked spending for a long time and that our governmental institutions have put into motion laws that restrict the revenues to support legitimate governmental functions due to a lack of faith that public servants will spend the public’s money wisely. Elected officials even pass laws that make it difficult or almost impossible to ask for an increase in property tax revenue or to raise the tax rate by even the smallest amount. We looked at the responses from cities all over Texas about this year’s budget process to see if the limitations are keeping cities from asking for any type of tax increase. The data is saying that is the case. First, this limitation imposed by the State of Texas is new, but it appears that cities are wary of asking for more money from the taxpayers. There would be severe impacts before city managers would have the temerity to even suggest the possible need for a tax rate increase. Even when city managers make reductions in staffing or services or both, they work exceedingly hard to make the reductions very difficult for the elected officials and the public to even notice or feel. A few budget professionals thought that they would finally see city managers take drastic actions to get their costs in line when COVID-19 occurred. They watched city managers and budget directors send city employees home when revenues fell due to COVID-19. They were paid for a while, but as the recession deepened, the employees were left at home without pay. There were thoughts that this situation would allow the cities to close facilities like libraries, recreation centers, pools, and arts and culture facilities and truly reduce the size and cost of government. Of course, this was never really going to happen. As soon as the pandemic started to lift then people were brought back to work and facilities were brought back online. The idea that

90  Teodoro J. Benavides the pandemic would be used to rationalize the cost of operating city governments was a mirage. As Warner, Aldag, and Kim pointed out in their recent article in Public Administration Review, municipal governments are responding to fiscal stress in pragmatic ways within the structural constraints of the economy, demography, and state policy. The review of how Texas cities have reacted to the great recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the latest round of property tax limitation finds that they are being measured and pragmatic in how they are responding and coping with the most recent fiscal stress (Warner, Aldag, and Kim, 2021).

Conclusion To expect cities to take more aggressive steps to deal with their fiscal stresses is still wishful thinking; cities will continue to do only the minimum to stay within budget, not raise property taxes, and not make drastic cuts in service levels. City managers are so disciplined and well-trained that they are going to do everything in their power to not cause issues for their elected bosses and the public. Everyone must continue to pretend that everything is fine and they will always find new ways to stay within budget and have no real reduction in service levels. This is a clear example that the city has no clothes, but no one is willing to tell them.

Case Studies Case I As a way of further amplifying Warner, Aldag, and Kim’s (2021) observation that municipal governments are responding to fiscal stress in pragmatic ways within the structural constraints of economy, demography, and state policy, all you have to do is read the City of Richardson’s major highlights in their FY 2021–2022 budget to see how that is translating into actual budget action. You do not need to be a budget expert to see the circumspect actions of the city of Richardson in these times of excessive government. The following are major highlights of the 2021–2022 budget: ● ●

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There will be a $0.01 reduction to the city’s tax rate. The effective increase in property values for the general fund is 3.97%, after excluding the TIF areas and adding in the “values in dispute.” The Over 65 and Disabled Persons tax exemption will remain at $100,000 for FY 2021–2022. The sales tax projection for FY 2021–2022 is based on conservative growth assumptions and a cautionary approach to an upcoming Controller rule change. This reflects a ($5.4 million) decrease from the estimated year-end position of $44.3 million.

Budgeting and Financial Management  91 ●

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A 2.5% adjustment to the city’s water and sewer rates is being proposed to support the upcoming water and sewer infrastructure capital program. No increase to the residential solid waste rate is recommended at this time. Market-driven adjustments to the city’s commercial solid waste rates are included in this budget. No adjustments to green fees at Sherrill Park Golf Course are recommended at this time. Market and merit-based compensation adjustments are budgeted for city employees. There will be sustained funding for employee benefits. The city is in the process of evaluating and reactivating specific previously frozen positions to provide core city services. The reactivation of community events will be allowed as appropriate based on regional health, safety, and economic conditions. Infrastructure maintenance strategies will continue as part of this budget. These strategies help to lay out a maintenance plan that continues a sustainable funding level for these programs over the next few years. Funding for strategic routine maintenance has been gradually restored toward their pracademic levels.

Proposed Percentages of Total Operating Expenditures Budget Personal Services Professional Services Maintenance Contracts Supplies Capital Total Operating Expenditures Transfers Out Total Operating Expenditures and Transfers Debt Service Payments Less Interfund Transfers Net Appropriations

$119,227,839 36.0% $30,631,275 9.3% $68,319,154 20.7% $24,880,800 7.5% $10,820,363 3.3% $21,946,663 6.6% $275,826,094 83.4% $39,548,675 12.0% Out $315,374,769 95.3% $53,689,911 16.2% $(38,276,261) –11.6% $330,788,419 100.0%

Classification of Combined Operating Fund Expenditures FY 2021–2022 Budget 3 ●

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Initiate a Bike, Mobility, Trails, and Community Connectivity Study for the next era of attention. The Street Rehabilitation Program continues for the twenty-third year and is funded at $4,495,968. This funding allows for the continuation

92  Teodoro J. Benavides

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of the street maintenance work plan and provides for ongoing repairs, street leveling, and crack sealing projects. The city’s commitment to the alley rehabilitation program is funded at $1,798,387. The enhanced parks maintenance strategy will dedicate $449,597 to the maintenance and repair of neighborhood park capital assets. Initiate Parks Master Plan Update. To meet the council’s goal of attracting and retaining targeted businesses and to increase the number, quality, and variety of job opportunities, $899,194 will be dedicated to economic development as part of the proposed budget. New in FY 2021–2022, the city will begin a pay-as-you-go strategy by setting aside $1.5 million for the replacement of computer hardware. This initiative was previously funded through the issuance of short-term debt. For FY 2021–2022, $59.74 million in debt issuance is proposed which consists of $45.00 million for year one of the 2021 GO Bond Election if approved by the voters in November as well as a CO program that includes $1.36 million for fire equipment, $12.15 million for water and sewer CIP, and $1.23 million for solid waste equipment needs. Beginning efforts to assess and review Sherrill Park golf courses/facilities for future reinvestment strategies. Continuing multi-year recovery strategy developed to assist the hospitality and performing arts industries recover from the impact of COVID-19. The targeted fund balances have been maintained in the general fund (90.41 days), the water and sewer fund (90.49), the solid waste services fund (90.14 days), and the golf fund (60.97).

The city cut the tax rate by a mere 0.01 cents to keep the budget hawks at bay, the cash balances are at rock-bottom levels so as to not give anyone the idea that the city is holding too much cash, which might be interpreted as a hidden tax on taxpayers. This is truly a bread-and-butter basics type of budget that would not raise any passion among the no-new-revenue crowd. Everything on this list developed by the city manager is essential and vital to the maintenance of the city’s current service levels but without a hint of luxury or excess (Johnson, 2021). Case II Due to the tax revenue limitation efforts by the State of Texas, cities are still trying to create innovative programs to address the new and evolving needs of their citizens. A primary example of this strategy is the adopted FY 2021–2022 budget for the City of Dallas, Texas. The city is accomplishing these initiatives even while reducing the tax rate and foregoing $4.6 million

Budgeting and Financial Management  93 in new property tax revenue. They also again increased the over-65 property exemption to $107,000 from $100,000. The types of new initiatives that were adopted by the city council include the following: Installing $1 million worth of additional air quality monitors around the city to collect data on air quality. Allocating $200,000 for a new healthy food program called the Comprehensive Food and Urban Agricultural Plan in concert with external stakeholders. Providing 2,500 native trees to residents to plant in yards across Dallas to help reduce the heat island effect stormwater runoff. Subsidizing $10 million worth of water and sewer infrastructure required for new affordable units. Installing $500,000 worth of solar panels on city facilities. Interconnecting the Dallas water system with the Tarrant Regional Water District to increase the reliability of the regional water system. Investing in the city’s data infrastructure and embracing data-driven decision-making across the city organization. Investing $72 million in a rapid rehousing initiative to address the unsheltered residents in the community. Investing $8.8 million that will transform 40 alleys into safe, well-lit trails and provide a one-time cleanup to include debris and vegetation removal of all the city’s 1,362 unimproved, non-sanitation alleys. Devoting $2 million to add Wi-Fi in 63 geographically dispersed park locations in high-priority zip code areas to bridge the digital divide. Pledging to devote $3 million per year to extend water and wastewater service to all occupied unserved areas in the City of Dallas. (Broadnax, 2021) Dallas, like all the other cities in the state, is dedicated to ensuring that every tax dollar is effectively and efficiently used to improve the community. To accomplish these goals, cities like Dallas and hundreds of others will continue to work smarter as well as harder to deliver the results residents expect and deserve.

References Andres, Brittany, September 28, 2021, City or Georgetown adopts 2021–22 budget concentrating on growth. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. City of Georgetown adopts 2021-22 budget concentrating on growth | Community Impact. Banovetz, James M., 1994, City managers: Will they reject policy leadership? Public Productivity & Management Review 17 (4), 313–324. Broadnax, T.C., 2021. City of Dallas Recommended Budget 2021–22. Retrieved on November 20, 2021.

94  Teodoro J. Benavides Flowers, Rich, August 30, 2021, Gun barrel city adopts bigger budget. Retrieved on November 21, 2021, city of georgetown adopts 2021–22 budget concentrating on growth | Community Impact. H. B. 2048 Texas House, 2019. Reg. Sess. (Texas, 2019), provide for the allocation of state highway fines. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. 86(R) HB 2048 Enrolled version - Bill Text (texas​.g​ov) Hollis, Matt, August 28, 2021, Baytown sun, Baytown approves $245 million budget. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. Baytown council set to OK $245.4 mil budget tonight | News | baytownsun​.co​m. Israelson, Mark D., 2021. City of Plano Recommended Budget 2021–22. Retrieved on November 20, 2021. Johnson, Dan, 2021. City of Richardson Recommended Budget 2021–22. Retrieved on November 20, 2021. Lave, Iris J. and Leachman, Michael, July 18, 2018. State limits on property taxes hamstring local services and should be relaxed or repealed. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. State Limits on property taxes hamstring local services and should be relaxed or repealed | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp​.o​rg). Maness, Tracey, September 27, 2021. New Missouri City budget plan for a tax rate decrease houston chronicle. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. Morrow, Hunter, September 28, 2021, Community impact, west university place city council approves 2021–22 budget, tax rate. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. West University place city council approves FY 2021-22 budget, tax rate | Community Impact. Palacios, Joey, September 16, 2021, Texas public radio, San Antonion City council approves budget with a last-minute vote against any cuts to the police budget. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. San Antonio City Council approves largest budget ever, with last-minute vote against police budget cuts | TPR San Antonio City council approves 2021 city budget at $2.9B with no major cuts to police budget | TPR. Payne, Matt, September 24, 2021, Community impact, Frisco approves $198M general fund budget for FY 2021–22. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. Frisco approves $198M general fund budget for FY 2021-22, adds 27 public safety jobs | Community Impact. Roark, Chris, August 24, 2021, The colony courier-leader, the city council approves new budget, and lowers the tax rate. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. The Colony’s proposed budget calls for lower tax rate, more staffing, road projects | News | starlocalmedia​.co​m. S. 1152, Texas Senate, 2019, 2019. Reg. Sess. (Texas 2019). Provides for the elimination of the assessing of telecommunications or cable tv gross receipts taxes. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. 86(R) SB 1152 - Enrolled version (texas​ .g​ov). S. B. 2 (2019) Provides for the limitation in the property of property taxes in cities as described in (S. 2, 20219) Retrieved on November 21, 2021. 86(R) SB 2 Enrolled version (texas​.g​ov). Sheimer, Louise and Campbell, Sophia, September 24, 2020. How much is COVID19 hurting state and local revenues? Brookings. Retrieved on November 20, 2021. (brookings​.e​du). Sjoberg, Brooke, September 28, 2020. Nixon City Council ratifies the tax rate and approves the budget for 2020-21.

Budgeting and Financial Management  95 Sjoberg, Brooke, September 24, 2020. Smiley City Council ratifies and approves budget for 2020-21, The Gonzales Inquirer. Staff Writer, September 9, 2021. McKinney courier-gazette, McKinney city council approves budget and lowers property tax rate. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. McKinney City Council approves budget with lower city property tax rate | News | starlocalmedia​.co​m. Staff Writer, September 14, 2021. Newsbreak, city council approves the annual budget. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. City Council approves annual budget - NewsBreak. Staff Writer, September 29, 2021. Burleson County Tribune, Somerville Ok’s budget, tax rate. Retrieved on November 21, 2021. Somerville OKs budget, tax rate | Burleson County Tribune (bctribune​.c​om).

6

Human Resources Samantha Dean

Intro: Advice from an HR Professional There once was an undergraduate student who worked in the enrollment services office of her university. One afternoon she was giving a campus tour to a group of school-aged young ladies. At the end of the tour, the student was offered a business card by the group leader. The woman told the tour guide that she was impressed with her overall attitude and offered her an internship. The tour guide sent the woman an email, and within a couple of weeks, she was starting her internship in the human resources (HR) department. The group leader was Priscilla Wilson, retired Senior Managing Director of Human Resources for the City of Garland. Without her knowing it, the student was beginning a career in HR and within ten years, would be leading her own department as an HR director. HR is a division that does not require an extensive amount of technical training. Most people “land” in HR and either discover they have an aptitude for it or not. If someone discovers they have an aptitude to be successful in HR and are willing to put in the work to learn the operation, they will have a rewarding career. This is how an intern with no HR experience can advance quickly within a decade to become an HR director. What makes a person successful in HR has to do with the perfect mix of many ingredients. A person must be empathetic, patient yet fast-paced, intelligent, self-driven, compassionate, accountable, and motivational and must hold the highest ethical standards. When these ingredients come together to create an HR leader and when that HR leader works in an organization that matches their core individual values, HR magic happens. When the core values of the organization, executive leadership, and the HR leader are aligned, progress is not just a dream; it becomes a reality. This is true not just for progress, but also for creativity. While not traditionally thought of as such, creativity in government is possible with the right support and leadership. So often, great HR leaders have ideas and recommendations to move the organization forward, but in the words of any good HR professor, if there is no buy-in from the very top, the idea is dead in the water. Once the organization and the HR leader are aligned, then it is up to the DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-6

Human Resources  97 HR leader to build their HR dream team. Any leader is only as good as the team they work with. Once that team is built, the HR department and the organization are “off to the races.” An HR leader has the potential to provide the highest level of value to an organization. A leader’s team should be the heartbeat of the HR department. Part of what makes a team successful is encouraging team members to pursue career growth when the opportunity presents itself. A leader should never stifle the growth of one of their employees if that employee takes ownership of their professional growth. After all, you never know if your child’s university campus tour guide may be a future HR director. This chapter will cover technical as well as the practical application of HR functions. HR can be one of the most strategic departments in local government. No other department will give a person operational exposure to every department in the city. If so desired, a driven individual will learn every line of business, review every department’s strategic business plan, help build organizational structures and succession plans, and assist other leaders in navigating tough employee situations. If a person takes advantage of all the right opportunities and makes themselves available for special projects outside of their standard job functions, they will get a front-row seat to the internal operations of a municipal government. The only other position that gets to do that is probably the city manager. If the goal is to make a true impact and help drive an organization forward, then the HR department is where a person must sit. It does not matter which seat you take; just get on that bus.

HR Strategy HR can be described as both a human and a bottom-line business. If a person thinks they want to work in HR because they want to “help people,” they are in the wrong line of work. A common misconception of HR is that its primary role is to serve the employees and assist with whatever employment questions or issues they might have. While assisting an employee, manager, or applicant to achieve their desired result is one of the most rewarding experiences someone will have, the primary focus for HR is to strategically align the organization’s most important resource, human capital, with the goals of the city manager’s office and city council (Becker, Huselid, and Ulrich, 2001). The key to aligning such resources is building positive relationships with city leadership, which results in the “buy-in” of the HR department as a strategic partner. To operate at a strategic level, the HR department must have a solid understanding of the goals and values of the executive staff. HR leadership must spend quality time building relationships and understanding what the “non-negotiables” are at the executive level. This knowledge is valuable when HR is assessing technological resources, administering an organizational compensation study, or building a health plan.

98  Samantha Dean A strategic HR department is the most successful when it matches organizational goals with operational outcomes. For example, there is no sense in completing a $50,000 compensation study if the city manager is not interested in funding adjustments for positions that fall behind the market. If a goal of the city council is to make the community a desirable location to attract private business, the strategic HR department applies its resources to attract the talent that will achieve that goal; even though on the surface, that goal does not seem like it directly impacts the HR department. There is a major shift in the HR industry to transition away from “traditional” HR functions into a more strategically aligned function of the overall organization. In the last ten years, HR has grown into a professional discipline with the rise of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), various certification programs, and structured degree programs at the university level (Becker, Huselid, and Ulrich, 2001). For a long time, HR was viewed as a purely administrative function that kept employment files, created cumbersome processes for performance reviews, and administered benefits open enrollment every year. A trend gaining much momentum and success in the private sector is employing HR professionals who know how to connect the strengths of HR with the larger organizational goals and strategies (Becker, Huselid, and Ulrich, 2001). Local government is slowly catching up with the private sector, but there is still quite a bit of “traditional” HR in local government. One tool that a municipal organization can utilize to achieve strategic initiatives is performance metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) (Becker, Huselid, and Ulrich, 2001). This is especially important for the HR department because certain KPIs can justify certain recruitment or benefit programs by connecting the administrative cost of the program with the organizational outcome linked to a city council goal or strategic initiative. Not only should an HR department track certain key KPIs such as the number of current vacancies, time to fill a vacant position, number of internal promotions, and number of disciplines administered but it should also connect the cost of a recruiting campaign to fill vacancies in the public works department with the number of cubic yards of concrete laid for the month, for example (Becker, Huselid, and Ulrich, 2001). If HR can show that HR metrics are directly linked to the operation of a critical city function, the strategic justification for that HR department becomes a “no brainer.” Again, this is an initiative that the private sector has been working with for the last ten to 20 years and local government is just beginning to get into this space. It will become more critical for municipalities to track these metrics as citizens continue to demand transparency at its highest level from their governing leaders (Berman et al., 2006).

Recruiting Local government effectiveness and the quality of employees in local government have a bad reputation, historically (Rainey, 2003). Too often,

Human Resources  99 individuals look at the local government business and the employees as slow-moving, unwilling to innovate, and overall undependable (Rainey, 2003). So, when a hiring manager goes on the market to recruit for a local government position, they are already fighting a battle of stereotypes. Recruiting starts with the collective buy-in of the organizational culture and core values (Berman et al., 2006). The best recruiters will be the individuals who value the total compensation package offered in the organization, and those individuals are not exclusively employees of the HR department (Berman et al., 2006). Sometimes the best recruiters are outside of the HR department. For example, the mayor might be the best recruiter because he or she bought into the organizational culture and values. The physical act of recruiting can be compared to fishing. The people who have mastered the art of fishing know exactly which bait works for the type of fish they are trying to catch, and they know exactly the body of water that will result in the exact type of fish they are trying to catch. That, in a nutshell, is recruiting. An organization must be self-aware in knowing which type of applicant is going to fit the best in the organization. Too often, small municipalities that are at the beginning stage of their newly formed council-manager form of government, that maybe have 50 employees to start, want to bring on sixfigure salaried directors to begin building their organization. They often fail because six-figure salaried directors are not interested in being a department of one in which they must be entrenched in the daily operations as well as report back to the city manager and city council. Organizational self-awareness is key in recruiting, coupled with understanding and communicating the total compensation package and organizational culture the city offers. Recruiting for local government is especially challenging because it constantly competes with other municipalities and local governments located in major metropolitan areas (such as Dallas/Fort Worth) as well as with the private sector (Rainey, 2003). Especially in Dallas/Fort Worth, recruiting is essentially a rat race, and whoever can get there first wins. HR professionals in local government will constantly hear “we don’t pay enough,” “we lose employees to neighboring cities because they’ll pay more,” “local government is so far behind in work-life benefits,” and so on (Berman et al., 2006). Compensation will be addressed later in the chapter but selling the organizational culture and advocating for competitive total compensation benefits are critical in maintaining a competitive position to attract quality applicants. Some municipalities are bound by external factors that are outside of their control such as being in a region that has little to no new development or budget constraints that don’t allow for the cost of living and/or market adjustments. The leaders in those cities need to do some work in understanding what motivates their employees and get creative in establishing other benefits that employees value and will serve as a competitive tool in recruiting (Rainey, 2003). Most non-HR leaders prefer for the HR department to screen every job applicant and send them only a top five or top ten candidate list. While this may be appropriate for executive recruitment, it is not the right

100  Samantha Dean approach for every position within the organization. The HR department should provide leaders with all the resources to run successful recruitment (Berman et al., 2006): a functioning applicant tracking system (ATS), interview questions that are legally appropriate as well as representative of the culture, and assistance in expanding the reach of open positions utilizing various websites, job boards, and network tactics. However, a department knows its operations and the dynamics of its team better than anyone else. Departmental leadership must have ownership in their recruitment process and be deeply involved with the screening and review of all candidates that meet the minimum qualifications for the vacant position. This can be a huge undertaking for some HR departments, especially if the organization is used to having a “one-stop shop” approach with HR. Again, if there is buy-in from the executive level, the HR department can change the culture in the organization through positive reinforcement, relationship building, and training. The reason there are so many staffing companies and executive search firms is that recruiting takes a lot of dedicated time, and most leaders either do not have the time to dedicate to successful recruiting efforts or just are not interested. Recruiting is not rocket science; it is just a “time suck,” which is why so many organizations spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on staffing and recruiting firms. No staffing firm or executive recruiter understands an organization’s culture better than the employees who buy into the core values and direction of the leadership. Therefore, what ends up happening is an organization will spend between $25,000 and $50,000 to fill one vacancy, and usually, the employee is not the right fit for the culture because the people who sourced that candidate do not work, live, and breathe the organizational values. This is no fault of the staffing agency; it is just a reality that most leaders outside of HR do not want to put in the effort it takes to run successful recruitment. This is where a partnership between HR and the department will not only result in a successful recruiting process but will also prevent the organization from spending thousands of dollars it did not need to spend in the first place. HR should bring to the table the technology, the resources, and the network to attract quality applicants, and the department needs to bring to the table the commitment to diligently review the applicants and conduct an interview process that is in line with the organizational culture and core values (Berman et al., 2006). There are a lot of uncomfortable issues that an HR professional will be tasked with in their career, but one of the most rewarding is sourcing a candidate that is the perfect fit for the organization and seeing that person and the department flourish during the employee’s tenure. As they say, it does not get much better than that.

Compensation What can be said of compensation? There is not enough money in the world to ever make anyone happy (Harter, 2006). That is not specific to HR; that

Human Resources  101 is just a fact. The compensation division of HR can be very enjoyable and very challenging. It is the one division where a person gets to see organizational operations from the perspective of data points and job shadowing. Compensation analysts conduct desk audits, write job descriptions, and present data to tell a story (Berman et al., 2006). One thing about compensation that is important to remember is that everyone is a compensation expert: employees, city managers, retirees, and especially city council members. Compensation is the function of HR that is not difficult to understand, and everyone has an opinion on the right and wrong way to manage it. The thing is, there is no right answer (Berman et al., 2006). Yes, most government positions are going to be underpaid when compared to the level of responsibility of similar positions in the private sector. No, not every city has the same compensation philosophy. Yes, metropolitan cities compete at a ridiculous level for labor, and compensation is usually the first thing to get targeted as “this city doesn’t pay as much as [insert name of neighboring city]” or “this city cannot compete with [insert name of neighboring city].” Basically, it boils down to this: what is the philosophy of the city manager and the city council? Does leadership want to lead, match, or lag the market (Berman et al., 2006)? Once that question is answered, compensation is simple. Not everybody will agree with it, but that’s the direction of city leadership so that’s the justification for compensation recommendations. One of the first points of clarification to make in regard to compensation is who the comparator cities are and whether to include private sector compensation information in position reviews. That way, it is not a guessing game during each market analysis of what organization(s) are the best match for the position that is being reviewed. It is black and white each time and eliminates the guesswork. Then insert the direction of the city manager and if necessary, the city council. As stated earlier, there is no right or wrong answer to compensation, but the path forward is to understand completely the intent of leadership. A compensation professional should also become very efficient using Microsoft Excel. A person does not have to become an expert, but an effective compensation analyst will know how to run vlookups, if/then statements, and pivot tables and be able to build formulas that pull data from other worksheets and workbooks. There are many compensation certification programs a person can take, and those certifications are very valuable, but for someone starting at the beginning, become comfortable with Excel. Finally, when it comes to compensation, do not shy away from going into the field and experiencing the job which is being studied. HR may be the experts in salary data and running market analysis, but the person who is in the field performing the work is the expert in what it takes to get the job done. Some of the best experiences can come from visiting with the employees where they are and getting to tour a day in their work. Compensation is more than crunching numbers; it is knowing how to use the data to tell the story and achieve the overall goal.

102  Samantha Dean

Benefits What local government lacks in compensation it makes up for in benefits (Berman et al., 2006). Municipal organizations have, far and away, the best benefits an employee could ask for, especially in Texas. When a recruiter is building a job posting, one of the first benefits that should be mentioned is the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS). TMRS is a program adopted by most Texas cities that offers employees a pension with a city match contribution (in most cases, a 2:1 match) TMRS, 2022). Since the early 2000s, most private sector organizations have not only withdrawn from the pension business, but they’ve also gotten out of the company match business (Franklin, 2011). The fact that an individual can start a career with a Texas city, work 20 years, retire before age 60, and not have to get a second job is outstanding. This happens repeatedly and it is so encouraging to see a person who has worked so hard in the service of the community be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. A person will have the ability to retire at the age of 38 if they started working for the city at age 18. This benefit alone gives municipal employers a huge competitive edge against the private sector. What is also great about TMRS is that the service credit and the funding balance will follow the individual, for the most part, if they go to work for another TMRS participating city (tmrs​.c​om). Another significant aspect of employee benefits in municipal organizations is that section 175.001 of the Texas Local Government Code requires municipal organizations in the State of Texas to offer health benefits to their retirees (TLGC Chapter 175). Again, most private sector organizations no longer offer health benefits to retirees because it can be so expensive (Franklin, 2011). A harsh truth in the United States of America is that the healthcare system has shifted away from a philosophy of helping people become well to a total business approach in which illness and disease are the cash registers for insurance companies (Rosenthal, 2018). The United States leads the world in per capita health spending (Anderson et al., 2003). In 2003, the United States spent 13% of the gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare compared to the next highest country which was Switzerland at 10.7% (Anderson et al., 2003). HR is faced with this dilemma head-on as the challenge to build a sustainable health plan for employees and their dependents grows more difficult each year. Benefits can serve as the single most competitive tool in attracting applicants; however, building a sustainable health plan becomes increasingly difficult if insurance companies and physicians require such high costs for services due to the economy that is the health industry in the United States. “We live in an age of medical wonders—transplants, gene therapy, life-saving drugs, and preventative strategies—but the healthcare system remains fantastically expensive, inefficient, bewildering, and inequitable. Faced with disease, we are all potential victims of medical extortion” (Rosenthal, 2018). Since state law requires municipal organizations to offer health insurance for retirees, HR professionals must

Human Resources  103 find a way to comply with the law, build a sustainable health plan in an ever-increasing market for healthcare, and maintain a competitive benefits package that will be attractive to potential job applicants. So much of HR is a mix of art and science, and that is especially true with benefits. An HR professional will find themselves at some point analyzing the organization’s health plan, the number of participants, the medical claims that cost the health plan the most dollars, and the participants that incur the highest dollar amount of medical claims (Miller, 2018). Generally, it is a small portion of the health plan participants who will drive the majority of the spending (Miller, 2018). This could be for a variety of reasons: cancer treatment, high-risk birth, and other disease treatments are typical claims that incur a high dollar amount for a single individual. If the organization is self-insured, the burden of paying the claims will fall under the health plan which is funded through employee premiums (Miller, 2021). In this case, it is strongly encouraged that the organization obtains stop-loss insurance which will cap the highest-costing claimants at a certain dollar amount so that an organization can better assess financial liability on the health plan. It stops financial loss (Miller, 2021). Dependents on the health plan, primarily non-working spouses, will most likely cost the health plan the most per individual. Children are typically inexpensive as most of their healthcare needs are preventative and do not cost the plan a large amount of money (Rosenthal, 2018). The debate of whether to allow working spouses to enroll in the health plan continues to be challenging (Miller, 2014). The philosophy behind this that is the organization’s primary obligation is to the employee who is coming to work every day and from whose labor and time the organization is benefitting. Therefore, most municipal organizations will cover much of the cost for employees, if not 100%. For some reason, non-working spouses statistically are the group of participants that cost the health plan the most dollars, but with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, an organization will be fined if healthcare coverage is not offered to a person who qualifies for coverage (Miller, 2014). Since working spouses will typically have a health plan option at their employer, organizations have made the move to either apply a surcharge for working spouses if covered on the plan or carve them out altogether (Miller, 2014). Non-working spouses are most likely going to automatically qualify for the health plan since they do not have healthcare options with a different employer (Miller, 2014). Also, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, dependent children are automatically eligible for health plan coverage under their parent’s employer up to the age of 26 (Rosenthal, 2018). The key to building a sustainable health plan is to answer the question of whether to allow spouses to enroll in the health plan and then decide how much the organization wants to subsidize coverage for employees and retirees. Just keep in mind, benefits are one of those areas that employees do not really think about until they need them. Many health plan decisions will be made that may not get an initial response from

104  Samantha Dean employees, but the minute someone either realizes how much their premium increased or that their prescription was covered the year before but not in the new plan year, the HR manager or director will find themselves dealing with some upset employees or even worse, upset retirees. There is not an upset employee that comes close to matching an upset retiree. Think carefully about the employee experience while deciding on changes to the health plan. When reviewing the health plan with executive leadership and benefits consultants, there is typically a recommendation to increase the health plan deductible and/or out-of-pocket maximum. One of the first questions that should be answered is “How are those changes going to affect the $14 per hour maintenance worker that’s mowing the grass at City Hall right now?” There are many other benefits that a city or organization could adopt to make themselves more attractive than their counterparts. Benefits such as a health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), flexible work schedule, telecommuting, an onsite clinic, and mental health resources are all popular benefits offered by municipal organizations (Rosenthal, 2018). The ideal benefits package should serve two purposes: as a competitive recruiting tool and as a resource to keep employees mentally and physically healthy. The trick is to achieve both goals without bankrupting the city or its future budgets.

Employee Relations Unfortunately, in a leadership position in HR, the HR professional will find themselves either initiating or participating in an employee investigation or employee relations issue. One of the hardest decisions an HR professional will make is recommending termination for someone who has violated either state or federal law or a city policy. This is the part of HR where the rubber meets the road and when the people who want to pursue a career in HR “to help people” begin to experience the side of HR that is the most uncomfortable, but necessary. The truth of the matter is, for all individuals in leadership positions, regardless of if it is the HR department or not, will always have to deal with employee relations issues. Managing people is the hardest part of any leader’s job. Lucky for HR professionals, not only do they have to manage their own team of employees, but they also must help guide the other organizational leaders in dealing with their employee management issues. There is no “secret sauce” when it comes to managing people. Everybody is different and requires a different type of motivation and leadership style. What can make a leader more effective at managing people is to have regular communication with employees, set clear expectations that are understood by management and the employee, and build a foundation of trust so that when the hard conversation needs to happen, there is ownership by the employee of the action that caused them to be placed on a level of discipline or reprimand (Harter, 2006). Speaking of discipline, one of the guiding principles that govern employee relations issues

Human Resources  105 is the organization’s policy on employee performance management. If an organization does not have a policy that outlines the levels of discipline for employee performance and indicates what is considered serious misconduct, that should be one of the first action items for an HR professional. The SHRM has many templates of employee discipline policies that are easy to download and make specific to an organization. In local government, neighboring cities commonly share policies so that the proverbial wheel does not have to be reinvented. There is nothing wrong with taking a policy from another city, modifying it to meet the needs of an organization, and adopting it as a formal policy. One of the most important tools in managing employees is documentation. Keeping reliable and consistent documentation on an employee issue will make life so much easier for any leader. It is amazing the stories that are told in unemployment hearings or discipline appeal hearings by employees when they are justifying their actions. Nothing speaks louder and clearer than pristine documentation of conversations between the manager and employee, occurrences of policy violations, and dates when disciplinary action was taken (Falcone, 2008). A person does not have to document every single conversation with every single employee, but once an employee begins to have significant performance issues, begin the documentation process. This will also help when HR gets involved and wants to see what steps have been taken at the management level. The other detail to be acutely aware of is organizational precedent. An organization should administer discipline consistently regardless of an employee’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, and military status (Berman et al., 2006). As much as possible, an infraction should warrant the same level of discipline throughout the organization. The final highlight of any management training should be to learn how to become comfortable having the “uncomfortable conversation.” The day a person knows they need to either place an employee on a level of discipline or notify an employee of their termination should be a bad day for the manager; there is no way to get around that. However, those conversations need to happen. It is the manager’s responsibility to ensure there is as little liability brought upon the organization as possible, and the most effective manager holds employees accountable. There was once an HR manager who learned a fellow manager was having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. Of course, this violated the organization’s workplace harassment policy and the HR manager had to speak with the other manager to receive an admission of the inappropriate relationship. This was especially hard on the HR manager because the fellow manager was a person the HR manager had a very good working relationship with and placed an immense amount of trust in. The HR manager was completely blindsided and not at all prepared to have the conversation, but it needed to be done. The inappropriate relationship between the manager and subordinate was unacceptable, and the fellow manager could no longer work for the organization. An HR professional will have quite a few incidents like the aforementioned,

106  Samantha Dean but if the HR professional finds themselves in the right organization, incidents like that will be the exception rather than the rule. The only way to get comfortable having the “uncomfortable conversation” is through practice. Effective leaders should begin with building relationships and a foundation of trust with employees, and while those conversations are never easy, the leader will get better at having them. Probably one of the most underestimated aspects of employee relations is the recognition of employees (Harter, 2006). Now, more than ever, employees (especially in municipal organizations) want to be reassured that they are doing a good job and their efforts are valuable to the organization. Building a foundation of trust with employees starts with autonomy and positive reinforcement when they’ve made a judgment call that is either right or, even better, more than what was expected. An insightful video by a retired submarine commander named David Marquet called “Innoversity Presents: Greatness by David Marquet” highlights this exact philosophy. Amazing things happen when trust is placed in employees, and while employees may need to be redirected or held accountable for missteps, “greatness” in employees emerges and they operate at their peak productivity level (Marquet, 2013). Don’t forget to recognize and empower employees. It does not have to be much; a simple but genuine “thank you” or “great job today” goes much further than a leader could imagine and will add layers to that foundation of trust.

Leadership Speaking of leadership, we should discuss what happens when a quarterback transitions into being a coach. This is one of the hardest professional transitions a person will make. In the municipal government business, individuals often find themselves playing quarterback. An emergency happens and the team needs the superstar. They need the superstar quarterback to run the ball into the end zone. This is so imperative in local government because not getting the ball in the end zone could mean life and safety are at risk for the community; local government is a high-stakes game (Berman et al., 2006). In local government, teams of employees are not just trying to win a football game; they are working to ensure that the health and safety of the community are secure and stable. If local government employees do not perform their jobs appropriately, there are real consequences beyond losing a football game or not making last quarter’s financials. As a result, leaders rely on the people they trust the most with the most important projects: themselves. A leader can be one of the best quarterbacks in the organization. The high-performing individual will know their business like the back of their hand and become very good at seeing “plays” before they even happen. They make the coaches look fantastic and can always be counted upon to complete the mission; however, if the leader is not looking at the bigger picture and developing other players on the team, they are an ineffective leader.

Human Resources  107 A good coach knows they cannot do it on their own. A good coach knows they need to trust all the players on the team to play their roles and play them for the mission at hand, not for individual recognition. A leader’s top priority should be developing leaders to come behind them. If an individual is constantly playing quarterback, they are focused on one singular goal: getting the ball in the end zone. While that is important, they are not focused on the bigger picture which includes all the teammates they have around them. If a person is constantly playing quarterback and never leading their team from the sidelines, they will never develop champions and leaders on their team. If a leader is not focused on developing potential leaders to eventually take their place, they might as well go home. Once a person becomes the coach, they are no longer the smartest person in the room. They must give up control and that will feel wrong and full of uncertainty (Marquet, 2013). If a leader finds themselves not trusting the team to complete the mission, the problem is with the leader. If there is a team of rock stars, then it is the leader’s own insecurity that will prevent their team from reaching greatness. If there is a team of duds, then it is the leader’s fault for not building a winning team and addressing the poor performers. Once a person becomes a coach, they should throw everything they know about the mechanics of the job out the window. The effective leader will hire someone to take their place who is much smarter and maybe even a better coach. A leader must be able to have open ears and an open mind to allow the new coach to make the role their own. The leader’s job is to coach them, encourage them, and support them when they fail. When a leader does that, not only are they building leaders on their team, but they are also proving themselves to be one of the best coaches around. The transition from quarterback to coach can be very difficult and there are a good number of individuals that will be rockstars as individual contributors but fail when they are placed in leadership positions overseeing a team of people; some people will just never be successful in that transition. Not only is it the responsibility of the HR leader to develop themself and their team, but they also must make themself available to develop leaders outside of their department or span of control. HR can be one of the most rewarding careers a person could have. So many interesting and challenging opportunities are presented to HR professionals. City managers need effective HR professionals as much as they need any other operational leader. If an individual desires to make a true impact and help drive an organization forward, then the HR department is the bus to jump on; it does not matter which seat, just get on the bus.

References Anderson, Gerard F., Reinhardt, Uwe E., Hussey, Peter S., and Petrosyan, Varduhi, 2003. “It’s The Prices, Stupid: Why the United States Is So Different from Other Countries.” Health Affairs, 22(3), 89–105.

108  Samantha Dean Becker, Brian E., Huselid, Mark A., and Ulrich, David, 2001. The HR Scorecard: Linking People, Strategy and Performance. Harvard Business School Press. Berman, Evan M., Bowman, James S., West, Jonathan P., and Van Wart, Montgomery, 2006. Human Resource Management in Public Service: Paradoxes, Processes and Problems. 2nd Edition. Sage Publications. Falcone, Paul, 2008, March 3. Watch What You Write When Documenting Employee Performance. Society for Human Resources Management. Franklin, Mary Beth, 2011, October 5. What Killed Pensions. Kiplinger. Harter, Jim, 2006. The Elements of Great Managing Based on Gallup’s 10 Million Workplace Interviews – The Largest Worldwide Study of Employee Engagement. Gallup Press. Miller, Stephen, 2014, November 21. Coverage for Spouses and Dependents Scaled Back. Society for Human Resources Management. Miller, Stephen, 2018, July 26. Managing High-Cost Claimants Is Employers’ Top Health Savings Strategy. Society for Human Resources Management. Miller, Stephen, 2021, September 12. Consider Self-Funding Options When Renegotiating Health Benefits. Society for Human Resources Management. Rainey, Hal G., 2003. Understanding & Managing Public Organizations. 3rd Edition. Josey-Bass. Rosenthal, Elizabeth, 2018. An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. Penguin Books. TMRS, 2022. Texas Municipal Retirement System. Retrieved on December 14, 2022. www​.trms​.com

7

Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience Impact on Growth Policy Trent O. Petty

Introduction At first glance, there may be doubt as to whether the disciplines mentioned in the title of this chapter can be adequately presented without flying so high above them all that the individual importance of each becomes lost. For the purposes of this chapter, these disciplines will be presented within the context of introducing a strategy for crafting sound, local growth policy. If this assembly still seems too broad, consider the alternative. which presumes that these disciplines can legitimately function independently in today’s state and local governments. It only takes an hour or so of observing a contentious Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to realize that they are indeed linked if not permanently melded together. Ironically, the conventional thinking that maintains the strict separation of these disciplines has helped fuel the energy behind an increasingly urgent realization that these disciplines must be considered together if we are to improve not only their collective performance in local government, but also their individual value, both in improving development quality and in maximizing the leverage of economic development tools and performance. Local authorities have had to: (1) enhance their economic competitiveness; (2) meet the demands for public services; (3) expand and diversify the local tax base; and (4) generate funding for capital investments. Municipalities are but one actor in the financing of urban development, but in many ways, they are the pivotal one because of their statutory powers and their ability to act on all sectors within a defined geographic space. (Serageldin et al., 2008) To understand the common threads that bind economic development, urban design, land use, and resilience, we must understand these disciplines in a broader and more updated context. The historic constants that define the growth policy arena (the elected and appointed political executives and their staffs, private development DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-7

110  Trent O. Petty professionals, and economists) are under significant pressure to broaden the playing field to add policy and operational dimensions not historically associated with the title disciplines (Eisinger, 1989, pp. 6–7). This chapter focuses on the relevant historic events responsible for today’s growth policy challenges and identifies five catalytic conditions that describe today’s policy environment. These are market dynamics, political polarization, eroding local authority, and lack of resilience. The chapter defines and explores the impact each has on current growth policy and the challenges they represent to local government policy-making.

A Thumbnail Sketch of Relevant Growth Policy History Economic development as we know and understand it today is still a relatively new practice. On the one hand, the terminology itself suggests a confluence of the objective, the subjective, science, and art, whose application is as widely expressed in professional vocation as it is in policy theory. Its origins in America help explain its current state and clear the way for rational assumptions supporting its trajectory. Peter Eisinger accurately encapsulates the fundamentals of modern economic development policy as being rooted in one fundamental objective: “the private sector creation of jobs” (1989, p. 26). With this foundational definition, it is useful to have a practical working knowledge of the history of economic development, the precursor to growth policy in the US. In his book, A History of American State and Local Economic Development: As Two Ships Pass in the Night, Ronald Coan wrote: Economic Development requires a history to be taken seriously as a profession and a vital policy area. A profession without a history is like a restaurant without a menu. It would not surprise me that more than 50,000 lonely and isolated souls work in the vineyards of economic development. Without a history they may as well be alone in the Gobi Desert. (Coan, 2017, p. 3) By the mid-18th century, the European industrial revolution was already well underway. The advances, however, meant little to the American colonies, whose lack of labor relative to the vastness of the new world left little room for survival, let alone innovation and mechanization. (Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia, 2022). As the country grew in population and area, a growing workforce emerged in response to demand. The organic, if not chaotic, growth left little need for assistance or intervention from the government, which possessed neither the financial nor policy maturity to be relevant to the growth. America’s first tangible step toward national economic policy was the opening of the Continental Congress–created Bank of North America in

Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience  111 1782. Though the bank was private, it became the country’s first “central bank” when it was decided that shares would be sold to the public in the nation’s first-ever Initial Public Offering. Shortly afterward, in 1791, the United States Congress established the First Bank of the United States (the “First Bank”), chartered by Congress. The First Bank marked the beginning of federal monetary policy and fiscal control (Kaplan, 1999, p. 26). Championed by Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, the bank sought to establish the nation’s credit by creating a mechanism to institute the financial business of the country, consolidate the debt incurred by the states and legitimize the currency issued by the Continental Congress during the war (US History, 2022). Posing fierce opposition against Hamilton and the First Bank and Hamilton’s plan to establish a government-owned and operated mint were Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Jefferson and Madison claimed that the bank was unconstitutional and that it benefitted private investors, primarily in the north, at the expense of the entire population, especially the south. The opposition to the First Bank remained strong all the way through the term of the bank’s 20-year charter. In 1811, six years after Hamilton left office, the Senate, by one vote, allowed the bank’s charter to expire (Coblenz, 2015). Distant and fledgling as this opposition appears, it should be noted, that this objection to the use of taxpayer dollars for the sake of private investment had its beginning here. The country’s reaction to the closure was predictably swift. State governments created over 200 state-chartered banks in the next five years, creating lending capacity across the entire country and ushering in the economics of growth policy in the United States. From its birth, however, growth policy in the US suffered a clumsy and awkward childhood. The result of the unregulated growth of the state-chartered banks flooding the market with questionable credit led to economic collapse in 1819. The conditions and policy decisions bore striking resemblance to the economic disaster of 2008 proving that growth policy lessons are forgotten quickly when wielded as a political weapon rather than sound and lasting policy reform. This step in the evolution of growth policy illustrated the first tipping point where unworthy credit sponsored by insatiably hungry lenders led to disaster for the entire country. This hard-learned lesson is a crucial curriculum for the student of growth policy. Unregulated and unbridled lending, grants, and subsidies that are not accompanied by strict quality standards, empirical cost/benefit analyses, and careful performance claw-backs, whether they be federal, state, or local, have potentially disastrous consequences that impact multiple markets as well as local budgets. The virtually unchecked US growth policy of the 19th century undoubtedly exposed the worst stain in American history. Ironically, while most early leaders condemned slavery (even though many were slave owners) and Congress in 1807 passed an act to “prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States … from

112  Trent O. Petty any foreign kingdom, place, or country,” the slave trade flourished in the American south (History​.co​m, 2022). Fueled by the lack of labor and international demand for cotton, tobacco, sugar, wheat, and rice, the slave trade was considered the cornerstone of economic prosperity in the South (Shi and Tindall, 2016). As a result, while the United States struggled with the cause and effect of growth policy, it also had to face the bloody cost. Growth policy became the backdrop for the Civil War as the economy of “unfree labor” of the South faced off against the “free labor” of the North (OER Services, 2022). The resulting devastation to the economy of the South was contrasted by the rapid growth accompanied by inflation and “free labor” demands of the North. If emancipation and the ratification of the 13th amendment in 1865 were the most important social and political outcome of the war, the ensuing poverty in the south became the most important economic outcome. Then, as now, the country was divided along economic fault lines that remain unchanged by political rhetoric or even the popular vote. Sadly, emancipation was not the result of collective enlightenment, but rather the bloody force of submission. Over the next 20 years, industrial production, employment, and the number of manufacturing plants more than doubled. The annual value of manufactured goods increased from about $5.4 billion in 1879 to approximately $13 billion in 1899. Iron and steel increased from 1.4 million tons in 1880 to over 11 million tons by the end of the decade, surpassing Great Britain and supplying more than a quarter of the world’s cast iron (Britannica, 2022). Accompanying tremendous growth of the US gross domestic product was widespread activism and demand for political and social reform. Industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and political corruption all took a toll on the shaping of growth policy due to the “pervasive sense that the country’s democratic promise was failing” (Flanagan, 2016). While the headlines were occupied by the muckraking exposure of urban political machines like Tammany Hall in New York City and its Republican counterpart in Philadelphia (Mann, 1959), subtle waves of reform began to appear in both the private and public sector organization advancement. Industrialization and growth required efficiency. Efficiency became definable thanks to the “scientific management” work of Frederick Taylor (Taylor, 1919). But despite the empirical progress and reforms, there existed a largely ignored but severely unstable economic fault line in growth policy that would, at least on the surface, be stabilized by the creation of the Central Bank. Financial busts eventually and inevitably follow financial booms. The 1907 Knickerbocker Crisis, also known as the Panic of 1907, was not only short in duration but also shockingly benign, despite a 50% drop in the New York Stock Exchange (Mosher, 2017). The ramifications, however, changed growth policy forever, not just for the United States, but

Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience  113 the entire world. Regardless of the arguments to the contrary, which still rage today, the Panic became the political fuel that powered the creation of the modern Central Bank, aka, the Federal Reserve in 1913. The creation of the Federal Reserve in response to the aforementioned “not so critical crisis” transformed an economic system that, in simple terms, relied on small privately controlled banks into the money-printing “great engine of inflation” and President Wilson’s long envisioned “Modern Bureaucracy” (Sager, Fritz, and Rosser, 2009, pp. 1136–1147) and further into the torch that now lights the very fires that it was created to put out—a conclusion that was punctuated and amplified only 16 years later as the US fell into the Great Depression. The causes of the Great Depression will always be debated. The stock market crash of 1929, banking panics, cash withdrawals, the erosion of the worldwide gold standard, decreased international lending due to high US interest rates, Smoot Hawley and other tariffs, and reductions in global trade all get votes for the “real cause.” Was the Great Depression a failure in US growth policy? Past Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernacke, would say “yes” in five critical ways. First, according to Bernacke, the decision to tighten monetary policy made matters worse. Next, the stock market crash led to speculators turning in dollars for gold which create a run on the dollar. Third, the Federal Reserve again raised interest rates to preserve the dollar’s value, which further restricted the availability of money for businesses, accelerating bankruptcies. Fourth, the Federal Reserve did not increase the supply of money to combat deflation. Finally, the Federal Reserve ignored the bank panics which destroyed what was remaining of consumer confidence in the security of domestic banks (Amadeo, 2022). Federal growth policy would be tested (and fail) many more times after the Depression, but never so extremely as in the 2008 financial crisis. The global meltdown was the result of many “perfect storm” factors, but from the narrow lens of growth policy, the appetite for growth—particularly in the home industry—was greater than the capacity to support it. According to Pew Research, Americans place the blame for the current problems with financial institutions and markets squarely on people who took on too much debt and banks that made risky loans. Nearly eight-in-ten (79%) say that people taking on more debt than they can afford contributed “a lot” to the current situation, and 72% say the same about banks making risky loans. By comparison, fewer than half (46%) see weak government regulation as having a lot to do with it, and even fewer blame the complexity or the growing globalization of the financial system. (Pew Research Center, 2008) The same wake of destruction that preceded sweeping changes to federal growth policy continues to seep down to the local level with the demand for

114  Trent O. Petty much more intense scrutiny on tax-supported incentives and public–private partnerships combined with more responsible growth that reduces demand on both natural and financial resources.

Catalytic Conditions Affecting Growth Policy Market Dynamics Market dynamics are commonly referred to as the forces that impact prices and behaviors of producers and consumers (Banton and Kelly, 2021). These forces not only drive decisions in business and industry, but they are also the basis on which local growth policy is crafted, and these forces are changing with light speed. Because of this perception, however, the flawed tendency of current growth policy is to make broad characterizations that apply to every market condition. Growth policy must be drawn with a much sharper pencil. Shopping malls, for example, are long reported to now be extinct thanks to the “retail apocalypse” made up of e-commerce, economic recessions, cultural changes, and most recently the global pandemic. Crafting sustainable growth policy must avoid these broad characterizations. Continuing with our mall analogy, it is probably true that over one-third of American shopping malls will be closed before the end of this decade (Thomas, 2020). But the demise of the shopping mall doesn’t mean that consumers will never again want to congregate in a clean, safe, and inviting area. Retailers like Home Depot are still wildly successful and even some of the traditional mall behemoths, like Simon Properties and Brookfield’s, are seeing successful recoveries in many of their locations (Weber, 2020). When we look beyond the traditional market dynamics and begin to consider other demographic variables such as age, growth, culture-specific preferences, human emotions, digital conversion, post-COVID entertainment preferences, and a myriad of other variables, opportunities begin to emerge that would have been missed had policy-makers not scanned the market with more scrutiny and specificity. These conditions are certainly not limited to retail shopping. Industrial automation is another example of changing market dynamics that have made a rather predictable and steady sector quite vibrant again thanks to two emerging trends, according to global management consulting firm McKinsey and Company. Shifting growth patterns and the increasing pace of digitization are creating new opportunities to gain market share and create new value to levels not even completely understood, much less quantified (McKinsey and Company, 2022). Not coincidentally, new market dynamics are re-painting the urban design and land use landscapes as well. The market demands of 2021 do not line up with land uses and land use regulations crafted a century ago. To accommodate desirable development without throwing the Euclidian Zoning Code of Ordinances out the window, “planned development” zoning cases have become the fallback for many cities. Planned developments or

Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience  115 PDs are designed to create market-friendly entitlement options to avoid the strict application of outdated Euclidian zoning, which among many things, limits housing supply, encourages urban sprawl, and makes no provision for mixed uses (Watsky, 2018). The answer for cities arrived in the 1980s in the form of New Urbanism. Urban planners have touted the benefits of new urbanism now for almost half a century. Cities have been slower to latch on for reasons we will investigate later, but the idea is no longer new and virtually every city has adopted ordinances that reflect at least some of the tenets of new urbanism. According to the Charter of the New Urbanism, We advocate the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support the following principles: neighborhoods should be diverse in use and population; communities should be designed for the pedestrian and transit as well as the car; cities and towns should be shaped by physically defined and universally accessible public spaces and community institutions; urban places should be framed by architecture and landscape design that celebrate local history, climate, ecology, and building practice. (Congress for the New Urbanism, 2022) The policy tenets of the New Urbanism platform remain sound and will no doubt continue to dominate planning policy for decades to come. But even New Urbanism is not immune to changing market dynamics—a fact that has not gone without notice even to its patriarch, Andres Duani. Speaking at the 18th Annual Congress for New Urbanism, Duani was reported to have said, New Urbanism has been so successful that it has a lot of dinosaur DNA. The honchos are on board—you’ve seen them here. They want us to join them. Do we want to run among the dinosaurs, or among the mammals? I want to be among the mammals. (Lindsay, 2010) New Urbanism is not extinct and will not be extinct any time soon, despite Duani’s “circling the wagons” for the end of the world, but the economics of New Urbanism are becoming more and more problematic, not just for planners but for economic development professionals. Not everywhere can recreate small-town America. It has been endlessly tried and unfortunately has too often failed. City after city has become enticed by the lure of the quaint Mayberry-esque small-town with narrow streets, busy sidewalks, thriving retailers, and residential uses only a few peaceful and tranquil steps away. Add the newest dimension to the model, thriving community gardens where everyone can participate in growing their own food, and the result is

116  Trent O. Petty instant heaven on earth, right? Not so much. At its core, New Urbanism is about spacing. Putting more uses in a smaller space means less urban sprawl, less infrastructure cost, and less traffic. And therein lies the problem. More people in smaller spaces means most of the mixed-use development, and the financial justification, hinges on multi-family development—the very bane of suburban existence. And even after swallowing the bitter multi-family pill, communities find themselves pouring out huge incentives in the form of tax abatements, sales tax reimbursements, cash grants, and fee waivers to attract the mixed-use developers. If vertical mixed-use development, one of the most prevalent land uses in New Urbanism developments, is so completely sustainable, why do city after city have to pour out such huge incentives to attract them? Too often, innovative planning policy meets market viability like two trains on a collision course. Cities that have doled out millions of dollars betting on the coming of mixed-use development success and the resurrection of Mayberry in the heart of their community fall helpless back to earth to find full apartment complexes, hauntingly vacant retail and restaurant uses, and very angry constituents. Avoiding the proverbial collision of these two trains has become an ugly, dirt-under-the-fingernails, sweaty, exhausting endeavor of understanding market dynamics. Detailed cost-benefit analyses must be matched with multiple local demographic trends. The entitlement process alone can be the iceberg that sinks the ship, whether due to the time required to achieve the entitlement or the search for equity that rarely comes from traditional lending sources. Capital stacks become as tall as the Eiffel Tower and cities, unfortunately, rarely have the expertise to know how to evaluate the stack in a manner that will keep it from toppling over. Conversely, developments that attempt to integrate some, rather than all, elements of New Urbanism have a much better track record in terms of financing, but even horizontal mixed use development applications face uphill battles in meeting the community demands and conditions to attract high-end, sit-down restaurants, entertainment venues, and unique shopping experiences. Combine the pandemic fallout accelerating the dominance of e-commerce over traditional retail, and the market dynamics become even more complex and risky. Political Polarization Over 75% of local governments enjoy some relief from the partisan politics that has become the sole measure of state and federal government policy. Non-partisan elections not only provide voters the ability to focus on local needs rather than party politics, but also local elected officials tend to cooperate better when there is no political party affiliation backing their policy positions (National League of Cities, 2022). Nevertheless, there is no escape from the polarization of America, whether it be federal, state, or local government. Proximally speaking, local government must always be more accountable than state or federal government. When it comes

Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience  117 to local government, it is true that those that govern closest govern best. Local government serves the needs most basic of everyone. According to the Manhattan Institute, Americans trust their local governments because they are tasked with doing things we want; keeping us safe, educating our children, cleaning the streets. And while we have some say in who our nationally elected leaders are and what they do, it is hardly the sort of choice offered by our nearly 36,000 local governments. At the local level, we may vote with our feet as well as our ballots. (Hendrix, 2019) So how does national political polarization in 2021 migrate all the way down to local governments, despite both the structural and policy fences designed to keep it out? The primary impact of polarization on local government policy-making comes from a secondary source—social media. For the purposes of this chapter, social media will be defined as “Any form of online communication used by people to create networks, communities, and collectives to share information, ideas, messages, and other content, such as videos. Social media and politics have always been inseparable” (Jones, 2015). Social media has filled the void left by the demise of other forms of local communication like newspapers and even local network radio and television. With global social media users growing from less than 5% in the US in 2005 to a whopping 70% today, its not surprising that over 2.6 billion people in the world now consider themselves social media users (Jones, 2015). Social media has become as ubiquitous as the mobile phone. Whether it was originally intended to become the primary catalyst for political discourse around the world or whether it evolved organically really does not matter. What is important to realize is that social media has totally and completely hijacked or, depending on your perspective, been hijacked by those that feed the political polarization bear at every level of government. The same logic that holds that the best government is the closest government explains the popularity of sites like Nextdoor, which claims to be in over 90% of US neighborhoods (Lee, 2019). If city hall is two miles away and an “informed neighbor” is 50 feet away, then the closest source of information becomes the preferred source of information, regardless of its veracity or accuracy. And with the vitriol that characterizes almost all social media today, it’s not hard to see how the same anger and frustration fuel the antipathy for local governments. Virtually every form and level of government, regardless of size, location, or budget is fully committed to attempting to balance the social media scales with accurate and timely information that, while not always welcome, is generally reliable. But unfortunately, all those performance measures and policy guidelines mean little to a neighbor that was told by their neighbor on social media something to the contrary, because, as previously stated, the closest information is the most reliable information.

118  Trent O. Petty And unfortunately, many at the local level have fallen prey to the same partisan political hatred, stoked by the fire of social media, that now permeates state and federal government. This combination too often renders problem resolution and customer satisfaction at the local level impossible. Social media has created an institutional paradigm of distrust for even the government closest to the people. The result is two very measurable and very specific negative impacts on local growth policy, entitlement, and equity. The entitlement process can be daunting to say the very least. The process can take months depending on the city and incur costs well above six figures, all without moving a single shovel of dirt. The longer the entitlement process, the longer the due diligence period, the more hard money required to preserve purchase options, and the more time to raise opposition. Effective growth policy must condense entitlement processes and times for desired projects. Nothing can be done about opposition, nor should it. And ultimately a project will live or die based on nothing more than a wellconcealed popularity contest. What can be done, however, is affording prospects a streamlined, efficient process that covers the bases one time, reviews the project completely the first time, and moves the project’s zoning through in a timely fashion, one time. Land uses, project feasibility, and sustainability may all be dealt with on well-planned, well-vetted, concurrent agenda items occurring at the most over two public readings. This streamlining requires a level of coordination and oversight that is much more demanding than the traditional department-by-department review or even the oversight of a well-run development review committee. Economic potential, land use compatibility, environmental sensitivity, project sustainability, open space access, and place-making can all be achieved in a condensed time frame of review if coordinated properly by the local leadership team. Condensing the entitlement time frame can, and often is, the difference between positive and productive new growth or continued stagnation or decline. Directly tied to the entitlement process is the municipalities’ role in understanding the equity components of a project. What only a few years ago was clearly regarded as the purview of the private sector alone has become the purview of the public with the significant infusion of tax dollars commonly necessary to fill the equity holes. Effective growth policy depends on careful cost-benefit analysis that empirically measures both the risks and benefits of projects requesting local assistance. If a developer is unable or unwilling to share the details of the “capital stack” on which the project relies, the city should take it as a waving red flag and suspend discussions until the capital stack can be defined and defended. Projects that fail without this litmus test being applied at the beginning are rightly blamed on the city. The public has an absolute right to be secure in the fact that their hard-earned tax dollars are being applied to projects where the benefits empirically outweigh the risks and where the city is not assuming the lion’s share of the equity. As a rule, a project that places more than 20% of the capital risk on the city should be avoided. There are other tolerance thresholds that should be

Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience  119 applied to the capital stack, but for purposes herein, the concept must be understood and embraced to strengthen local growth policy. Eroding Local Authority The erosion of local authority is nothing new to local government. The most obvious example is the adoption of federal workplace initiatives and regulations that undermine the authority granted to state and local governments by the 10th Amendment by exerting more control over the relationship between public sector governments (as employers) and their employees. These are demonstrated in both the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) (GFOA, 1996). Local school boards have also seen the steady deterioration of their authority to shape the purpose and character of location education. As pervasive, if not as obvious, however, is the steady stripping of local government authority by state governments on matters of financial policy and even land use. From “bathroom bills” to “short-term rentals,” state governments are increasingly inclined to usurp local authority and control over local issues. This trend has a devastating impact on growth policy. The banner of property tax reform is now commonly used to justify stripping local governments of the ability to issue debt, control land uses, establish building standards, and annex property. Even though most local property taxes go to fund state-mandated education requirements, and cities make up on average less than 20% of the remainder, states lay the blame for property tax increases on cities. As a result, state legislatures are seeing that cities are losing the ability to issue debt, which severely undermines their ability to keep up with the demands of growth and totally re-writes growth policy. Regardless of whether the endgame, according to many local elected officials, is to do away with local decision-making authority altogether or to centralize all financial power at the state level, the city’s ability to cope with growth is being eliminated. If the reduction in the ability to pay for public improvements were not enough, add to the current challenge of local governments the loss of enforcement authority over even the most basic of building materials and standards approved in International Codes. This trend produces devastating results on communities that attempt to require visual harmony using building materials in combination with land use restrictions. Ironically, the aggressive centralization of government authority is no better illustrated than in the traditionally conservative State of Texas. In less than a decade, in the State of Texas, for example, cities may no longer annex properties to protect against undesirable land uses, they may no longer issue debt to pay for many categories of public improvements, and they may no longer restrict building materials used in construction. From Washington, DC, to local statehouses, America is moving rapidly toward centralized government that locates governmental power as far away as possible away from the people it is intended to serve.

120  Trent O. Petty Lack of Resilience The United Nations defines resilience as The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions. (EOD Resilience Resources, 2022) Deteriorating infrastructure is a global condition that is getting worse. Ironically, the United States spends far less per capita on infrastructure maintenance than other developed countries, and this condition promises to persist throughout the next 20 years or more, dramatically affecting global growth policy (McBride and Siripurapu, 2021). The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) estimates an infrastructure spending gap of $2.6 trillion in this decade and over $10 trillion by 2039 (Mirchandani, Jacobo, and Watson, 2021). The ASCE maintains an A–F grading system on 17 categories of infrastructure to provide a snapshot of US infrastructure conditions. The 2021 grades range from a B in rail to a D– in transit. Five category grades— aviation, drinking water, energy, inland waterways, and ports—went up, while just one category—bridges—went down. And stormwater infrastructure received its first grade: a disappointing D. Overall, 11 category grades were stuck in the D range, a clear signal that our overdue bill on infrastructure is a long way from being paid off (American Society of Civil Engineers, 2021). It is helpful to characterize resilience policy in terms of needs assessment. An excellent example of the needs associated with resilience is found in the publication Introducing Infrastructure Resilience, by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The authors express the following considerations: ●

●

● ●

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A need to focus both on improving the resilience of infrastructure itself and on how infrastructure impacts community resilience and livelihoods. The need for resilient infrastructure is global, but the greatest need tends to be in low-income countries. Critical infrastructure may include social infrastructure. A critical aspect of resilience is how individual structures interact at an infrastructure system scale as well. Infrastructure often lasts a long time, so climate and disaster risks should be considered over the full lifespan, which means infrastructure must be planned as part of wider climate resilient development strategy. (American Society of Civil Engineers, 2021)

Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience  121 If a foundational purpose of resilience policy is to resolve basic infrastructure needs, then metrics must be introduced to begin to move the dial toward a sustainable approach. In addressing seismic preparedness for California cities, Michel Bruneau and Andrei Reinhorn propose a series of broad principles that are necessary to catalyze and deploy resilience concepts at the local level (Bruneau and Reinhorn, 2006). They write: Resilience covers both “physical and societal systems” through four “R” principles: Robustness: strength, or the ability of elements, systems, and other measures of analysis to withstand a given level of stress or demand without suffering degradation or loss of function; Redundancy: the extent to which elements, systems, or other measures of analysis exist that are substitutable, i.e., capable of satisfying functional requirements in the event of disruption, degradation, or loss of functionality; Resourcefulness: the capacity to identify problems, establish priorities, and mobilize resources when conditions exist that threatens to disrupt some element, system, or other measures of analysis; Rapidity: the capacity to meet priorities and achieve goals in a timely manner to contain losses, recover functionality and avoid future disruption. Local growth policy must begin introducing resilience into development policy and project review as well as cost-benefit analyses. Especially for smaller cities, these metrics are not yet familiar, and as such, resilience has not been a component of growth policy. Capital project proposals tend to originate from existing department responsibilities like public works, airports, water and sewer operations, etc. And most funding is for new construction, while any remaining funds are allocated for maintenance, with the largest portion being dedicated to streets. Cities that are large enough to have enterprise funds for water and sewer are much more likely to fund capital maintenance of water treatment and distribution as well as sewer collection and treatment. For too many jurisdictions, however, the funds available for maintenance and repair of infrastructure are gathered from the few funds remaining after new projects with better public optics. This pattern, repeated year after year across cities all over the world, does not account for robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness, or rapidity as tragically illustrated by major weather events like Katrina, and any number of other hurricanes, earthquakes, and/or tornadoes. Even further down the policy agenda remain the unaddressed and unmet needs like social infrastructure, system interaction, and resilience strategies. Progress is slow, but new paradigms are emerging. The ASCE reports that federal, state, and local governments are making progress in recognizing the need for commitments to resilience with at least 25 major cities and states now employing chief resilience officers. These improvements were

122  Trent O. Petty made by elected officials from both sides of the aisle and with strong voter support. Programs like the Rockefeller Foundation–funded City Resiliency Framework provide a means of understanding some of these unfamiliar facets of resilience by taking into consideration the complexity of cities and the drivers that contribute to their resilience. Looking at these drivers can help cities to assess the extent of their resilience, to identify critical areas of weakness, and to identify actions and programs to improve the city’s resilience. (The Rockefeller Foundation, 2015) Failure to ignore the need for new tools and programs that redefine infrastructure will plague future growth policy at every level of government. Traditional funding sources will produce less, not more revenues to address this growing need. The unit of government most likely to be able to make a measurable difference in this arena is and always has been cities. As local government authority continues to erode and demands for local services continue to increase, local governments must identify new tools and approach policy decisions in a much more comprehensive manner. Tools for Local Governments Growth policy must incorporate new and dynamic disciplines gleaned from the comfort and familiarity of the old tenets of economic development, land use, and sustainability. Strategic resilience adds new dimensions to the traditional definitions of infrastructure. These advances should reflect the realities of evolving financial challenges and be applicable to the growing demands of our social infrastructure. State and local governments have existing tools that when applied with the intent of addressing a broader range of needs have proven useful in many instances. New legislative tools are still needed, however, to address unmet needs more effectively. Basic infrastructure has traditionally been the responsibility of the local city and county governments with private funding assistance that is proportionate to private needs. As the ability to issue debt becomes more and more squeezed, however, cities must increase their reliance on public–private partnerships to meet even the most basic of infrastructure needs. As local control over policy decisions like building standards or zoning is being stripped from cities, cities must adopt policy guidelines aimed at negotiated improvements rather than forced improvements. The loss of annexation authority means not only that anticipated revenues from “easy” greenfield growth must now be collected from difficult and more expensive redevelopment growth. This daunting set of challenges is what every student of growth policy must be forced to face and be equipped to overcome. In many cases, there are solutions that do not require legislative change or increased taxes on existing citizens. Properly crafted performance-based

Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience  123 incentives establish empirical performance criteria and financial consequences that completely protect the city’s investment and buffer local taxpayers from risk. These incentives are enumerated in a contract or development agreement between the city and the developer that stipulates the obligations of both parties and the terms of protection in the event of a breach. As such development agreements including cost-benefit analyses should accompany all city incentive agreements, whether financial or only in-kind contributions. The terms of the agreement become the means by which a city should establish new performance parameters involving resilience, land use, building standards, and all the elements that cities used to be able to enforce through ordinances. Thanks in large part to the catalytic conditions discussed herein, enforced conditions have become negotiated conditions—a circumstance that completely reconfigures the DNA of growth policy. Cities are under tremendous pressure to broaden their scope when it comes to growth policy. Often, the expectations of elected officials are not met by city staff when it comes to new business attraction and business retention. Similarly, resilience metrics and social considerations are still very foreign to most cities and have not made their way into mainstream economic development or land use policy. In order to understand how these new metrics may be formulated and executed, it is important to view the equation from the perspective of developers, not just cities. Stated succinctly, the ability of a city to attract desirable new business depends on three Es: equity, entitlement, and expediency. Equity represents the capital portion of a deal that the developer must bring to the table to secure financing. Many if not all major economic development deals require some level of equity assistance by the city for the developer. Using a conventional analogy, if a traditional loan requires 20% equity, then expect the prospect to ask the city to provide all or a portion of that obligation to “be competitive” with what other cities are offering. Entitlement is the process by which a prospect achieves zoning and permits from the city to construct a project. If the entitlement process reveals alarming elements (traffic, noise, pollution, congestion, density, etc.), the public will make it very difficult for elected and appointed officials to approve the project. The longer and more divisive the entitlement process takes, the less likely the deal will come to fruition. Entitlement works hand and hand with expediency. Notwithstanding the normal difficulties associated with zoning and public hearings, the city’s process must be streamlined so that once the public aspects of the project are satisfied, the project can move quickly forward. The winner of the competition between cities for desirable developments is usually determined by the best handling of the three Es. The definition of “desirable development” like the definition of quality is subjective, but in most cases, people know it when they see it. Local government leaders must expand their definition of desirable development to include very visible features of resilience. With the appointment of a chief resiliency officer, Houston provides an example of how the definition

124  Trent O. Petty of desirable development is changing. Beyond how many jobs a business creates, beyond the additional tax base, beyond the sales tax revenue, and even beyond the social goals of fair and equitable housing and community services, Houston and Dallas have both established themselves as leaders in growth policy that embraces resilience by incorporating city-wide resilience goals. Goals like “We will support Houstonians to be prepared for an uncertain future” and “We will build up, not out, to promote smart growth as Houston’s population increases” are setting new standards of desirability (Turner, 2020). Resilient Dallas includes similar efforts such as “Support and leverage the leadership of academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic foundations working to fill science and data gaps to bring best practices to Dallas and North Texas” (City of Dallas, 2022). While these goals have not yet been as well defined in their level of activity and performance measures such as those in more traditional service sectors, the seed is planted and will no doubt continue to grow. Economic development prospect harvesting must now incorporate similar expectations on a broader scale and these expectations must become a part of the “negotiated conditions” enumerated in development agreements. This shift represents more than additional pages in the budget or excerpts in the vision document. In many cases, it also represents a significant change in traditional core beliefs about the role of local government. There exists a “comfort tolerance” for growth policy that defines the willingness of local government to take risks and lead, rather than just respond to change. This default position of many cities is referred to herein as the “market response” mode. In this mode, local government simply waits for market conditions to mature to the point that the city’s definition of desirable development is met. This mode is not accompanied by significant incentives or aggressive attraction efforts. It is still a very politically popular policy position in many cities that oppose public incentives altogether. More familiar are cities that fall into the “market influence” mode. Growth policy in this example more aggressively explores financial incentives and other considerations that are intended to nudge existing market feasibility forward. But the tactics that must accompany our expanded growth policy model must deploy a third, less frequent circumstance we will call the “market initiation” mode. In this mode, the market or the desired condition does not exist and there is little hope on the horizon that the marketplace on its own will advance its feasibility. Market initiation is a much more controversial policy position that few cities have historically been willing to take when it comes to traditional economic development protocols due to the extreme risk associated with failure. Unfortunately, absent a “market initiation” trajectory, many of the broad changes necessary to meet today’s needs will continue to go unmet. This requires tremendous courage and vision at every level of government. Market initiation applied to traditional business attraction means that a city is willing to take on a higher portion of risk than is traditionally

Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience  125 assumed. When it comes to high-tech, highly desirable businesses, the competition with other cities can quickly become a race to the bottom with little justification beyond good quality jobs. Tax abatements, fee waivers, and sales tax reimbursements as well as upfront cash have been the standard for business attraction, even though these incentives may not be necessary or even applicable to many of today’s high-tech firms. Leroy and Feldman point out that using “old economy” incentives for “new economy” firms can be costly and counterproductive. The “lots of eggs in one basket” strategy is especially ill-suited. But many public leaders haven’t switched gears yet, often putting taxpayers at great risk, especially because some tech companies have become very aggressive about demanding big tax breaks. Companies with famous names are even more irresistible to politicians who want to look active on jobs. (LeRoy and Feldman, 2018) While market initiation strategies may not be appropriate for traditional business attraction, it is a viable if not essential strategy for successful resilience efforts. Healthy neighborhoods require healthy housing, healthy housing requires proper drainage, and proper drainage requires updated floodplain studies and improvements. None of these are likely to occur based on private sector investment alone. Effective resilience strategies require market initiation thinking, not market response thinking. Resilience then becomes not only a function of new policies to address new needs but a completely different way of thinking about growth policy that expands cost/benefit thinking and new metrics designed to execute broader goals and objectives. New tools are also required to secure capital even for traditional infrastructure needs. With the erosion of annexation authority and the corresponding user fees that accompany bringing in new payers, combined with local government constraints on issuing debt, local governments have few alternatives to be able to extend basic services. A new range of public–private partnership tools is emerging to meet capital needs, especially in market-challenged, mixed-use areas. One combination utilizes reinvestment zones and public improvement districts. Reinvestment zones are commonly used to encourage or match private sector investment to pay for necessary public improvements within the zone. The challenge with many reinvestment zones is that cities find that the portion of increment needed to support the cost of public infrastructure does not leave adequate funds from the new increment to cover the new levels of service needed to serve the project. When a public improvement district (PID) is placed over the area in conjunction with a reinvestment zone, the PID layers a new level of assessment over the property which dramatically reduces the need for reinvestment zone financing. The remaining increment is used to reduce

126  Trent O. Petty the PID assessment to at or below what the market will tolerate in terms of the overall tax burden. The PID debt is backed by the value of the property inside the PID and unlike certificates of obligation, general obligations, and tax anticipation notes, which rely on the full faith and credit of the city, the PID debt relies only on the property assessment for repayment. This not only insulates the city from any bond recourse but also eliminates the taxpayer subsidies that reduce the dollars necessary to pay for basic levels of service. Even with emerging new tools and techniques, additional assistance from state and federal sources are necessary to begin to fill the infrastructure readiness gap, especially when it comes to water and wastewater. State agencies must become more creative in leveraging state bonding capacity to fund local and regional water and sewer improvements that are costprohibitive for most cities. Failing to do so will mean the proliferation of temporary and inferior solutions like sewer package plants which not only pose a greater danger to the environment but rely on inadequately trained and certified operators.

Summary Today’s growth policy requires a new attitude toward traditional roles and responsibilities. Paradigms of the past that segregated economic development, land use, community development, housing authorities, and even public safety are no longer adequate. As these professional disciplines merge, new tools and new ideas emerge from the broader expectations for service and coordination. Cities have been and always will be the most accountable and responsive form of government in the world. Despite centralization tendencies and ever-reducing revenue streams, cities will be the “first responders” to local needs. Embracing new growth policy needs means being willing to adopt new organizational structures based on new organization theory designed to meet much broader and more complex citizen needs. Thirty-three years ago, Eisinger characterized new programs and new thinking that redefined the entrepreneurial state as “seeds of genuine transformation” (Eisinger, 1989, p. 342). Unfortunately, many of these seeds have taken far too long to germinate and have yielded a disappointing harvest. Local government must take the lead in advancing our siloed disciplines into a new combined effort to establish comprehensive growth policy to improve our cities and re-establish our role as truly transformative.

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128  Trent O. Petty Jones, Matthew, 2015. “The Complete History of Social Media: A Timeline of the Invention of Online Networking”. History Cooperative. June 16, 2015. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://historycooperative​.org​/the​-history​-of​-social​-media/. Kaplan, Edward, 1999. The Bank of the United States and the American Economy. ABC-CLIO. ISBN: 9780313371523. Lee, Diana, 2019. “What You Should Know about the Nextdoor App”. WSPA Channel, 7 News, January 2, 2019. https://www​.wspa​.com​/news​/what​-you​ -should​-know​-about​-the​-nextdoor​-app/. LeRoy, Greg and Feldman, Maryann, 2018. “Cities Need to Stop Selling Out to Big Tech Companies. There’s a Better Way”. July 3, 2018. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://www​.theguardian​.com​/cities​/2018​/jul​/03​/cities​-need​-to​-stop​-selling​ -out​-to​-big​-tech​-companies​-theres​-a​-better​-way. Lindsay, Greg, 2010. “New Urbanism for the Apocalypse”. Fast Company. May 24, 2010. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://www​.fastcompany​.com​/1651619​ /new​-urbanism​-apocalypse. Mann, Arthur, 1959. LaGuardia: A Fighter against His Times. J. B. Lippincott Co. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://archive​.org​/details​/tig​erri​sefa​llof​t00alle​/ page​/n13​/mode​/2up​?q​=philadelphia. McBride, James and Siripurapu, Anshu, 2021. “The State of U.S. Infrastructure”. Council on Foreign Relations. November 8, 2021. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://www​.cfr​.org​/backgrounder​/state​-us​-infrastructure. McKinsey and Company, 2022. “Changing Market Dynamics”. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://www​.mckinsey​.com/~​/media​/McKinsey​/Industries​ /Advanced​ % 20Electronics​ / Our​ % 20Insights ​ / Capturing ​ % 20value ​ % 20in​ %20machinery ​ % 20and ​ % 20industrial ​ % 20automation ​ % 20as ​ % 20market​ %20dynamics ​ % 20change​ / Changing​ - market​ - dynamics ​ - Capturing ​ - value ​ - in​ -machinery​-VF​.pdf. Mirchandani, Dolly, Jacobo, Armando Rivera, and Watson, Claire, 2021. “US Infrastructure 2021–22: The Path to Growth”. White & Case. October 21, 2021. Retrieved on February 18, 2022. https://www​.whitecase​.com​/publications​ /insight​/us​-infrastructure​-2021​/us​-infrastructure. Mosher, James, 2017. “Panic of 1907: The Short Crisis That Began Money’s Long Fall”. American Institute for Economic Research. June 16, 2017. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://www​.aier​.org​/research​/panic​-of​-1907​-the​-short​-crisis​ -that​-began​-moneys​-long​-fall/. National League of Cities, 2022. “Cities 101 – Partisan and Non-partisan Elections”. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://www​.nlc​.org​/resource​/cities​ -101​-partisan​-and​-non​-partisan​-elections/. OER Services, 2022. “Economic Development during the Civil War and Reconstruction”. US History I (AY Collection), Reconstruction. Retrieved on February 18, 2022. https://courses​.lumenlearning​.com​/suny​-ushistory1ay​/ chapter​/economic​-development​-during​-the​-civil​-war​-and​-reconstruction​-2/. Pew Research Center, 2008. “Section 2: Causes and Consequences of the Financial Crisis”. October 15, 2008. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://www​ .pewresearch​.org​/politics​/2008​/10​/15​/section​-2​-causes​-and​-consequences​-of​-the​ -financial​-crisis/. Sager, Fritz and Rosser, Christian, 2009. “Weber, Wilson, and Hegel: Theories of Modern Bureaucracy”. Public Administration Review, 69(6), 1136–1147. www​ .jstor​.org​/stable​/40469034.

Economic Development, Land Use, and Resilience  129 Serageldin, Mona, Jones, David, Vigier, François and Sollosa, Elda, 2008. “Municipal financing and urban development”. With the Assistance of: Shannon Bassett, Balakrishna Menon, Luis Valenzuela Center for Urban Development Studies, Harvard Design School, Cambridge, United States of America. United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), Nariobi 2008. Retrieved on February 15, 2022. https://unhabitat​.org​/sites​/default​/files​/download​-manager​ -files​/Municipal​%20Finance​%20and​%20Urban​%20Development​.pdf. Shi, David Emory and Tindall, George Brown, 2016. America: A Narrative History Brief 10E, 1, W.W. Norton and Company. Taylor, Frederick, 1919. The Principles of Scientific Management. Harper & Brothers Publishers. The Rockefeller Foundation, 2015. “City Resilience Framework”. December 2015. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://www​.roc​kefe​ller​foun​dation​.org​/report​/ city​-resilience​-framework/. Thomas, Lauren, 2020. “A Third of America’s Malls Will Disappear by Next Year, Says Ex-Department Store Exec”. CNBC. June 10, 2020. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://www​.cnbc​.com​/2020​/06​/10​/a​-third​-of​-americas​-malls​-will​ -disappear​-by​-next​-year​-jan​-kniffen​.html. Turner, Sylvester, 2020. “Resilient Houston”. City of Houston. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. http://www​.houstontx​.gov​/mayor​/Resilient​-Houston​ -20200518​-single​-page​.pdf. U.S. History, 2022. “U.S. History 18b. Hamilton’s Financial Plan”. USHistory​.or​g. Retrieved on February 18, 2022. https://www​.ushistory​.org​/us​/18b​.asp. Watsky, Rachael, 2018. “The Problems with Euclidean Zoning”. Boston University School of Law. July 19, 2018. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://sites​.bu​ .edu​/dome​/2018​/07​/19​/the​-problems​-with​-euclidean​-zoning/. Weber, Johnathan, 2020. “Class A Malls Have More Upside in 2021”. Seeking, Alpha. December 28, 2020. Retrieved on February 16, 2022. https://seekingalpha​ .com​/article​/4396413​-class​-malls​-upside​-in​-2021.

8

E-Government, Privacy, Technology, and Innovation Joe Beauchamp

Introduction Information systems serve as the backbone of today’s global business transactions. From the retail and service sectors to production and manufacturing, information technology’s role in supporting those and many other business processes has steadily increased since Tim Berners-Lee created the world’s first web browser in 1990 (Berners-Lee, 1998). The Pew Research Center reports that in the year 2000, 52% of US adults used the internet. By 2019, nine out of ten US adults regularly used the internet (Pew Research Center, 2019). Since the early days of the World Wide Web, individuals, businesses, and governments have found ways to harness technologies to change and enhance people’s daily lives across the globe. As the internet has grown, federal, state, tribal, and local governments have adopted electronic platforms to engage with citizens in more ways than just providing information. In recent years, local governments have allowed citizens to pay bills online, sign up for services, and access virtual libraries. From 2018 to 2019, there was a 20% increase in the number of digital books borrowed from libraries and schools, bringing the total to 326 million in 2019 (Watson, 2020). With each passing year and a citizenry with growing technology demands, municipalities strive to embrace, implement, and deliver innovative digital solutions. Leaders and elected officials working within local governments must balance expenses on technology solutions with driving efficiencies gained through innovative e-government platforms. With the growth of digital offerings, issues concerning one’s digital privacy are a pressing issue. Headlines concerning major data breaches are occurring on almost a daily basis. The personal data of over 500 million Facebook users appeared online in 2021 (Wagoner, 2021). This trove of data is available for a fee and includes phone numbers, locations, email addresses, and biographical information (Holmes, 2021). Yet, there is a line in the sand posing privacy advocates against internet service providers. Governments, especially local governments, sit on a wealth of data and face challenges balancing the effective use of technology with citizens’ digital privacy. DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-8

E-Government, Privacy, Technology  131 Managing a digitally connected public creates significant challenges when trying to drive and foster technological innovation in government. People are accustomed to downloading “free” mobile applications, seemingly unaware that they allow companies to harvest private information residing on their mobile phones. Local governments face challenges in funding and implementing solutions based on new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. And therein lies the major challenge faced by local governments: balancing costs with innovation. This chapter focuses on understanding and exploring the triad of e-government, privacy, and technological innovation. These are not necessarily unique to a local government, but they require thoughtful design, implementation, and management by local government staff and elected officials. The digital landscape is constantly evolving. It wasn’t too long ago that discussions referencing cloud-based solutions would result in more questions than substantive discourse. In short, when it involves technology, things move fast. E-Government E-government, broadly defined, uses information technologies, including the internet, mobile computing, and wide area networks, to transform interactions with citizens, businesses, and other governmental branches (World Bank, 2015). This concept can apply to everything from “online government services to the exchange of information and services electronically with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government” (United Nations, 2021). Yet, with all the available technology, governments still struggle to deliver effective digital solutions. Jason Baumgarten and Michael Chui, both with McKinsey & Company, identified three obstacles faced with new e-government initiatives: 1. A lack of governance 2. Limited web-related capabilities 3. A reluctance to allow user participation in application and content creation (Baumgarten and Chui, 2009) Another constantly changing aspect is that the average citizen’s technology profile continues to evolve. According to the Pew Research Center, as of February 2021, 97% of US adults actively use cell phones, with 85% regularly using smartphones (Pew Research Center, 2021). It is not enough that local governments utilize e-government services; they must also be mobilefriendly and designed to meet the needs of a citizenry on the go with services delivered via mobile devices. The United Nations E-Government Survey 2020 found that local governments continue to “chase the digital wave” due to rapid changes and developments in technology. The study notes that “local governments are increasingly embracing digital technologies for a variety of purposes” (United Nations

132  Joe Beauchamp Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2020). The current environment continues to create challenges when hiring key personnel within the allotted financial constraints. Local governments are losing qualified candidates to the private sector. Applicants are also seeking remote work options, among the key benefits currently offered by many large and small corporations. The most notable example that clearly illustrates the daunting task of finding the right applicant occurred when Albuquerque, New Mexico, a city with a population of over 560,000, held an online job fair in 2020 where three people showed up (Dmitrieva, Albright, and Pickert, 2021). As municipalities work to embrace e-government, the obstacles appear to be unrelated to technology. Globally, for-profit companies leverage technological advances to innovate and drive production and services. Yet, when it comes to federal, state, and local governments, technology initiatives often stall, never receive approval, or lack adoption. Jared Mondschein and Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, both with the RAND Corporation, connect the challenges not to a lack of technology, but rather to “the longstanding and persistent obstacles associated with navigating the incredibly complex social and organizational processes that underpin the smart city environment” (Mondschein and Clark-Ginsberg, 2021). Information technology managers should focus their efforts on framing technology solutions for political accomplishments and economic gains. Albert Meijer (Utrecht University, Netherlands) and Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar (University of Granada, Spain) conducted a formal review of the literature on smart cities and found that publications differ in their emphasis on the following: 1) Smart technology, smart people, or smart collaboration as the defining features of smart cities 2) A transformative or incremental perspective on changes in urban governance 3) Better outcomes or a more open process as the legitimacy claim for smart city governance (Bolívar and Meijer, 2016) The concept of e-government has transitioned into the smart city landscape and encompasses far more than just implementing new technology.

Smart City Leaders in the public sector face the merging of e-government (electronic), i-government (information), and m-government (mobile) into a unified and acceptable digital solution for their citizens. Municipalities throughout the United States have benefited from smart city initiatives: putting data and technology to work that enables better decisions and improves the quality of life (Woetzel et al., 2018). It seems that the idea, if not the name, of a “smart city” has existed for hundreds of years. Ancient Romans enjoyed a

E-Government, Privacy, Technology  133 steady water supply delivered through aqueducts and the ability to dispose of waste through sewers. Researchers discovered lead pipes dating back to around 200 BCE buried below a Roman harbor called Ostia (Price, 2017). Indeed, contemporaries of the time considered this a technological breakthrough when compared to other less ideal options. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that our current model of a smart city began to emerge. In 1962, Los Angeles submitted a funding request to the Ford Foundation (Vallianatos, 2015). The goal was to create “A Metropolitan Area Fact Bank for the Greater Los Angeles Area.” Although initially denied, the city eventually received federal funds, and in 1967 the Los Angeles Community Analysis Bureau was born (Vallianatos, 2015). The newly formed agency began using existing data sources, cluster analysis, and infrared aerial photography to produce neighborhood demographics and housing quality reports. This data was analyzed and compiled into a report released in 1974: The State of the City: A Cluster Analysis of Los Angeles (Brasuell, 2015). This early initiative utilized technology in new ways to harness data previously analyzed on a qualitative basis. With empirical data in hand, staff and civic leaders became empowered to begin making data-driven decisions. The idea of a smart city began to emerge with its foundations being in the use of innovative technology, big data,1 and improving the lives of the community. Now, decades later, the definition of a smart city has become cloudy. Bloomberg CityLab’s Kevin Rogan notes that there is more than one applicable definition. On the one hand, it is “the intersection of digital technology, disruptive innovation, and urban environment” and, on the other, “a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital and telecommunication technologies” (Rogan, 2019). With the addition of artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies, the smart city landscape now incorporates big data, smart sensors, and advanced analytics (Tomer, 2019). A smart city uses technology to produce an innovative solution that broadly impacts the quality of life for the public. Smart cities address the following challenges: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Providing an economic base Building efficient urban infrastructure Improving the quality of life and place Ensuring social integration Conserving natural environmental qualities Guaranteeing good governance (Yigitcanlar and Sang, 2014)

A smart city infrastructure can be complex but must consist of the following eight components: 1) Smart infrastructure—city facilities (i.e., water and energy networks, streets, buildings, etc.) with embedded smart technology (i.e., sensors, smart grids, etc.)

134  Joe Beauchamp 2) Smart transportation (or smart mobility)—transportation networks with enhanced embedded real-time monitoring and control systems 3) Smart environment—innovation and ICT incorporation for natural resource protection and management (waste management systems, emission control, recycling, sensors for pollution monitoring, etc.) 4) Smart services—utilization of technology and ICT for health, education, tourism, safety, response control (surveillance), etc., service provision across the entire city 5) Smart governance—smart government establishment in the urban space, accompanied by technology for participation and engagement 6) Smart people—measures that enhance individual creativity and open innovation 7) Smart living—innovation for enhancing the quality of life and livability in the urban space 8) Smart economy—technology and innovation for strengthening business development, employment, and urban growth (Anthopoulos, 2017) The International Data Corporation (IDC) spending forecast in 2020 indicated expenditures of over $124 billion on smart city initiatives, an increase of 18.9% over the previous year (International Data Corporation, 2020). For smart cities, the future is bright. Current opportunities lie in the areas of innovative information and communication technologies (ICT), the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and the use of aerial drones. These technologies can significantly improve efficiencies and ultimately benefit the citizenry. Yet significant issues remain with storing and accessing the vast amounts of data produced with these technologies and protecting the rights of individuals who often unwittingly contribute to the growing data sets.

Privacy In March 2021, adhering to Apple’s new privacy mandates established in 2020, Google disclosed what and how much data the Chrome web browser tracks and links back to the individual (Doffman, 2021). The average person is typically unaware of how much their online activity is stored, tracked, and analyzed. The world in which we live today is seemingly full of mistrust. People are skeptical of legitimate data collection by corporations due to the near-daily announcements of significant breaches in cybersecurity. They often make fear-based decisions when it comes to their digital trail. One notable example is the offer of “free” Wi-Fi that some municipalities provide to their communities. Typically, the service company can collect, store, and analyze the users’ data, location, and behavioral patterns (The Conversation, 2016). In April 2017, President Donald Trump signed a repeal of existing broadband privacy rules that required internet service providers to increase

E-Government, Privacy, Technology  135 efforts to protect their customers’ privacy (Shepardson, 2017). A noted cybersecurity technologist, fellow, and lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy ­ School, Bruce Schneier, feels the public should remain wary. He references Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations about the mass surveillance of American telephone records by the National Security Administration (NSA) as a turning point (Mineo, 2017). The result is a populous leery of governmental overreach. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seemed to have vindicated Snowden by ruling on September 2, 2020, that “the warrantless telephone dragnet that secretly collected millions of Americans’ telephone records violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and may well have been unconstitutional” (Satter, 2020). The distrust that many Americans feel for “government” also includes local government. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, communities became polarized when some local officials seeking to protect their communities imposed lockdown orders. Few had felt the full impact of eroding confidence in local government to the degree that Dr. Cameron Kaiser, Chief Medical Officer for Riverside County, California, did when the public blamed him for infringing on their rights. “We never really dealt with a situation where people simply told us to go jump in a lake when we had to make those necessary orders to protect society” (Kounang, 2021). After nine years on the job, the county board terminated his employment, and he became one of approximately 250 public health officials who left their jobs (Kettl, 2021). When servicing the public, it is a delicate balancing act managing individuals’ rights with the needs of the greater good. Getting access to private data often has only a financial barrier. Geofeedia and Venntel are two companies that offer data for sale to, among other customers, law enforcement agencies. The following federal law enforcement agencies purchase private data without the need for a warrant: ● ● ● ● ●

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (Morrison, 2020)

In addition to the federal agencies, state and local law enforcement departments have also paid for social media data (Cooke, 2016). Fears of a surveillance state at all levels of government remain. The result is unique challenges that local government staff must deal with to achieve a smart city. Advances in technology and increased use of digital and mobile technologies make for a comprehensive digital footprint. On top of keeping up with the latest technologies, limited staffing options, and shrinking budgets, leaders in local government must keep in mind the growing public distrust. To

136  Joe Beauchamp be effective, civic leaders should focus on rebuilding the government–citizen relationship by delivering on promises and delivering city services with little to no mishaps. By enhancing the customer experience, those working in the public sector can change the perception of a disconnected entity that is historically behind the technology curve. Specifically, change can be promoted by following a three-phase process: 1. Figure out what matters 2. Redesign experiences to reduce the equity gap 3. Implement interventions to address inequity (D’Emidio et al., 2021) By focusing on transactional services, local government technology leaders can strengthen the trust level between the public and their immediate government. Transactional services can include: ● ● ● ●

Online permitting options Online payment processing for city services Enhanced library technologies Digital access to current municipal information

A study conducted by McKinsey found that interactions between individuals and local government officials play a crucial role in enhancing or damaging trust in government (Kettl, 2021). Exchanges between constituents and all levels of government improve with a renewed emphasis on the customer experience.

Technology and Innovation The idea of government and the innovative use of technology is often an incongruent concept in the minds of many people. Traditionally, the public sector adopted newer technologies at a snail’s pace. But within recent years, the mantra of “do more with less” has driven both the private and public sectors to embrace new technologies in the hope of eliminating inefficiencies. Municipalities seeking to streamline operations began implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and adopting internet-based solutions to gain efficiencies and offer better reporting. A 2012 report by Microsoft and the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) surveyed 268 organizations on the challenges and benefits of ERP systems. The report found that organizations with recent ERP implementations were overall satisfied with the result, but few could quantify the benefit; the key takeaway is that 75% felt the implementation fell short of expectations (Microsoft Corp. and Government Finance Officers Association, 2012). Current trends indicate a more nuanced approach with technology managers and municipal officials working to combine strategy and technology.

E-Government, Privacy, Technology  137 As the physical world slowly merges with the digital realm, municipalities stand to reap significant improvements in operations. Alignment between technology-related initiatives and the organization’s strategic objectives can help foster adoption and overall success. City staff and elected officials should identify every touchpoint that exists between the organization and a technical interface. Technology managers must identify legacy systems and evaluate opportunities to upgrade them. Deloitte identified current trends in government technology and published a report showing that leaders should: ● ● ● ● ● ●

●

●

●

Align technology choices to mission strategies Extract value from leveraging existing assets Use advanced technologies to transform the supply chain Utilize artificial intelligence to augment decisions and productivity Tap into existing data to enhance data-driven decisions Strengthen cybersecurity policies by implementing zero-trust environments Use modern collaboration technology to improve team interactions and productivity Tap into the virtual world to provide constituents with interactions similar to the private sector Increase efforts to identify, recruit, and manage a diverse workforce (Deloitte, 2021)

The evolving nature of technology fundamentally misaligns with the bureaucratic tendencies associated with local government. This evolution makes it difficult to take advantage of improvements in software applications. It also increases the chances of buying the wrong product and of failed installations. Furthermore, it increases resistance among the end-users and can lead to blatant failures and mistrust. The addition of a government technology steering committee challenged with bringing efficient solutions to the organization can help leaders at all levels. The committee should focus on and formalize monitoring, reviewing, and prioritizing technology projects. The two primary goals of the committee are: 1. Ensure alignment between technology projects and organizational strategies 2. Ensure all departments are involved in the decision-making process (Kaplan, 2012) Information technology steering committees are not the final solution. Up to 88% of these committees fail due to ill-defined responsibilities, lack of processes, and lack of accountability (InfoTech, 2010). When setting up a steering committee, establish a charter and clearly defined objectives. The prospect of implementing new technology with the potential to make a positive impact on productivity is significant when it comes to artificial

138  Joe Beauchamp intelligence and machine learning applications. Although these two topics are consistently in the news, many people do not understand what they are and how they differ. Additionally, irrational fears regarding artificial intelligence remain firmly entrenched in the minds of many. Another challenging aspect is that there is no single unifying definition. Deconstructing the subject may help with understanding what AI is at its core. Modern applications contain an underlying set of code. The code provides instructions to the computer in an algorithm—a group of procedures or steps that tell the computer what to do. This is similar to a recipe for a meal. Just like when preparing a recipe, computer applications need a human operator. In the world of computers, the user interface (UI) interacts with the application to create output. Artificial intelligence is the process of creating output without the need for a human operator: the removal of the user interface. More formally stated, artificial intelligence refers to the ability of a computer to make decisions that would typically require a human (West, 2018). A key attribute of AI is machine learning—algorithms that learn from data to solve problems (Heller, 2019). A common example of ML is the use of it by credit card companies to detect fraud. In these scenarios, the algorithm detects anomalies within transactions and then identifies the customer. Governments should explore the use of advanced technologies. Implementing components of AI and ML takes careful forethought and planning. In some cases, it may require a complete retooling of the existing information technology infrastructure. Keeping the general public’s concern about AI in mind is necessary to adopt the technology successfully. Organizations should review these six areas before undertaking an AI implementation: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Strategy—alignment with organizational goals People—technical skills needed for AI Processes—create processes and controls for a successful implementation Data—a data governance policy needs to be in place Technology and platforms—the infrastructure and platform Ethics—identify ways to find and eliminate bias (Van Buren, Chew, and Eggers, 2020)

Businesses are beginning to use robotic process automation (RPA). This technology uses predefined rules to automate manual tasks. The “bots” are software-based algorithms that can replace repetitive tasks assigned to humans (GSA, 2019). Scott Mastellon, Commissioner at Suffolk County Department of Information Technology in New York, spearheaded an RPA implementation to help increase productivity and reduce the need for repetitive tasks related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Within 11 days, they trained an RPA-based solution to perform the tasks of 15 people and were processing 1,500 cases daily (ATARC, 2021). Local government stands to achieve significant gains by utilizing these advanced technologies.

E-Government, Privacy, Technology  139 At the heart of AI is data. Local governments accumulate and retain vast amounts of data daily. These data sets often remain unexplored and unmined. This prevents management from taking full advantage of the datadriven decision-making framework. Harnessing value from large data sets requires a fundamental understanding of business analytics. There are many types of analytics, but most are subsets of four broader categories: 1. Descriptive analytics—an analysis of historical data to derive meaning and gain insights 2. Predictive analytics—the use of historical data to determine the probability of a future event 3. Diagnostic analytics—an analysis of a data set to identify root cause problems 4. Prescriptive analytics—an analysis of data to review options and a preferred outcome (Gavin, 2019) Most law enforcement officers are familiar with Compstat, a tool devised by NYPD Police Commissioner William Bratton in 1994. The tool was an answer to the problems with the department’s outdated crime data. Essentially, Compstat used descriptive analytics to provide officers with updated information on the type of crimes, their frequency, location, time of day, and much more (Bureau of Justice Assistance US Department of Justice, 2013). While Compstat was revolutionary, issues began to arise when the analysis of crime data moved into predictive analytics with AI. In 2019, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore announced plans to eliminate a program that identified individuals most likely to commit violent crimes. Critics felt the statistics unfairly marked the Black and Latino population at a higher rate (Puente, 2019). Bias is a disruptive component of AI. Whether built into data or created by the AI system, decisions based on flawed data can result in unfair and sometimes unlawful actions (Balko, 2020). While some agencies have ceased to use AI-based predictive policing applications, others are adopting a new method to identify trends in criminal activity. Risk terrain modeling (RTM) appears to pick up where other tools have failed. This type of analysis uses data to compute the probability of crime occurring using a “composite model of spatial vulnerabilities to crime at micro places” (Risk Terrain Modeling, 2015). The Dallas Police Department began applying the RTM model in 2020 to reduce crime by focusing on places and not people (Garcia, 2020). This type of software is a welcome byproduct in the quest for AI and ML to improve the community.

Summary Leaders and elected officials face many growing challenges with trying to deliver services to the community. These challenges show no sign of fading

140  Joe Beauchamp away. The pace of advancement within information technology continues to pose innovation against privacy, budget constraints against leveraging technological efficiencies, and managing service delivery to a public that demands “ease of use” applications often associated with the private sector. To combat these challenges, government leaders, city officials, and information technology managers must improve the customer experience, focus on transparency, enhance transactional services, and understand that data privacy now comprises every aspect of an individual’s daily life. Caution is urged in managing the public’s perception of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Staff and elected officials must carefully weigh risks and rewards. When championing the addition and implementation of new technologies, technology managers should work collaboratively with elected officials and the public, showing gains and achievements in alignment with municipal and public agendas. Adopting a relationship-building model and transparent decision-making will improve the public’s trust and the general quality of life. Becoming a smart city that values and recognizes the nuances involved with delivering innovative solutions while respecting data privacy constraints is a multi-step process. It requires “tone at the top” management and a focus on bridging the divide between government technology and people.

Note 1 Big data refers to large (terabytes to zettabytes) complex data sets that often stem from disparate data sources and include data that are structured, semistructured, and unstructured (Oracle, Inc., n.d.).

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9

The Sharing Economy A Disruptive Innovator for City Government Jeffrey H. Moshier

Introduction The sharing economy (SE) represents a phenomenon that ten years ago Time Magazine included in its “10 Ideas That Will Change the World” (Walsh 2011). This prediction resonates because sharing economy organizations (SEOs) such as Uber, Airbnb, and Lending Club already challenge the size and scale of traditional businesses in their sectors (Penn and Wihbey 2016). Looking forward, “Price Waterhouse Coopers estimates that the sharing economy could generate more than $335 billion in revenues by 2025” (Staub 2019). Despite this economic clout, the regulation of this growing economy is usually left to municipalities, large and small. Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski note that, “The sharing economy is having a transformative impact on our cities, and many municipalities are facing a challenge—how to systematically engage with the sharing economy to both mitigate its negative and enhance its positive impacts” (2021). Described in a variety of ways, the SE encompasses collaborative consumption (Anglada and Hernández Lara 2020), peer-to-peer or peer consumption (Investopedia 2020), and the gig economy (Mair and Reischauer 2017). Most theories agree that the SE is an urban phenomenon rising from the spread of information and communications technologies (ICT), such as convenient online access, cell phones, and large-scale infrastructure platforms. These advances give microbusiness providers and consumers a way to easily connect through platform organizations such as Airbnb, Uber, or Lyft to rent underutilized assets. The transactions from these sharing practices create new revenue streams and reduce the need for ownership (Pouri and Hilty 2021). In addition, the SE includes “nonmonetary transactions such as sharing, swapping and trading” (Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen 2016). The growth of the SE has rapidly moved beyond its beginnings in eBay, Uber, and Airbnb to penetrate broad sectors of the economy, making it more and more difficult to regulate this market segment (Geissinger, Laurell, and Sandström 2020) . Proponents of the SE and SEOs use “feel-good rhetoric” about the advances this sector offers (Frenken and Schor 2017). The claims are that DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-9

The Sharing Economy  145 these innovations include a more equitable economic system, meaningful social connections, and sustainable consumption (Martin, Upham, and Klapper 2017). Driven by the large online platforms, the peer-to-peer rental market has surprised businesses and communities by nurturing social connections and building positive reputations to establish the trust needed to encourage online transactions (Jøsang, Ismail, and Boyd 2007). However, public safety concerns have also emerged as the SEOs have established limited liability for themselves, leaving providers and their microbusinesses to shoulder the responsibility when something goes wrong (Ranchordas 2015). Critics also note that large multinational companies like Uber and Airbnb are driven by the profit motive and can be “predatory and exploitive” (Quattrone et al. 2016). Despite the SE’s wide variety and rapid changes, advocates expect it to create many advantages for consumers, providers, and SEOs (Sinclair 2016). Studies show that these companies do offer “significant economic, environmental and entrepreneurial benefits” (Cannon and Summers 2014). However, critics argue that the SE also disrupts existing business, and creates problems for governments (Quattrone et al. 2016). For example, SEOs generate new jobs that offer flexible hours (Penn and Wihbey 2016), but 79% are part-time work and most of them come with no benefits (Foxx 2017). Environmentally, SE transportation options reduce carbon emissions, but cheaper housing alternatives can increase tourists, traffic, and congestion in sought-after neighborhoods (Köbis, Soraperra, and Shalvi 2020). In addition, entrepreneurs have proven innovative in finding new ways to organize economic relationships (Bai and Velamuri 2021), but SEOs have issues with local governments, “such as taxation and regulation” (Laurell and Sandström 2017). The SE has transformed many aspects of urban life. Peer-to-peer platforms are allowing people to share housing, vehicles, and even skills (Staub 2019). Municipalities are reacting with the traditional tools of regulation, often ignoring the positive aspects of this new market. This has the effect of stifling the growth of microbusinesses in the SE (Cannon and Summers 2014). There are many ways to regulate SE businesses, and several will be explored in depth. Coming from a practitioner’s perspective, Tim Staub, Assistant Vice-President with Herbert Rowland & Grubic Inc., a consulting firm for municipalities, recommends that officials “craft policies that minimize the negative impacts of the sharing economy while maximizing the benefits” (Staub 2019). He goes on to offer several practical approaches to regulation. Using a different approach, Stephen Miller lays out ten principles of the SE, and analyzes existing regulatory tools in light of these tenets. He then proposes establishing Transferable Sharing rights, similar in function to transferable development rights, which provide flexibility in the regulation of SE businesses (Miller 2016). A third approach, from researchers in Sweden, develops a comprehensive framework for municipalities to engage the SE. This presents five ways that sharing economy companies can

146  Jeffrey H. Moshier be regulated, along with 11 corresponding roles that municipalities can take to support their regulatory decisions. This methodology gives cities a variety of ways to respond to the everchanging SE market (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). This chapter concludes with a comparative case study of Uber’s entrance into New York City (NYC) and London. As one of the cornerstone companies of the SE, Uber has had an innovative, yet contentious history in these two large markets. The taxi industry in both cities put up “fierce resistance” to Uber and in 2016 succeeded in having the company banned from London for two years (Blystone 2021). Taking on regulators in both cities, Uber established a reputation as a disruptive innovator by challenging “long established working practices and regulatory frameworks” (Dudley, Banister, and Schwanen 2017).

What Is the Sharing Economy? Most of the many definitions of the SE include a compensated transaction, mediated by an online platform, between individuals for an underused resource. However, the disagreement among professionals on a definition suggests that the SE is much more complicated than these basic ingredients (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). The e-commerce sites Craigslist and eBay were early forms of technology-enabled transactions between individuals (Schor and Vallas 2021). Yet, what really made the SE take off was the innovation that combined digital technology and the notion of collaborative consumption. The advancement of digital ICT “enable data to be stored, accessed, and processed more efficiently” (Bai and Velamuri 2021). Improved and centralized ICT enables peer-to-peer communications on Web 2.0 and via smartphones, which encourages the development in nations around the world of unique social dynamics such as collaborative consumption as well as a new economic market (Belk 2014). The SE is so popular that multinational corporations Airbnb and Uber went from basic startups to multi-billion-dollar corporations within a decade (Blystone 2021). While the SE has been driven by advances in ICT, that technology is not solely responsible for it moving forward. Ranchordas notes that “Innovations in the sharing economy merge concepts of both technological and social innovations” (2015). Traditionally, sharing takes place among individuals, in small communities of people, and within family units, “or more generally among people who know each other well enough to share things” (Pouri and Hilty 2021). It was also limited by the modest number of available resources within these small groups. However, the new technology allows huge numbers of people to share, swap, trade, or rent a wide range of goods and services such as transportation, lodging, “crowd funding, shared wi-fi, community supported agriculture, skill barter banks, car repair, child care, and catering” (Belk 2014). Modern ICT has helped

The Sharing Economy  147 create new forms of sharing because it is powerful enough and fast enough to accommodate enormously large numbers of people, and equally large pools of services from which to choose “at close-to-zero transaction costs” (Pouri and Hilty 2021). Another advantage of these technologies is that they encourage innovation because they manage the tedious handling of details while the “collective effort can be more spontaneous and flexible” (Bai and Velamuri 2021). They are popular because they give people the freedom to choose what, when, where, and how they want to either provide or consume a service (Pouri and Hilty 2021). In addition to ICT, the rise of urban density and environmental concerns have contributed to the growth of collaborative consumption (Benjaafar et al. 2019). People have become more aware of the social cohesion, ecological impact, and equal opportunity aspects of consumption as well as the problems that hyper-consumption causes (Dillahunt and Malone 2015). The promise of collaborative consumption offers ways to address these issues because it “values access over ownership” (Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen 2016). SEOs feature peer-to-peer interaction which increases motivation to continue or repeat transactions through factors such as reputation, sustainable behavior, and most notably enjoyment (Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen 2016). The SE represents a more sustainable consumption model because it can improve the environment. For example, ridesharing has been shown to reduce CO2 emissions (Cannon and Summers 2014). Another oft-cited benefit of the SE is the new jobs it creates. They feature flexible schedules and low entry costs (Pouri and Hilty 2021). People can start a business with the investment of a smartphone. This makes it easier for low-income people to be involved, but critics maintain that the SE also displaces secure jobs with part-time work that does not provide benefits (Penn and Wihbey 2016). The connections that exemplify peer-to-peer relationships and the network organizations that facilitate them are the heartbeat of the SE (Pouri and Hilty 2021). The reason they are essential is twofold. First, the difference between the SE and the normal market economy is that SE exchanges are mediated by a networking company. The asset providers and the users don’t know each other and are only connected by the SEOs. However, in this scenario the SEO is not sharing the product, the asset provider is, which is different than a normal two-sided market transaction. This opens the way for large SEOs like Uber to maintain that the asset providers are not employees, but separate microbusinesses and not entitled to benefits (Staub 2019). The second reason that the connections are essential is that while the SEOs provide many key services to providers such as marketing, software services, and customer coordination, these essential services must be integrated with the provider’s assets. This joint endeavor creates the actual product that consumers share and shows that there is a collaborative relationship between the asset provider and the SEO for the co-creation of value (Bai and Velamuri 2021).

148  Jeffrey H. Moshier The SE has also been called the “gig economy,” referring to the flexible schedules that asset providers are afforded (Thebault-Spieker, Terveen, and Hecht 2015). It also applies to mobile crowdsourcing and on-demand services such as “a ride, a handyman or a cooked meal” (Frenken and Schor 2017). These jobs challenge the distinction between full-time employment and casual jobs (Mair and Reischauer 2017). There are both positive and negative aspects to this arrangement. Primarily, these jobs offer flexibility, making them perfect for second jobs, for parents who must care for children, or for building prosperity (Penn and Wihbey 2016). However, when it comes to mobile crowdsourcing such as GigWalk, Field Agent, and TaskRabbit, having low socioeconomic status or living in rural areas can mean less access to these services and usually paying a higher price (Thebault-Spieker, Terveen, and Hecht 2015). In addition, the micro-entrepreneurs or “rabbits” of TaskRabbit have reported both unfavorable working conditions and underpayment after completing tasks (Dillahunt and Malone 2015). Uber has also been sued several times by its drivers for low pay and poor working conditions (Spicer, Eidelman, and Zwick 2019). Critics argue that in the future, part-time, independent contractors without “health insurance, workers compensation or retirement benefits” may replace traditional jobs, making them economically vulnerable (Staub 2019). Zwick argues that “Although shareholders and consumers have benefited, middle-class jobs have been squeezed in the process” (2018). While the sharing economy may not have lived up to its potential so far, its greatest challenge may be COVID-19 (Schor and Vallas 2021). The large SEOs seemed to have adapted to the pandemic, but smaller ones, those that envisioned an alternative to neoliberal capitalism, have been hit hard. Schor and Vallas comment that “That vision has been seriously challenged by the advent of a pandemic that has transformed sharing goods and services into a source of fear and dread rather than mutuality and reciprocity” (2021). These authors also note that it is the “fundamental values of the true sharing economy” that provide hope for the future (Schor and Vallas 2021).

Social Implications of the Sharing Economy SE service providers connect directly with consumers through an internet platform or mobile phone app, providing access to goods or services. This is a replacement for companies with employees, facilities, and reputations that provide a product. That difference changes the agents of consumption from representatives of a company to strangers. Because people tend not to share with strangers (Frenken and Schor 2017), this also requires a shift in “the basis of consumer trust” (Erokhina 2017). The sharing style of trust was traditionally restricted to small, wellknown groups or individuals—people that you could meet face to face. When you interact with a person directly, you can evaluate their trustworthiness through a wider range of clues, more easily than you can through a

The Sharing Economy  149 computer-mediated transaction (Jøsang, Ismail, and Boyd 2007). However, while ICT-mediated transactions have gained popularity because they are “convenient, efficient and effective” (Pouri and Hilty 2021), they still happen between strangers (at least initially). SEOs have learned that personal experience carries the most weight in building trust, “but in the absence of personal experience, trust often has to be based on referrals from others” (Jøsang, Ismail, and Boyd 2007). Because of this, SEOs use a variety of trust-building mechanisms to replace familiarity. These include “past ratings, personal identification, online communication and extra-platform reputational capital” (Frenken and Schor 2017). However, research that focused on trust-based reputation systems has shown that ratings can suffer from inflation and biases that limit trust. Also, reviewers often prefer not to leave negative reviews, thus undermining the system of trust (Schor and Vallas 2021). On the other hand, providers fear negative reviews that could get them excluded from the platform (Köbis, Soraperra, and Shalvi 2020). In addition, even when trust is established, it may decrease over time. The cause of this decline may be that the trust has been impacted by the growth of online reviews, but it also may be limited to the site that was selected (Schor and Vallas 2021). Still, transactions in the SE have a dynamic quality that takes advantage of modern ICT. Once trust is established, the systems are fast and matching takes place regardless of time or place (Pouri and Hilty 2021). After the matching process, some peers will meet face to face. This allows people to develop relationships and create new social ties. In addition, when large numbers of people interact via online communications there will inevitably be some mixing of people from different parts of society (Frenken and Schor 2017). For example, providers may be expected to differ from consumers; “Possibly, with more expensive goods like cars and houses, providers may be richer and older than renters on average” (Frenken and Schor 2017). This diverse and collaborative communication can lead to large numbers of people enjoying the social benefits of sharing (Pouri and Hilty 2021). Discrimination has also been identified in trust-based systems like Airbnb, TaskRabbit, Uber, and Lyft. These studies have shown both personal and price discrimination as well as inequity in the treatment of providers (Schor and Vallas 2021; Frenken and Schor 2017). Research also shows that trustbased SEOs reinforce “inequities in time banks, food swaps, maker spaces, open access education platforms, digital media, and care-work platforms” (Köbis, Soraperra, and Shalvi 2020). While the SE and collaborative consumption are often associated with values such as sharing, honesty, mutuality, the environment, caring for others, and sustainable behavior (John 2013; Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen 2016), Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen note that one of the main motivations for participating in collaborative consumption is enjoyment (2016). The researchers examined 254 different platforms that included the following SE activities: renting, lending, swapping, donating, and purchasing

150  Jeffrey H. Moshier goods. They then developed a research model based on the attributes they found: “online collaboration, social commerce, the notion of sharing online, and consumer ideology” (Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen 2016). Following the self-determination theory, which differentiates motivation in terms of intrinsic (internal) and extrinsic (external) elements, the characteristics were operationalized as sustainability (H1) and enjoyment (H2) for internal motivations, and economic benefits (H3) and reputation (H4) for external. Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen chose sustainability because a variety of SE platforms are linked to ecological sustainability either through preferences for greener consumption or through altruistic motives (2016). Enjoyment was selected as the other internal motivation in part because social networking services promote relatedness, and that is a major determinant of enjoyment. The first external motive is the norm of economic benefits, chosen because the SE is thought to be economically sound. Finally, the second external benefit, reputation, is an important external motivation because it has a large impact in deciding whether to participate in collaborative communities (Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen 2016). The researchers sent surveys to 168 members of various ages that use the SEO Sharetribe, including 71 females and 97 males who had been with the organization between three months and three years. They ask two questions for each hypothesis. The first (a) asks about attitudes toward collaborative consumption services and the second (b) asks about the intention to continue using collaborative consumption. Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen report that, Our results indicate that intrinsic motivations are a strong determinant of attitude (H1a and H2a not rejected) whereas extrinsic motivations did not reflect positively on attitude (H3a and H4a rejected). For continuous use intentions, however, extrinsic motivations were a more prominent predictor (H4b not rejected), along with enjoyment from the activity (H2b not rejected). (2016, italics mine) Noting an interesting detail, the researchers point out that unless sustainability is associated with positive attitudes toward collaborative consumption, it is not directly associated with participation. They thought that this might indicate an attitude–behavior gap in that, “people perceive the activity positively and say good things about it, but this good attitude does not necessary translate into action” (Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen 2016). More research is necessary on how SEOs manage trust. The current research indicates that there are many problems related to people wanting to accommodate people who resemble themselves, on a variety of different levels (Schor and Vallas 2021). The research on inequality is even more negative with evidence of racism against Black people from a variety of studies (Schor and Vallas 2021; Investopedia 2020; Köbis, Soraperra,

The Sharing Economy  151 and Shalvi 2020; Wachsmuth and Weisler 2018; Frenken and Schor 2017; ­Thebault-Spieker, Terveen, and Hecht 2015). There is also a deficiency of studies that examine “discrimination by gender, age, and disability” (Schor and Vallas 2021), as well as sexual orientation (Köbis, Soraperra, and Shalvi 2020). These are obvious areas that need to be addressed for the SE to thrive. Fortunately, a study of Airbnb noted that “A small group reported that they would host even if they had all the money they needed” (Frenken and Schor 2017). In addition, when Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen reflected on the essential role that enjoyment plays, they asserted that “even if the particular motivations of individual participants very from mainly altruistic to strongly gain-seeking, the sharing economy as a whole remains functional” (2016).

Benefits and Disruptions of the Sharing Economy As the SE emerged, the buzz was about innovative economic organizations, sustainable consumption, and meaningful social connections (Cannon and Summers 2014). Advocates expected it to create many advantages for consumers, providers, and SEOs (Sinclair 2016). Currently, academics, practitioners, and governments are taking stock of the SE’s progress, examining both benefits and disruptions (Kim 2019; Köbis, Soraperra, and Shalvi 2020; Schor and Vallas 2021). One thing is certain: the economic progress is tremendously positive (Frenken and Schor 2017). The low entry barriers allow providers to turn underutilized assets into income using the networks of SEOs that make huge profits by providing consumer contacts, marketing, and insurance at moderate costs. The consumers also enjoy “low prices, diverse options, and greater convenience” (Kim 2019). The economic growth comes from existing assets and represents new transactions. These span hundreds of service sectors as diverse as “business and work, construction, energy, fashion and clothing, finance, food, general services, hospitality, housing, leisure, kids and children, logistics, mobility, non-profit association, and on-demand services” (Geissinger, Laurell, and Sandström 2020). Just as the economic impact of the SE is the most positive effect, it is also the most disruptive. While SE transactions are often new, they still take away from existing businesses. The percentages vary by sector, but when SE consumers in Korea were asked if they reduced their regular transactions, they reported yes to “hotels at 33.6% and taxis at 23.2%” (Kim 2019). A decade-long study in Texas measured the impact of Airbnb entering the state and found that for each 10% increase in the Airbnb market there was a 0.39% decrease in statewide hotel revenue. In Austin, which adopted Airbnb very rapidly, there was an 8% to 10% drop in revenue (Zervas, Proserpio, and Byers 2017). Another example from the transportation sector comes from NYC, where the Uber fleet was listed at 60,000 vehicles in 2017. In July of that year, they recorded 289,000 rides compared to 277,000 taxi

152  Jeffrey H. Moshier rides and by January of 2018, the famed yellow cab taxi-medallions had fallen in value from a high of $1.05 million to $200,000 (Short 2018). This struggle has played out in cities around the world with the hotel and taxi industries, as well as government regulators struggling with Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and other SEOs. In these struggles, SEOs have earned a reputation for being both aggressive and creative. For example, when Uber and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio went head-to-head, “Uber installed a fake ‘de Blasio’ feature on its app to show millions of customers who rely on the service how long they would have to wait for a car if the mayor got his way” (Short 2018). It has been noted that many providers and SEOs know that their tactics are illegal, but they frequently succeed (Köbis, Soraperra, and Shalvi 2020). The problem for governments has been regulatory equity because the SEOs claim that they are different from traditional industries, and the courts have repeatedly agreed (Wachsmuth and Weisler 2018). Additional disruptions include rising housing prices in neighborhoods because of the professional use of homes and apartments in the short-term housing market (Frenken and Schor 2017). In addition, popular neighborhoods may become more crowded with strangers creating nuisances, as well as bringing more traffic and congestion. The impact of these changes is an increase in the neighborhood’s carbon footprint (Köbis, Soraperra, and Shalvi 2020). The transportation sector has not actually reduced carbon output as expected. One survey noted that “61% of rides were not replacing driving, but were a substitute for public transport, walking, cycling, or not making a trip” (Schor and Vallas 2021). Ecological impacts in general have been disappointing, which might not be surprising, because the sector’s two largest segments, transportation and travel, are highly carbon intensive (Schor and Vallas 2021). It also appears that many sectors such as tools, clothing, and furniture have stimulated consumption in their sectors. This is an issue because research has shown that an increase in GDP corresponds to higher carbon emissions (Frenken and Schor 2017). Given these realities, the SE appears to have raised carbon footprints rather than lowering them (Schor and Vallas 2021).

Governance and the Sharing Economy “The sharing economy is just going to continue to grow, and governments will be challenged to understand and manage its implications” (Desouza 2015). An important concern for governments is the disruptive force the SE brings to existing markets. For example, Uber, the “disruptive innovator,” employs a deliberate strategy of confrontation and innovation (Dudley, Banister, and Schwanen 2017). The SE incites municipalities for several reasons. First, traditional legal restrictions are obscured by the differences between SEOs and traditional firms. Companies like Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb maintain that they are different from their competitors Hertz, GM, and Hilton and should not have to abide by the same regulations (Vith et al.

The Sharing Economy  153 2019; Staub 2019). Second, regulations need to strike a balance between safety concerns and the ability to do business. As the basis of the “gig economy,” asset providers are casual workers, and many operate on small margins. Ranchordas likens their transactions to what happens in personal dealings such as “ swaps or rides between friends or charity” (2015). They cannot always afford the regulations that apply to traditional businesses (Mair and Reischauer 2017). Third, governments are challenged to strike a balance between safety concerns and innovation (Ranchordas 2015). The typical way that governments have reacted to the SE is through regulation (Desouza 2015). Unfortunately, it has also been noted that “Regulation is often the most significant barrier to future growth for sharing economy firms” (Cannon and Summers 2014). If municipalities want to have the SE and the benefits it creates for their cities, they need to navigate these challenges and be equally innovative when engaging with SEOs. Governance Example 1 Tim Staub, Assistant Vice-President with Herbert Rowland & Grubic Inc., has over two decades of experience with community development (Staub 2021). In his pamphlet, “Positioning Your Community for the Future,” he recommends that cities take a proactive approach and “craft policies that minimize the negative impacts of the sharing economy while maximizing the benefits” (Staub 2019). He delivers professional expertise to craft common sense approaches. For example, his main recommendation is to “level the playing field” between SEOs and traditional businesses, particularly regarding fees and taxation (Staub 2019). He also notes specific suggestions and questions for sectors such as Airbnb and the short-term rental (STR) market to reveal how they will impact the community: ●

● ● ● ●

“Consider amending ordinances to accommodate but control shortterm home rentals.” “Should off-street parking requirements be tightened?” Do STRs “comply with safety regulations (particularly fire safety)”? “Will home-sharing increase the use of certain utility services?” Do zoning regulations allow popular mixed-use developments such as “bars and entertainment on the street level and [hotel] check-in on the upper floor” (Staub 2019)?

For ride-sharing such as Uber, Staub notes that it is more difficult to provide a level playing field because courts have ruled in favor of their status as a transportation network company (TNC). However, he reports that as of 2018, 48 states have regulated TNCs, so the smart approach is to start where the state left off, particularly because some state regulations ban municipalities from regulating these SEOs at all (Staub 2019).

154  Jeffrey H. Moshier Staub also notes opportunities that the SE provides to cities, such as Washington DC using income from the SE to fund benefits. The capital city uses the money they receive from car-sharing SEOs to fund senior citizen transportation and wheelchair-enabled vehicles. They also allocate revenues from home-sharing to provide affordable housing. Another resource can be recruiting SEOs to help in times of emergency. In the past, Airbnb has provided housing to people displaced by Hurricane Sandy. Car-sharing services can also provide vehicles at no charge. In addition, sites such as Nextdoor and Waze can be enlisted to deliver emergency information. Staub notes that municipalities should cultivate these services in advance and include them in any emergency action planning (Staub 2019). Finally, cities can use the SE for their own benefit. Most communities own heavy equipment including trucks, backhoes, and commercial mowers (Staub 2019). Depending on the city, these assets may not always be in use and represent a potential source of income. The SEO MuniRent connects cities having excess capacity with those needing equipment. The company charges a percentage of the transaction’s cost, but they also provide “standardized rental agreement language, invoicing, and payment processing” (Staub 2019). Staub notes that to use sites such as MuniRent, cities may need to update their purchasing procedures. This is the type of insight you can expect from a professional consultant. Governance Example 2 Stephen R. Miller, Professor of Law at the University of Idaho, offers a legal perspective on the SE in his article, “First Principles for Regulating the Sharing Economy” (2016). At the outset, he notes the lack of discussion on local regulation, which may happen because many SEO operations violate local laws and it’s in their best interest to stay quiet and hope to preserve the status quo. While acknowledging the SE’s diversity, Miller says that regulations must account for the different characteristics that SEOs have. He approaches the topic of regulation by laying out ten principles. With these, he seeks “to define the ways the sharing economy is transforming commerce, which in turn transforms the nature of the necessary regulatory response” (Miller 2016). Miller’s solution focuses on the STR market, such as Airbnb, as an example of both his principles of regulation and his suggested solution. These principles are: 1. “The Sharing Economy Is Differentiated and Requires a Differentiated Regulatory Response” (Miller 2016). If regulating the SE is to be successful, officials need to understand its differences and how those impact traditional firms. Each SE segment has its own character which determines its needs, and regulations should address these specifics. For instance, Airbnb offers STR housing, while Uber is a TNC.

The Sharing Economy  155 2. “The Sharing Economy Must Be Daylighted” (Miller 2016). Many SE apps violate existing laws and should be called out because that situation is dangerous. He maintains that where the new business model violates the old law, the law should not just be ignored or thrown out; it needs to be enforced or adjusted to be relevant to the new business model. 3. “Regulating the Sharing Economy Requires (the Right Kind of) Information” (Miller 2016). SEOs have been reluctant to share information. “New York City and Airbnb have famously fought over the release of data about hosts and travelers” (Miller 2016). Other research supports the difficulty that small and medium-size cities have in fighting large powerful corporations (Fusi 2021). However, Miller notes that obtaining this information is critical to crafting suitable regulations, even if it requires legislative intervention (2016). 4. “The Sharing Economy Is Here to Stay (and That Is a Good Thing)” (Miller 2016). Market demand is what drives the SEOs to oppose regulatory changes. Cities may have justifiable safety concerns, but Miller notes that they should also “consider the unprecedented opportunities that the sharing economy provides” (Miller 2016). This makes the effort to research and create alternative regulations worthwhile. 5. “The Sharing Economy Disrupts and Reimagines Established Markets” (Miller 2016). For example, Airbnb is now bigger than Marriott, Hilton, and the Intercontinental Hotels Group combined! While the traditional markets work within established policies, SEOs “nimbly dodge such regulation” (Miller 2016). The reason is that the traditional market is woven into the community with large facilities adjacent to convention, entertainment, and transportation venues while the SEOs rely on a large volume of stand-alone providers (Miller 2016). 6. “The Sharing Economy Establishes New Markets (That Established Markets Want To Take Over)” (Miller 2016). An example of a new market developing is that vacation destination managers have started advertising on the Airbnb website, presumably to reach a wider audience (Miller 2016). An example of an attempt at market takeover is when the traditional hotel market tries to locate smaller mixed-use development-style hotels in desirable neighborhoods to compete with the STR market (Staub 2019). 7. “The Sharing Economy Disrupts and Reimagines Established Regulatory Structures” (Miller 2016). The zoning philosophy in the US has been dominated by the single-use district. Much of STR housing is in single-family residential districts, which typically prohibit hotels and in most cases even business use. Miller points out that the STR market might transform the traditional hotel industry into a long-term stay option, which “could resemble how hotels operated a century ago” (Miller 2016). 8. “The Sharing Economy Requires a Response beyond Traditional Regulation” (Miller 2016). Traditional command-and-control

156  Jeffrey H. Moshier regulations were written for traditional brick-and-mortar industries. SE providers may have little knowledge of this type of regulation, and may not understand it. They still should be regulated to protect the public, but the regulations should be appropriate to their level of business (Miller 2016). Traditional licensing could be too costly (Ranchordas 2015). 9. “The Harm and the Remedy Are Uniquely Challenging To Determine in the Sharing Economy” (Miller 2016). Compared to the externalities of an industrial accident, the harm and the corresponding remedy for a SE violation may be hard to determine. “[W]ho is harmed by a resident renting his or her home to a stranger for the weekend” (Miller 2016)? Yes, regulations are needed to address bad actors such as those who rent their home as a party house in a residential neighborhood. Miller also notes that insurance is important for providers in the SE (Miller 2016). 10. “The Sharing Economy Implicates Diverse Parties, Each of Whom Should Be Considered in Establishing a Regulatory Response” (Miller 2016). Miller starts this section by noting the recipe for a successful regulatory solution: “An approach that acknowledges the legitimate concerns of all of the affected parties is far more likely to yield a result that seems fair to all and has lasting, broad-based community benefits” (Miller 2016). The variety of stakeholders include “State and Local Governments,” “ Disrupted, Established Market Participants,” “The Economic Development Machine,” “Disrupting Market Participant,” “ Residential Property Providers and Renters,” [and] “Neighborhoods” (Miller 2016). Miller notes that so much change is happening in daily life, it is difficult to determine rules that will last. However, he attempts to imagine an alternative system that will account for his ten principles. He maintains that transferable sharing rights (TSR) offer a way to address the externalities in the STR market and bring it into compliance with the existing regulations that it so often violates. TSRs are based on transferable development rights and are a way to compensate property owners when they are required to forgo some of their property’s development value by a municipality. They became popular after the owners of Grand Central Station successfully sued New York City for limiting their expansion (Miller 2016). While there are many details, Miller comments that it is essential to set up the TSR carefully (2016). First, a municipality must conduct a nexus study, where the costs of the TSRs are analyzed. In addition to lost hotel taxes and fees, “impacts may include increased police, health and safety, fire, building department, and TSR compliance enforcement services” (Miller 2016). The important part is to carefully allocate fewer TSRs for places where people want to stay than are allocated for places people don’t care to stay. Otherwise, a market will not grow. A benefit that can serve the community

The Sharing Economy  157 is that the city’s share of the TSRs market demand fee can be dedicated to neighborhoods where the TSRs are used. Additional details can be found in the article at: https://digitalcommons​.law​.uidaho​.edu​/faculty​_scholarship​ /19/. Miller remarks that “Sharing is no longer an idiosyncratic pursuit; it is now a mainstream manner of consumption” (Miller 2016). There has also been a flood of investors looking for new neighborhoods to develop. In addition, the larger SEOs have become very profitable and now can be considered major corporations. Millers says that the perception of SEOs has not caught up with their reality. However, he cautions that regulators need to understand the industry, including “who and what it is they are regulating” (Miller 2016). Governance Example 3 The governance framework that Yuliya Voytenko Palgan, Oksana Mont, and Simo Sulkakoski propose was developed over many years of research, experimentation, and collaboration. The researchers note that “The framework is driven by both theory and empirics, since it has been iteratively built using rich empirical evidence systematically collected from seven global cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Gothenburg, London, Malmö, San Francisco and Toronto, and from about 60 SEOs worldwide” (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). Figure 9.1 illustrates the five governance mechanisms that a city can choose from in the inner ring and 11 roles that a city can take to engage an SEO in the outer ring. Proceeding clockwise in Figure 9.1, the first mechanism a government may use to regulate the SE is providing. Governance by provision includes both giving support and withholding or withdrawing it. The provision may include financial aid, infrastructure, materials, and services (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). For example, Gothenburg, one of the study’s seven evidentiary cities, chose to provide the initial funding for Grow Gothenburg, an organization that wants to map urban farming activities in the city and match them with vacant properties that might be fertile for expansion. London also provides parking spaces for station-based car-sharing services, while withdrawing such support from free-floating car services. The authors note that “Our data also offers examples of where municipalities not only provide funding or infrastructure to SEOs but also start and run SEOs themselves, i.e., own them” (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). The four roles that correspond to the mechanism of provision are data provider, investor, host, and owner (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). For a data provider, the authors point to London where the city provides free access to 700 datasets to help people understand the problems in London and devise solutions. As an investor, San Francisco subsidizes Bay Wheels, a bike-sharing program run by Lyft, to encourage

158  Jeffrey H. Moshier

Figure 9.1 “Comprehensive analytical framework of municipal governance of the sharing economy (the inner circle represents municipal governance mechanisms, and the outer circle municipal governance roles when engaging with sharing economy organisations).” Source: © Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2020. The article and high-quality copies of the graphic are available at no charge at https://doi​.org​/10​.1016​/j​.cities​ .2020​.102994. CC 4.0 licensing requirements: https://creativecommons​ .org​/licenses​/by​/4​.0/.

low-income people to use the bike-sharing service. Both Sege Park in Malmö and Södra Älvstranden in Gothenburg use excess building space to host SEOs and support these new neighborhoods. In Malmö, the city is also the owner as well as operator of Garaget, a sharing library for tools and household items (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). The next mechanism is self-governing, which in this context means either becoming a consumer by adopting sharing practices as a part of municipal operations or a sharer by sharing city assets (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and

The Sharing Economy  159 Sulkakoski 2021). For example, the London Borough of Croydon acts as a consumer when it provides Zipcar vehicles for temporary use by its employees. On the other hand, San Francisco acts as a sharer when its Virtual Warehouse provides appliances, electronics, office furniture, and supplies to city departments, non-profits, and schools (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). This is the same sharing service that MuniRent provides to cities for equipment like trucks, backhoes, and mowers (Staub 2019). After self-governing comes the mechanism of collaborating, which the authors note is finding more acceptance around the world when addressing complex urban issues (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). Collaborating also provides two roles for municipalities to take when regulating SEOs. These are partner and negotiator. The city of Amsterdam sought to promote social cohesion and digital literacy when it became a partner with Share a Meal and connected 10,000 low-income citizens from their City Pass program with a local chef for a subsidized meal. San Francisco was also a partner with Airbnb when they created an online tool to provide housing during emergencies. Toronto provided an example of the city acting as a negotiator when it reached an agreement on regulations and data sharing with several ride-share organizations (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). Enabling follows collaborating and also combines two roles for cities. The first is that of a communicator. In this role, a city can either support or hinder an SEO by publicizing information and other marketing efforts. This includes certifying the best sharing practices and ignoring SEOs. For instance, in San Francisco Uber and Lyft are ignored, thereby they can operate without restrictions, which makes their operations more profitable (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). Enabling also includes the role of a matchmaker, where cities facilitate collaboration between SEOs and between SEOs and other organizations. Both evidentiary cities, Amsterdam and Gothenberg, provide introductions to SEOs and host workshops for the organizations. The authors caution that if a city decides to enable SEOs and not other organizations such as non-profits, they could be accused of preferential treatment (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). The last mechanism for regulating SEOs is also the one most commonly used by municipalities that are new to controlling the SE. Regulating puts the city into the role of regulator. The similarity of the mechanism and its lone role may provide a hint about the flexibility that the typical commandand-control approach leaves officials. “In the regulator role, municipalities use laws, taxes, bans, and policies to govern the establishment, operation and scaling-up of SEOs, either supporting or restricting them” (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). While all five mechanisms can be used to support or restrict organizations, the regulator role has the least flexibility because the options are typically codified into policies that deal with traditional industries (Quattrone et al. 2016).

160  Jeffrey H. Moshier With this framework, Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski hope to “depart from the traditional use of regulations assigned to municipalities and instead capture nuances and diversity of municipal engagement with SEOs” (2021). They note that the research from the seven cities, Amsterdam, Berlin, Gothenburg, London, Malmö, San Francisco, and Toronto, supports their framework in general but that “the collaborative governance mechanism towards SEOs was not found to be as popular as expected” (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). In general, the cities are more restrictive toward SEOs that make urban sustainability challenges difficult, and these were most often the larger organizations in STR housing, ride-hailing TNCs, as well as e-scooter and bike sharing. The researchers found that each city employed different mechanisms as might be expected. For example, San Francisco and Amsterdam indirectly support innovative startups, but rarely give financial or infrastructure support. The authors suggest that this may be “to avoid breaching rules of free market competition” (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021). Other municipalities, such as Malmö, Gothenburg, and Amsterdam, tried pilot programs as a way to engage startups. These cities also supported mainly non-commercial SEOs that focus on social and environmental impact. The authors conclude by stating, “This tool could also help municipalities navigate the complexity of the governance processes, decide upon the most suitable approach, and help them become more agile and proactive in the ways they engage with the sharing economy” (Voytenko Palgan, Mont, and Sulkakoski 2021).

Comparative Case Study: Uber in New York City and London Both New York City (NYC) and London are among the largest cities in the world. They are both major tourist destinations and both have distinctive taxi operations. In NYC, the yellow cabs are “a representative icon of the city” (Kim, Baek, and Lee 2018). The taxis from the New York Taxicab Company were painted yellow in 1907 because the owner, Harry Allen, wanted customers to see them from a distance (Backes 2021). In the 1930s the number of cabs had grown to the point where they seemed to outnumber passengers. In response, “Fiorello H. LaGuardia signed the Hass Act in 1937, which began the taxi license and medallion systems that are still being used today” (Backes 2021). Licenses and medallions are now issued by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), which monitors more than 13,000 authorized taxis and over 50,000 drivers that use them. (Kim, Baek, and Lee 2018). In London, the Black Cab is the predominant taxi operation, and the only one that can be legally hailed. Private hire vehicles, such as Uber, must be booked in advance. (Dudley, Banister, and Schwanen 2017). The city has regulated taxis since the 1800s through the Transport for London (TfL) agency. Black Cabs have maintained a tradition of hiring drivers who pass a

The Sharing Economy  161 test on “the Knowledge” of London’s 25,000 streets. Drivers typically take years to learn the Knowledge, with some attending the Knowledge Point College. Critics of Uber’s GPS guidance system claim that it can’t “match the detailed insights and expertise” the Knowledge conveys (Dudley, Banister, and Schwanen 2017). Historically, most municipalities maintain strict control over taxi fleets, mandating requirements, regulations, and even the number of cabs allowed in the jurisdiction. The last of these characteristics makes the taxi trade a closed market (Spicer, Eidelman, and Zwick 2019). Perhaps that is part of the reason why Uber has been such a consistent disruptor of not only markets but also urban policy. When technical advancements made possible the creation of a new business model, regulators initially focused on the originality of the model and missed the rationale for regulating it. Biber et al. imply this when they reason, “Even if we wanted to keep the exact same regulatory standards for Uber as for the existing taxi industry, we would still have to wrestle with difficult questions about how to structure our regulatory system to incorporate the new business model” (2017). Both NYC and London have had to confront these issues and have reacted in somewhat different ways. Other than a three-car test in 2010, Uber came to NYC in May of 2011 (Blystone 2021). Uber started as a normal dispatch service and attracted little attention from the TLC until 2012 when UberTAXI started booking standard yellow cabs with the Uber app. The TLC quickly sent notice to drivers and owners that using an app could result in suspension or loss of their license (Spicer, Eidelman, and Zwick 2019). This activated Uber’s confrontational strategy because they ignored the notice. But the TLC prevailed and soon UberTAXI was forced to suspend operations in 2012. This pushed Mayor Bloomberg to intervene and after about six weeks the TLC authorized a one-year trial if Uber followed certain guidelines. Several court challenges later, UberTAXI resumed operations in 2013 (Spicer, Eidelman, and Zwick 2019). Uber also launched UberX in 2012, providing a low-cost service (Blystone 2021). By 2015 the number of Uber cars on the road (14,000) exceeded the number of taxi cabs (13,500), and Mayor de Blasio led a movement to cap the number of new rideshare licenses (Spicer, Eidelman, and Zwick 2019). Uber launched an all-out TV and public relations campaign, which included lobbying at city hall and with Governor Andrew Cuomo who praised Uber as innovative. The mayor eventually backed down and the TLC continued issuing permits (Short 2018). In 2017, a New York judge ruled that Uber’s argument that drivers were independent contractors was wrong and that they should be considered employees. Uber received another setback in 2018 when the New York City Council instituted regulations that paused new licenses for a year (Blystone 2021). This was followed by the pandemic.

162  Jeffrey H. Moshier Uber entered the London taxi market in 2012 when it registered UberX with the TfL regulators. This was a change from most European cities where Uber did not announce their presence. London was the stage for the Olympic Games in 2012 which may have contributed to Uber’s quick acceptance by the TfL (Dudley, Banister, and Schwanen 2017). Within a couple of years, the lower prices that Uber charged were causing friction with the Black Cabs. In June 2014, an estimated 5,000 of the iconic cabs blocked London streets in a protest that was coordinated with strikes in Berlin, Paris, and Madrid (Blystone 2021). By 2015 the number of Uber cars had reached an estimated 78,000 and then-Mayor Boris Johnson called on the government to limit the number of private hire vehicles. The TfL then filed a lawsuit claiming that the Uber app constituted a taximeter, which regulations limited to use by Black Cabs. In 2015 the High Court sided with Uber, saying the Uber app was not a taximeter. This frustrated regulators and the TfL tried to make private hire vehicles wait five minutes before responding to a request. Uber reacted with a massive public relations campaign that included a petition supporting the SEO that gathered 200,000 signatures. What hurt the TfL’s plan the most was an interview with the head of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority where he sided with Uber (Dudley, Banister, and Schwanen 2017). Dudley, Banister, and Schwanen comment that “As the disruptive innovator, Uber had set the operational and political agenda, and the black cabs and TfL had been compelled to respond” (2017). However, taxi owners sued Uber in the European court and in 2018 were able to get the SEO kicked out of London for two years (Blystone 2021). In a comparison study of Uber’s entrance into ten North American cities, researchers found that the SEO typically launched their service with no regard for local regulations (Spicer, Eidelman, and Zwick 2019). However, depending on Uber’s approach and on how local authorities perceive the SEO, the authors identified four options that regulators can take to engage the SEO. The first alternative is collaboration, which occurs when Uber’s approach is cooperative and local regulators perceive it as complementary to existing services. This happened in London when Uber cooperatively registered UberX with the TfL, and the regulators saw them as complimentary because of the pending Olympics (Dudley, Banister, and Schwanen 2017). The second option is local prohibition which takes place when Uber is cooperative but local regulators see them as harmful. In NYC, Uber had cooperated with authorities to register their dispatch service, but when they activated UberTAXI, the regulators saw them as a threat to yellow cabs, and Uber was forced to suspend that service (Spicer, Eidelman, and Zwick 2019). The third approach is local mediation which occurs when Uber is confrontational and local officials see them as complimentary. One of Uber’s strategies is to cultivate relationships with local officials, particularly mayors. Local mediation was illustrated in NYC when UberTAXI was forced to suspend operations in 2012, and Mayor Bloomberg intervened with the TLC to find a solution. The fourth method is state intervention which

The Sharing Economy  163 happens when Uber behaves confrontationally, and the regulators believe them to be harmful to the local market. An example of this happened in London after Uber had used an intense marketing campaign against the TfL and the agency tried to institute the prohibitive five-minute rule. The head of the Competition and Markets Authority called out the TfL for artificially restricting competition, which made them drop the rule (Dudley, Banister, and Schwanen 2017). Other examples of these approaches can be found in the relations between Uber and these two great cities, but the outcome so far has been that Uber still operates legally in both municipalities.

Summary Despite being declared dead by one of the founders of a French think-tank dedicated to the SE (De Grave 2016), it is still rapidly evolving (Investopedia 2020). No matter how it is defined, this new economic model has transformed urban life, changing the way people live. There are claims that SE innovations include a more equitable economic system, meaningful social connections, and sustainable consumption (Martin, Upham, and Klapper 2017). However, critics note that large multinational companies like Uber and Airbnb are driven by profit and can be “predatory and exploitive” (Quattrone et al. 2016). The SE relies on a new form of consumer trust based on referrals (Jøsang, Ismail, and Boyd 2007), but research also finds that personal enjoyment is a strong motivator for people to participate (Hamari, Sjöklint, and Ukkonen 2016). In addition, it has been noted that the economic impact of the SE is both its most positive effect and its most disruptive (Kim 2019). While this chapter examines different aspects of the SE, it focuses on practical tools that municipalities can use to engage SEOs to find fair and equitable solutions to regulation. We have examined three governance methods in depth and used another to examine a case study. But these endeavors are just the beginning of this evolving innovation. As one researcher reminds us, “While nowadays, they can predominantly be found among young age groups, the future generation will be growing up with this trend” (Mohlmann 2015).

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10 Business Stakeholders in Local Government and the Community John Jacobs

Introduction Full disclosure: I am most definitely not a scholar, statistician, writer, or credentialed expert, but what I do offer is 30 years of working experience in public/private partnerships for two notable first-ring suburbs of Dallas, Texas, namely Richardson (25 years) and Garland (5 years). So when my friend Ted Benavides asked me to share some of my thoughts on the topic at hand, I was more than happy to do so. My only wish is that aspiring students will take to heart and utilize some of the lessons I have learned during my tenure with public and private interests.

The Nature of Local Governments and Their Respective Business Communities Problematic issues between business owners and local government are partly a result of their respective mindsets. At the risk of over-generalizing, here are some of the areas in which perspectives might be different: Business

Local Government

Impatient Time is of the essence Generate revenue and wealth Rules are made to be broken Avoid inefficiency Get the mission accomplished The customer is always right We’ll give it a try Innovate to survive

Patient Do it fairly, equitably, systematically Spend revenue prudently Rules are rules Check and double-check Do the right thing The taxpayer doesn’t understand Here’s why we can’t do that It works the way we’ve always done it

Of course, neither is right all of the time, but the point is that both parties come from somewhat different mindsets, and that can lead to friction between the two. One of the biggest differentiators between public and private executives is a love of, or alternatively a distaste for, rules, codes, and even laws that DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-10

168  John Jacobs cost the private operator time, money, or both. Certainly, there are rules, especially those that govern public safety, for which compliance is a must. Nevertheless, it still behooves public officials to deal empathetically with business owners and when possible, suggest time and/or money-saving alternatives. Public entities tend to be very systematic in their execution of programs, operations, and various types of projects, and to a point that can be a good thing. However, the facility permitting process is a fertile area for making exceptions. Some cities in the DFW region are notoriously slow in providing permits for business facilities and new developments. Their reputations among commercial builders and corporate real estate executives are not the best. Other local governments have a very positive image. They make it a point of pride to do quick permitting turnarounds for certain situations like a new business in town, an expanding existing business that has a deadline for being operational, or a large multi-million dollar project. One such project some years ago in Richardson was a large data center with multi-site options which was very concerned about on-time completion, and the city that won the project pledged to provide on-site inspectors to ensure that construction was not delayed. For many reasons, local governments and their respective business communities are natural adversaries. In some locations, local government and the business community are constantly at each other’s throats, and that is of no benefit to either party. Fortunately, there is a better way, and in the following pages, we’ll address how that can happen.

The Value of a Positive Local Government/ Business Community Relationship What is the most important reason for a positive government/business relationship? It starts the wealth creation that benefits both parties. For many jurisdictions, property and sales taxes are two of the primary sources of revenue, and in some communities, businesses account for well over 50% of the property taxes, and they collect all the sales taxes. Numerous analyses make it clear that the residential component of a city is its loss leader, typically costing more to service than it generates in taxes, while business is the profit center, paying much more in taxes than it requires in government services. Therefore, cities with poor or underdeveloped business communities have to increase their property tax rates to cover the difference. Cities with strong business communities typically enjoy lower tax rates and better infrastructure, parks, public amenities, etc. Both resident voters and businesses can agree that lower taxes, superior infrastructure, and more extensive community amenities are better for both. In addition, local businesses that sell products or provide services outside the local jurisdiction and generate “primary jobs” bring wealth in the form of payrolls to the local community. This is particularly important for cities

Business Stakeholders in Local Government  169 that are isolated and not within a major metro area. Also, businesses create “secondary jobs” that provide local services and therefore help recirculate wealth within the community. Without a solid city and business relationship, many communities miss out on the opportunity to engage in a public–private partnership (P3) that would be to each other’s benefit. Those P3 opportunities often involve a real estate project in which city-built or partially financed infrastructure is needed to make the project feasible. Some successful case study examples of Richardson P3s are discussed later. Of course, as non-voters, businesses can only vote their dissatisfaction with their feet. It might be sobering to some elected officials to know that typically about 70% to 80% of businesses in their communities lease rather than own their premises, and those leases often expire every three to five years. That is a lot of potential annual defections. Finally, a local government that is at odds with its business community can incur political damage when it ignores or alienates the business community. There are examples of disgruntled business groups that have raised funds, identified like-minded candidates, and largely replaced incumbent elected officials. Local governments truly need and should support and partner with their business community. Moreover, it’s up to each city to initiate and take an active role in the process. Rarely does it happen the other way around.

Building the Relationship It’s unfortunate that many businesses feel like chattel, their hard-earned profits being reduced by the tax collector that has little concern for their well-being. That notion can only be dispelled when the public sector builds a powerful culture of caring and service toward its business citizens. Strong government/business relationships are not built overnight. They take years of patient and consistent work to achieve. Because of frequent leadership changes at both entities, a positive and mutually supportive relationship needs to become part of the culture at city hall and within the business community. Regular and organized dialogue between a local government and its business constituents is vital. The ideal vehicle for that is an established chamber of commerce or similar business-member, non-profit organization. In Richardson, the city/chamber partnership dates back to 1984, a time when many area cities were recognizing the need to not only protect their local business tax base but to expand it. To the city’s benefit, instead of the knee-jerk reaction of creating a new city department, they came to the chamber and essentially said, “We realize that it’s time to compete in economic development, and that requires marketing to businesses, but the city is neither a marketing entity nor a business, so if we provide the funding, will the chamber carry on economic development on behalf of the entire

170  John Jacobs community?” Thus was born the Richardson Economic Development Partnership (REDP), and its benefits went far beyond the operation of an economic development program by binding together the city and chamber in ways that neither could have imagined. The city and chamber became each other’s best partners and cheerleaders. The city has always been in the lead in terms of overall direction and strategy for the community, and the chamber has made good on the execution of various programs and initiatives. Communication is assured through a weekly meeting of the city manager’s three-person team and the chamber’s economic development executives. All business relocation and expansion projects are discussed with decisions made on the next steps and which role each entity should play. Competitive and strategic issues are also discussed. Legally, the partnership consists of a simple contract that describes the list of economic development services the chamber will provide for the city. Funding has grown over the years as the REDP added personnel, contractors, and programs, but it is still very modest by the standards of nearby competitors. Business relationship-building in Richardson is a job for both the city and chamber and reaches out to all levels of company employees. The city actually has a position entitled Corporate Recreation Director, which is rare to find on a city org chart. Among other programs, the city sponsors a very popular annual Corporate Challenge, which is an Olympic-style team competition that extends over a period of ten weeks in August through October and includes indoor and outdoor events including biking, bowling, billiards, badminton, and even bocce ball. There are divisions for companies large, medium, and small. Even companies outside Richardson may participate. Since its inception, all Corporate Challenge proceeds have gone to the Texas Special Olympics, a contest for handicapped individuals. Over the years, the city has raised over $2.9 million for that very worthy cause and built some outstanding relationships with local businesses. The city also produces a number of annual festivals based around music, arts, and hand-crafted goods and is able to find sponsors and festival volunteers from the ranks of a number of Richardson businesses. On the chamber side, a key part of its economic development retention outreach to local companies is to make in-person visitations to meet their leadership and to make them aware of a number of opportunities that include job training grants, college internships, local potential customers, suppliers, and joint venture partners and planned infrastructure and transportation changes along with other community happenings that might be of interest. A step beyond those visitations is the Mayor’s Lunch program, a private luncheon in which the mayor and city manager along with the chamber’s volunteer and staff leaders host the top local executives from one or two non-competing companies. Invited companies usually have either a large local presence, are a major generator of property and/or sales tax, are a

Business Stakeholders in Local Government  171 fast-growing start-up type company, have a lease that is expiring within a couple of years, recently had a major management change, or may be contemplating a major expansion, relocation, or downsizing. The companies are invariably pleased with the recognition, have an opportunity to talk about their organization, learn more about how the local government operates, and leave knowing that if some government-related issues arise, then they will have a senior person to whom they can reach out for information and help. With its membership and its focus on business relationship development, the chamber is the go-to partner when the city needs to communicate with one or a specific group of companies. Recognition, in a variety of forms, of members of the business community by the public sector is vitally important to demonstrating caring and concern. An annual business appreciation luncheon can do wonders. A well-promoted awards program, whether done monthly or annually, that salutes businesses in certain categories or for some achievement is a great way to initiate or enhance relationships with local businesses. It can lead to follow-up dialogues that further build the bond. In Richardson, an annual business recognition program, the Richardson Economic Development Growth and Expansion (EDGE) Awards, uses an Academy Awards–type format. Award categories include Loyalty, Newcomer, Foreign-Owned or Ethnic, New Development, Redevelopment, and Entrepreneur. The owner or most senior local executive is videotaped for a brief interview that is shown at the awards luncheon. The EDGE Awards are jointly managed by the city and chamber and award recipients are selected by a special city/ chamber panel. One way of helping ensure long-term understanding between the public and private sectors is a leadership program. In Richardson, that takes the form of Leadership Richardson, founded by the chamber in 1984, which accepts about 40 applicants per year and conducts class-led, day-long programs once a month that each focus on gaining insightful views on the community and on local government. Since all applicants have an expressed interest in community leadership roles, a number of LR grads eventually become elected members of the city council or are appointed or elected to other key positions in the community. Through LR, the chamber is, in effect, introducing the local government to its future elected officials.

Resolving Disagreements There will be times when public and private concerns do not see eye-to-eye on a particular issue. In that case, it is important that both sides clearly understand why the other side has taken its position, but it is mutually understood that the public side should be protected from public disclosure of the disagreement, as that would cause damage to the relationship. Disputes are rare, but if they occur, they are resolved in private in order to

172  John Jacobs maintain a respectful and lasting relationship between the two sides. The chamber rarely, if ever, publicly opposes a city initiative because everything has been discussed in advance and agreed upon. In order to work together, a local government and its business community should have a solid understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The government, with its ability to tax, is nevertheless limited by law from using its influence to campaign for bond elections and other fundraising initiatives, such as increasing alcoholic beverage options or promoting or lobbying for mass transit services or county, state, and federal changes in the law. Under all those circumstances, a powerful, well-organized and networked business organization can be an indispensable ally of the city because it can work with its business members, other chambers, and the electorate to build support.

Types of Businesses and Their Interests Businesses can be classified in a number of different ways—their size, what they do, the function of their local office, and their typical customers. To better understand business perspectives, here are some general thoughts and guidelines. Small business: Generally, these are businesses with less (often far less) than $10 million in annual revenue. Anything that enhances access to or promotes their offerings to customers is top of the list. Introductions to larger enterprises that may be potential customers are much appreciated. Local government should ensure that as many local small businesses as possible are on its public bid list. Public recognition and awards are also prized since many small business owners sometimes feel unnoticed and unappreciated. Retail: One of the largest categories of small business is retail, which consists of B2C (business-to-consumer) enterprises. Retail is highly sensitive to any project or program that physically brings customers or impedes customer access to their location. Signage, parking, and roadway access controlled by the local government are vital to many retail companies. Manufacturing: These companies often produce a product that is sold to customers outside the region, so they are a major source of bringing revenue for the local community. However, with most or all of their customer base being non-local, they can become disconnected from the local government. Local government can build relationships off workforce-related issues as it does with large companies. Large companies: Local companies with 500 or more employees are focused on recruiting, retaining, and training employees. Local government can best respond with quality-of-life enhancements, helping ensure an adequate stock of housing is maintained, maintaining and

Business Stakeholders in Local Government  173 enhancing employee commuting systems, and supporting post-graduate educational institutions. Large companies often feel a civic duty to be involved in community affairs. Technology companies: Tech companies tend to be very focused on business and are generally more difficult to engage in the community. It behooves the local government to understand the unique aspects of their particular area of technology, its major players, customers, growth projections, logistical needs, and the skill sets of its workers. That way the community is better prepared to recruit companies with a similar profile, encourage educational offerings that are relevant, and even host conferences themed around a specific technology. Hybrid companies: The post-COVID-19 landscape is already producing hybrid businesses which have significant portions of their workforce working from home on a full-time or part-time basis. This will create some new opportunities for local governments to cultivate havens for remote workers. Those workers will generate income, a portion of which will circulate within the community, but there will be no taxable facilities that normally accompany a business operation. It’s likely that some areas will strategically build their workforce around a specific skill set or technology in which hybrid workers will enjoy opportunities to socialize and trade ideas with their peers. The original semiconductor technology growth in what later became known as Silicon Valley was greatly advanced through the personal relationships that existed between peers developed at coffee shops, restaurants, and other social gatherings. Robust communications systems, quality-of-life features, and an excellent K–12 educational system will be of paramount importance for any community that plans to recruit hybrid workers.

The Dangers of a Toxic Environment If a local government is not actively involved with its business community, that’s a sign that something is fundamentally wrong, and the consequences can be devastating over time. Residents could face an ever-growing tax rate increase as companies depart when their leases expire. The local government can acquire a reputation for being indifferent to the concerns of its business taxpayers, and that negative perception can spread like wildfire in an age that is dominated by social media. The local government, the business community, and the residents all fare much better when all three operate on the principles of respect, understanding, empathy, and mutual support. In the following case studies that involve the city of Richardson, it is remarkable to see what a community can accomplish when its local government and business community are in sync.

174  John Jacobs

Case Studies For context, you should know that Richardson, Texas, with a council-manager form of government, is a 28-square-mile city that is a first-ring suburb north of Dallas, Texas. Richardson was a sleepy, semi-rural town until the 1950s when technology giants Texas Instruments and Collins Radio (now Raytheon Technologies) built large complexes in or near the city and started recruiting engineers and other technologists from around the nation and the world. Many chose to live in Richardson. The city is known as the Telecom Corridor®, a name trademarked by the Richardson Chamber of Commerce that recalls the 1990 to 2003 era when Nortel, Alcatel, and Ericsson were the city’s three largest employers and MCI was one of their biggest customers. The community has always had a large population of technology-based businesses and residents. Texas Instruments established a small private university here in 1960 to offer advanced degrees to its engineers, and that institution evolved to become the University of Texas at Dallas (in Richardson) which is now a 30,000-student Tier I Carnegie research university. Richardson has grown to a population of over 120,000, and it is one of the largest employment centers in Dallas-Fort Worth with 80% of its workforce commuting to Richardson from Dallas and other neighboring suburban cities. Richardson is home to 13 companies with 1,000 or more employees in their building or on their campus. Richardson has more of those large businesses per square mile than any other northern suburb of Dallas. In the 25 years I have been here, I’ve seen the property tax base grow from about $5 billion to over $19 billion—and it’s right at 60% business and 40% residential. The city appreciates and understands the needs of businesses, and its leadership likes to say “we operate at the speed of business.” The city has maintained AAA bond ratings with Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s for a number of years and in all respects is considered a model for a successful and collaborative local government and business community. The city and the Richardson Chamber established a partnership for economic development in 1984 that has continued in essentially the same form for over 35 years. With financial support from the city, the chamber conducts business recruitment, retention/expansion, and works with start-up companies, and in recent years has been increasingly involved in redevelopment as the city’s land mass is over 96% built out. Case Study I: Galatyn Park Of Galatyn Park P3 development, City Manager Dan Johnson would later reflect that “Public and private projects work best when all the parties are up front and candid about their goals and objectives.” In the Galatyn case, there was a full roster that included the city, the public Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), the landowner Hunt Properties (yes, H. L. Hunt), the

Business Stakeholders in Local Government  175 building’s owner and occupant Nortel Networks, and John Q. Hammons Hotels. In 1985, Northern Telecom (later Nortel Networks), based in Canada, opened an office in Richardson to seek opportunities in the newly deregulated phone communications market. As with most of its major employers, the city and chamber quickly established personal relationships with Nortel executives at a number of levels, including the CEO. Nortel’s business grew quickly, as did its Richardson presence. After a while, Nortel’s operations in Richardson were strung out over more than a dozen leased buildings. At the same time, the city was interested in finding a way to create a theater/auditorium/performance hall–type facility for corporate and public events and entertainment. City leadership knew it would be an expensive proposition, yet a crown jewel for a suburban community like Richardson. When Nortel’s rapid growth had created the need for another millionsquare-foot campus in addition to the one they had built just a few years earlier, the city saw its opportunity. “John Q.,” as he liked to be addressed, wanted to build a hotel and did not perceive a nearby public performance facility as a negative. In fact, it turned out to be a big positive. Nortel liked the idea of having a performance hall for corporate events as well as a hotel. Hunt simply wanted to sell the land at their price. The biggest issue facing the otherwise synergistic interests was the hotel. Hammons just could not make the numbers pencil out, but for the city, it was an opportunity to create the largest and grandest hotel in town for its largest employer. In addition, the anticipated “bed tax” revenue of the hotel would almost pay for the performance hall. The city came up with a bold and innovative solution: they agreed to build and own a 750-space parking garage that would serve the performance hall (370 spaces) and the hotel (380 spaces) and provide free use of it for the hotel for 20 years, ultimately converting to a market rate lease from the city to the hotel. In addition, the city paid for the construction of the ballroom portion of the hotel with some callable bonds. Because of the hotel’s immediate success, the bonds were paid off in about five years, but in the meantime, that portion of the hotel that was subdivided and owned by the city was not subject to taxation. In the end, the final product was a magnificent Marriott Renaissance–branded 12-story, 336-room hotel with a 12,000-square-foot ballroom. A lesser but important detail was the DART commuter rail platform, which had been designed as an elevated platform at a nearby intersection, but DART was convinced to shift that to a location closer to the hotel and office buildings and build it at surface level to improve its access for hotel guests and Nortel’s workers. The office buildings and hotel were completed in the mid-late 1990s along with the hotel, and the Charles W. Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts and Corporate Presentations opened its doors in 2002. The Hunt family donated 1.9 acres for the site. The fabulous three-story, 116,900-square-foot facility features 1,500 seats, a 350-seat auditorium,

176  John Jacobs and a 3,150-square-foot Bank of America Hall that can accommodate up to 300 for receptions. The Renaissance remains one of Richardson’s top-notch hotels, and even though the buildings are no longer occupied by Nortel, they are full of quality tenants like Goldman Sachs, Raytheon, and Bank of America. Case Study II: CityLine A new, high-capacity, east–west toll road highway, the President George W. Bush Turnpike, opened along Richardson’s northern periphery in 2000 and opened up a number of greenfield land tracts for development. Among those was a tract of some 200 acres located in the southeast corner of the Bush Turnpike and another major north–south highway or US Highway 75, often referred to as North Central Expressway. To make the site even more attractive to corporate users was the plan for a Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) commuter rail station at the site. The rail station would likewise be at the intersection of the existing Red Line that ran from north to south in connecting Richardson to downtown Dallas and a future planned east–west line to DFW Airport, now known as the Silver Line. With the potential to be at the intersection of two major highways and two major commuter rail lines, there was nothing like it for commuting workers in the entire state. So why had the site not been already developed? The acreage had been owned for generations by a well-known Dallas family, and there was never a consensus among multiple heirs and family members to sell the property. However, that suddenly changed around 2009, and developers got control. At the same time, things were changing in the auto, home, and consumer insurance business, and one of the companies that recognized that trend was State Farm Insurance. With increasing business being handled over the internet, State Farm decided to create three massive hubs in the US to handle its online businesses. Atlanta, Phoenix, and Dallas were selected based on their workforce strengths in insurance and IT services. In Dallas, State Farm was looking to attract a workforce exceeding 9,000. They favored the Richardson site because of its near-ideal highway/rail network for a large commuter workforce. Anticipating a development need, the city in 2009 had created a very flexible “form-based” zoning category for the land in which the height, shape, and form of buildings, sidewalks, and other physical features are prescribed, but not the usage. The city had also created within the development a tax increment financing or TIF district in which the developer’s cost of public infrastructure (roads, utilities, etc.) is reimbursed over a period of years by the incremental new city tax revenue generated by improvements on the property. There was only one hitch: State Farm asked for deviations from some provisions of the zoning. The city’s response was to give State Farm and its build-to-suit developer KDC the choice of using the original or the modified

Business Stakeholders in Local Government  177 zoning, but whichever they started with would apply forevermore to the entire development. Once again, the anticipation that led the city to establish the zoning and the TIF helped KDC in finalizing the build-to-suit with State Farm. To this day, KDC attributes the success of this project to the city’s “transactional infrastructure” which is a by-product of the city’s “operating at the speed of business” culture. The CityLine project, named such by KDC because the site’s north boundary is also the Richardson city limit, is currently at 2.6 million square feet of office, 230,000 square feet of restaurants, retail, and entertainment, two hotels with a total of 350 rooms, a 125,000-square-foot grocery store (Whole Foods), a 41,000-square-foot wellness office, two public parks, and a DART north–south rail station with an east–west station expected to open in 2022. At full build-out, CityLine will accommodate 4 million square feet of office. Case Study III: Redevelopment In some respects, Richardson is a victim of its own success. The city’s 28-square-mile land mass is 96% built out, but a few of the remaining tracts have excellent commercial potential. Forward thinking has always been a part of the city of Richardson’s culture, so as early as 2008 the city recognized that redevelopment would be an increasingly important part of its economic future. The city’s Comprehensive Plan was revised that year to include six zones that had the need and potential for redevelopment. The city began a systematic process of undertaking a deep analysis of each district to come up with an appropriate plan. Implementation has begun in several districts. For our discussion, we will limit our view to two of the six. Richardson Innovation Quarter The Richardson IQ, as it is known, is a 2-square-mile, 1,200-acre area located east of North Central Expressway. The area is unique in that during the heyday of the Telecom Corridor® it was dominated by the suppliers of Nortel, Alcatel, and Ericsson. Even today the predominant commercial property type is the single, story office showroom type facility often referred to as “flex.” About 75% of the city’s 9 million square feet of flex space is located in the IQ. The IQ is also an area that has and still does house over 40 highly innovative technology companies. As early as 1960, during NASA’s early space explorations, the Collins Radio facility there completed the first voice-tovoice communication via satellite and received the first earth-made image transmitted via satellite, a picture of then President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The redevelopment of the IQ has been a model of cooperation between the city and the business community. The first steps occurred in 2014 when

178  John Jacobs the city hired the SB Friedman Development Advisors of Chicago to perform an analysis of the area, noting its strengths and weaknesses. Following that report, in 2015 the chamber identified and reached out to the key “stakeholders” in the IQ, which consisted primarily of property owners and large businesses. With multiple meetings over the course of more than a year, led by a city-hired consultant but managed and led by a chamber team, the group heard from experts, discussed a number of ideas, and ultimately came to the conclusion that innovation should be the central theme of redevelopment. With that accomplished, the city hired a team of nationally prominent redevelopment specialists to come up with a more detailed plan for the district, including streets, sidewalks, greenspace, bike lanes, creek enhancements, and recommendations for a zoning overlay that would enhance and not infringe upon current zoning rights. After presentation to the stakeholders and some tweaks, the new zoning was approved by the city council. While this was going on, the chamber was courting the local university’s engineering school to establish a presence in the IQ. It turned out that the city owned a 28,000-square-foot flex building in the IQ that was previously home to a high-tech business accelerator, but the facility was closed and in need of a new roof, HVAX system, and other repairs. The dean of the engineering department at UT Dallas liked the idea, and to make the financial angle work, the city offered some reduced rent on the front end along with the pledge to not only make the necessary repairs but rework the building inside out to not only have the university presence but to create a presentation space and offices for entrepreneurs and a city IQ representative. The university plan is to place satellite offices of five “centers of excellence” research centers in the remodeled facility. For the upcoming plan year, the city and the chamber have developed a work plan for further redevelopment activities in the IQ and each has over a dozen items on its list. In all of this, one sees how the partnership works: the city brings strategic planning and financial support, while the chamber rallies the business community to gain its input and backing.

Richardson CORE District The CORE is the latest redevelopment project that Richardson has undertaken. It consists primarily of the old Main Street area, which happens to be within viewing distance of the city’s most traveled highway, the North Central Expressway, where the traffic volume exceeds 250,000 vehicles per day. In recent years several developers have assembled most of the key tracts and buildings in the CORE. In addition, the headquarters for the city’s police and fire departments occupy a large tract of land on one corner of the key intersection in the district. Because of the tight developer control, the city has been able to work with them to coordinate an overall redevelopment plan, changes to the

Business Stakeholders in Local Government  179 roadway and sidewalk infrastructure to and through the district, parking and greenspace locations, and an overall theme for the district, which is one of entertainment, restaurants, and upscale multi-family living. In addition, the city acquired some land adjacent to the police/fire complex and has completed the construction of two impressive new buildings for those public safety entities, clearing their old site for the master development plan’s public artwork and parking at the hard corner. The next step requires collaboration with the business community, and the city has reached out to the chamber to assist with organizing and maintaining a merchant’s association. From the city’s perspective, that type of association will enable the businesses and other tenants in the district to speak with a single voice on issues that thecCity needs to be aware of and can possibly address. Merchant association benefits that have already been identified are: ●

● ●

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To have a single voice to communicate concerns as well as recommendations to the city To help recruit targeted restaurant and entertainment tenants the district To suggest and support public events to enhance the notoriety of the district To help coordinate public parking locations and the directional signage for them Determine if a common CORE logo should be used by all members of the association To coordinate protection against crime and fraud To engage in cost-saving joint advertising and other needs in common

With the completion of major multi-family projects a few years away, the Richardson CORE is already off to a promising start.

Conclusion As the great Russian novelist, Tolstoy, put it, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” (Tolstoy, 2014) The same goes for happy cities—a city that is at peace with and works in concert with its business community is likely to succeed in everything it does. In a city that has a dysfunctional relationship with its business community, you will see a city that struggles. The oft-repeated exhortation of former Richardson City Manager Bill Keffler was “Do good business every day,” which in itself is a tip of the hat to the business community. The businesses reciprocate their appreciation of the city with their loyalty. I have found that companies are so thankful for the support and recognition they receive from their local government that when leases expire or there is a need for expansion, the first options they consider are within Richardson.

180  John Jacobs James Morgan, the legendary CEO of Silicon Valley’s Applied Materials, said it best: “Companies go where they are welcomed, but they stay where they are appreciated.” (Morgan, 2020, page 157).

References Morgan, James C., 2020. Applied Wisdom. Retrieved on December 15, 2022. https:// appliedwisdombook​.com​/wp​-content​/uploads​/2020​/07​/AppliedWisdomPDF​.pdf Program Management Projects, n.d. City of Richardson, Galatyn Park Plaza Study. Retrieved from http://www​.creservices​.com​/CFP​/Projects​/corplaza​.htm. Tolstoy, Leo, 2014. Anna Karenina. Penquin Classics, London.

11 Local Government Management and Paramedicine Kristi L. Valcik

Introduction There has been great concern among policymakers since the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act about the rising cost of health insurance premiums. The Affordable Care Act has done an exceptional job of increasing enrollment in Medicaid for those who are without health insurance. About 22.8 million people have gained healthcare since the launch of the Affordable Care Act, according to a recent analysis from RAND that was published in the Journal of Health Affairs (Gottlieb, 2015). At the same time, 5.9 million people lost coverage. This comes out to a net gain of 16.9 million people who have gained insurance under the Affordable Care Act (Gottlieb, 2015). Nearly three-quarters of those insured by the Affordable Care Act have been added to Medicaid (Atlas, 2015). However, for low-income people, enrollment in Medicaid does not guarantee access to proper primary and preventive healthcare services. The harsh reality is that 55% of doctors already refuse new Medicaid patients according to a 2014 Merritt Hawkins study (Atlas, 2015). According to an HSC Health Tracking Physician Survey, the percentage of doctors that refuse new Medicaid patients is about eight to ten times the percentage that refuse new private insurance patients (Atlas, 2015). Such insurance fails to provide Medicaid-enrolled patients with access to doctors and, in turn, they suffer worse health outcomes than those patients with private insurance. Since many patients enrolled in Medicaid do not have access to doctors, many are forced to use ambulatory/EMS services and the emergency department (ED) in lieu of primary care. This results in emergency departments being used as a substitute for primary care, which reflects unmet healthcare needs and the lack of a primary care provider. Having so many patients on Medicaid without access to appropriate healthcare settings leaves a predicament for many local and city healthcare administrators, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and public health administrators that come together to bring primary and preventive healthcare to those residents that reside in their city.

DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-11

182  Kristi L. Valcik Managing a healthcare facility today is closely equivalent to managing an entire city. Leading such an organization requires careful budgeting, tough decision-making, and maintaining the cooperation of diverse interest groups. Local and city healthcare administrators can positively improve the health and well-being of the greater community at large. City and local public health officials are responsible for establishing healthcare standards and making strategic policy decisions and have a wide range of influence within the world of medicine. The leadership that these professionals provide sets the future course not only for the facilities that they manage but also for the healthcare system as a whole.

What Is Community Paramedicine? Many experts feel that to reduce emergency room (ER) use, the focus should not be solely placed on reducing the number of emergency room visits, but rather on promoting continuous coverage for those who are eligible and improving access to appropriate primary and preventive healthcare settings (Pearson, Gale, and Shaler, 2014). Reducing emergency room use can be done through access to primary care providers or other alternative methods such as community paramedicine (Pearson, Gale, and Shaler, 2014). In community paramedicine, paramedics function outside their customary role in ways to facilitate the more appropriate use of emergency care resources and enhance access to primary care for medically underserved populations. The concept of the community paramedic grows out of the traditional career skills of emergency medical technicians. Most emergency medical technicians begin with a basic curriculum in emergency medicine and over the course of a career gain new skills and certifications through training (Minnesota Department of Human Services, 2020). In the community paramedic model, the goal is to apply and expand the skills learned by paramedics into the domain of preventative, primary care medicine (Minnesota Department of Human Services, 2020). The community paramedic could offer career paramedics a new level of training and a new way to contribute their skills (Minnesota Department of Human Services, 2020). The medical knowledge of a paramedic is quite extensive. They are trained to evaluate an emergency situation and to develop a plan to treat injuries and diseases of all major body systems and they do perform some intricate medical procedures (Minnesota Department of Human Services, 2020). However, emergency medical technicians are not trained in primary care. Community paramedicine addresses several of the delivery system problems that many people on Medicaid face when trying to access healthcare such as overuse of the 911 system for social and psychological problems. Community paramedics also address the need for alternative means to manage patients who do not require transport to a general acute hospital emergency department. Lastly, they address repeat emergency room visits or

Local Government Management and Paramedicine  183 hospital readmissions due to gaps in care between hospital and outpatient primary care management and supplementing primary care in underserved areas. Community paramedics could improve continuity of care, reduce the number of patients that visit emergency departments, and reduce healthcare and medical costs (Kizer, Shore, and Moulin, 2013).

The History of Paramedicine Paramedicine has its origins as far back as the Civil War in the United States, with the city of Cincinnati being the first to incorporate a civilian ambulance in 1865 (West Virginia Department of Education, 2021; Bucher and Zaldl, 2021). As stated by the West Virginia Department of Education: Then in 1869, New York City advertised a 30 second response time and provided an Ambulance Surgeon and a quart of brandy for their patients! (2021) The troops in World War I used signal boxes to assist medics to locate wounded soldiers, motorized vehicles to carry the wounded, and modern medical equipment to treat wounded soldiers on the battlefield (West Virginia Department of Education, 2021). With automotive vehicles, the speed of being able to deliver the wounded to hospitals increased along with potentially increasing the chances of survival for soldiers who could reach hospitals quickly to be treated. When World War I ended, a new generation of ambulance drivers and surgeons were able to serve their community as EMTs since returning veterans now had new skills to enhance the capabilities of local hospitals (West Virginia Department of Education, 2021). A new wave of volunteer rescue squads began to appear on the east coast during this time frame and the control of EMT services shifted to local hospitals and fire departments (Bucher and Zaldl, 2021). In addition, with the advent of newer transportation methods, such as the helicopter in the 1940s, services such as Care Flight could now become a reality to get patients to hospitals even more quickly from isolated areas. In the 1950s, EMS became regulated and standardized in what is now the modern-day ambulance service (West Virginia Department of Education, 2021). Incredibly, funeral homes provided almost half of the ambulances and provided patient care during this time frame (West Virginia Department of Education, 2021). Federal initiatives were begun in the 1960s when the National Highway Traffic Safety Act was passed and created a standard for training as well as communication for the EMT profession (West Virginia Department of Education, 2021). In 1968 AT&T designated 911 as an official emergency-use phone number (Erich, 2021). Additionally, modern techniques such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) began to be used by EMTs to save lives prior to the patient’s arrival

184  Kristi L. Valcik at the hospital (Bucher and Zaldl, 2021; Erich, 2021). The passage of the Health Services and Mental Health Administration (1972) and the EMS Systems Act (1973) broadened federal involvement in the EMT profession as well as created standards for the Physician Responder Program (forerunner to the modern paramedic program) and created 300 new EMS systems throughout the United States (West Virginia Department of Education, 2021). In 1978, Salt Lake City began to use a triage methodology for emergency calls to prioritize responses (Erich, 2021). Through the 1970s and 1980s, the EMT profession became even more standardized in the specifications for ambulances and rules for EMS radios and put the focus into the hands of the state agencies as opposed to the federal government for regulation (West Virginia Department of Education, 2021). In the last decade, EMS has now been seen as a frontline responder that can potentially resolve medical issues before a person is transported to the hospital. As stated by Bucher and Zaldl: Within the last 10 years, EMS has become a focus of intense research of pre-hospital interventions into many commonly encountered acute care issues seen in emergency medicine, such as acute respiratory distress, cardiac arrest, chest pain and more. With increasingly integrated technology between pre-hospital care and the emergency department, patient data is beginning to be transmitted real time allowing for earlier determination of patient severity and care management prior to arrival. (2021) In 2009, the first early community paramedic pilots with paramedicine programs began to serve communities (Erich, 2021). In today’s current climate, the EMS and paramedicine in general have now been given a new focus and mandate to treat patients, when possible, at the point of care. With the advent of new technology and increased professionalization in the last decade, the EMT is now poised to provide medical services that could not have been imagined even 20 years ago, much less in the age of the Civil War.

The Market Structure in the US Health System More than 4.5 million people from some 200 occupations are employed in the delivery of healthcare in the United States (Fuchs, 2011). Although physicians account for only about 8% of health service employees, their actions and decisions are of critical importance to the entire health system (Fuchs, 2011). The dominant role of the physician is particularly important to the problem of the cost of care. This is not because physician fees are too high, though they might be in some instances, but because physicians control the total process of care for patients. This process begins when the patient seeks medical care and the initiative passes to the physician. The physician’s decisions significantly

Local Government Management and Paramedicine  185 influence the quantity, type, and cost of service utilized. For example, a ­doctor might prescribe a drug for a patient during a doctor’s visit. The cost of the drug might be as high as the patient visit, but closer attention by the physician as to the choice and brand of drug can significantly reduce that cost. There are many decisions that rely solely on the physician. The physician may order tests or X-rays. The physician may recommend surgery or that the patient enter the hospital. The physician is in many ways a gatekeeper to the production of medical care (Fuchs, 2011). The physician has a major influence over what occurs in the hospital. The physician decides who enters and what is done to the patient while he is there, and how long he stays. The physician to a huge extent controls the activities of the other hospital employees like nurses and technicians who report to him and follow his directions. This leads to the physician's influence on other elements of cost such as expenditures for hospital care and out-of-hospital care. Physician decisions have a major influence on costs such as the volume and type of surgery performed, the number of hospital admissions, and the length of stay in the hospital. The phrase “I cannot get a doctor” is a complaint heard from many people when accessing medical care. Access to a doctor seems to be perceived as one of the major problems in healthcare. One of the important reasons for this complaint is the growth of specialty practice. The growth of specialty practice has made it harder to gain access to primary care, emergency room care, and the medical system itself. This has made it difficult for patients to find a physician who can take responsibility for the whole patient. There are a number of reasons for this (McLaughlin and McLaughlin, 2009).

Outsourcing Outsourcing is driven by factors related to labor substitution. A shortage of doctors in some areas has led to what is called networking arrangements, in which physicians can read lab reports and radiology reports off-site in their offices or homes without even going to where the patient is receiving care (McLaughlin and McLaughlin, 2009). Actually, it is not unusual to find that US imaging and electrocardiograms are sent to overseas locations to be read where salaries are much lower. More and more patients who lack adequate healthcare coverage are choosing to have surgery done in overseas hospitals where the cost is much lower. Pharmaceutical companies, such as Mylan, are also moving overseas where the cost of medical research and clinical trials is much lower.

Rising Educational Barriers and the Growth of Specialization One pressure that runs counter to outsourcing and labor substitution is the tendency of each profession to raise the bar a person must leap before he

186  Kristi L. Valcik or she is granted professional status. There is a push for surgical residencies from surgical chiefs at hospitals who like having a great number of young physicians working under them because it enhances their own position and provides them with an abundance of assistance in their clinical and research tasks. Surgery residencies require many more years of training and many specialists prefer to limit their practice to a subspecialty such as cardiology or endocrinology instead of treating the whole patient. Some critics even say that the existence of an excess capacity of surgeons results in more unnecessary surgical procedures such as C-sections and hysterectomies. In fairness to surgeons, however, there is a vast number of cases where the proper course of treatment differs among physicians. Even if a surgeon surplus leads to no unnecessary surgery, it raises the overall cost of medical care, prolongs the period of training, and can result in surgeons losing valuable skills because they operate so infrequently due to the surgeon excess (Fuchs, 2011).

Disintermediation The term disintermediation refers to removing the person in the middle. The decentralized and disjointed nature of the healthcare industry has led to an array of middlemen that have highly profited and targeted primary care providers (McLaughlin and McLaughlin, 2009). For example, marketing and selling prescriptions used to focus on the prescribing physician until after 1997. Then the Food and Drug Administration eased the restrictions to allow the advertising of drugs other than on the printed page. Now, individuals see ad after ad suggesting a treatment for a disease or syndrome like high cholesterol and acid reflux disease that urges the patient to ask their doctor about the branded treatment. This advertisement bypasses the physician. Other activities that bypass the primary care physician include websites, screening centers, and government agencies that request screening and vaccination recommendations for diseases like hepatitis, HIV, and shingles.

Consumer-Centered Care Quality reporting in healthcare is possible due to the adoption of a value scale system to evaluate professional fees. Classifying hospital services into bundles of care makes it possible to adjust cost data for severity and patient characteristics. It also makes it possible to maintain quality control records once product definitions are established and widely adopted. Data on costs can now be associated with specific diagnoses and compared across cases, providers, regions, and institutions, which allows for a more corporate-level analysis. This makes for a more industrial approach to healthcare management. Pressure from employers and patients who are the ultimate payers led to increased transparency and more information about the quality of care

Local Government Management and Paramedicine  187 becoming available over the internet. Companies and health insurance plans are encouraging more careful consumption of healthcare services and offer high-deductible health plans with more tax-sheltered savings accounts.

Patient-Centered Care Emphasis on involving the patients in their own healthcare decisions is considered an important quality measure. Don Berwick (2009) defined patientcentered care as “The experience (to the extent that the informed individual patient desires it) of transparency, individualization, recognition, respect, dignity, and choice in all matters without exception related to one’s circumstances and relationships in healthcare.” Once cases can be assessed for process quality, outcomes, and costs, payment could be based on the overall experience rather than on inputs utilized in the specific case (fee for service). One of the main concerns people have about changing the scope of market structure in the US healthcare system is how it will change the scope and quality of healthcare delivered. Many critics fear that implementing paramedics will reduce the quality of medical care under the implementation of community paramedics. However, the emergence of new technologies and changes in modern medicine has given way to the rise of medical professionals, who are not doctors, performing more healthcare tasks (McLaughlin and McLaughlin, 2009). Nurse practitioners and physician assistants, for example, are now the first level of care for many patient encounters. Many communities utilize community healthcare workers to help overcome barriers to accessing effective healthcare in the absence of doctors and nurses. Community healthcare workers are trained to educate their peers on healthcare issues to help improve patient adherence to treatment regimens. The healthcare workers have basic healthcare and nutritional training and often lack the proper training to treat many chronic conditions they encounter during home visits to patients. However, community paramedics have the ability to operate in more than one role. Community paramedics are trained as first emergency responders as well as appropriately treating chronic conditions with skills and expertise that community healthcare workers lack. By integrating community paramedicine into the healthcare system as a paid position, people seeking healthcare will get more effective and cost-effective treatment. People with chronic conditions, like diabetes, can be monitored more effectively under a single provider. Paramedics are also very familiar with frequent 911 callers and multi-visit patients (MVPs) who are facing additional hardships such as mental health or substance abuse issues, homelessness, or lack of access to other social services (Kizer, Shore, and Moulin, 2013). In addition, community paramedics have better access to other community resources than emergency departments to aid patients in securing assistance for basic needs such as housing and food. Access to community resources allows patients with additional needs to appropriately integrate themselves

188  Kristi L. Valcik into the healthcare system, giving patients the ability to take charge of their own health. Community paramedicine brings with it the potential to bridge gaps between primary care and emergency care as well as reduce the number of unnecessary 911 calls and hospital readmissions (Patterson and Skillman, 2012). Community paramedicine represents a workforce opportunity for military medics trained in service or in the National Guard who can transition into the community paramedic role (National Association of State EMS Officials, 2013). Implementing community paramedicine provides the opportunity to increase wellness and increase the workforce in communities as a paid position. Current payment policies discourage EMS agencies from transporting patients to non-emergency settings or treating them on the scene. Many third-party payers will only reimburse 911 calls if the agency transports the patient to the emergency room (Institute of Medicine, 2007). The 2007 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Emergency Medical Services: At the Crossroads, indicated that existing policies for EMS reimbursement add unnecessary costs to the healthcare system and place a burden on already overburdened hospital-based providers. Because these reimbursement policies limit the flexibility of EMS to provide transport to the most suitable destination for each patient, the IOM recommended that third-party payers update their payment policies to enable EMS providers to transport specific patients to primary care clinics, mental health centers, and other alternate healthcare settings (Institute of Medicine, 2007). Despite the reimbursement setbacks of EMS care, several local EMS agencies across the country have implemented patient-centered EMS treatment and transportation programs that better enable their personnel to transport patients to healthcare settings. For example, MedStar, a private EMS provider in Fort Worth, Texas,, serves approximately 880,000 residents and responds to an estimated 112,000 EMS calls each year (AHRQ, 2012). MedStar initiated an EMS Community Health Program (CHP) in 2009, focusing initially on individuals who use EMS frequently and as a source of primary healthcare (AHRQ, 2012). The program was developed after an analysis concluded that 21 patients had been transported to a local emergency department over 800 times in a 12-month period accounting for almost $1 million in ambulance charges and astronomical ED expenses (AHRQ, 2012). The main goals of the CHP are to direct patients toward more appropriate non-ED healthcare options, reduce unnecessary 911 responses and EMS transports that overburden an already overburdened EMS system, and reduce overall costs of healthcare (AHRQ, 2012). As the program matured, MedStar began utilizing CHP paramedics to provide routine home visits to educate patients, conduct patient assessments, and refer patients to their primary care physician if deemed necessary (AHRQ, 2012). For 23 patients enrolled in a congestive heart failure CHP program over a 12-month period, program administrators concluded that 44 hospital admissions were prevented, a 47% decrease (AHRQ, 2012). In

Local Government Management and Paramedicine  189 addition, there was a substantial decrease in the use of ambulance t­ ransports to the emergency department—a 44% decrease during the program and 56% after completion of the program (AHRQ, 2012). MedStar calculated their savings to be over $16,000 per patient enrolled in the program (AHRQ, 2012). In June of 2012, MedStar implemented a new enrollment protocol, adding ten patients at risk of congestive heart failure readmissions to the program (AHRQ, 2012). The program took place over an eight-month period during which no 30-day readmissions occurred and only one cardiac-related emergency room visit was necessary (AHRQ, 2012). Savings were estimated at almost $39,000 per patient enrolled in the congestive heart failure program (AHRQ, 2012). Since the program was capitalizing on the skills paramedics already have, the feasibility of paramedics serving their communities that have little access to healthcare increases. Increasing paramedicine services will enhance access to appropriate healthcare services and overall community health at a local level as well as result in significant cost savings and reduction in the use of emergency department services.

Pandemic Justification for Paramedicine The rise of COVID-19 indicates that other methodologies should be taken into consideration in light of hospitals being overloaded with COVID-19 patients in the ICU (Oxner, 2021). Currently, the world is in a pandemic on a scale that has not been seen at least since the Spanish flu took hold in 1918 and lasted until 1919 (Oregon Historical Society, 2021). There are many differences between the Spanish flu pandemic and the current COVID-19 pandemic, which can and will impact the world’s population differently. First, the rapid transport abilities of the modern era are lightyears ahead of how individuals traveled in 1918–1919 when the car was still in its infancy and planes for the most part only existed as a hobby for the ultra-rich, barnstorming, or the military. The days of commercial airline travel to go from one continent to another simply did not exist. If travel was to occur over great distances, a train or ship was still the primary means of travel, along with the horse. The modern ability to travel so far and so quickly has not only increased man’s ability to move from place to place quickly and over greater distances but has also allowed for any illness to travel with them over the same distance and time frame. This dictates that policies, procedures, and safeguards have to be in place if a virus is going to be contained. With the spread of COVID-19, the policies, procedures, and safeguards have not been in place or been effective since the initial outbreak. However, modern transportation also allows for paramedicine to be effective by being able to quickly be deployed to a patient’s residence to treat them on-site. An EMT bringing in a patient who does not have COVID-19 to a hospital that is treating COVID-19 could jeopardize the patient’s health if they

190  Kristi L. Valcik are exposed to the virus unnecessarily. The reverse could also be true: if the patient has COVID-19 and is brought into a hospital, they could expose patients who do not have COVID-19 to the highly contagious virus. However, if the patient is treated at home by the EMTs, the patient is in effect isolated from being exposed or exposing themselves to the COVID-19 variant. At the time of writing (2021), the Delta variant of COVID-19 is spreading even to individuals who have been vaccinated, and therefore limiting exposure for patients is key in limiting the spread of the current COVID-19 variant by treating them at their residence. In addition, rural hospitals are having a difficult time contending with COVID-19 since there are no beds available in the hospitals (Jackson, 2021). Paramedicine could alleviate the issue that are facing those hospitals in particular if patients can be treated at their residence instead of taking them to the hospital and occupying a much-needed bed for patients who would not have the option of paramedicine. In comparison to the Spanish flu, science and medicine have progressed tremendously since 1918 to enable modern society to understand and combat different viruses, diseases, and bacteria that can lead to outbreaks of illness in the population. As early as 1879, a vaccine was developed by Louis Pasteur to use against chicken cholera (History of Vaccines Organization, 2021). Throughout modern times, medicine has developed vaccines for specific illnesses (e.g. polio, rabies, smallpox, etc.) to contend with particular issues of the day (History of Vaccines Organization, 2021). The current COVID-19 vaccines, while they may be experimental and experience some issues, were developed quickly to combat the current world pandemic. These are new tools that can be deployed by paramedicine to combat COVID-19 and assist in preventing the spread of the virus by deploying the vaccines in patients’ residences. This approach would also appear to enable the more rural population centers to be vaccinated at a higher rate and more quickly than if those individuals had to come into a local hospital to receive the vaccine.

Local Government’s Role with Paramedicine How linked is paramedicine with local government? What is the role that local government should play in paramedicine and what does the governing structure look like for ensuring that paramedicine is optimized for the community? Paramedicine is linked to emergency services in the community as well as the public health agency for the city or county government. According to the Rural Health Information Hub, the focus for community paramedicine is the following: ● ● ●

Providing and connecting patients to primary care services Completing post-hospital follow-up care Integration with local public health agencies, home health agencies, health systems, and other providers

Local Government Management and Paramedicine  191 ● ●

Providing education and health promotion programs Providing services not available elsewhere in the community (Rural Health Information Hub, 2021)

Paramedicine touches a number of government agencies and departments as well as private industry and non-profit organizations. The training the EMTs receive can be conducted by a number of educational institutions, which can be either private (e.g. for-profit educational companies) or nonprofit organizations (e.g. community colleges or universities). The direction and focus of the community paramedicine program are usually directed from hospitals (can be community, non-profit, or for-profit), as well as public health departments at the city, county, or even state levels. The emergency management services are through either city or county agencies in the form of 911 services, police, and fire departments. Paramedicine is essentially a hub for local government to consolidate a number of resources for efficiency and effectiveness to provide public health for their community.

Conclusion The healthcare system in the United States is vast and complex, making up 20% of the US economy and consisting of a variety of public and private payers and providers (McLaughlin and McLaughlin, 2009). The United States spends more on healthcare per capita of GDP than any other developed country and yet it ranks lower on several key measures including life expectancy and infant mortality rates (McLaughlin and McLaughlin, 2009). The combination of high costs and low US outcomes does not seem to be associated with any one specific organizational or financing approach, which is about the only issue experts appear to be in agreement on. US policymakers need to focus on what Americans are getting for their greater healthcare spending, concluding that “it’s the prices, stupid” (McLaughlin and McLaughlin, 2009). So, if the United States spends more on healthcare than any other nation without a top ranking, does that mean we are spending too much? Overspending can be about price; paying more than someone needs for a service or quantity, buying more services than someone needs, or not getting what a person paid for the service. In healthcare, it is probably a bit of both aspects. The number of physician visits and hospital beds per capita was lower in the United States than the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development median (quantity), while healthcare worker wages, hospital supplies, and drugs were much costlier in the United States (price) (McLaughlin and McLaughlin, 2009). Despite that most Americans feel healthcare is getting worse, their personal experiences with healthcare have stayed the same or even gotten better. In a public opinion survey on the state of healthcare in the United States, 41% polled say healthcare has gotten worse rather than improved in the past five years (CVS Healthcare and Morning Consult, 2017). However, when it

192  Kristi L. Valcik comes to personal experience, a larger share of people polled said it has gotten better (28%) compared to those who say it has gotten worse (23%) (CVS Healthcare and Morning Consult, 2017). People with health insurance are also largely happy with their coverage. A vast majority (83%) said they are somewhat or very satisfied with their coverage (CVS Healthcare and Morning Consult, 2017). The uninsured population was less likely to use the healthcare system except for the ER. Americans with health insurance were two to three times more likely to have seen a doctor or to have surgery in the past year than uninsured Americans. In contrast, insured and uninsured Americans used the ER at the same rate (CVS Healthcare and Morning Consult, 2017). Since the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Aare Act, the US has seen historically high levels of insurance coverage. Although there has been an exceptional job at increasing insurance enrollment, people often use ambulatory/emergency medical services (EMS) in lieu of primary care. EMS personnel have typically focused on providing emergency treatment for individuals suffering serious medical problems in a community and transporting these patients to a hospital emergency room. Emergency care is more costly than many other types of healthcare services, so EMS systems and hospital emergency departments must prepare for a variety of both routine and unusual problems. Community paramedicine calls for the utilization of community health workers and primary care providers in underserved areas to collaborate in providing preventive care. It has the potential to see that patients are treated appropriately on location other than in a hospital emergency department. Community paramedicine may also reduce overcrowding in EDs so fewer patients with non-emergency conditions are using ER services, potentially reducing costs and making more efficient use of ED resources. Increasing community paramedicine services will enhance access to appropriate healthcare services and overall community health at a local level as well as result in significant cost savings and reduction in emergency services.

References AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange Snapshot, 2012. Trained Paramedics Provide Ongoing Support to Frequent 911 Callers, Reducing Use of Ambulance and Emergency Services. Retreived on December 12, 2022. https://www​ .medstar911​.org​/wp​-content​/uploads​/2019​/10​/MedStar​-AHRQ​-Profile​-2016​.pdf Atlas, Scott, 2015. How Obamacare Fails the Poor and Middle Class. Retrieved on August 26, 2021. http://www​.cnn​.com​/2015​/03​/04​/opinion​/atlas​-obamacare​ -poor​-middle​-class​/index​.html. Berwick, Don, 2009. “What ‘Patient-Centered’ Should Mean: Confessions Of An Extremist”, Health Affairs 28(1). Retrieved on December 12, 2022. https://www​ .healthaffairs​.org​/doi​/10​.1377​/hlthaff​.28​.4​.w555 Bucher, Joshua, and Zaldl, Hashim Q., 2021. A Brief History of Emergency Medical Services in the United States. EMRA. Retrieved on August 25, 2021. https://www​ .emra​.org​/about​-emra​/history​/ems​-history/.

Local Government Management and Paramedicine  193 CVS Health and Morning Consult, 2017. The State of Healthcare in the United States. Public Opinion Survey Report. November 30, 2017. Retrieved on August 26, 2021. https://cvshealth​.com​/sites​/default​/files​/cvs​-health​-state​-of​-healthcare​ -in​-the​-united​-states​-report​.pdf. Erich, John, 2021. Timeline of Modern American EMS. EMS World. Retrieved on August 25, 2021. https://www​.hmp​glob​alle​arni​ngnetwork​.com​/site​/emsworld​/ article​/219388​/timeline​-modern​-american​-ems. Fuchs, Victor R., 2011. Who Shall Live? Health, Economics and Social Choice. 2nd edition. World Scientific Publishing Co Inc., Hackensack, NJ. Gottlieb, Scott, 2015. How Many People Has Obamacare Really Insured? Forbes. May 14, 2015. Retrieved on August 26, 2021. https://www​.forbes​.com​/sites​ /scottgottlieb​/ 2015​ /05​ /14​ /how​ -many​ -people​ -has ​-obamacare ​-really​-insured/​ #3f22698b788a. History of Vaccines Organization, 2021. History of Vaccines Timeline. Retrieved on August 25, 2021. https://www​.historyofvaccines​.org​/timeline​#EVT​_100871. Institute of Medicine, 2007. Emergency Medical Services at the Crossroads. Institute of Medicine, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. Retrieved on August 26, 2021. https://nasemso​.org​/wp​-content​/uploads​/EMS​-at​-Crossroads​ .pdf. Jackson, Alyssa, 2021. Rural Hospitals Overwhelmed with COVID-19 Patients. WTOC11. August 24, 2021. Retrieved on August 25, 2021. https://www​.wtoc​ .com​/2021​/08​/24​/rural​-hospitals​-overwhelmed​-with​-covid​-19​-patients/. Kizer, Kenneth W., Shore, Karen, and Moulin, Aimee, 2013. Community Paramedicine: A Promising Model for Integrating Emergency and Primary Care. Report. University of California at Davis - Institute for Population Health Improvement. Retrieved on August 26, 2021. https://escholarship​.org​/content​/ qt8jq9c187​/qt8jq9c187​.pdf. McLaughlin, Curtis P., and McLaughlin, Craig D., 2009. Health Policy Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Jones & Bartlett Learning, Burlington, MA. Medstar Mobile Healthcare, 2017. Retrieved on August 26, 2021. http://www​ .medstar911​.org​/mobile​-healthcare​-programs. Minnesota Department of Human Services, 2020. Community Paramedic Services: Health Services Medical Management. October 14, 2020. Retrieved on August 26, 2021. https://www​.dhs​.state​.mn​.us​/main​/idcplg​?idcservice​=get​_dynamic​ _conversion​ & rev ​ i sio ​ n sel ​ e cti ​ o nmethod ​ = latestreleased ​ & ddocname ​ = dhs16​ _177475. National Association of State EMS Officials, 2013. Military Medic to Paramedic EMS Bridge Programs. [Webinar]. Retrieved on August 26, 2021. https://nasemso​ .org​/wp​-content​/uploads​/military​-medic​-to​-paramedic​-ems​-bridge​-programs​ -webinar​-08nov2013​.pdf. Oregon Historical Society, 2021. What We Can Learn from the Influenza Pandemic of 1918–1919. The Oregon Historical Society. Retrieved on August 25, 2021. https://www​.ohs​.org​/events​/what​-we​-can​-learn​-from​-the​-influenza​-pandemic​ .cfm ​ ? gclid ​ = EAI​ a IQo​ b ChM​ I 0bP​ Z i6X​ M 8gI​ V Msm ​ U CR0 ​ w iQW ​ X EAA ​ Y ASA​ AEgIj1PD​_BwE. Oxner, Reese, 2021. Dozens of Texas Hospitals Are out of ICU Beds as COVID-19 Cases again Overwhelm the State’s Capacity. The Texas Tribune. August 10, 2021. Retrieved on August 25, 2021. https://www​.texastribune​.org​/2021​/08​/10​/ coronavirus​-texas​-hospitals​-icu​-beds/.

194  Kristi L. Valcik Patterson, Davis G. and Skillman, Susan M., 2012. “National Consensus Conference on Community Paramedicine: Summary of an Expert Meeting”, WWAMI Rural Health Research Center, October 1–2, 2012. Retrieved on December 12, 2022. https://depts​.washington​.edu​/uwrhrc​/uploads​/CP​_Report​.pdf Pearson, Karen, Gale, John, and Shaler, George, 2014. Community Paramedicine in Rural Areas: State and Local Findings and the Role of the State Flex Program. Flex monitoring Team Briefing Paper No. 34. February 2014. Retrieved on August 26, 2021. https://www​.flexmonitoring​.org​/publication​/evidence​-community​ -paramedicine​-rural​-areas​-state​-and​-local​-findings​-and​-role​-state. Rural Health Information Hub, 2021, Community Paramedicine. Rural Health Information Hub. Retrieved on August 25, 2021. https://www​.ruralhealthinfo​ .org​/topics​/community​-paramedicine. West Virginia Department of Education, 2021. A Brief History of Emergency Medical Services. West Virginia Department of Education. Retrieved on August 25, 2021. https://wvde​.state​.wv​.us​/abe​/Public​%20Service​%20Personnel​/HistoryofEMS​ .html.

12 Municipal Government Relations Brett Wilkinson

Introduction Government relations, often referred to as intergovernmental relations or government affairs, is an important function for organizations at all levels of government. This field of work focuses on how an organization interacts with: ●

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Local governmental organizations, such as municipalities, counties, school districts, and higher education institutions State governmental organizations, such as state legislatures and state agencies Federal governmental organizations, such as the US Congress and federal agencies International governmental organizations, in some cases

Additionally, many private sector organizations, including businesses and non-profits, employ government relations staff, as most organizations are impacted by local, state, and federal laws and regulations. The former Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) was an independent, bipartisan intergovernmental agency established in 1959 with the mission to strengthen the American federal system and improve the ability of federal, state, and local governments to work together cooperatively, efficiently, and effectively. The Commission defined intergovernmental relations as “fields in which researchers study how different levels of government interact with one another, and attempt to define how they should interact with one another in the context of The Constitution” (ACIR, 2021). This definition formed the foundation of what we consider government relations today. In practical, real-world terms, government relations refers to the process of influencing public policy at all levels of governance: local, regional, national, and even global. An effective government relations team is critical to fulfilling mission statements and achieving an organization’s goals. Government relations professionals need to be skilled at educating policymakers about DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-12

196  Brett Wilkinson issues, alerting clients or senior management to legislative risks and ­opportunities, and lobbying to ensure organizational views are reflected in policy debates and outcomes. This is increasingly challenging in an advocacy environment that is always changing thanks to the complexity of legislation and regulation, lightning-fast news cycles, an increasing number of voices added to the conversation, and entrenched partisanship (Memphis, 2021). This chapter will focus on municipal governmental relations and how municipalities can engage government relations staff to enhance service delivery to citizens. The chapter will focus specifically on the City of Dallas’s governmental affairs structure, with some tangential attention to other large Texas cities. Please note, the terms “municipality,” “local government,” and “city” will be used interchangeably throughout this chapter. While government relations and public affairs often overlap thanks to some functional similarities, it is important to understand the distinct differences between these two fields of work. Generally speaking, government relations serves as more of an organization-to-government type of communication in which regulatory issues are discussed, communications directed to governmental representatives take place, lobbying efforts directed at educating legislators are initiated, and so on (Saylor Academy, 2012). Conversely, public affairs generally focuses on an organization’s interaction with the public, specific interest groups, or the media. Municipal government relations structures vary from organization to organization, but generally include two essential functions: ●

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Government affairs focuses on working strategically and effectively with other local, state, national, and international governments, especially in areas of mutual concerns or overlapping responsibilities. This can also include quasi-governmental organizations and private sector entities Legislative affairs deals with the development, pursuit, and achievement of legislative initiatives to effectively impact policy at the local, state, and federal levels. Legislative affairs also focuses on opposing legislation that would have a perceived detrimental effect on an organization

The City of Dallas Office of Government Affairs’ mission is to develop partnerships and serve as a primary point of contact for the City to local, regional, state, and federal levels of government and other independent agencies; to develop and manage the City's state and federal legislative agendas; to protect the interests of the City by coordinating with departments to develop appropriate responses to state and federal legislative matters; and to maximize opportunities for acquiring and leveraging outside resources. (City of Dallas 2021)

Municipal Government Relations  197 Engaging in successful government and legislative affairs requires significant collaboration, exceptional communication, and effective relationship building. An effective government relations team will: ● ● ● ●

Have the strong support of city leadership Be well connected to decision-makers in the organization Be involved in the decision-making process Employ talented staff

Organizations can increase the odds of getting more business value from this important function by picking the right design and making the most of it, breaking silos and building bridges with other functions, and developing talented people and quantifying their impact (Musters, Parekh, and Ramkumar, 2013).

Why Do Cities Need a Government Relations Team? Municipalities provide a broad range of services to residents and visitors. The City of Dallas, for example, employs more than 13,000 people, has an annual budget of more than $4 billion, and consists of more than 40 city departments and offices. Many of the services provided by cities often require coordination with other governmental agencies. For example, police departments coordinate efforts with other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Public works and transportation staff work with other local, state, and federal organizations, such as councils of government, state departments of transportation, and the US Department of Transportation. Housing departments work closely with state housing agencies and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Local emergency management officials coordinate efforts with state emergency management agencies and the US Department of Homeland Security. Water departments and flood control managers work closely with state water agencies and the US Army Corps of Engineers. And the list goes on and on. In the City of Dallas, practically every department has some level of interaction with other governmental agencies. To that end, the city’s centralized government relations team helps coordinate communication and foster relationships, ensuring the organization is effectively working through the right channels and reaching the right people in other governmental organizations. This approach is critical to effective partnerships. While navigating the bureaucracies of federal and state government agencies can be challenging and fraught with risks, an effective government relations team knows how and whom to reach, maintains an effective network of contacts, and nurtures relationships. Perhaps most importantly, government relations efforts impact an organization’s revenue and fiscal affairs. Decisions made in state capitols and Washington, DC, especially related to taxation and funding for local

198  Brett Wilkinson government programs, can substantially impact cities. For example, the City of Dallas receives tens of millions of dollars in annual funding through various federal programs such as community development, housing, homeless, public safety and homeland security, and transportation and infrastructure. Working to ensure these programs are adequately funded by Congress each year is a clear priority. For a successful government relations function, the key is to demonstrate that the typical tasks associated with government affairs, namely identifying and tracking important issues, fending off detrimental policy initiatives, or proactively sponsoring legislation, have a material and measurable impact on the overall business, despite not being tied directly to revenue (Content Team, Fiscal Note, 2019).

Municipal Government Relations Structures The structure and size of municipal government relations teams vary from city to city. Many smaller cities do not have dedicated government relations staff. Rather, they rely on municipal advocacy organizations (discussed later in this chapter) to represent their interests. Most larger cities, however, do employ a government relations team, often ranging from one designated professional to entire city departments. The reporting structure varies from city to city as well. For example, some city government relations staff work out of the mayor’s office. In other cities, the staff reports to the city manager, and in others to the city attorney. The City of Dallas government relations team reports to the city manager. Additionally, all City of Dallas departments have a designated liaison to work with the city’s government relations staff. The city’s government relations team works closely with the mayor and city council and is in regular communication with the city’s entire executive team. So for the City of Dallas, government relations is truly an “all hands on deck” approach. Regardless of the reporting structure, it is critical that a city’s government relations team have effective access to the organization, namely the mayor, the city council, the city’s executive leadership, and all city departments—to provide accurate and timely information to governmental agencies and legislators when needed. Additionally, it is important for a city’s government relations team to understand the operations and needs of the organization so they can engage in effective advocacy.

The Importance of Legislative Agendas Every two years, the United States Congress convenes and considers legislation that impacts cities throughout the nation, especially as it relates to funding for important local government programs. State legislatures also convene regularly to debate legislation relevant to their municipal governments. In Texas, the State Legislature meets once every two years for 140

Municipal Government Relations  199 days, during which time numerous bills affecting municipalities in Texas are considered. For example, during the 2019 Texas legislative session, more than 7,500 bills or resolutions were introduced, more than 2,000 of which would have affected Texas cities in some substantial manner. In the end, more than 1,400 bills or resolutions passed and were signed into law, with 300 directly impacting cities (Texas Municipal League, 2020). Given the impact, whether good or bad, proposed federal and state legislation can have on cities, it is imperative cities pay close attention to what is going on in Washington and their own state legislatures and work diligently to protect the interests of their municipalities and their citizens. More than 350 cities in Texas are “home rule” municipalities, governed by city charters. This designation gives mayors and city councils considerable flexibility to do what they believe, as local elected officials, is in the best interest of the cities they represent. Even with “home rule” authority, much of how cities operate, in terms of providing services and other city functions, is governed by state and federal law. In Texas, hundreds of state law statutes deal with local governance. In fact, there is an entire section of Texas law titled Local Government Code. The impact of federal and state law on municipal government operations is clear. That is why many cities proactively develop legislative agendas prior to each federal and state legislative session. These agendas serve as the guiding documents and playbooks for cities’ government relations teams and are intended to clearly inform federal and state legislators about local legislative priorities and concerns. Additionally, because a city’s legislative agenda is often adopted by city councils, it often serves as the official position of the municipality on a variety of legislative issues. This is important in that it is a clear and impartial way of communicating the objectives and needs of the city overall, beyond just the individual opinions or wishes of a mayor, city council member, or city staff member.

Local Control: Protecting Home Rule Authority Perhaps the most important legislative focus for municipalities is the protection of local control—or opposing any legislative action that would erode the “home rule” authority of municipalities. In other words, cities will generally staunchly oppose any legislation that diminishes their ability to provide services to residents with the maximum amount of local autonomy. Additionally, cities almost universally oppose unfunded mandates that effectively constrain their ability to allocate scarce resources to locally determined priorities. For Star Trek fans, many municipalities would consider protecting local control and opposing unfunded mandates the “prime directives” of a city’s legislative efforts. An example of cities fighting to protect local control occurred during the 86th session of the Texas Legislature. Senate Bill 2 (SB2), the Texas

200  Brett Wilkinson Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019, imposes revenue caps on local governments and reforms the system of property taxation by: ●

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Lowering the tax rate a taxing unit can adopt without voter approval and requiring a mandatory election to exceed the lowered rate Making numerous changes to the procedure by which a city adopts a tax rate Making several changes to the property tax appraisal process (Texas Municipal League Staff, 2020)

This highly controversial piece of legislation brought cities and counties from across Texas together to lobby against the bill. For months, mayors, city council members, county judges, county commissioners, and other local government advocates fought to defeat the legislation, or at the very least minimize its impact. Because the overwhelming majority of Texas cities saw this bill as a direct attack against local control, it elicited cooperation that crossed politics and ideologies. Even fiscally conservative local elected officials, who generally support lower taxes, publicly opposed the bill. Despite the extensive negotiation and debate, however, this particular legislation was a key priority for the Texas Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House, and ultimately passed despite the concerns of local governments.

Legislative Focus Areas While municipal legislative agendas can be highly specific to a city’s individual needs, general legislative focus areas often address a more broad range of issues, such as: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Public safety Transportation and infrastructure Water, wastewater, and flood control Municipal finance and fiscal sustainability Telecommunications and franchising Zoning and rights of way Economic and community development Workforce development Community development and affordable housing Clean air and the environment Recreation, arts, and culture

City government relations teams seek to impact legislation that maximizes their organizations’ ability to provide quality services in these areas and ensure that federal and state legislation benefits their respective communities. Take, for example, the following policy statement from the City

Municipal Government Relations  201 of Dallas’s federal legislative program for the 116th Congress related to ­franchising, rights of way, and zoning: The City of Dallas opposes any legislation or regulatory effort that would erode City authority to manage public rights-of-way and collect reasonable compensation for their use. The City also opposes any federal preemption of City zoning authority. The City is especially concerned about recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) actions (the “Small Cell”, the “Moratoria Order”, and the “Cable Franchise Proposed Order”) that can only be described as a broad and unprecedented federal government assault on local government authority and local government budgets. The “Small Cell Order” is especially egregious in that it seeks to preempt the City’s authority to manage City property and to collect fair market value for its use. If allowed to stand, the “Small Cell Order” would establish a troubling precedent of allowing the federal government to dictate the terms of access to non-federal property. Franchising is the backbone of local government telecommunications policy. It creates a framework for local management of public rights-ofway, collection of compensation for the use and management of public rights-of-way and resolution of consumer complaints. Federal law specifically preserves the authority of state and local governments to manage public rights-of-way and to collect compensation for their use by telecommunications providers. A major goal of the telecommunications industry remains federal preemption of local control over public rights-of-way and the preemption of local fees collected from the industry for the use and management of public rights-of-way. In addition, industry has also sought legislation and regulation that would preempt local zoning authority over the location of telecommunications antennae and towers. The City of Dallas would have to reduce services or raise taxes by more than $100 million a year if revenue from rent charged to private corporations for the use of public rights-of-way was eliminated. In addition, City control of public rights-of-way and zoning for the placement of telecommunications facilities provides important public safety benefits, preserves City infrastructure investments and ensures that property values will not be impacted by incompatible uses. (City of Dallas, 2019) The foregoing list of topics and the specific example are intended to illustrate many of the different ways in which government relations teams can engage. Government relations teams should be ever on the lookout for opportunities to advance their legislative agendas. And it is not just federal and state legislation that provides opportunities. Federal and state agencies often set policy through administrative rules or executive orders. So not

202  Brett Wilkinson only do government relations teams need to be concerned with federal and state legislation, but also pay close attention to the actions of federal and state agencies that impact municipalities, which can often be a monumental task and requires a collaborative approach. One of the challenges for government relations staff is to be knowledgeable on the issues, especially when communicating with legislators or other decision-makers. This can be challenging given the complexities surrounding some of the issues and proposed federal and state laws and/or regulations. While government relations staff should be somewhat versed on the issues, or at least know “just enough to be dangerous,” they do not need to be subject matter experts. Government relations teams, at least in large cities, rely on the professional staff in the organization’s various departments to serve as experts on the issues and will tap into that knowledge when necessary. As such, government relations teams should be thoroughly plugged into their organizations and have good working relationships with internal, as well as external, stakeholders.

City Lobbyists: Advocating for the People While many cities are members of advocacy organizations representing their interests in Congress and state legislatures, some cities hire professional lobbyists to protect their unique interests. Local government lobbyists, who often have significant legislative networks, expertise, and resources, provide cities with additional tools to meet their legislative needs. These lobbyists often work to facilitate city interactions with federal and state legislators and agencies. Additionally, the employment of lobbyists allows cities to pursue their legislative agendas without the need to hire additional staff. City lobbyists assist with monitoring federal and state legislation, analyzing the impacts of legislation, preparing correspondence and testimony, and developing legislative strategies. In Texas, during recent legislative sessions, the issue of “taxpayerfunded lobbyists” has been one of the hot-button issues. In the 87th Texas Legislative Session, HB 749 was filed. The bill states, A political subdivision may not spend public funds: (1) to hire an individual required to register as a lobbyist under Chapter 305 for the purpose of lobbying a member of the legislature; or (2) to pay a nonprofit state association or organization that: (A) primarily represents political subdivisions; and (B) hires or contracts with an individual required to register as a lobbyist under Chapter 305. (Middleton, 2021) Several north Texas mayors published an op-ed piece on the issue of taxpayer-funded lobbyists in the Dallas Morning News.

Municipal Government Relations  203 Serving as a local elected official, especially in a capacity that is close to voters like the city council or mayor, is the ultimate form of giving back to one’s community. The job is hard, often 24/7, but it’s also most fulfilling. When some of our Texas legislators express concern about what they call “taxpayer-funded lobbyists” representing cities, we want to speak up for mayors and council members across our region to explain why eliminating professional lobbying for municipalities is a solution in search of a problem. The term lobbyist is a misnomer in this case. Counties and municipalities often join associations and hire advocates to work on behalf of the citizens, just like we are working on behalf of the people who elected us. These advocates are experts in their fields, monitoring hundreds of bills filed each session and alerting us to any that might be potentially bad for our citizens—as well as helping us promote legislation that would benefit our neighbors. Hiring experts to represent our interests is so important that the state of Texas has a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., representing us. Even so, these important advocates represent a small budget line in our cities’ budgets. For example, in Fort Worth, our community advocacy expense is only .00082% of the overall annual city budget. The return on investment is indisputable. Through advocacy, cities often gain funding for important capital and infrastructure projects, including airports, water systems, roadways, and convention and community centers. Not only do these projects provide services to citizens, but, in some cases, revenue back to the cities. There are 962 cities and towns in our state, each one with its own unique mix of opportunities and challenges. Each one with local leaders who cheer on the same high school football team, worship in the same pews, and shop at the same grocery stores. Many local citizens may not know their state representatives or senators, but they typically know their mayors, council members and school board representatives. They know us, they see us, and they elect us. Our state legislators have plenty on their plates for the upcoming session setting biennium budget, ensuring that Texas schoolchildren have the best education we can provide them and building policy that continues to fuel our state’s economic development. One-size public policy does not fit all. That’s why we believe the government closest to the people should continue to have a voice and advocate for what is best for its citizens. (Price, Gordon, and Williams, 2021) On the other side of the issue, some believe local government organizations should not be using public funds to hire professional lobbyists. For

204  Brett Wilkinson example, the following statement offers the position from the Texas Public Policy Foundation: So long as government is large and powerful—taxing, spending, and regulating in ways that can significantly affect the profitability of businesses and personal finance—individuals will be driven to influence lawmaking. Much of this activity is defensive but some is opportunistic, leading to crony corporatism with the government actively encouraged to pick winners and losers. In both cases, private individuals engaged in lobbying activities are exercising their free speech rights, as enshrined in the First Amendment which states: “the right of the people … to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Private persons engaged in lobbying write bills, assemble coalitions, and strive to pass or defeat legislation using this freedom. When they work for unions, businesses, or other special interests, they still are exercising their right to free speech. However, when these persons are employed by a governmental entity, the dynamics change. After all, only people have rights. Governments have powers. Unfortunately, many cities, counties, school districts, and special districts spend public money to hire professional lobbyists to engage in the legislative process. It represents no small amount either. In 2017, local governments spent as much as $41 million on lobbyists. This figure excludes government employees who may spend some of their time lobbying other parts of government for their agency. Local government should not spend public money on private lobbyists for many reasons. First, one part of a representative government should not petition another part of government for a “redress of grievances.” A political subdivision may not lay claim to that right. Second, lobbyists employed with taxpayer money usually advocate for greater spending, more taxing authority, and increased regulatory power. It is unreasonable to force taxpayers to fund lobbying campaigns that go against their interests. Third, the practice puts individuals at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to getting their representatives’ attention. Lobbyists know how to work the system, while the average Texan does not. Besides, local elected officials have other avenues to elevate their needs and concerns to state lawmakers, like making personal contact or showing up at the Texas Capitol in person. State officials are all highly motivated to listen to the elected members of the local government bodies that they represent. (Texas Public Policy Foundation, 2020) While the future of taxpayer-funded lobbying remains unclear, cities continue to rely, for the time being, on professional lobbyists to advocate for their interests.

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Internal Politics: Who’s in Charge and Who Speaks on Behalf of the City? A key challenge for government relations staff is navigating internal politics. Most cities in Texas operate under either a mayor/council or council/ manager form of government, with a few, such as Houston, operating under a strong mayor system. This can prove challenging for city government relations staff due to the occasional lack of internal agreement on positions the city should take related to proposed federal or state legislation, especially those that tend to be controversial in nature. Examples include the legalization of marijuana, global warming and climate change, or the legalization of gambling. Therefore, it is important for cities to have an officially adopted legislative agenda allowing issues to be debated and considered prior to federal and state legislative sessions. Many cities have some form of a legislative committee to guide this process. Federal and state legislative sessions often present occasions wherein a legislator needs to know a city’s position on an issue, and in most cases with a very short turnaround time. Further, issues are sometimes considered for which no official city position is outlined in a city’s legislative agenda. This is why it is important to designate a particular individual empowered with the authority to represent the city’s interests when necessary—whether that be the mayor, the city’s legislative committee chair, the city manager, the city attorney, or the city’s government relations director or lead staffer.

Municipal Advocacy Organizations As noted earlier, many cities are members of, and coordinate efforts with, advocacy organizations that represent the interests of municipalities, especially in state capitals and Washington, DC. These advocacy organizations also provide a variety of professional development opportunities, as well as opportunities for both elected officials and staff to network with their colleagues from across their regions, states, and nation. Most of these organizations host annual conferences with hundreds or even thousands of other local officials in attendance. Examples of these advocacy organizations include: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Regional commissions and councils State municipal leagues The United States Conference of Mayors The National League of Cities The International City/County Management Association Professional associations

206  Brett Wilkinson Leadership in these organizations consists of mayors, city council members, and city professional staff. Municipalities generally pay membership dues to these organizations based on population, which allows them to actively participate in setting state and national municipal policy. These organizations also offer grant opportunities for members that cover a wide range of topics. Decisions being made in state capitols and Washington, DC, have a tremendous impact on municipalities and their ability to operate in an effective manner and in the best interest of their citizens. It takes a coordinated effort, with several different parties involved, to effectively advocate for cities’ individual and collective interests. These advocacy organizations provide a powerful voice on behalf of cities. Additionally, the professional staff in these organizations offer expertise on issues covering a wide array of municipal topics and maintain significant networks of contacts, especially elected officials in state legislatures and the US Congress. City government relations staff work closely with the professional staff in these advocacy groups to promote the interests of their cities.

Grants: Securing Additional Resources to Achieve Strategic Priorities Many cities employ professional grant writers to seek out opportunities to secure additional resources to assist with funding for a variety of purposes and needs. The federal government, state governments, and private sector organizations provide billions of dollars in funding opportunities each year for local governments. For example, the City of Dallas receives, on average, $50 million annually in federal, state, and private sector grants to enhance service delivery. While there is no such thing as free money, grants are often favorably looked upon by local officials because they provide supplemental funding for local projects and programs, many of which cities alone would have trouble funding through the local tax base.

Types of Grants The term “grant” can be very broad in that it can refer to funds distributed through governmental agencies or private institutions, such as foundations, corporations, trusts, etc. As related to federal grants, which represent the majority of grant funds received by municipalities, grants come in two basic forms: 1) Block grants—money given for a fairly broad purpose, with very few strings attached 2) Categorical grants—money given for a specific purpose that comes with restrictions concerning how the money should be spent

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Revenue Sharing The primary difference between revenue sharing and grants is the level of flexibility provided. Unlike block and categorical grants, the revenue-sharing system provides funding to local governments with few or no restrictions. In 1972, President Nixon signed the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act after it was passed by Congress. This legislation allowed the federal government to share a portion of its annual income with state and local governments, with one-third allocated to states and two-thirds allocated to local governments. Under the plan, state and local governments were provided a great deal of autonomy with regard to how the funds were to be spent. While the program expired under the Reagan Administration due to increased federal deficits and a different philosophical view on federal fiscalism, this type of federal aid is looked upon very favorably by local governments. Currently, discussions are ongoing around reinstating some form of federal revenue sharing with state and local governments. These discussions have become especially relevant as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic and its impact on city revenues. City grant writing is a critical operation within municipal government organizations. There is considerable benefit to city grant staff working closely with a city’s government relations team, which typically includes state and federal lobbyists. This symbiotic relationship allows grant staff to gain insight into funding strategies so projects can be matched with the right funding streams. Grant writers can also benefit from government relations staff’s relationships with state and federal elected officials, which provide an opportunity for those officials to advocate for competitive grant applications through support letters or direct outreach to funding agencies. In addition, it is increasingly common for competitive grants to require partnerships. Working closely with government relations staff means connections can be made quickly when needed and collaboration can be enabled with the relevant partners during the often tight timeframes for grant application development. These relationships also allow grants to be referred to other organizations when the city is neither eligible nor the best applicant for the funding. Facilitated by government relations staff, this is a highly tangible way for cities to be good partners in their communities. Finally, it is not uncommon for cities to run into compliance issues with grants. When such challenges arise, the ability to leverage government relations staff and lobbyists can be key to resolving issues with granting agencies.

Earmarks: Pork Barrel Spending Broadly speaking, to “earmark” is to set aside something for a specific purpose. Interestingly, the term “earmark” has an agricultural origin, where

208  Brett Wilkinson “farmers would cut recognizable notches in their livestock's ears to mark the animals as belonging to them” (Hayes, 2020). As it relates to legislation, earmarks are provisions inserted into bills for specific projects or programs. This has been a longstanding practice in government legislating, particularly with regard to “greasing the wheels” of the budgeting process. Or at least it was until the practice was banned by Congress in 2011. That said, some states, at least in Texas, still allow the process of earmarking. Prior to the federal earmark ban, many cities worked through their federal elected representatives to use the process of earmarking to bring awareness to local projects and funding needs they deemed worthy of a federal partnership but felt were unlikely to come to fruition with funding available through the local tax base alone. While critics of earmarks often cite wasteful spending and corruption, cities have used this practice to fund important local projects, ranging from transportation to water infrastructure and economic development initiatives in stressed communities. Securing earmarks has historically been an important focus of a city’s government relations efforts. For example, the City of Dallas worked for years through its Congressional delegation to utilize the earmark process to secure critical funding for local priorities. For example, over a five-year period, from 2005 to 2009, Congress earmarked more than $140 million in various legislation for Dallas projects, including bridges, highway interchanges, flood control, parks, police technology, cultural venues, and transit projects. As of 2021, Congress has re-opened the conversation around reinstating earmarking, but replacing the term with “Community Project Funding.” The new process would implement certain restrictions, such as identifying what types of projects and programs would qualify, establishing spending caps, and providing for increased transparency and oversight. As of this writing, the idea has bipartisan support. Interestingly, since the earmark ban went into effect in 2011, Congress has been unable to pass a single federal budget on time and has relied on continuing resolutions or omnibus spending packages to fund the federal government. Not only has the federal budgeting process become dysfunctional but passing any meaningful legislation has become a monumental task in Congress. Many believe that bringing back earmarks will restore functionality to the federal legislative process. Additionally, many argue that restoring earmarks gives the “power of the purse” back to Congress and takes important funding decisions out of the hands of federal bureaucrats.

Leveraging Partnerships One of the most important opportunities for municipal government relations staff is to maximize the utilization of resources through the establishment of healthy strategic partnerships with outside organizations. Examples include:

Municipal Government Relations  209 ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Chambers of commerce School districts Transportation agencies Water and flood control districts Institutions of higher education Other municipalities and government organizations Advocacy groups

For example, the City of Dallas works very closely with government relations staff in other large Texas cities, such as Houston, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth, Arlington, and Corpus Christi because Dallas faces many of the same challenges they do. Staff from these cities will often meet to develop strategies on issues affecting local governments and to leverage their collective resources to influence state and federal legislation. This collaboration also occurs when cities within a particular state see an opportunity to partner with other governmental agencies on issues affecting the community at large. For example, the City of Dallas has partnered with several organizations, including the Dallas Independent School District, on expanding access to broadband and providing digital equity in unserved areas of the city. Establishing close, healthy relationships with partner organizations is a crucial component of the government relations function.

The Importance of Public–Private Partnerships Public–private partnerships involve collaboration between a government agency and a private-sector company to finance, build, and operate projects, such as public transportation networks, parks, and convention centers. Financing a project through a public–private partnership can enable a project to be completed sooner or, in some cases, make it a possibility in the first place. Public–private partnerships often involve concessions of tax or other operating revenue, protection from liability, or partial ownership rights over nominally public services and property to private-sector, for-profit entities (Brock, 2021). City government relations teams often take the lead in, or assist with, identifying opportunities and developing these partnerships. To illustrate, the following are three examples of notable City of Dallas public–private partnerships.

Klyde Warren Park Building a five-acre deck park over a recessed eight-lane freeway took an imaginative and hard-working team of Dallas leaders who all agreed upon a clear vision. Klyde Warren Park creates green space “out of thin air”

210  Brett Wilkinson that connects the vibrant Uptown Dallas neighborhood with the Dallas Arts District and downtown. The $110 million project was funded through a public–private partnership. Construction on the deck began in October 2009 and the park opened in October 2012. Public support included $20 million in bond funds from the City of Dallas, $20 million in highway funds from the state of Texas, and $16.7 million in America Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2019 stimulus funds. The balance of funding, more than $50 million, was delivered through individual donors directly to the Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation. Klyde Warren Park is owned by the City of Dallas and privately operated and managed by the private Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation.

The Dallas Arts District The Dallas Arts District is the largest contiguous urban arts district in the nation, spanning 68 acres and 19 adjoining blocks (Dallas Art District, 2021). The district is comprised of museums, performance halls, corporate offices, residences, restaurants, churches, and even a public school. The cornerstone and catalyst for creative vitality in the region, the Arts District is home to the city’s leading visual and performing arts institutions, whose range and depth make Dallas a destination for the arts that is unique in our country. While many of the facilities in the district are owned by the City of Dallas, they are privately managed and were funded through hundreds of millions of dollars in public–private partnerships, including sizeable corporate and individual donations.

Jack Evans Police Headquarters The Jack Evans Police Headquarters is a prime example of a public–private partnership. This building broke ground in 2001 and was dedicated in 2003. The site was donated to the City of Dallas by developer Matthews Southwest, who also developed the Southside on Lamar site, a mixedused residential retail development. The 3.2-acre site was formerly a Sears Automotive Service Center. The Police Headquarters facility and the Southside on Lamar development were the catalyst projects that have led to a boom in a formerly neglected area near downtown, which now includes hundreds of millions of dollars for investments in residential, retail, and commercial activity. The cost of the Jack Evans Police Headquarters facility totaled $41.5 million, including funds from the Community Development Block Grant, the Environmental Protection Agency, and City of Dallas bond funds.

Case Study: City of Dallas Trinity River Corridor Project The City of Dallas’s decades-long effort to revitalize the Trinity River Corridor is a landmark example of intergovernmental cooperation, led by

Municipal Government Relations  211 an effective government relations team. The work on this project over the years has included seven mayors, 11 city councils, five city managers, and numerous federal and state agencies, federal and state legislators, and lobby firms in Washington, DC—as well as the strong leadership from the private sector and philanthropic community in Dallas.

A Brief History of the Trinity Modern-day Dallas owes its existence to the unusual convergence of three streams, known as the Trinity River. In 1839, John Neely Bryan came to the “three forks” area of the Trinity River to survey for a trading post that would serve the native Caddo Indians and immigrating settlers from the United States and Europe. Since then, Dallas has grown rapidly, and with it, has grown the hope that the Trinity River could not only be tamed, but also be harnessed to provide additional horsepower for Dallas’s economic engine. The original vision for the Trinity was to make it a navigable river, a vision that lasted for nearly 130 years. Although each attempt to implement the vision resulted in greater public safety, only minimal success was achieved in harnessing its economic potential.

The Trinity River Corridor Project In the early 1990s, the City of Dallas created the Trinity River Corridor Project—the largest public works project in the history of Dallas. The goal of the 20-mile-long project is to provide flood protection for the residents of Dallas and, in so doing, facilitate billions of dollars of development along the river. Other goals include restoring the local ecosystem, increasing transportation options, and providing enhanced recreation opportunities for residents and visitors to the city—all of which promote increased economic development. In 1998, the citizens of Dallas approved what at the time was the single largest bond measure in the city’s history ($246 million) for the Trinity River Corridor Project. Major project components included the construction of new levees and improvement of those already existing, as well as adjoining pump stations (flood control), coordinating with the Texas Department of Transportation and the US Department of Transportation on the construction of the Trinity Parkway and Trinity Bridges, construction of urban and natural lakes near downtown, miles of trails, and dozens of open green spaces and amenities.

A Successful Approach The City of Dallas knew the Trinity Project would be a multi-billion-dollar effort that would take decades to complete. City leaders also knew they

212  Brett Wilkinson would need to leverage the $246 million in initial Dallas taxpayer investment by seeking out significant additional resources to realize the vision for the Trinity. The project is a multi-agency effort including the US Army Corps of Engineers, the US Department of Transportation, the Texas Department of Transportation, Dallas County, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, as well as numerous other local, state, and federal agencies, and the active engagement of the business community and a philanthropicminded citizenry. Since 1998, the project has leveraged hundreds of millions of dollars in public–private partnerships. Over the years, the success of the enormous public works effort has relied in large part on intergovernmental partnerships and cooperation. Additionally, the city knew that it would need to secure significant amounts of funding from Washington, which would almost certainly require substantial work with both Congress and federal agencies. To assist with these efforts, the City of Dallas hired a Washington, DC-based lobbying firm—Alcalde and Fay—to help advance its legislative needs with regard to the Trinity River project. This firm had specific background and expertise in water resources and transportation infrastructure. Also, the firm had strong connections to key Congressional leadership important to the project, including the chairs and ranking members of pertinent Senate and House Committees. The city also relied on the firm’s established relationship with federal agencies such as the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Department of Transportation. Since 1998, the City of Dallas has secured over $500 million in federal funding for the project. One of the keys to this success has been the vigorous support it has received from federal elected officials, and most especially the Dallas-area Congressional delegation. The city was fortunate to have members of Congress that championed the project year after year and benefitted from Dallas Congressional Members having seniority in Congress and serving in key leadership positions. Garnering support from Members of Congress has been instrumental to the project’s success. This was achieved through regular communication, highlighted by annual trips to Washington, DC, led by the Mayor(s) of Dallas and joined by various civic leaders, which provided an opportunity for face-to-face advocacy between elected officials from the city. Another key to the success of the project—and others like it—is being ready to take advantage of any opportunity that may arise. For example, in 2007, Congress approved an important piece of legislation, known as the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). This is a bill that authorizes programs and projects of the Army Corps of Engineers. The most recent enactment of such a bill had been in 2000. In the 2007 WRDA, the City of Dallas was able to secure a $459 million authorization for just one component of the Trinity Project—the Dallas Floodway—and made the Corps responsible for expensive project components that would otherwise be outside of the scope of work they generally perform. This was an incredible

Municipal Government Relations  213 success for the project, which Dallas was able to achieve because of the hard work of the city’s Congressional delegation—and the years of lobbying and work with the delegation to help assure their continued strong support. Another example of taking advantage of opportunities was the Disaster Assistance Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2018, which was passed in response to the destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey. While Dallas wasn’t directly impacted by Hurricane Harvey, the legislation allowed projects anywhere in an impacted state to receive funds for authorized flood control projects. The city, because of relationships it had fostered for years with US Army Corps of Engineers personnel locally and in Washington, was able to secure over $300 million in funding for flood control components of the Trinity River, as well as needed repairs to a nearby dam in the watershed. Absent the city’s ability to take advantage of this opportunity that unexpectedly presented itself, the city had expected it to take many more years to secure all the funding needed to complete these vital project components.

The Calatrava Signature Bridges over the Trinity One of the most unique components of the Trinity River Corridor Project is the signature bridges that span the Trinity River, designed by worldrenowned architect Santiago Calatrava. The Woodall Rogers Extension (Margaret Hunt Hill) and the I-30 Bridge (Margaret McDermott), which have become two of the most iconic features of downtown Dallas, were constructed despite numerous challenges and roadblocks that were faced over the years. They owe their existence to intergovernmental cooperation and private-sector support. One of the biggest challenges to the construction of the bridges was perhaps the most basic: securing funding. After all, it was argued, why should taxpayers—whether city, state, or federal—fund projects designed for their signature appeal, when bridges with the same functional utility, but lacking the significant additional design components, could be constructed for much less? However, the city recognized the potential for these bridges to establish a sense of place that could help figuratively as well as literally span the Trinity and create an identity for the city and neighborhoods that would help engender an increased economic impact that would be worth the marginal cost. And, from an engineering standpoint, as the bridges are suspension structures, they allow for better conveyance of flood waters through the Dallas Floodway—and so the Calatrava bridges did offer an important public benefit over less attractive but perfectly utile alternatives. Again, securing the necessary funding for the signature bridges was sure to be a challenge. While conventional bridge structures would have cost in the range of $40 to $50 million, these amounts were dwarfed by the monies that would need to be raised for the Calatrava Bridges.

214  Brett Wilkinson Fortunately, Dallas has a very engaged philanthropic community, and private individuals gave millions to the effort. Yet even with the generous support of the private sector, it was apparent that there would be a shortfall of tens of millions in the bridges’ construction budgets. So, beginning in the early 2000s, the city began lobbying Congress to secure funding to bridge the shortfall. And while the city was successful in securing a few million each year, a significant opportunity presented itself in 2005, with the consideration within Congress of a multiyear transportation reauthorization bill that came to be known as SAFETEA-LU. In that legislation, Congress provided $77.8 million for the Trinity bridges. These were some of the largest authorizations in the bill for any projects in the country. The city was able to secure this funding because of the overwhelming support the Trinity project enjoyed from its bipartisan Dallas-area Congressional delegation. The important point to note in all of this is that the Trinity River Corridor Project required years and years of strong intergovernmental cooperation. And for projects like this, it is critical that those relationships, especially among elected officials and federal and state agencies, are strong and ongoing.

The Relationship with State and Federal Agencies One of the biggest challenges for the Trinity Project over the years has been working within the constraints of the city’s partner agencies. While the Trinity Project is a multi-dimensional effort, many of the agencies involved are focused on their individual missions and priorities. And often, over the years, the city has had to deal with competing interests. For example, the US Army Corps of Engineers’ primary mission is flood protection, and the US Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Transportation are focused on mobility. These competing interests often created challenges. Permits needed to construct the bridges, funded in part by the Department of Transportation, were under the purview of the Army Corps, which evaluated the merits of the permit requests based on the impact that the bridges would have on their flood control projects. Similarly, federal entities involved in historic preservation were initially unmoved by the need of the Army Corps to improve its flood control capabilities on the river if they were to mar seemingly mundane structures that were nevertheless bestowed with historic designations. The city needed to work closely with federal and state officials, negotiating through complex issues, to assure that competing interests would not interfere with the development the city was hoping would result from these expensive projects. Over the years, the Trinity River Corridor Project has evolved, with new plans and project visions ever-changing. And while there will continue to be new challenges, as well as new opportunities associated with advancing this

Municipal Government Relations  215 nationally significant project, there will most certainly be a continued need for strong intergovernmental collaboration and leadership.

Summary Many of the issues that matter most to cities—taxation, infrastructure, zoning laws and land use, public safety, economic development, affordable housing, etc.—are legislated in state capitols and Washington, DC. Establishing a strong government relations function that is well integrated into the organization allows cities to maximize influence on important policy decisions, as well as be successful in advocating for and advancing a city’s strategic priorities. A city’s government relations efforts should be bold, strategic, and forward-thinking. While government relations teams often spend much of their focus playing defense and fending off perceived bad public policy, it is important to play offense as well and look for opportunities to advance the organization’s goals when those opportunities arise. Government relations staff are not front-line employees. They are not interacting with the public. They do not provide direct services. They are often working behind the scenes. But they play a significant role in organizational success. During lean budget years, government relations are often first on the chopping block when it comes to budget reductions. Yet decisionmakers should understand that an effective governmental relations function is critical to a city’s operations, its fiscal health, and achieving its short and long-term strategic priorities—all of which ultimately benefit the public. When the City of Dallas first created its government affairs office in the early 1990s, there were concerns, for several years, about the value of the group. Both elected officials and employees often asked, “Now who are they and what do they do again?” But over time, the government relations team has achieved significant legislative victories that benefitted the organization, assisted departments with their interactions with outside agencies, and secured millions in funding annually for the city. As a result, the appreciation for this important function in local government, at least in the City of Dallas, has grown and is strong today.

References Brock, T., 2021. “Public Private Partnerships”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https:// www​.investopedia​.com​/terms​/p​/public​-private​-partnerships​.asp. City of Dallas, 2021. “Office of Government Affairs – Mission”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://dallascityhall​.com​/departments​/strategic​-partnerships​/Pages​/ default​.aspx. City of Dallas, 2019. “Adopted City of Dallas Legislative Program for the 116th Congress”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://dallascityhall​.com​/departments​ /strategic​ - partnerships​ / PublishingImages​ / Pages ​ / Intergovernmental ​ - Affairs​

216  Brett Wilkinson -Legislative​-Initiatives​/Adopted​%20Federal​%20Legislative​%20Program​%20for​ %20the​%20116th​%20Congress​.pdf. Content Team, Fiscal Note, 2019. “Getting a Seat at the Executive Table: Importance of Government Relations”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://fiscalnote​.com​/ blog​/getting​-a​-seat​-at​-the​-table. Dallas Arts District, n.d. “About”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://www​ .dallasartsdistrict​.org​/about/. Gordon, C., Price, B., and Williams, J., 2021. “Why Texas Cities Need Lobbyists to Represent Them in Austin”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://www​.dallasnews​ .com ​ / opinion ​ / commentary ​ / 2021 ​ / 02 ​ / 09 ​ / why ​ - texas ​ - cities ​ - need ​ - lobbyists ​ - to​ -represent​-them​-in​-austin/. Hayes, A., 2020. “Earmarking”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://www​ .investopedia​.com​/terms​/e​/earmarking​.asp. Memphis, K., 2021. “Public Affairs Council – Government Relations”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://pac​.org​/government​_relations. Middleton, 2021. “HB 749 - Relating to the Use by a Political Subdivision of Public Funds for Lobbying Activities”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://capitol​.texas​ .gov​/tlodocs​/87R​/billtext​/pdf​/HB00749I​.pdf​#navpanes​=0. Musters, R., Parekh, E., and Ramkumar, S., 2013. “Organizing the Government Affairs Function for Impact”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://www​.mckinsey​ .com​/business​-functions​/strategy​-and​-corporate​-finance​/our​-insights​/organizing​ -the​-government​-affairs​-function​-for​-impact. Saylor Academy, 2012. “Mastering Public Relations – Government Relations and Public Affairs”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://saylordotorg​.github​.io​/text​ _mastering​-public​-relations​/s11​-04​-government​-relations​-and​-publi​.html. Texas Municipal League, 2020. “The Texas Municipal League Legislative Policy Process”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://www​.tml​.org​/DocumentCenter​/ View​/2151​/2020​-Resolutions​-Submitted​-to​-Membership. Texas Municipal League Staff, 2020. “Senate Bill 2 – Explanatory Q&A”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://www​.tml​.org​/DocumentCenter​/View​/1485​/sb​-2​-qa​ _update​_jan​-2020. Texas Public Policy Foundation, 2020. “Taxpayer Funded Lobbying”, Retrieved on June 9, 2021. https://files​.texaspolicy​.com​/uploads​/2020​/09​/29101519​/2021​-22​ -Lege​-Guide​-1​-pager​-GFTP​-Taxpayer​-Funded​-Lobbying​.pdf?​_gl=1*td8lhf*_ga* MTEyOTM3Mjc1MC4xNjIzMjc0MTQ1*_ga_PY28GXYGQP*MTYyMzI3N DE0NS4xLjAuMTYyMzI3NDE0NS42MA.

13 School Districts Teodoro J. Benavides

Introduction Cities and school districts influence and impact each other’s performance and success as crucial entities that serve their communities. It would not be surprising to learn that city managers think the most important factor in a community’s success lies in the quality of its school district. Most city managers understand that the economic health of their communities is dependent on the quality of the school district and, further, that the cohesion of their neighborhoods is largely driven by the educational attainment of the citizens. Without good school districts, citizens and businesses will not be interested in making additional capital investments to further economic development. Sometimes new businesses and industries are viewed as an attack on the neighborhoods by intruders or “gentrification,” creating jobs only for “outsiders,” and raising rents and taxes while delivering little benefit to the existing community. This is why a good working partnership between local government and school districts is so vital to achieving sustainable success in any community. Local governments need to be more than casually interested in the wellbeing of local school districts if they wish to ensure their own success. Local governments need to be acquainted with school boards, appreciate the school district’s strengths and weaknesses, and assist the schools when needed. To accomplish this, local governments must create a thoughtful, working relationship. This chapter provides various examples of how this relationship can be fostered, how these relationships can be mutually beneficial, and how successful outcomes are amplified by the synergies created in the partnership (Rhee, 2013).

Getting Acquainted Sometimes people hold misinformed, incomplete, or biased views of other individuals, groups, or organizations. This phenomenon is no different between school districts and city governments. Although city governments and school districts differ from each other in their missions, governing laws DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-13

218  Teodoro J. Benavides and rules, primary clients, and so on, they also have similarities, such as elected officials, paid staff, tax revenue base, public disclosure requirements, and the like. City governments and school districts face similar limitations, diversity challenges, and complexities in delivering services and thus have many opportunities to learn from each other about where there are overlaps in their missions and functions, which can be shared, combined, or strengthened by working together. Discovering these similarities comes from study, but, more effectively, from the sharing of stories, ideally through wellorganized, routine meetings and from carefully listening to others. Many school districts and cities have made efforts to establish formal collaborative relations for mutual benefit. This involves the mayor, the school board president, the school board trustees, the city council members, and the staff of both organizations. These collaborative relationships should be based on several important principles: ● ●

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Focusing on the long-term benefits for the students and their families Operating in a cooperative fashion to leverage the assets and strengths of both institutions Working in a proactive and open manner Focusing on the three to five most important priorities of the community Working to understand each other’s systems, challenges, and constraints Being committed to results and innovation (Sharp and ICMA, 2008)

The success of these collaborative relationships rests upon learning to like each other and understanding that working together can help them achieve their goals. Legally, city governments and school districts are not required to work together. Armed with the ready-made excuse of “not having the time,” these groups seldom, if ever, meet. Therefore, these meetings will only routinely occur if the participants enjoy each other’s company and have accepted the notion that the community’s success is greatly enhanced by their cooperation. The rare, and often short-lived, exception is when the community demands that city and school district leaders meet to solve some problem or achieve some goal. The president of the school board and the mayor of the city are key to leading both elected bodies to work effectively together. Their leadership is also needed to bring about the environment in which the board of trustees and the city council come to like each and act as a team. This is not easy and takes finesse. The benefits are huge if done successfully. With a sense of a team working on common goals, they will come to see their collective efforts are important, won’t mind (as much) the need for regular public meetings, and recognize that they are helping move the community forward (Henry and McGrath, 2001). When planning collaborative meetings, several key questions should be addressed. What type of growth is being pursued and encouraged? What is the state of the city’s or school district’s infrastructure? What are the baseline

School Districts  219 assumptions and projections for population and demographic changes? Are existing programs designed to serve existing and future populations? City governments and school districts need to coordinate their efforts to ensure that the programs in each organization are in alignment and supportive of each other’s plans and actions. The organizations must coordinate on issues such as tax rates, bond programs, debt issuances, facility development, hiring, and economic coordination. Both sides need to have a good understanding of what is driving their organizations and how they impact each other. Tangible results from collaboration can include the following: Implementing a joint-use facility strategy Digital infrastructure Digital literacy Out-of-school learning (after school and summer) Status reports and action plans (City of Scottsdale, 2002)

How Cities and Schools Impact Each Other School districts usually own land and/or buildings in each other’s jurisdictions. Often these facilities and properties are developed without much collaboration or understanding of the effects on each other’s goals and priorities. It is not unusual for each to own property that is better suited for the other or should be sold and put back on the property tax rolls. For example, the City of Denton owned land in the north end of town that the school district needed for the construction of a new elementary school to serve a fast-growing neighborhood. The school district had recently purchased a large parcel of land in the south end of town to build a new middle school. Due to the good relationship between the school district and the city, the city offered its land to build the elementary school, and the school district offered a portion of the property in the southern section of the city to build athletic fields next to the new middle school. In addition, the city requested the school district to orient the gymnasium and cafeteria toward the athletic fields so that the city could run programs out of the cafeteria and gymnasium during the summer when the middle school was closed. The city informed the school district that the neighborhood did not want the new athletic fields, which were going to be built adjacent to the middle school, to have lighting. The school district and the city came to that arrangement to be sensitive to the needs of the neighborhood around the middle school. In addition, the school and the city allowed the neighborhood to build an earth-friendly playscape on the property as well (Vincent, 2021). School districts and cities are usually pleased when city populations and school populations are expanding. However, population growth can bring new challenges to school districts and city governments. For example, 65% of new enrollment in one north Texas school district was driven by Hispanic population growth. While the growth was welcomed, it created

220  Teodoro J. Benavides new demand for more Spanish-speaking teachers and staff. In addition, the explosive growth drove the need for more facilities, but the school district and the city were concerned that the student population explosion might someday lead to a student population decline, leaving the school district and the city with more buildings that it needs in the near future. It is not uncommon for a school district to build a school in a particular location that causes issues for a city. One school district placed a new elementary school on a two-lane road with limited ingress and egress. This location worked well when the weather was good, but when it rained or snowed and the parents drove their children to school, traffic jams became commonplace. The solution was to widen the road to alleviate traffic congestion during school hours. However, the road was shared between two cities. One city was large and well financed. The neighboring city was small and poor. Therefore, only one city had the financial capacity to build the road. The proposed solution was for the smaller, poorer city to de-annex their side of the road and give the land to the larger, wealthier city so that the road could be widened. However, the smaller city refused to give up a part of their city even though they knew they could never afford to widen the street (Sharp and ICMA, 2008). Cities can negatively impact school districts through the things they do as well. In the revitalization of communities all over the United States, cities are changing zoning to allow for denser residential developments and mixed-use developments that often overwhelm school facilities by introducing unexpected growth in school-age populations. While the school districts appreciate the increase in property tax values, these developments sometimes do not generate enough new revenue to fund the school programs and facilities required to address the growth in school-age population (Rindge, 2014). These examples demonstrate why it is important for cities and school districts to hold regular meetings to discuss planning efforts, coordinate where new facilities will be located, when and how the school district boundaries will be redrawn, the next bond program elections, and the role that cities and school districts will play while implementing new planning initiatives. Every action by the school district and the city has financial, social, cultural, community, economic, and political impacts on each other’s operations. In recent years, almost all the states have limited the use of eminent domain by cities for the purpose of economic development. Therefore, school districts and cities are now working together to improve the education quality of the schools while bettering the economic profile of the city. It is not uncommon for school districts and cities to evaluate where new schools are going to be built with the intent to improve the economic conditions in neighborhoods and thereby increase the property tax base of both entities. One strategy is for school districts to purchase blighted apartment complexes, move the residents out of the poor-quality apartments into better surrounding apartments to improve occupancy rates and cash flow, and

School Districts  221 thereby acquire funding to rehabilitate the blighted apartments (Hanushek, 2016). School districts often want to know when cities are planning to provide incentives to new or expanding businesses in the community to determine how many new families will move within their boundaries and what impact those developments will have on their facilities, staffing, and student populations. Re-zoning often occurs during new economic developments, which can also impact the capacity of facilities to absorb increases in student populations. The impact of re-zoning can include allowing landowners and developers to build high-density housing on certain properties in exchange for a donation of land for green space, providing density credits to entice more development at a transportation hub like a light rail station, or creating more affordable housing. There is a growing trend of cities redeveloping old business districts into residential communities by repurposing old structures that can no longer be used as offices, factories, or warehouses. This kind of redevelopment causes increased populations in areas that previously had little impact on school populations. Cities and schools are actively working together to improve neighborhoods within their jurisdictions through neighborhood improvement programs. Six standard strategic goals typically comprise the core of these neighborhood improvement programs: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Collective impact Alleviating poverty Fighting blight Attracting and retaining the middle class Increasing homeownership Enhancing rental options for families

Striving for these goals improves the quality of life for everyone living in the city and the school district (City of Dallas, 2015). Schools and cities can further improve relations and strengthen a climate of collaboration by coordinating the announcement of new educational programs or initiatives such as new magnet schools or choice schools. The coordination also needs to include the announcement of new schools, renovations, and discussion of building permit processes, as well as opportunities for joining similar projects by the jurisdictions. Regular joint meetings will also permit the free flow of information between the schools and the cities, so they can share information on new techniques and processes like insurance surety programs to reduce construction costs and liability exposure, coordinated minority and women-owned business purchasing certification, use of each other’s procurement authority, and supporting outreach to women and minority-owned businesses (Sharp and ICMA, 2008). Technology is another way in which school districts and cities can cooperate. Many school districts and cities are combining their efforts to

222  Teodoro J. Benavides wire all their facilities with fiberoptic networks to improve efficiency and reduce costs. A good example of such beneficial collaboration is the P25 microwave project in the Dallas area which involves a large number of cities, other local government entities, and the Dallas Independent School District. The P25 microwave system is a new narrowband radio system that will replace the analog systems that cities and other governmental agencies are using in the North Texas area. The new radio system placement program will be more reliable and effective than the current analog systems including those of the Dallas Independent School District (Puckett, 2017). The 2014 Ebola incident in Dallas, Texas, laid the foundation for building a new structure for collaboration between the Dallas Independent School District and the City of Dallas. The two organizations immediately set up a joint response team. When a person was identified with Ebola, the response team sprang into action. Immediately, the family first affected, including the children, were isolated and treated. All the persons that came into contact with the infected individual, such as hospital personnel, fire personnel, and children were all identified and quarantined. Then people living in the apartment complex with the infected individual were also isolated and treated (Bright, 2014). The collaboration led to the establishment of an effective and efficient process for dealing with incidents such as this. The goal of the Dallas Independent School District and City of Dallas joint task force was to immediately contain the spread of the disease. The school district and the city were concerned about getting all the information out to the public and the media, but they did not want to frighten everyone. They also devised and executed a plan to inform all the families and children in the Dallas Independent School District. The goal of both organizations was to trade all the information they had on the incident and to keep everyone abreast of what was going on to deal with the emergency. This structure was well suited to helping the city and the school district deal with the COVID pandemic that had overwhelmed communities all over the country. The economic health of the community is impacted by its schools. Good schools attract families who compete for homes in the community, thereby increasing property values through economic demand which in turn increases property tax revenues. Good schools are a significant catalyst for economic development. Often when a business relocates, the city that it chooses often has a superior school district. Those schools that best serve the mental, educational, and physical needs of their students are the ones that succeed. Where schools are located in communities can either improve the neighborhood’s functionality or create additional air pollution and traffic congestion. Schools are vital components of a thriving community. Schools that have the support of the families in their neighborhoods are going to be successful in preparing students with the knowledge and skills they need to face the ever-changing economic environment. Schools and cities are challenged

School Districts  223 to do more with less and are constantly looking for entrepreneurial methods to increase their revenue streams so they can stay competitive.

The Economy The quality of schools directly impacts the property values in the neighborhoods they serve. Developers want to build near good schools, and families want to live near good schools. The viability of businesses in a community is directly impacted by the quality of the schools in their community. With the slowing of America’s population growth and the reduction in immigration, the growth of school populations is also being affected as well as the economies of those communities. Good schools are vital to the attraction of private investment in the community. Good schools are just as important as economic incentives that a city may grant to lure a new business to the community. It is important that local governments and school districts coordinate their planning efforts to create the most efficient and low-cost facility solutions for their communities. There is usually a great deal of overlap in the tax base that supports their organizational operations. School districts are focused on serving the youth of a community while local governments must serve the needs of every segment of the community. It is important that both organizations understand the planning processes used by each entity to build the facilities they need to operate well. Many times, both organizations plan and build facilities and acquire property without much coordination. A good example of this type of occurrence is when a local government approves a large residential development with little or no consultation with the school district. The school district is often forced to build school facilities in a hurry to meet the sudden demand of student population growth. This lack of coordination can impact local communities that are already struggling with growth, income inequality, and quality of life (Sharp and ICMA, 2008). Effective and consistent coordination and collaboration between school districts and local government lead to increased resource efficiency. Things work much better when the two entities save money and produce better results through co-location and joint use of schools with other facilities. This can happen through better alignment of local comprehensive and school facility plans. The steps necessary to make joint planning successful are as follows: ●

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Elected officials and staff must be committed to building a trusting relationship between the school district and the local government In this politically polarized environment, both sides must be committed to non-political problem-solving, sharing of information, transparency, and a mutually agreed open decision-making process Both entities must commit to the time necessary to tackle all the issues facing the two entities and allocate sufficient time to address them all thoroughly

224  Teodoro J. Benavides ●

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Both sides must understand their mission and goals and make difficult decisions to keep the process moving forward to achieve common goals The parties involved in this effort must be committed to the process and collaborate fully to achieve success

Process for Collaboration There needs to be an established process to eliminate barriers to success and to ensure collaboration with a shared vision and plan for the community. Local government managers and staff should work with school district superintendents and staff to establish an ongoing, institutionalized process for collaboration and communication. Collaborative processes should include a protocol for the sharing of objective information about future developments and school enrollment. To ensure objectivity, local governments and school districts should establish a mutually agreed upon decisionmaking process. Together, these measures will help increase trust between leadership and staff, improve information and data sharing, and ensure that collaborative efforts do not fall victim to changes in leadership, staff, or politics. Local governments and school districts that are successful at collaboration report that their success hinges on regular meetings and communication between the two entities. This typically takes the form of monthly or quarterly meetings among staff to discuss intersecting concerns, including facility planning and planned developments, but sometimes expands to include such topics as emergency response, community services, and transportation. Local governments have also included school district staff in the comprehensive plan and capital facility review processes to seek opportunities for resource sharing, joint use, and other community-oriented school approaches.

Develop a Shared Vision and Plan City and school district leaders and staff should establish a shared vision, as well as goals and objectives, to further institutionalize and support collaboration. The process of identifying a common vision will help all parties better understand each other’s perspectives and the factors at play in community and school facility planning, as well as further enhance objectivity and trust. Development of the shared vision should include a discussion of how the school district’s needs intersect with the community’s needs. This will help identify policy gaps and obstacles that local governments and school districts can seek to address. Communities can take this one step further by bringing local government staff into the school facility planning and design process and by fully integrating school facility plans with capital improvement and land use plans. Likewise, engaging school district leaders in local

School Districts  225 government planning discussions will help them understand the community’s vision for growth and development and provide them an opportunity to weigh in on how schools fit into the vision. In addition, every effort should be made to incorporate school district facility plans into local government comprehensive plans.

Establishment of Policies and Incentives That Support Community-Oriented Schools Local government managers should evaluate how building codes, zoning laws, and planning processes impact collaboration between local governments and school districts and efforts to create community-oriented schools. Here are some actions that local government can take to make it easier to collaborate and promote community-oriented schools. ● ● ●

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Give schools priority in planning and permitting Work with schools to identify future school sites Put processes in place to allow for consideration of school capacity and transportation when planning a new school Establish a land banking program to facilitate land donations Ensure building codes encourage innovation Eliminate regulatory barriers and create incentives to encourage joint use and co-location of facilities Offer bonus funds to school districts that incorporate community-oriented school approaches in their planning processes Establish incentives such as density bonuses for developers to address school capacity issues Incorporate intergovernmental coordination around the school facilities in the comprehensive plan

Utilize Existing Facilities and Infrastructure When deciding where to locate new schools, school districts can make use of underutilized facilities in the community such as former city administration buildings, libraries, and even commercial buildings through adaptive reuse. Again, this delivers savings to both the school district and the local government. Many times, this reuse of facilities is the catalyst for the revitalization of an area by improving the buildings and increasing the presence of new employees and students in an underserved area.

Share Facilities through Joint Use or Co-Location School facilities are typically open only during school hours, eight to ten hours per day. Meanwhile, local governments construct and maintain facilities that provide duplicative services during an expanded timeframe.

226  Teodoro J. Benavides Schools, local governments, and community service providers can leverage their resources to build or renovate shared facilities through joint use or co-location. Sharing facilities helps both the local government and the school district provide more services in better facilities at a lower cost and on less land. These arrangements can often elevate the school’s role as a community center, creating a connection for residents who do not have children in the school and offering students enriched educational and workforce development opportunities (Vincent, 2010). Agencies and organizations sharing joint use or co-location facilities should establish a memorandum of understanding or other agreement outlining roles and responsibilities for hours and types of usage, maintenance, staffing, insurance, and liability.

Creating Safer Environments to Encourage Students to Walk and Bike Across the country, communities are taking action to create safer routes for students to walk or bike to school. Partnerships between local governments and school districts are creating safer pedestrian environments for students to walk and bike to school, which has the benefits of improving our air quality, improving students’ health and fitness, and encouraging alternative modes of transportation in an increasingly congested transportation system. Walking and biking to school is also a great way for children to engage in the physical activity needed for healthy minds. Children who are more physically active have been shown to perform better academically. Studies are also beginning to show that exposure to nature and free outdoor play can reduce stress and relieve ADHD symptoms. If that isn’t enough to get you out of your car, think about the air quality around a school when dozens of parents sit in idling cars while their children jump out. Air pollution has contributed to childhood asthma rates doubling between 1980 and the mid1990s. Asthma rates remain at historically high levels and cause 14 million missed school days every year. Walking and biking to school are healthy for kids, healthy for communities, and healthy for the planet (Rupert, 2021).

Using Schools as a Focal Point of Neighborhood Revitalization Local governments and community development organizations can incorporate school construction or renovation into plans to revitalize established neighborhoods. A new or renovated school in a depressed area sends the message to current and potential residents, investors, and developers that the local government and community are committed to turning the neighborhood around. It can also generate pride and ownership among the community residents, catalyzing cleanup efforts and providing much-needed space for workforce development, homeownership training, and mental health and social services (Moore and Glassman, 2021).

School Districts  227

Conclusion It is important to understand that the relationship between a school district and a city is a process and not an event. You cannot wait until you have a crisis to open lines of communication. You have to be engaged for a long time so that trust and a good working relationship can be established between the school district and the city. The process for communicating and working together must be well established so, when something happens, all your hard work to stay engaged pays off. You want the level of trust and communication to be the same when is just normal times and when there is a crisis. When school districts and cities work well together, the entire community benefits, and the students are successful. The collaboration needs to extend from significant policy matters to mundane issues like painting school crosswalks around a neighborhood elementary school and everything in between. Schools and cities must work together on shared interests and priorities. This also involves an agreement that neither the school board nor the city council will spring surprises on each other in public meetings, social media, or mainstream media outlets. Even if there is a disagreement, advance warning allows all parties to prepare thoughtful responses. Finally, schools and cities need to agree on their roles, relationships, and responsibilities. The rest is a walk in the park.

Case Studies Case Study I An outgrowth of the relationship that was developed between the Dallas Independent School District and the City of Dallas to try to lift neighborhoods in Dallas that were not benefiting equally to the more affluent parts of the community. To achieve the desired economic outcomes in this struggling neighborhood, a plan of action was created to revitalize these neighborhoods. The Dallas Independent School District and the City of Dallas created the Neighborhood Plus Plan in 2015 in an effort to revitalize all these areas, increase the property tax base in all these areas, and improve the economic standing of all the individuals living in these neighborhoods. This program is an outgrowth of the Dallas Mayor’s Task Force on Poverty. The report highlighted the fact that all residents of Dallas benefit from the economic dynamism of the city. The number of poor people in Dallas rose by 41% between 2000 and 2012. This percentage far outweighs the city’s concurrent 5% population growth. Based on a recent report by the Mayor’s Task Force on Poverty, Dallas has the highest child poverty rate in the United States among cities larger than one million people. Two of every five children in Dallas grow up poor. Counting both children and adults, Dallas also has the third highest poverty rate among large cities in the United States.

228  Teodoro J. Benavides The city’s Neighborhood Plus initiative is designed to implement a neighborhood revitalization plan that will promote healthy, sustainable neighborhoods throughout Dallas. The Neighborhood Plus concept embraces the unique identity and strength of each community, but the City of Dallas must implement the plan based on the differing needs and priorities of the residents of the unique communities. Building partnerships that connect housing with education, health, transportation, and economic empowerment can make real and lasting changes in the lives of residents throughout the city. The Purposes of Neighborhood Plus ●

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Set a new direction and shape new policy for housing and neighborhood revitalization in Dallas Create a strategic planning and decision-making framework to guide more effective community investment decisions Create a framework for inter-agency collaboration, acknowledging the interdependence of local government with other public and private agencies, for-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic foundations Position the City of Dallas to take a leadership role in initiating a regional dialogue on important housing issues

The Neighborhood Plus Plan’s Six Strategic Goals 1. Create a collective impact framework Increase collaboration and planning coordination among neighborhood organizations, governmental agencies, nonprofit service providers, and philanthropic funding organizations to leverage resources and enhance effectiveness instead of having them operate in “silos” with little communication as has frequently occurred historically. 2. Alleviate poverty Focus on increasing earnings for low-wage earners, targeting and expanding workforce training, prioritizing pre-K education opportunities for children in poverty, addressing homelessness, and fostering transportation, childcare, and health programs to improve the quality of life of people living in poverty. Dallas also suffers from geographic disparities in educational attainment that perpetuate poverty. Ensuring all neighborhoods can readily access high-quality education will benefit the city as a whole and will serve as an important step toward minimizing poverty in the city. 3. Fight blight Work to identify and target blighted properties more strategically and effectively to eliminate their negative impact on neighborhoods and return them to productive use.

School Districts  229 4. Attract and retain the middle class Focus on identifying pilot programs that promote neighborhood assets, eliminating barriers to neighborhood revitalization and infill, supporting school choice, and addressing neighborhood infrastructure needs. 5. Expand homeownership Encourage a wider range of housing types to respond to emerging preferences. Identify incentives for infill development and home improvement in targeted neighborhoods. Expand programs to reach a broader range of potential home buyers. Develop partnerships to increase the pool of eligible loan applicants. 6. Enhance rental options Work to raise the quality of rental housing through better design standards and proactive and systematic code enforcement. Expand affordable housing options and encourages its distribution across the city and region. Dallas has historically lacked a cohesive neighborhood planning framework. Furthermore, since many areas of the city lack organized neighborhood representation, residents often have not had a platform from which to articulate and advocate for their needs at the neighborhood scale. Neighborhood Plus is intended to foster partnerships and neighborhood engagement to prioritize issues and effectively address them. To achieve program goals, the council members identified target areas and then identified primary concerns in each. Then, target area teams were established, and the neighborhood vitality team for the city analyzed data for every target area. Working with each council person and representatives from their districts, Sims, his team, and the district representatives targeted one neighborhood per district as an initial focus. Those neighborhoods are Arcadia Park, Bonnie View, Coit/ Spring Valley, Greater Casa View, Pemberton Hill, Pleasant Grove, Elm Thicket-North Park, Red Bird, the Bottom, Family Corridor, and Vickery Meadow. Metrics were developed to measure how effective each target area is in developing stronger neighborhoods. Although the metrics vary by neighborhood, areas of focus include lower crime (thus safer neighborhoods), lower code enforcement complaints, higher satisfaction with city services, higher property values, an increase in quality of life, and the identification and development of community leaders. The internal city teams serving on each of the neighborhood teams include representatives from each of these departments: the police, code enforcement, neighborhood vitality, economic development, community prosecution, and infrastructure (streets, sidewalks, storm drainage, and water and sewer). Each council member also selected constituents from their district’s target area to form an advisory committee to ensure community engagement. Using the data outlined in the infographic, the advisory committee

230  Teodoro J. Benavides and the city’s representatives discussed what priority issues faced that area. Subsequent meetings with the community at large were held over several months. From these discussions, the council members, in concert with the city staff and their district’s advisory committees, identified action items for rapid response (Eudaly, 2022). Per Sims, these items attack immediate needs, are tactical, treat symptoms, can be achieved with limited planning, deploy existing operational resources, and consider available city resources. In addition to these rapid response priorities, the target areas are also identifying long-term transformation priorities: be strategically focused; be comprehensive; address root causes; span both short- and long-term action planning; identify, obtain, and deploy capital and operational resources; and involve impact partners including businesses, foundations, faith-based organizations, civic and cultural organizations, and non-profits involved in the communities. Neighborhood Plus’s objective is to address equity issues that impact the citizens of Dallas. The Neighborhood Plus program is the vehicle for achieving increased equity for the citizens of Dallas (Eudaly, 2015). Case Study II There were two cities with a common border and two neighborhoods located in the same school district. Both cities re-zoned the area to permit the construction of apartments, condos, and garden-style homes. Since the area was served by an excellent school district, many families moved into the apartments located in the area. The elementary schools were soon overloaded with a substantial increase in student enrollment. In addition, the low rents also attracted many immigrants to the area looking for quality education for their children. In all the elementary schools in both cities, it was not usual to find over 120 different languages spoken. The turnover rates in the elementary schools skyrocketed and the test scores started to suffer. A school board member representing the district and two council members from each city called a meeting with the superintendent and the two city managers to see what could be done to stabilize the schools and improve the attainment levels of the students. After a productive first meeting, the school district and the two cities agreed to move forward in a formal and coordinated manner to address the issues in the schools and the neighborhood. The two cities and the school district formed a joint task force led by the school board member, the two city council members from each city, parents from the parent-teacher associations, neighborhood leaders, teachers, and other neighborhood stakeholders such as the apartment owners association. They were supported by staff from the superintendent’s office and from both city managers’ offices. They established a regular schedule of meetings to discuss various strategies and tactics to address the education and neighborhood issues challenging the area. A plan of action was developed

School Districts  231 with a process for addressing all the issues and implementing solutions for the area with a final report for the neighborhood, the school district, and the two city councils. During the monthly work meetings, each interested stakeholder presented possible solutions and actions to address the issues at the elementary schools and in the neighborhood. A great many suggestions and recommendations were made by the working group. Public meetings were held to evaluate the various suggestions, tactics, and strategies, with the best being adopted by the task force. After a thorough public process, the plan was adopted by the school district and the two cities. The school district conducted a needs assessment, engaged the entire community in the process, identified and collected relevant data, analyzed the data, recommended actions based on the data analysis, provided funding for the efforts, engaged the local housing and transportation entities in the area, reviewed the relevant laws and regulations impacting this issue, implemented a plan of action, and developed how to measure success and set their goal to achieve a high-quality education for all the residents of the area. The two cities also added steps toward improving the quality of education for all the families and children to stabilize the neighborhood. Both cities instituted new rental inspection programs, increased the police presence in the area based on crime data, and engaged the relevant departments such as housing, building inspection, planning, and economic development to improve the quality of the area. Incentives were given to landlords to improve their properties, provide security control and fencing for all the apartment properties in the area, reduce the density of the apartment complexes, and provide more social services to the residents. The cities and the school district worked with the apartment association to change the lease terms to coincide with the school year so that residents would not be constantly moving from one elementary school to another during the school year, thereby providing more stability for the children. The planning and economic development departments created new smallarea plans for the neighborhood, changed the zoning to encourage new development, and used their business expansion and retention programs to improve the economic viability of the neighborhood. One of the cities created a tax increment financing (TIC+F) zone to drive new investment into the neighborhood and provide improved business services and new job opportunities for the residents of the neighborhood. All these actions resulted in stabilizing the school population and improving the living conditions of the residents. The school district saw a return to normalcy and improvement in test scores. The cities saw new investment in the area and improved tax base and job creation. The school district and the cities still meet on a regular basis to discuss the area and other issues facing them jointly and the three elected boards are engaged on a regular basis to improve coordination and to respond to issues as they arise.

232  Teodoro J. Benavides

References Bright, Louie, 2014. City of Dallas, 2014 Ebola Virus Disease in Dallas: The Dallas Fire and Rescue Experience. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. ebola city of dallas - Search (bing​.c​om). Eudaly, Nate, 2015. Interview with Alan Sims, City of Dallas, Neighborhood Plus: A Strategy Towards Equity for the Citizens of Dallas? AIA Dallas. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. https://www​.aiadallas​.org​/v​/columns​-detail​/Neighborhood​ -Plus​-A​-Strategy​-Towards​-Equity​-for​-the​-Citizens​-of​-Dallas-​/pv/. Eudaly, Nate, 2022, American Institute of Architects in Dallas, Neighborhood Vitality Springboard, 2020, Retrieved on December 16, 2022. https://www. aiadallas.org/v/columns-detail/Neighborhood-Plus-A-Strategy-Towards-Equityfor-the-Citizens-of-Dallas-/pv/ Hanuahek, Eric A., 2016, May 3. United States Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the Economic Impact of Good Schools. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. The Economic Impact of Good Schools | Eric A. Hanushek (stanford​.e​du). Henry, H. Emery and McGrath, Patricia, 2001. Working Together: How a County Government and a School District Joined to Provide All Middle Schools Engaging, Safe, and Effective Learning Opportunities. The Expanded Learning & Afterschool Project. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. https://www​ .expandinglearning​.org​/expandingminds​/article​/working​-together​-how​-county​ -government​-and​-school​-district​-joined​-provide​-all. Moore, Sandra M. and Glassman, Susan K., 2021. US Housing and Urban Development, the Neighborhood and Its Schools in the Community. Retrieved on November 13, 2021. DOC, 9861.PDF (hud​.g​ov). Planning and Design, City of Dallas, Texas, 2015. Neighborhood Plus Program. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. neighborhood plus (dallascityhall​.c​om). Planning and Development Services Department, City of Scottdale, Arizona, 2002, October 10. Collaborative City and School Planning. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. Microsoft Word - School Info​.do​cx (scottsdaleaz​.g​ov). Puckett, Jody M., 2017, December 1. City of Dallas, Radio System Replacement Project. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. b​_rad​​io​-sy​​stem-​​repla​​cemen​​t​-pro​​ject_​​ combi​​ned​​_1​​20617​​.pdf (dallascityhall​.c​om). Rhee, Michelle, 2013. How Important Are School Districts? Brookings. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. How Important Are School Districts? Keynote Address by Michelle Rhee, How Important Are School Districts? Keynote Address by Michelle Rhee (brookings​.e​du). Rindge, Brenda, 2014, April 26. The Post and Courier​.co​m, Suburban School Districts Try to Deal with Growth While Waiting for New Buildings. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. Suburban school districts try to deal with growth while waiting for new buildings | Archives | postandcourier​.co​m. Rupert, Dr. Jennifer. Portland Bureau of Transportation, City of Portland, Oregon, Healthily Benefits of Walking and Biking to School. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. https://www​.portlandoregon​.gov​/transportation​/article​/281464. Sharp, Meghan, 2008, February 22. ICMA IQ Report. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. https://icma​.org​/documents​/local​-governments​-and​-schools​-community​ -oriented​-approach. Vincent, Jeffrey M., and Cooper, Tamar, 2010, September. Partnership of Joint Use: Expanding the Use of Public Schools Infrastructure to Benefit Students and Communities, Center for Cities & Schools. University of California at Berkeley. Retrieved on November 11, 2021. Partnerships​_JU​_Aug2010​​.pdf (berkeley​.e​du).

14 Local Government and Nonprofit Relationships Todd Jordan

Introduction The relationship between local governments and nonprofit organizations is a vital part of how both sectors fulfill their missions. Local governments and nonprofits can exchange information, develop partnerships for jointservice delivery, contract out core services, or battle over the meaning of the common good for the community they serve. This relationship can be informal, formal, or a combination of both. “The relationship between nonprofit organizations and local governments can be contentious, harmonious, or characterized by ad hoc interactions, depending on the needs of the community and the capacity of local institutions” (Reckhow, Downey, and Sapotichne, 2020, p. 1473). The sheer size of both sectors and the variation in their interactions in the US add an additional layer of complexity to understanding the relationship. This creates an interesting challenge for academics as well as practitioners who are trying to map this relationship and draw out leading practices that can be implemented across the country. Scholarly work has attempted to clarify how local government and nonprofits collaborate, partner, or antagonize each other, but the diversity and ever-changing nature of those relationships make this an evolving field of research. This chapter will introduce some of the theoretical and practical elements of the local government and nonprofit relationship, beginning with an overview of both sectors to frame the enormity as well as the diversity that exists within local governments and nonprofits. The chapter will then turn to explore the history of collaboration, including motivations for collaboration and the multidimensional ways that the relationship between local government and nonprofit organizations should be understood. The chapter will conclude with a discussion of how local government and nonprofit organizations work together in emergency response.

Overview of Local Government In the United States, government services are provided through a complex structure of public bodies and agencies. To avoid duplication and ensure an DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-14

234  Todd Jordan accurate count of public organizations, the US Census Bureau has created a definitional structure. General purpose forms of local government are county governments and sub-county general purpose governments (municipalities and townships). However, there are some examples in the US of mixed county/ municipal governments (the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/ Kansas City, Kansas). The other types of local government are independent school districts and special purpose districts. Although they may have one or a limited set of functions, the role of special purpose districts varies widely by type, with examples including air transportation (airports), electric power, highways, housing and community development, industrial development, sea and inland port facilities, transit, and water supply. The Census Bureau conducts a count of government organizations in the US every five years (in years ending in 2 or 7). In 2017, the US had 90,075 local government units, with 38,770 general purpose units of government which break down into 3,031 county governments and 35,748 sub-county governments including 19,495 municipal governments and 16,253 townships (United States Census Bureau, 2019). The other 51,296 local government units are special purpose governments with 12,754 independent school districts and 38,542 special purpose districts (United States Census Bureau, 2019). The power and authority of local governments vary based on the state in which they are located. A type of government may also vary in power, authority, and the role they have within a particular state. Ultimately, there are tens of thousands of local government entities providing a complex set of services, sometimes being delivered in combination with other local government organizations and the state and/or federal government. For the purposes of this chapter, we will focus on sub-county general purpose units of government (municipalities and townships) because they are a critical part of the way we deliver government services in the US. “The fundamental role of city governments in American federalism is the provision of basic public services ranging from refuse collection and police and fire protection, to water and sewer services, public parks and recreation, and much more” (Reckhow, Downey, and Sapotichne, 2020, p. 1479). “Furthermore, the relationship between the public and local government, especially local government employees, is the main method by which they may interact with formal government in the US” (Reckhow, Downey, and Sapotichne, 2020, p. 1479). This is a complex arrangement of actors providing basic services to over 300 million Americans, and these local government bodies or agencies do not operate in a vacuum, but work, collaborate, and sometimes conflict with other sectors to deliver services in the US. One of the most critical partners for local governments is nonprofits.

Overview of Nonprofits The nonprofit sector is massive and a significant part of the American social, economic, and political fabric. As of 2016, there are more than 1.54 million

Local Government and Nonprofit Relationships  235 nonprofits registered with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) c­ ontributing over $1 trillion to the US economy and making up about 5.6% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) (NCCS Project Team, 2020). The sector employs about 12.3 million people with 64 million volunteers and board members as well as tens of millions of donors (National Council on Nonprofits, 2019, p. 1). In terms of basic structure, nonprofit organizations are (a) private, (b) self-governing, (c) non-distributive of profit, (d) voluntary, and (e) for the public benefit (Gidron, Kramer, and Salamon, 1992). “Nondistribution of profit is considered the hallmark of the U.S. nonprofit sector. Most nonprofit organizations are governed by a board of directors who do not expect to benefit financially and are prohibited from doing so” (Jang and Feiock, 2007, p. 176). While the word nonprofit is commonly used, it can reference a host of organizations with radically different roles, missions, and powers. There are over three dozen types of tax-exempt entities in the US tax code, and the word nonprofit is often used to describe all of them. Different types of tax-exempt entities include 501(c)(3) (public charities, private foundations, or religious organizations), 501(c)(4) (social welfare organizations, homeowner associations, or civic leagues), 501(c)(5) (labor, agriculture, or horticulture organizations), and 501(c)(6) (business leagues or chambers of commerce). For the purposes of this chapter, we will look at 501(c)(3) organizations and for consistency as well as brevity will use the term nonprofit as shorthand for 501(c)(3) organizations other than private foundations. 501(c)(3) organizations are the largest category of tax-exempt organizations in the United States. There are over one million public charities registered with the IRS which is about two-thirds of all tax-exempt organizations in the US. There has been a significant level of growth in 501(c)(3) organizations in the last 20 years as the IRS had 819,008 501(c)(3) organizations registered in 2000. Most nonprofits that are 501(c)(3) organizations are small and record few if any expenses; 88% of 501(c)(3) organizations spend less than $500,000 annually and 55% have no expense or file a 990-N because their annual gross receipts are $50,000 or less (National Council on Nonprofits, 2019). Many nonprofits depend on a host of different revenue streams to support their operations. “Nonprofit organizations serve various groups in society and rely on multiple sources of funds, including private donations, membership and client fees, private foundations, corporations, and government grants and contracts” (Jang and Feiock, 2007, p. 176). Government plays a critical role in financing the operations of nonprofit organizations as 31.8% of income for 501(c)(3) organizations comes from government grants/contracts (National Council on Nonprofits, 2019). This revenue is in addition to any indirect subsidies nonprofit organizations may receive (e.g., tax exemption). Nonprofit organizations have a significant presence in the United States and provide a wide variety of services with financing that includes revenue from the government. When referring to local government and nonprofit

236  Todd Jordan relationships, we are referring to hundreds of thousands of organizations acting across 50 states, often coordinating, collaborating, and conflicting with each other as well as state governments, the federal government, and the private sector. The challenge for practitioners and academics alike is understanding how we arrived at this complicated relationship, what has and has not worked in terms of frameworks for these relationships, as well as the importance of cross-sector collaboration in fulfilling public good for communities in America.

How Did We Get Local Government and Nonprofit Collaboration? The relationships between local government and nonprofit organizations did not suddenly emerge in the early 21st century, and the interactions among the entities have not been static over the course of American history. “Government and nonprofits have been immersed in an enduring and symbiotic partnership that dates to the founding of our nation” (Alexander and Nank, 2009, p. 365). Nonprofits “are often the first organized response to social problems, generating solutions that reflect their immediate connection and understanding of a community” (Alexander and Nank, 2009, p. 365), leading to their development of a level of expertise that governments have drawn upon. While nonprofits continue to be sources of experimentation and innovation for local government, this relationship took a turn from the 1980s on with the introduction of New Public Management (NPM) and a series of reforms aimed at changing public service delivery with emphasis on privatization and downsizing of government. When those two forms of change were untenable, then devolution and decentralization became alternatives (Suarez, 2011), and in all cases, nonprofits have been an option for continuing to meet public needs without expanding, if not reducing, the role of government. A consequence of this shift is the serious challenges for our methods of understanding accountability and governance in the delivery of services through these partnerships. In the era of the hollow state, governance through interorganizational partnerships presents the most compelling challenge to public administration as we have known it. This new turn in public service has thrown open a veritable Pandora’s box of complexities with respect to the meaning of accountability and the exercise of public authority (Alexander and Nank, 2009, p. 364) If local governments, and in particular local government employees, are the primary way in which residents interact with their government, what does it mean for their relationship with their public institutions if their interaction is with nonprofits instead? How can public managers ensure accountability for service delivery when they do not provide the services themselves? We

Local Government and Nonprofit Relationships  237 do have some research on this question from Gazley and Brudney (2007), which utilized a survey of Georgia nonprofit and local government leaders about collaboration. Gazley and Brudney (2007) found that “Contributions to service improvements, increased citizen satisfaction and trust in government, and a limited ability to secure new resources result from most local government-nonprofit partnerships” (p. 410). Furthermore, “relatively few public managers express concerns about nonprofit accountability or the quality of services delivered by nonprofits” (Gazley and Brudney, 2007, p. 410). But thinking about the local government and nonprofit relationships through the lens of NPM or largely from the perspective of public managers misses the multidimensional nature of these relationships and the bidirectional way in which relationships can operate. In the case of accountability, nonprofits can be a critical mechanism for not just maintaining but restoring legitimacy for local government. When the government has failed to engage or serve a particular group of citizens, its nonprofit partners, who are often closer to the communities they serve, can be a powerful legitimating force. “By acting as a bridge, these nonprofits provide the public sector with a point of access into communities where they can begin to generate bonds of trust with citizenry” (Alexander and Nank, 2009, p. 365). When local governments are failing to provide basic levels of services, whether due to financial distress, lack of capacity, or both, the nonprofit sector is asked or forced to fill in to meet community needs, such as in Detroit and Flint, Michigan, during the early 2000s (Reckhow, Downey, and Sapotichne, 2020). Increasingly, government has been forced to tackle incredibly complex social problems (e.g., poverty, housing, transportation) that require innovative solutions which have long been the domain of nonprofit organizations (Lenz and Shier, 2021). “Crosssector interactions and the value of collaboration are increasingly recognized as not only a reality but also a necessary condition for addressing some of the society’s most challenging problems” (Cheng, 2019, p. 238). The potential for funding also must be acknowledged as a key driver of government and nonprofit relationships as well as adding some interesting dynamics into the relationship. The ability of nonprofits to operate and fulfill their mission depends on several resources available, but financial support is essential. Nonprofits face increasingly scarce funding resources, especially as the number of nonprofits in the US continues to grow (Suarez, 2011). Not only do nonprofits need funding, but for government funding, they must increasingly collaborate with other nonprofits to get that revenue. In a study of San Francisco Bay Area nonprofits, Suarez (2011) found that “Nonprofits that collaborate across sectors as part of their repertoire are more likely to gain government funding than those that collaborate less frequently, and nonprofits with a tendency to collaborate also are likely to have greater amounts of government funding” (Suarez, 2011, p. 319). Nonprofits also must look to collaborate with other nonprofits to tackle the complex problems they are

238  Todd Jordan facing, which are beyond the capabilities of one organization (Al-Tabbaa, Ciulli, and Kolk, 2021). For nonprofits, the kind of collaboration they can undertake ranges from information sharing and referral of clients to joint operations of programs and mergers (Guo and Acar, 2005). But even collaboration among nonprofits is under-theorized (Guo and Acar, 2005) and leaders must balance a tension “that while nonprofits are inherently competing, they are also explicitly seeking collaborative opportunities with those same competitors” (Daniel, Walk, and Harrison, 2021, p. 1294). As we will see in the next section, even the dynamics of funding or generating additional resources are not unidirectional with government supporting nonprofits. In this context, both nonprofits and local government have multiple reasons for pursuing collaborative relationships, but those relationships take on multiple dimensions and have different ways of meeting (or not meeting) the expectations of the parties involved.

Conceptualizing Collaboration between Local Government and Nonprofits In this section, we will unpack some of the concepts for collaborative relationships that exist between local government and nonprofits. From a theoretical perspective, there are multiple frameworks for understanding the complex nature of public and nonprofit service delivery (Gazley, 2010). This complexity arises from the nature of the environments in which they operate, the differences that exist within and between local governments and nonprofits across the US, and changes to these relationships over time. This latter point is true both for the history of local government and nonprofit relationships but also for the life cycle of a single relationship that can begin informally, become formalized (e.g., through written agreement), and expire or be renewed under new terms (Gazley, 2010). Three modes of government-nonprofit relations have been posited as existing: firstly, as supplementary service providers where governments and market responses to social gaps were not sufficient; second, as complementary partners to government in service delivery, and finally, as advocates and adversaries to government in the process of public service delivery and social policy formation (Young, 2006) (Lenz and Shier, 2021, p. 3) But these modes of explaining government and nonprofit relations are not necessarily sufficient to capture both the need for and the structure of the relationship. Other considerations such as external or endogenous events (funders, statutory authority, resources, and constraints), and endogenous characteristics (mutuality of goals, the nature of partner agreements, quality of individual and institutional actors, and forms of exchange in partnership) are all critical to capturing the facets of government and nonprofit relations

Local Government and Nonprofit Relationships  239 (Galzey, 2010). Relations can be formal and informal, or sometimes a ­combination of both (Gazley, 2010). Relationships can be described as public–private partnerships, which has been summarized by Gazley (2008) by drawing on existing literature: Peters (1998) establishes the following conditions for public–private partnerships involving government and either business or nonprofit organizations: First, they involve two or more actors, at least one of which is public. Second, each of the actors can bargain on its own behalf, and the partnership involves a long-term, enduring relationship. Finally, each actor makes contributions to the partnership, either material (e.g., resources) or symbolic (e.g., sharing of authority, credit), and all actors share responsibility for the outcomes. Kooiman (2000, 150) and Kouwenhoven (1993, 120) add the expectation of a “synergistic” effect, where partners seek greater effectiveness than they would gain acting alone. Stephenson (1991, 111) further suggests that the actors within public–private partnerships share a goal of community betterment. Linder (1999) suggests that power sharing can be a particular objective of public–private partnerships. Finally, although some scholars limit the scope of these partnerships to government–business relationships, others make no such distinction. (Gazley, 2008, p. 143) But even public–private partnerships can take a variety of forms that do not even entail a formal, written agreement between the parties (Gazley, 2008). Of course, relationships can also exist that do not extend to the level of public–private partnerships but can still have a significant impact on the community they are intending to serve. Much of the focus on collaboration tends to look only at the positive benefits. Conversely, there can be potential disadvantages to a collaboration, which can limit the willingness of parties to be involved or require engagement to build sufficient trust that the relationship is valuable. In terms of benefits of collaboration for local government and nonprofits, they can include economic efficiencies, greater service quality or quantity, organizational learning, access to new skills, diffusion of risk, improved public accountability, and the ability to buffer uncertainties and avoid conflict (Galzey and Brudney, 2007). Most of the academic literature on the benefits of collaboration tends to focus on the positive aspects, and the potential dangers of collaboration remain underexplored (Galzey, 2010). There is a strong concern about what accountability to citizens and elected officials looks like when services are not being provided by local government (Brinkerhoff, 2002). There are also potential disadvantages including financial cost, loss of control/flexibility/recognition, potential for mission drift, loss of autonomy, greater financial instability, difficulty evaluating results, and time/resources to support collaboration (Gazley 2010). But experience with partnerships

240  Todd Jordan between local government and nonprofits tends to not only be positive but also reduce fears around the potential disadvantages. As Gazley (2010) notes after reviewing survey work of Georgia local government leaders, “past experiences are by and large positive ones in the sense that they improve attitudes about collaborating” (p. 11), and those past relationships help build trust as well as social capital that leads to future collaboration while also reducing fears about potential disadvantages (Gazley, 2010). But the perceptions of what makes a positive collaboration can differ based on sector. Gazley and Brudney (2007) surveyed Georgia nonprofit and local government leaders about cross-sector collaboration and found that government officials tend to be more positive than nonprofit executives about the benefits of collaboration. Those nonprofit leaders with experience in collaboration tended to be skeptical and/or at least well aware of the potential costs, including the staff/time to manage the relationships. But even with this difference in opinion, Gazley and Brudney (2007) still find that “both sectors generally appear more likely to recognize the advantages of partnership once they have the collaborative experience” (p. 410). This question of perception around the benefits and disadvantages of partnerships introduces the challenge around how to successfully measure cross-sector collaborations as well as what is necessary for successful collaborations.

What Makes Effective Local Government and Nonprofit Relationships? A heavy amount of the literature that guides public administration scholarship and the discussion around cross-sector collaboration focuses on the effective and efficient delivery of contracting for services (Gazley, 2008). While the contract focus has a lot of value as it is the principal way to formalize relationships and service delivery, that focus ignores a lot of other useful features of government and nonprofit relationships (Gazley, 2008). “We lack, for example, an understanding of both the scope and extent of informal service delivery mechanisms that depend on joint public–private efforts, and also the dynamics, structure, or outcomes of these cooperative efforts” (Gazley, 2008, p. 141). Heightening this challenge is that many of the problems that are being addressed by these collaborations, or are the reason why those collaborations are necessary, do not lend themselves to traditional performance management criteria. Put differently, are outcomes about more than just legal compliance and improved substantive policy outcomes (e.g., improved environmental quality or higher test scores) for a particular agency, or are they also about the development and application of innovative new methods for developing the capacity to resolve difficult policy problems across agency, jurisdictional, and public problem domains? (Rogers and Weber, 2016, p. 547)

Local Government and Nonprofit Relationships  241 To truly grasp what it means to measure the outcomes of these collaborations, we have to look at the deliverables, but also the process (joint agreements among diverse organizations), the social outcomes (improved social capital, increased trust), and changes to the network of actors including the structure/distribution of power (Rogers and Weber, 2016). An example of this can be found in the work of Alexander and Nank (2009), who look at a study of partnerships between a county Department of Children and Family Services that redesigned their child welfare program to be community-based and prevention-oriented with nine neighborhood centers as mediating institutions for a distrustful community. They find that there are multiple factors key to local government and nonprofit partnerships such as interdependence, communication, leadership, shared purpose, and mechanisms to solve conflict. Trust was critical to every part of the relationship— both trust that the partners entered the collaboration with and trust that was developed during the partnership. Furthermore, the nonprofits helped rebuild trust in the community as they served as a bridge to communities where the perception existed that the public agency did not act in their interests. This study revealed that the political capital of [Community-Based Nonprofits] CBNs allowed the public sector to move beyond service delivery to governance—an interactive process of shared decision making that led to more informed decisions and generated democratic accountability to marginalized citizens (Alexander and Nank, 2009, p. 382–383) This perspective leads to a larger question about the ways in which the government–nonprofit relationship is bidirectional, with nonprofits providing a significant amount of support for local government or filling in for local government roles. There are plenty of examples where nonprofits provide services to public agencies to support traditional public goods. Nonprofits can secure funding or resources (e.g., volunteers, in-kind donations) that support public services, such as Parents as Teachers Associations for schools or friends/foundations for public libraries (Reckhow, Downey, and Sapotichne, 2020). In Detroit, nonprofits stepped in financially and have led economic development planning efforts to rejuvenate Detroit in the wake of major fiscal distress by the city government (Reckhow, Downey, and Sapotichne, 2020). After revelations about unsafe drinking water in Flint, Michigan, beginning in 2015, nonprofits stepped in to collect and distribute drinkable water as well as provide essential communication with residents about policy changes to address the crisis (Reckhow, Downey, and Sapotichne, 2020). Cheng (2019) identified public parks as a way that nonprofits are highly active in supporting public services through financing, volunteer recruitment, planning/construction of capital projects, education/ outreach, development of recreational programs, natural resource conservation, and advocacy.

242  Todd Jordan Fundamentally, this study suggests that nonprofits can influence government provision of public services. Broadening the research scope from the one-way impact of government funding on nonprofits to a two-way interaction is essential for further theoretical developments and a more nuanced understanding of government–nonprofit relationships. In this new context where nonprofits support and fund government services, new theories of government–nonprofit relationships may be required (Cheng, 2019, p. 253) The challenge is that nonprofit and local government leaders are constantly under pressure to find innovative solutions to complex problems that require them to act without having all the necessary resources. While research continues to evolve on this issue and capture the multifaceted nature of nonprofit and public partnerships, there are certain principles that make them effective, at least from the view of local government managers. Clear articulation and close alignment of goals along with the capacity for collaboration, forming a partnership in the right policy domain, and experience with collaboration are a few elements that make a successful partnership (Gazley, 2010). The importance of trust among the partners, from past collaboration or through the building of trust with solid mechanisms for decision-making and communication, is essential to making a collaboration work (Gazley, 2010). While formal agreements can help parties feel successful, they are not themselves a guarantee of success, and embracing a multidimensional view of partnership is critical for capturing all the benefits. The field of study around local government and nonprofit relationships continues to evolve. This evolution allows both academics and practitioners to look at the multidimensional ways in which these relationships operate in order to understand what motivates their emergence, what makes them effective or not effective, and how they continue to forge communities across the US. While there are a lot of examples where these relationships have occurred, the area of disaster response and recovery is one of the most extreme as well as one of the best areas for understanding the point and power of cross-sector collaboration.

Local Government and Nonprofits in Disaster Response and Recovery Interorganizational collaboration provides a critical component of disaster response and recovery. Whether they are natural disasters (tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes) or human-made (environmental incidents, acts of terrorism), disasters are extreme events that leave behind death, destruction, and massive economic costs. Historically, nonprofits have always had a major role in disaster relief. The American Red Cross has been a primary first responder to major disasters in the US. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11), the Federal Response Plan was revised and the

Local Government and Nonprofit Relationships  243 nonprofit role was formalized through the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) coalition (Kapucu, Yuldashev, and Feldheim, 2018). Because governments can quickly be overwhelmed by a disaster, they are reliant on the nonprofit sector as a partner (Curnin and O’Hara, 2019). During and in the aftermath of 9/11, over 1,600 nonprofit organizations were part of the disaster response, including the establishment of the September 11th Fund which received $506 million in donations and disbursed funds that helped nonprofits provide multiple services, including “mental health counseling, employment assistance, health care, legal and financial advice, cash assistance, and help for school children, small businesses and non-profits” (Kapucu, 2007, p. 556). The Red Cross led blood donation collection efforts across the United States and set up emergency shelters to provide food, clothing, emergency cash, and comfort to those impacted by the attacks (Kapucu, 2007). During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, nonprofits across the Gulf Coast played essential roles in responding to the needs of victims. “And of the 250,000 Gulf Coast evacuees that sought shelter in Texas, nonprofit organizations proved to be key players in responding to their needs for shelter, food, and other necessities (Gajewski, et al., 2011)” (Chikoto, Sadiq, and Fordyce, 2013, pp. 393–394). The lessons from these and other disasters discussed in the literature present an interesting tension for thinking through local government and nonprofit relations. First, many of the models of that relationship are not applicable to emergency situations. Most of the concepts introduced to explain public-non-profit partnerships in routine social relations do not sufficiently explain publicnon-profit partnerships in dynamic environments of emergencies. Emergencies differ from routine events in several ways. Emergencies differ from routine events in critical and timely information requirements and a high level of uncertainty. Extreme emergencies pose a significant test for public, private, and non-profit sector organizations. (Kapucu, 2007, p. 552). However, many of the basic principles cited as key components of local government and nonprofit relationships (clarity/alignment on goals/roles, trust, communication) have been critical to successful collaboration during emergencies (Kapucu, 2006, 2007; Busch and Givens, 2013). While the concepts commonly used to explain routine government and nonprofit collaboration may not totally apply to emergency situations, they can be the bedrock of what makes the emergency response effective. Trust, communication, and the development of a resilient network are indispensable elements of successful disaster response. Building these elements during non-emergency times through routine cooperation and collaboration of local government and nonprofit organizations may be the key to addressing the myriad of impacts a disaster can have on a community.

244  Todd Jordan It is very important that communities that have strong working relationships with each other on a daily basis will function better under the uncertain environments of disasters. Trust is crucial in uncertain situations caused by an extreme disaster. Building trust among public and non-profit organizations can best be done outside emergency situations. (Kapucu, 2007, p. 559) While no community wants to face a disaster, they are inevitable and can strike with little to no warning. The collaboration between government and nonprofits is not only needed but often required in order to avert a greater magnitude of impact that could escalate the loss of life, property, and economic cost. The routine work of everyday collaboration between local government and nonprofits helps build the working relationships, social capital, and processes that can be mobilized in the context of a disaster.

Final Thoughts This chapter has examined some of the theoretical and practical concepts associated with local government and nonprofit relationships. Local government and nonprofits working together are at the core of public service delivery in the US since the founding of the country. This cross-sector relationship continues, but “in sum, government agencies and nonprofit organizations interact in myriad ways, both formally and informally, to meet public needs, accomplish common agendas, or wrestle over definitions of the common good” (Gazley, 2008, p. 142). Local government and nonprofit relationships can take the form of funding, contracting for services, information sharing, nonprofit fill-in for government failures, governments re-establishing credibility with underserved communities through nonprofit mediators, and amazing collaboration to limit the impact of natural or human-made disasters. Grappling with the volume and diversity of local government and nonprofit relationships means limitations on what can be universalized for collaboration for both sectors. Research on best practices tells us that certain concepts (e.g., trust, communication, clear expectations around goals and roles) are critical to local government and nonprofit relationships that are successful. But there are so many different types of organizations confronting complex social problems by creating innovative ways to deploy relationships between local government and nonprofit organizations. The future of this area of public administration, for both academics and practitioners, rests in a deeper understanding of the complexity of local-nature government and nonprofit relationships, especially the potential for their multidimensional and even two-way nature.

References Alexander, J., & Nank, R., 2009, May. Public-nonprofit partnership: Realizing the new public service. Administration and Society, 41(3), 364–386.

Local Government and Nonprofit Relationships  245 Al-Tabbaa, O., Ciulli, F., & Kolk, A., 2021. Nonprofit entrepreneurial orientation in context of cross-sector collaboration. British Journal of Management, 1, 1–27. Busch, N. E., & Givens, A. D., 2013. Achieving resilience in disaster management: The role of public-private partnerships. Journal of Strategic Security, 6(2), 1–19. Cheng, Y., 2019. Nonprofit spending and government provision of public services: Testing theories of government-nonprofit relationships. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 29(2), 238–254. Chikoto, G. L., Sadiq, A.-A., & Fordyce, E., 2013. Disaster mitigation and preparedness: Comparison of nonprofit, public, and private organizations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 42(2), 391–410. Curley, C., Daniel, J. L., Walk, M., & Harrison, N., 2021. Competition and collaboration in nonprofit sector: Indentifying the potential for cognitive dissonance. Administration and Society, 53(8), 1293–1311. Curnin, S., & O’Hara, D., 2019. Nonprofit and public sector interorganizational collaboration in disaster recovery: Lessons from the field. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 30(2), 277–297. Gajewski, S., Bell, H., Lein, L., & Angel, R. J., 2011. Complexity and instability: The response of nongovernmental organizational organizations to the recovery of Hurrican Katrina survivros in a host community. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40(2), 389–403. Gazley, B., 2008. Beyond the contract: The scope and nature of informal governmentnonprofit partnerships. Public Administration Review, 68(1), 141–154. Gazley, B., 2010. Why not partner with local governments? Nonprofit managerial perceptions of collaborative disadvantage. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 39(1), 51–76. Gazley, B., & Brudney, J. L., 2007. The purpose (and perils) of government-nonprofit partnership. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 36(3), 289–415. Gidron, B., Kramer, R. M., & Salamon, L. M., 1992. Government and the third sector: Emerging relationships in welfare states. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Guo, C., & Acar, M., 2005. Understanding collaboration among nonprofit organizations: Combining resource dependency, instititutional, and network perspectives. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 34(3), 340–361. Jang, H., & Feiock, R. C., 2007. Public versus private funding of nonprofit organizations: Implications for collaboration. Public Performance and Management Review, 31(2), 174–190. Kapucu, N., 2006. Public-nonprofit partnerships for collective action in dynamic contexts of emergencies. Public Administration, 84(1), 205–220. Kapucu, N., 2007. Non-profit response to catastrophic disasters. Disaster Prevention and Management, 16(4), 551–561. Kapucu, N., Yuldashev, F., & Feldheim, M. A., 2018. Nonprofit organizations in disaster response and management: A network analysis. Journal of Economic and Finanical Analysis, 2(1), 69–98. Kooiman, J., 2000. Societal governance: Levels, models, and orders of socialpolitical interaction. In J. Pierre (Ed.), Debating governance: Authority, steering, and governance (pp. 138–164). New York: Oxford University Press. Kouwenhoven, V., 1993. Public-private partnerships. In J. Kooiman (Ed.), Modern governance: New government-society interactions (pp. 119–130). London: Sage Publications.

246  Todd Jordan Lenz, T., & Shier, M. L., 2021, February 23. Supporting transformational social innovation through nonprofit and local government relations: A scoping literature review. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership and Governance. https://doi​.org​/10​.1080​/23303131​.2021​.1887033. Linder, S. H., 1999. Coming to terms with the public-private partnership. American Behaviroal Scientist, 43(1), 35–51. National Council of Nonprofits, 2019. Nonprofit impact matters: How America’s charitable nonprofits strengthen communities and improve lives. Retrieved from https://www​.non​prof​itim​pact​matters​.org​/site​/assets​/files​/1​/nonprofit​-impact​ -matters​-sept​-2019​-1​.pdf. NCCS Project Team, 2020, June. The nonprofit sector in Brief 2019. Retrieved from National Center for Charitable Statistics Website: https://nccs​.urban​.org​/ publication​/nonprofit​-sector​-brief​-2019​#the​-nonprofit​-sector​-in​-brief​-2019. Peters, B. G., 1998. “With a little help from our friends”: Public-private partnerships as institutions and instruments. In J. Pierre (Ed.), Partnerships in urban governance (pp. 11–33). New York: St. Martin’s Press. Reckhow, S., Downey, D., & Sapotichne, J., 2020. Governing without government: Nonprofit governance in Detroit and Flint. Urban Affairs Review, 56(5), 1472–1502. Rogers, E., & Weber, E. P., 2016. Thinking harder about outcomes for collaborative governance arrangements. The American Review of Public Administration, 40(5), 546–567. Stephenson Jr., Max O. 1991. Whiter the public-private partnership: A critical overview. Urban Affairs Review, 27(1), 109–127. Suarez, D. F., 2011, April. Collaboration and professionalization: The contours of public sector funding for nonprofit organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21(2), 307–326. United States Census Bureau, 2019, April. 2017  U.S. census of local governments: Individual state descriptions: 2017. Retrieved from https://www​.census​.gov​/ content​/dam​/Census​/library​/publications​/2017​/econ​/2017isd​.pdf. Young, D., 2006. Complementary, supplementary, or adversarial? Nonprofitgovernment relations. In E. T. Boris & C. E. Steuerle (Eds.), Nonprofits & government: Collaboration & conflict (2nd ed., pp. 37–80). Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press.

15 Urban Planning and Affordable Housing Paul Frederiksen

Introduction No other topics within the planning field or within the realm of the national public policy debate may be more controversial than affordable housing, gentrification, and income inequality. As a municipal manager dealing with these subjects, you will be tasked with providing guidance to your city council in developing a local communities’ prescription as to how these should be addressed. To be sure, there will be factors impacting the discussion of these topics. Issues of local economic growth/decline, demographics, and housing diversity are just a few of the issues impacting any policy prescription for consideration. In this chapter, we will also discuss the intersectionality of zoning, not with the intent to connect the other topics but to show that zoning can be a contributing factor that impacts all these issues. Discussion about each of these topics brings about emotions and opinions on both sides of the debate. While it may be desirable to separate these from the national debate and bring it to a local level for discussion, that is most likely not going to be realistic, especially in light of our current political fanfare. For example, we read about cities adopting ordinances that have minimum wage or sick day requirements for private businesses concerning their employees. All of these come with the idea that those governing bodies are dealing with the impacts of income inequality at the local level. The thought that a local-level resolution will still have the ability to resolve what may be a national socio-economic problem is of no concern. For a local councilor whose constituents have these concerns, to be seen to be “doing something” is a very powerful pull. Cities also expend tremendous resources attracting companies with the idea of bringing with them high-paying jobs for their communities using every variety of economic development tools such as tax abatements or other incentives. Many times, it is not unheard of for a municipality to add requirements for certain primary jobs, for example, or to emphasize hiring members within a given community. The purpose of each of these is to address concerns about income inequality. Issues of affordable housing (or any housing) have been a social concern in modern times. The intersectionality of low-income families and providing DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-15

248  Paul Frederiksen adequate housing for those seen on the bottom of the income scale have always been daunting issues to address on the local level, especially in large urban areas. But the problem also affects the homeless as well. Supporting jobs in the urban areas that are still experiencing growth is always going to be a challenge. The problem of being able to live in the same city where you work is viewed by some as an issue of fairness. It is common to read about those persons living in communities that have stagnated. In terms of planning-related issues facing cities today, take for example the dichotomy of two cities that are within proximity to one another. The first city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has a population of approximately 301,048 and is going through a rebirth. Roughly 40 miles away, across the Ohio River in what pundits frequently call Middle America, lies a much smaller community with a population only a fraction of the size of Pittsburgh, the city of East Liverpool, which is in the process of decline and stagnation. In a recent election, the candidate for mayor won by writein ballot. His concern, like many other small-town administrators, is what can be done to turn around the decline of a community. How do we deal with issues of growth, especially in the urban centers, and the decline in the smaller communities that once housed various industries but have been forgotten (Zito, 2019)?

Income Inequality Finding local solutions for income inequality is difficult because income inequality is a larger socio-economic concern. Furthermore, this subject is influenced by national and international trends more so than state or local policies. That is not to say that there are not certain ways cities can help influence the gap by adopting such measures as minimum wage rates or mandating sick pay policies in their municipalities, dependent on the underlying authority that may be derived from the state level. In a keynote address at the 2017 American Planning Association (APA) Policy and Advocacy Conference, Ryan Avent, senior editor and economics columnist for The Economist and author of The Wealth of Humans, said the following: “When wages aren’t growing [for everyone], other parts of the economy stop working.” The result: tech booms in cities mean a sharp rise in the cost of living but no added benefits for middle-class and lowincome workers. As a result, “we don’t have population growth in our most successful cities,” said Avent, because “for those not already rich, cities with lower pay but much lower housing costs are more attractive” (Avents, 2017). But what is income inequality and how is it determined? Levels of education, number of jobs that match those levels, cost of living in a particular region, and other influences are determining factors. As we will discuss, housing and transportation costs certainly must be factored in. Some blame technology and believe that the inevitable growth of technology will impact those lesser-skilled jobs for persons entering the workforce or who do not

Urban Planning and Affordable Housing  249 have skill sets that match the demand for higher-paying jobs, which will exacerbate this condition. How does that conform to the vision of a market economy where one’s education and skill set determine their value in an economy, which sets income levels? Local municipal managers and planners must ensure that the city is taking advantage of the prosperity brought on by technological growth while also observing the impacts technological growth has on those that are determinedly being left behind. While the growth of a prosperous city with new higher-paying jobs may benefit the overall population with increased demand for new housing and services, it also means that other ancillary jobs will come, if only temporarily, that must be filled. When discussing income, it is important to understand how wages and salaries are determined. The simple answer would be that they are a byproduct of supply and demand. You would be able to compare the utilization of scarce resources when discussing certain products and the demand for them. However, when discussing people, the discussion of income can have emotional concerns. What contributes to the difference in pay? Why do some workers have more disposable income than others? According to Thomas Sowell, there are three variables that explain those differences: income distribution, differences in skills, and discrimination (Sowell, 2007, p. 188). Sowell, author of Basic Economics, posits: Why does supply and demand cause one individual to earn more than another? Workers would obviously like to get the highest pay possible and employers would like to pay the least possible. Only where there is overlap between what is offered and what is acceptable can anyone be hired. But what does that overlap take place at a pay rate that is several times as high for an engineer as for a messenger? Messengers would of course like to be paid what engineers are paid, but there is too large a supply of people capable of being messengers for the employer to raise its offer to that level. Because it takes a long time to train an engineer and not everyone is capable of mastering such training, there is no such abundance of engineers relative to demand. That is the supply side of the story. But what determines the demand for labor? What determines the limit of what an employer is willing to pay? It is not merely the fact that engineers are scarce that makes them valuable. It is what an engineer can add to a company’s earnings that makes an employer willing to bid for his services—and sets that limit to how high the bids can go. An engineer who added $100,000 to a company’s earnings and asked for a $200,000 salary would not be hired. On the other hand, if the engineer added a quarter million dollars to a company’s earnings, it would obviously pay to hire him at $200,000—provided there were no other engineers who would do the same thing for a lower salary. (Sowell, 2007, p. 184)

250  Paul Frederiksen

Affordable Housing The passionate discussion of affordable housing bears agreement in one way: affordable housing should be an available product for those in the lower income thresholds of any community in order for that community to thrive. Society must be able to house those on the bottom rung of the social order who provide the needed labor in a diverse economy or simply those starting out in the economy. However, what is considered affordable? What is the role of income? According to William Lucy and having been ascribed by developers, there is a relationship between the distance that you drive until you reach affordability. In other words, families are trading the inconvenience of a longer commute to their place of employment in order to find a price-to-house-size ratio that they can afford and meets their needs (Lucy, 2010, p. 1). Furthermore, traditional lenders and Fannie Mae have required owners to finance 30% of their income to pay for the mortgage costs for homeownership. However, in 2007 almost 14% of homeowners reported spending upward of 50% of their income on mortgage costs, especially in areas known for their higher housing costs (Lucy, 2010, p. 131). Interestingly, in 1983, the percentage of income for housing stood at only 20% (Hughes and Sternlieb, 1987, p. 204). But there is also a link between inflation and affordability. According to James Hughes and George Sternlieb, America’s unparalleled exposure to inflation and income lags in the 1970s changed the cost calculus of shelter. Affordability levels plunged as the decade closed. But by the mid-1980s, the long inflationary cycle of housing was redressed by disinflation and income growth. Affordability soared. They go on to state that, “Real-income increases will be almost instantaneously reflected in a surge of housing amenity. The kinds of housing that Americans buy, and their amenity levels, respond to the depths of consumer pockets” (Hughes and Sternlieb, 1987, p. 14). One method compiled by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is called the affordability index, which measures single-family affordability by looking at median housing prices against median family income (Lucy, 2010, p. 131). The index looks at whether a typical family can afford a mortgage loan on a typical house determined as the national median housing price. For example, a family with a value of 100 means that they have the exact income to qualify for a median-priced house. So, a family with a ratio of 120.0 means that they have 120% of the income to qualify for a conventional loan coverage of 80% of the median-priced home (National Association of Realtors, 2021). It is important to realize that a large majority of housing sales and construction in the United States are financed by debt through the use of mortgages (Florida, 1986, p. 3).

Urban Planning and Affordable Housing  251 According to Jenny Schuetz with the Brookings Institution, there are two schools of thought about high housing costs (2020). One school of thought is that local governments and their constituents are to blame through the use of extensive regulation, i.e. zoning, impact fees, strict building codes, and NIMBYism (not in my backyard mentality). The other school of thought proclaims that housing is expensive due to greedy or corrupt developers. But how is the housing provided? There are essentially two parties involved in the production of housing: developers and homebuilders. Developers are responsible for assembling the land, subdividing the land, installation of infrastructure (water, sewers, and roads), and securing other entitlements such as zoning. Homebuilders, on the other hand, buy individual parcels within the subdivision, design, and build the homes. In a multifamily development, they may hold the property in their portfolio or sell to another property owner. Furthermore, there are two types of development industries, one specializing in greenfield development and the other in infill development (Schuetz, 2020). Spencer Gardner, writing for Strong Towns, believes there are “5 immutable laws of affordable housing” (2017). First, he states that developers do not end up paying for the cost of construction, and end users do whether they are tenants or buyers. Second, he believes that housing demand is regional due to the number of persons moving to a city. Third, he recognizes that cities and towns that encourage expensive housing will lead to the construction of expensive housing. Fourth, housing cannot be affordable if transportation costs are too high. Finally, today’s affordable housing was the last generation’s luxury housing. Many of the older neighborhoods that provide affordable housing once served as the new housing for a rising middle class in America (Gardner, 2017). We have to keep asking ourselves what factors are making housing costs so high in the first place. Is it construction costs, labor costs, land costs, regulation, and interest rates? Do we have a baseline of what we think is affordable housing? Are city leaders up to the challenge of combating unaffordable housing? Does the COVID pandemic give us hope to solve the affordable housing dilemma as many workers can work remotely and will not need to drive to their place of employment every day, or ever? Does working remotely mean that the poor can stay in more affordable areas and still be employed and do not always have to go to job centers in the suburbs to find employment? Or are these employment options only worsening housing affordability because remote working mostly applies to the well-educated that do not need to be present at their place of employment to receive a paycheck?

Gentrification Gentrification has become a polarizing issue within the planning community. More importantly, in the context of a municipality’s financial situation,

252  Paul Frederiksen it can mean the difference between neighborhood deterioration and rebirth. According to the latest Wikipedia definition, Gentrification is a process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. This is a common and controversial topic in politics and in urban planning. Gentrification often increases the economic value of a neighborhood, but the resulting demographic change is frequently a cause of controversy. (qtd. in Chapple and Thomas, 2021) As mentioned in the book the Urban Web: Politics, Policy and Theory, Most gentrification projects have won the praise of city officials and civic leaders. Some are hailed as the best and surest road to city revival. But hard facts and spillover consequences also travel that same road. The pull of suburban life remains strong among the American middle class, and relatively few in that class give evidence of a desire to return to the central city. More important and more sobering is the fact that gentrification increased property values and sends rents soaring. As a result, gentrification displaces the poor who once lived in the area, forcing them back into what is likely to be an already overcrowded market for low-rent housing. (Herson and Bolland, 1990, p. 449) Indicators that a neighborhood is gentrifying would be represented by an influx of educated persons and an increase in home values and incomes. Some of the most highly gentrified neighborhoods have seen property values increase up to 700% (Balint, 2016). There are two explanations for gentrification: cultural and economic. The cultural explanation is one that posits that persons moving into a gentrifying neighborhood do so for solely cultural reasons based on the undesirability of a suburban lifestyle predicated on factors such as fewer children, postponed marriages, younger professionals working in the service sector, higher educational attainment, and so forth. The economic explanation is a little more telling in that it helps us understand that the cultural explanation cannot necessarily stand on its own. The economic justification includes the increasing costs of moving further from the jobs in the urban center, and increasing housing and transportation costs (Smith, 1983). Other factors that must play in the overall understanding of the gentrification phenomena are based on capital depreciation. Capital depreciation involves a complex relationship with land value and housing, house value, sale price, ground rent and capitalized ground rent, and potential ground rent (Smith, 1983, pp. 286–287). Capital depreciation in the inner city can

Urban Planning and Affordable Housing  253 create conditions that may lead to neighborhood gentrification. The gradual capital depreciation in inner cities can be influenced by the following: ● ● ● ● ●

New construction and the first cycle use Landlordism and homeownership Blockbusting and blowout Redlining Abandonment

This process of gradual capital depreciation is also known as filtering. At its ultimate zenith, it produces a rent gap that will drive new investment once it becomes profitable, leading to a high return on productive investment. Once the rental gap has been realized, three kinds of developers begin the recycling of a neighborhood: professional developers, occupier developers, and landlord developers (Smith, 1983, pp. 288–293). One premise is that gentrification equals displacement. An article in the APA’s Planning Magazine starts with a description of public investments, which leads to private investments, which leads to gentrification, which finally leads to the displacement of minority residents (Ewing, 2017). According to the author of the article, Reid Ewing, “Gentrification is most often defined as a process of renovation of deteriorated urban neighborhoods by means of the influx of more affluent residents.” He further states that “It [gentrification] can occur through displacement, wherein rising rents and condo conversions force lower-income households to move out as higher-income households take their place” (Ewing, 2017). In the context of social concern, the argument against gentrification is one that emphasizes the displacement of often poor and/or minority inhabitants, whether they are owners or renters. While that distinction may not seem important on the surface, it makes a difference in the discussion of those affected. It also plays a role in the discussion of affordable housing as discussed previously. While gentrification may be the only available option to revitalize some neighborhoods, admittedly the benefits of gentrification do not trickle down to those on the lower end of the economic spectrum (Salam, 2013). Gentrification is seen as a strategy that works to reverse a declining neighborhood. Aaron Renn, a writer on urban affairs, believes that there are many reasons that gentrification seems to work. First, it is easy to understand in certain geographical areas. The author states that another model of revitalization that did not work for cities was urban renewal, which included the complete destruction of neighborhoods for a centralized planning model. Renn reminds us that several cities are facing fiscal crises and one method for stabilizing property values is through gentrification (Renn, 2013). Gentrification can mean rising land values or rent levels. It can mean higher levels of educational attainment. It may mean more upscale

254  Paul Frederiksen development, both residential and commercial. What it may also mean is a displacement of minority or immigrant families. It represents a segment of the population that once lived and prospered in a neighborhood, such as artists and bohemians, in proximity to other lower-income families. Cities must find ways of balancing the interests of existing neighborhoods that preserve affordable housing with the interests of the private markets to seek redevelopment efforts while working with neighborhoods (Saunders, 2018). Although some working-class areas are seeing an increase in gentrification, it can be argued that there may be twice as many other areas that are seeing the reverse. There are neighborhoods that are experiencing an exodus of middle-class and affluent residents and an influx of lower-income residents with less education. In this situation, it is probable that home values may begin to underperform for a variety of reasons, just as neighborhoods experiencing gentrification are seeing an increase in values. Regardless, income trend is considered crucial in understanding the patterns of longterm performance in a real estate market (Mayer, 2019). During the 1950s, the suburban growth boom was underway, prompting capital to leave older neighborhoods and move further away from the city center. That capital was essentially being reallocated to the newer developments. Suburban development was not limited to residential investment. Trends in employment growth, commercial development, and highway construction along with growth in automobile ownership were also contributing factors impacting existing, older neighborhoods experiencing capital flight (Lake, 1979, p. 23). As Robert Lake states in his book Real Estate Tax Delinquency, Of utmost importance, however, for the fate of the older central cities, was that the locus of private investment, and thus the beneficiary of public support, was the suburban ring of each of these central cities and longer the city itself. (Lake, 1979, p. 25) This private disinvestment had impacts on housing in the older cities. The flight of capital to the newer rings also meant fewer resources for the cities themselves in the form of reduced revenue. These effects contributed to reduced private capital, continued population flight, and increased delinquencies (Lake, 1979, pp. 30–31). As more of the population was drawn to the suburban areas, what is known as rent functions began to occur. Those functions are affected by production inputs, prices on non-land inputs, and product demand. Specifically, the rent functions of households are affected by their income, housing tastes, commuting tolerance, and availability of other goods and services (Mills and Hamilton, 1994, p. 112).

Urban Planning and Affordable Housing  255

Zoning To quote the late Speaker of the US House of Representatives Tip O’Neil, “politics is local.” That truism can certainly be applied to zoning decisions by the nature of their implementation. Zoning, and to perhaps a lesser extent building codes, have the potential to alter land values in a way that may not be consistent with what the market determines the value to be. Many factors can come into play when discussing these impacts, for example, road networks, infrastructure, parks, and so on. Beginning with the Standard Planning and Zoning Acts of the 1920s, the US Commerce Department under then-Secretary Herbert Hoover promulgated rules that would be the basis of zoning and furtherance of land use regulation in the United States. The initial intent was to protect property and health and reduce the cost of living by organizing the various functions of the city into related zones of activity (Zoning Primer, 1922). How zoning has been used in practice, particularly with regard to racial justice and equity, has been a subject of much debate ever since. It is conceivable that you will be involved with and understand the principles of urban design and city planning as a measure to address zoning and building codes. By way of introduction, it is important to make some distinctions between urban design and city planning because often the terms are used interchangeably. Demonstrating the differences will be important as we discuss the topics of this particular chapter regarding affordable housing, gentrification, and income inequality. As managers, we should continually be learning new methods and best practices and understanding the many facets of running a municipal organization. City planning is as old as the progressive movement that brought about the reforms of cities in America. Beginning in the early twentieth century, city planning as a profession was tasked with providing practical solutions to various social issues plaguing urban society at the time, primarily sanitation and affordable housing (Fauldi, 1973). Urban design concerns itself with the aesthetic layout of a city. For instance, urban design includes aesthetic elements such as the layout of the streets, landscaping, building façades, and other architectural design elements that combine to create uniqueness and stimulate visual appreciation of a city. City planning, on the other hand, involves itself with the facets of urban growth, economics, development, and social and political concerns that involve the everyday functioning of a city. In simpler terms, urban design involves aesthetic elements while city planning involves economic, political, and social aspects (Branch, 1997). Urban design may be considered a component of city planning. However, urban design has recently taken on a more prominent role, especially in guiding individual behavior that affects aesthetic appreciation and the rationale for “visual identification” in neighborhoods and where people decide to live (Branch, 1997). Why is it important to make the distinction between urban design and city planning? Because as managers, you will have to understand concepts,

256  Paul Frederiksen theories, and arguments made by each side of the debate and how those concepts connect urban design with city planning. For example, affordable housing challenges as seen from urban design, which may concern itself with neighborhood quality, is a different perspective than that seen from city planning, which may be more concerned with fiscal stability. Most revenues supporting local government come from either property tax or sales tax. Influence on property tax, while more direct than that of sales tax, is manifest in the decisions locations make in their land use.

Conclusion In an era of divisive political discourse, continued budgetary constraints, deteriorating infrastructure, and technological change, asking what managers can do to balance each of these conflicting interests may seem insurmountable. Whether you are employed with a municipality that is undergoing rapid growth or witnessing incremental decline, planning will be a primary focus for any manager overseeing the needs of their community. Each of these concerns will include various stakeholders with their own worldviews and interests. Elected and appointed officials, for example, expect immediate answers and results. Neither of these may seem feasible. If a community is growing rapidly, how does one keep up? If one is in decline, how do we reverse that trend? The field of urban planning has been through constant change and adaptation only to see an acceleration of change in recent years. Like technological change, planning as a profession must continue to either reinvent itself or modify its practices due to lessons learned, state intervention, or technological change. Planning is how cities and local communities all over America are going to create economic engines that drive the revenue streams that will, in turn, enable them to produce the income streams to support the city services we desire. We will continue to struggle so that we can continue to create the standard of living and the quality of life expected by all Americans.

Case Study I: Gentrification in Dallas Dallas, Texas is challenged with the need to produce sufficient revenue streams to support the services that its citizens have come to expect from their community. However, in the era of “more with less,” city governments are pressed to deliver these services without increasing taxes. One technique that cities use to increase revenue is creating economic activity and investment in older, established areas. This investment is usually accompanied by increased property values in a neighborhood, making it more expensive to live there and to retain working-class citizens. Some areas now affected by gentrification in Dallas are scattered throughout the city: the M Streets neighborhood in East Dallas, the Bishop Arts District in North Oak Cliff,

Urban Planning and Affordable Housing  257 the Trinity Groves area in West Dallas, and the Uptown District just north of the Dallas Central Business District. The M Streets area is a neighborhood in East Dallas, Texas. It is bounded on the west by the North Central Expressway, on the south by Vanderbilt Avenue, on the east by Greenville Avenue, and on the north by McCommas Boulevard. The area is known as the M Streets due to two major streets and many of the minor streets starting with the letter M. The neighborhood also forms the M Streets Conservation District, per the M Streets Conservation District Ordinance. Many long-time homeowners living in small bungalow houses are being priced out of the neighborhood to due rising property tax values brought on by the teardown of older bungalows and construction of new, large “McMansions” in the neighborhood. The Bishop Arts area was originally developed as warehouses and shops in the 1920s. In the 1930s, a trolley stop along Davis became Dallas’s busiest trolley stop. The district began to decline from the mid-1960s through the beginning of the 1980s. The reasons for the decline included the rise of the shopping mall which competed against small shops, the loss of sizable tenants such as Astor Theater and Goodier Cosmetics, demographic changes, and the expansion of bus routes that made trolley stops like Bishop and Seventh useless. The Bishop Arts District was once a primarily Hispanic neighborhood that became victim to new investment and rising property values. The Trinity Groves area in West Dallas originally was a predominately Hispanic and African American neighborhood. It is now a Restaurant Concept Incubator program of the city of Dallas, which encourages chefs and restaurateurs to create and present unique restaurant concepts to a team of experienced restaurateurs who will then support them to bring their ideas to reality. The warehouses in the area are being rehabilitated and adapted to house these restaurant opportunities. The area also hosts events such as art and theater shows, live musical performances, and chef cook-off competitions. Trinity Groves continues to attract people to the area with the development of residential apartments, office spaces, and additional retail and parking. Uptown was originally outside the city limits of Dallas and was home to those not welcome in the city. The west side, near present-day Harry Hines Boulevard, once hosted a large Hispanic  neighborhood known as Little Mexico. The east side, now anchored by the new Cityplace Center, was the site of Freeman’s Town,  established by freed African American enslaved people. Very little of this working-class history remains, with the Hispanic west being turned into high-rise buildings, and the African American east destroyed by the construction of the Central Expressway and the Woodall Rodgers Freeway. Today Uptown is solidly upscale and prohibitively expensive for all but the most affluent to live there. Cities like Dallas are caught between affordability and economic expansion like more affluent suburban areas. Everything in Dallas is a competition

Figure 15.1 Concept designs presented for the new McKinney Community Complex. Source: Community Impact Newspaper, 2021.

258  Paul Frederiksen

Urban Planning and Affordable Housing  259 as cities of all sizes in the area fight for investment, property tax base increases, jobs, daytime populations, the middle class, and to be a community with a sense of place in the new post-COVID pandemic world. While it is not easy or low cost to improve existing neighborhoods, is much more expensive and challenging to keep the original inhabitants of an area in the area when their neighborhoods have been gentrified. It takes political will, managerial engagement, money, and staff to implement the complex community retention strategies that are been tried by communities all over the country. The Dallas City Council created a tool for neighborhoods called the Neighborhood Stabilization Overlay—often shortened to NSO or Overlay. Other strategies that are being employed by other communities include land trusts, fighting redlining in poor communities, tenant opportunity to purchase programs, financial education for low-income individuals, enlisting of anchor institutions in low-income and diverse communities to become partners with their cities and nonprofits to keep low-income individuals in their neighborhoods, and nonprofits building affordable housing in these gentrifying neighborhoods. However, while these strategies hold much promise, they require engagement, political will, money, and staff to execute. The city of McKinney, just a few miles north of Dallas, is building a new city hall on the east side of town in an older, more established part of the community. The city needs a new city hall but is using the new city project as a tool to redevelop the East McKinney area next to their historic downtown, to invest in the area, integrating the older side of the city with the newer and fast-growing western side of the community. The city wants to do this while preserving the charm of the east side, involving the existing residents of the east side and allowing long-term east side residents to remain in the neighborhood and to be lifted up by this new development that intends to leave no one behind.​(Hamilton, 2022) As cities learn to create economic development and jobs while leaving no one behind, we will see how fast they learn to do this and how successful they will be in making inclusion and success for everyone happen as progress occurs.

Case Study II: Morgantown, WV The city of Morgantown completed a Comprehensive Plan in 2013 outlining the future economic needs of the city and surrounding area (City of Morgantown, 2013). At the time, West Virginia University was experiencing growth and driving the fortunes of the local economy along with coal mining, West Virginia University Medical, and Mylan, a pharmaceutical plant. The Comprehensive Plan had several concepts for redevelopment in blighted areas that never seemed to occur (City of Morgantown, 2013). The entire Comprehensive Plan hinged upon growth that was not sustainable. What did occur was a decline in revenue and population in a number of

260  Paul Frederiksen areas of the city and surrounding county. Even West Virginia University was not immune from the economic downturn. Many of the planned strategies in the Comprehensive Plan never came to fruition as of 2021 (e.g., Regional Sidewalk Connectivity Plan) (City of Morgantown, 2013). Since 2016, the economic drivers of the city have been negatively impacted. The university in particular laid off personnel in 2017, which was not announced to the press. In 2020, West Virginia University laid off 875 employees due to economic conditions with a budget shortfall that could be $15 million dollars (Quinn, 2020; Elliott, 2020). Additionally, the state of West Virginia was hit by declining coal production. In some parts of the state, up to 70% of the mining jobs were lost (Cohn, 2017). Mylan, the other main driver, closed down the pharmaceutical plant in 2021, which could cost Morgantown not only 1,500 factory jobs but also up to 1,000 non-factory jobs as well for the local economy (Soule, 2021). As stated by Bloom, according to Soule: Also a concern for Bloom is the “human factor,” he said, with people integral to the community—who can’t be quantified monetarily—leaving. And not only Mylan employees would be leaving, but also their families, which puts a strain on government coffers as fewer people are paying taxes. (Soule, 2021) The infrastructure around Morgantown requires a large amount of funds to keep the roadways viable, especially in light of the heavy winters that cause potholes and flooding throughout the area. To contend with this issue, the city of Morgantown passed a city user fee in 2015 that was supposed to funnel in 40% of the revenue to repave the streets (Gardner, 2017). Good roadways are critical to the municipality’s pathway for successful economic development, and in this case redevelopment. In 2017, the state of West Virginia had plans for improving state highways and rural roadways (Gardner, 2017). However, roadways are only one component of the issue. With Mylan closing and declining enrollment at the university (starting in 2014), there are fewer individuals to pay taxes or even own a home or occupy a building. There are numerous buildings falling into disrepair around Morgantown as well as declining housing values (Bowen, 2020). The planning for a community needs to include bringing businesses to the area, which in turn will bring jobs to the community. If an employer is unable to find suitable employees locally, they will not consider moving to that location. In addition, the state of West Virginia has both a state income tax and a sales tax, so it is not inexpensive for individuals to live in the area. Rough, treacherous roadways create an additional expense for vehicle repairs due to cracked rims caused by potholes, for example (Gardner, 2017). While there have been new businesses, most of those businesses have been retail shops and restaurants, not high-technology companies. A new company called DataRobot

Urban Planning and Affordable Housing  261 just moved to the city of Morgantown and is a model of a company that the city of Morgantown should continue to invite (Wilson, 2021). However, to induce more companies into the area, the city of Morgantown must have viable plans to contend with the redevelopment of existing areas and address affordable housing and public health issues (e.g., Marino, 2021; Raby, 2021). The city of Morgantown will need to develop a multi-prong and coordinated economic development plan that incorporates solutions for all of these issues. Otherwise, the City of Morgantown will remain a city of missed opportunities and broken dreams.

References Avents, Ryan, 2017 (May 6 - 9). Wealth of Nations, [Conference presentation]. APA 2017, Jacobs Javits Convention, New York, Ny, United States. https://convention​ .apa​.org​/2019​-video Balint, Nadia, 2016. Gentrification of Downtown L. A. Pushed Home Values Up by 700 Percent. Multi-Housing News. March 20, 2016. Retrieved on February 22, 2021. https://www​.multihousingnews​.com​/post​/gentrification​-of​-downtown​-l​-a​ -pushed​-home​-values​-up​-by​-700​-percent/. Bowen, Patrick M., 2020. Morgantown, WV: Housing Needs Assessment. Bowen National Research. July 2020. Retrieved on September 28, 2021. https:// www​.morgantownwv​.gov​/DocumentCenter​/View​/3426​/2020​-Housing​-Needs Assessment-Report-Presentation. Branch, Melville C., 1990. Planning: Universal Process. New York: Praeger. Branch, Melville C., 1997. An Atlas of Rare City Maps: Comparative Urban Design, 1830–1842, 2nd edition. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. Chapple, K., and Thomas, T., 2021. What Are Gentrification and Displacement. Berkeley, CA: Urban Displacement Project, Institute of Governmental Studies. https://www​.urbandisplacement​.org​/gentrification​-explained. City of Morgantown, 2013, June. Comprehensive Plan. City of Morgantown. Retrieved on September 28, 2021. Cohn, Scott, 2017. In an Economic Death Spiral: West Virginia Is America’s Worst State for Business in 2017. CNBC. July 11, 2017. Retrieved on September 28, 2021. https://www​.cnbc​.com​/2017​/07​/11​/west​-virginia​-americas​-worst​-state​-for​ -business​-in​-2017​.html. Conley, Ben, 2022, April 2. The Dominion Post, Bloom: Talks in Progress to Bring Companies to Former Mylan Plant. https://www​.dominionpost​.com​/2022​/04​/02​ /bloom​-talks​-in​-progress​-to​-bring​-companies​-to​-former​-mylan​-facility/ Elliott, Suzanne, 2020. WVU Currently Facing Budget Shortfall of $10 Million to $15 Million because of COVID – 19. The Dominion Post. September 15, 2020. Retrieved on September 27, 2021. https://www​.dominionpost​.com​/2020​/09​/15​ /wvu​-currently​-facing​-budget​-shortfall​-of​-10​-million​-to​-15​-million​-because​-of​ -covid​-19/. Ewing, Reid, 2017. Gentrification. American Planning Association. Retrieved on Monday, February 22, 2021. https://www​.planning​.org​/planning​/2017​/dec​/ research/. Faludi, Andreas, 1973. A Reader in Planning Theory. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon Press.

262  Paul Frederiksen Gardner, Jennifer, 2017. Morgantown Roads Ranked Worst in the State. The DA. March 29, 2017. Retrieved on September 28, 2021. https://www​.thedaonline​ .com​/news​/morgantown​-roads​-ranked​-worst​-in​-state​/article​_1b12212a​-1476​ -11e7​-9cdd​-d3f8cafbf02a​.html. Gardner, Spencer, 2017. The 5 Immutable Laws of Affordable Housing. Strong Towns. May 9, 2021. Retrieved on Monday, February 22, 2021. https://www​ .strongtowns​.org​/journal​/2017​/5​/8​/immutable​-laws​-of​-affordable​-housing. Grimes, John M., 1922. A Zoning Primer, United States Department of Commerce. Retrieved on November 19, 2021. file:​///D:​/Nico​las%2​0Valc​ik%20​Local​%20Go​ vernm​ent%2​0Mana​gemen​t%20B​ook/G​OVPUB​-C13-​cf208​d8ed0​dda43​ed677​ acd6c​ad8be​81%20​(1)​%2​​0Andr​​ea​%20​​11​%20​​19​%20​​21​.pd​​f. Harmon, Mary, 2017. With Technology Expanding Inequity Rising. American Planning Association. September 26, 2017. Retrieved on Monday, February 22, 2021. Herson, Lawrence J. R., and Bolland, John M., 1990. The Urban Web: Politics, Policy and Theory. Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall Publishers. Hughes, James W., and Sternlieb, George, 1987. The Dynamics of America’s Housing. New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research. Lake, Robert W., 1979. Real Estate Tax Delinquency: Private Disinvestment & Public Response. New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research. Lucy, William H., 2010. Foreclosing the Dream: How Americas Housing Crises Is Reshaping Our Cities and Suburbs. Chicago, IL: American Planning Association. Marino, Sarah, 2021. Morgantown City Council Candidates Raise Awareness about Affordable Housing. Times West Virginian. March 19, 2021. Retrieved on September 28, 2021. https://www​.timeswv​.com​/news​/local​_news​/morgantown​ -city ​ - council ​ - candidates ​ - raise ​ - awareness ​ - about ​ - affordable ​ - housing ​ / article​ _3e534b06​-8834​-11eb​-ae87​-cfdf54913d5d​.html. Mayer, Steven, 2019. Fed Up with Coastal Elitism. Bakersfield​.com​, May 17, 20219.​ https:/​/www​.bakersfield​.com​/news​/fed​-up​-with​-coastal​-elitism​-locals​-step​-up​-to​ -defend​-bakersfield​/article​_aa16601a​-774e​-11e9​-998​1​-ff8b20a81bb1​.html. Methodology: Housing Affordability Index, 2021, National Association of Realtors. Retrieved on Monday, February 22, 2021. https://www​.nar​.realtor​ /research ​ - and ​ - statistics ​ / housing ​ - statistics ​ / housing ​ - affordability ​ - index ​ / methodology. Mills, Edwin S., and Hamilton, Bruce W., 1994. Urban Economics, 5th edition. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers. Quinn, Ryan, 2020. WVU to Lay off 875 Employees. WV Gazette. May 8, 2020. Retrieved on September 27, 2021. https://www​.wvgazettemail​.com​/coronavirus​ /wvu​-to​-lay​-off​-875​-employees​/article​_07e70867​-4fee​-552d​-96fa​-3cff053b14fa​ .html. Raby, John, 2021. CDC: West Virginia HIV Wave Could Be ‘Tip of the Iceberg’. AP. March 17, 2021. Retrieved on September 28, 2021. Renn, Aaron M., 2013. Why Gentrification. New Geography. May 13, 2013. Retrieved on February 22, 2021. http://www​.newgeography​.com​/content​ /003701​-why​-gentrification. Salam, Reihan, 2013. Gentrification. National Review. Retrieved on February 22, 2021. https://www​.nationalreview​.com​/the​-agenda​/gentrification​-and​-housing​ -supply​-reihan​-salam/.

Urban Planning and Affordable Housing  263 Saunders, Pete, 2018. The Scales of Gentrification. American Planning Association. December 2018. Retrieved on February 22, 2021. https://www​.planning​.org​/ planning​/2018​/dec​/sca​leso​fgen​trif​i cation/. Schuetz, Jenny, 2020. Who Is to Blame for High Housing Costs? It’s More Complicated That You Think. Brookings. January 17, 2020. Retrieved on February 22, 2021. https://www​.brookings​.edu​/research​/whos​-to​-blame​-for​-high​ -housing​-costs​-its​-more​-complicated​-than​-you​-think/. Smith, Neil, 1983. Toward a Theory of Gentrification: A Back to the City Movement by Capital, Not People. In Lake, Robert W. (Ed.), Readings in Urban Analysis: Perspectives on Urban Form and Structure. New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research, pp. 278–298. Soule, Douglas, 2021. With the Mylan Plant Closing, Morgantown Wonders What’s Next. Mountain State Spotlight. May 26, 2021. Retrieved on September 28, 2021. Sowell, Thomas, 2007. Basic Economics, 3rd edition. New York: Basic Books. Tip O'Neal 2009, June 3. Big Apple Corner, by Barry Barry Popik. https://www​ .barrypopik​.com​/index​.php​/new​_york​_city​/entry​/all​_politics​_is​_local/ Trinity Grove, 2021. Retrieved on October 1, 2021. About Us | Trinity Groves. Wilson, Dave, 2021. New Data Firm Locating Office in Morgantown. MetroNews. June 9, 2021. Retrieved on September 28, 2021. Zito, Salena, 2019. Underdog Politician Wins in Underdog Town. Washington Examiner. November 10, 2019. Retrieved on February 22, 2021. https://www​ .washingtonexaminer ​ . com ​ / opinion ​ / columnists​ / underdog​ - politician​ - wins​ - in​ -underdog​-town.

16 Homelessness and Affordable Housing in the Urban Areas Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez

Homelessness in the United States In its 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reported that 580,466 people had been counted and labeled as homeless in the US, an increase of 2.2% from the year before and a rise in numbers for the fourth consecutive year (Henry et al., 2020). HUD defines the homeless as “a person who lacks fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence” (Henry et al., 2020, p. 2). To assess the number of persons experiencing homelessness, HUD, and those who regularly engage in the care of people experiencing homelessness at regional and local levels by coordinating housing and services (a.k.a. Continuum of Care or CoC) (National Alliance to End Homelessness [NAEH], 2010), conduct a point-in-time (PIT) count. The PIT count is an unduplicated estimate of those identifying and/or identified as homeless, whether they are currently sheltered (in homeless shelters, transitional living programs, and safe haven housing) or unsheltered (living in cars, on the streets, or other places not meant for humans to sleep in). Although it initially started as a one-night count, the PIT count is more likely to occur over several nights in the last week of January (Henry et al., 2020). The PIT count, although a well-intended exercise, is often criticized for its inability to truly provide an accurate count of those who are experiencing homelessness at any given point in time (Burnes & DiLeo, 2016, as cited in Schneider et al., 2016). Beyond the insurmountable task of attempting to count free-willing individuals who may be anywhere (especially those who live unsheltered), the population itself is often skittish of any accountability that may be tied to the government or any other entity that may come with strings attached. Those living in their cars are often difficult to count due to their mobility and their ability to slip in and out of homelessness due to having more resources available (Zeitlin, 2019). Not to mention the number of those who live in open areas, such as parks and other places where they can easily be missed and not counted (Schneider et al., 2016). Other issues relate to the collection of the data itself. For example, using DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-16

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  265 the number of filled beds as the source of those considered “sheltered” is flawed in that it is dependent on bed availability, which itself is dependent on several other factors including funding, availability of programs in the community, and the usage of those facilities by those considered homeless (NLCHP, 2015). HUD’s definition of who is homeless expressly limits the count to those either in homeless shelters, in transitional housing programs, or living unsheltered in places not meant for human habitation (Henry et al., 2020). It fails to take into account those who are living in doubled-up situations, living with family members, friends, or couch-surfing from nightto-night (NLCHP, 2015). At last count in 2012, those living in a doubledup situation were 7.4 million, an increase of 80% in some states (NAEH, 2014). The methods itself to collect the data used to formulate the Annual Assessment on Homelessness Report to Congress (AHAR) (the report to Congress resulting from the PIT count) vary from community to community (Hopper et al., 2008, as cited in NLCHP, 2015). Given the foregoing, it is safe to say that the actual number of homeless persons in the United States is unknown. Regardless of its shortcomings, the PIT count continues to be the closest we come to tabulating the amount of those experiencing homelessness in the US at any given time.

Demographics of those Experiencing Homelessness The 2020 PIT count shows that the majority of those counted, 61%, were staying in sheltered locations, while 31% were found unsheltered. The number of unsheltered individuals increased by 7% from 2019 numbers. Of the 61% counted as sheltered, 34.4% were single individuals, while 26.7% were part of a family unit (Henry et al., 2020). For the first time since the beginning of the PIT count, the number of unsheltered homeless grew more than the number of sheltered persons counted (Henry et al., 2020). About 38.5% were female, and as is common, the majority at 60.7% were male. About 0.8% identified as “other.” Specifically, 4,500 individuals identified as either transgender or gender non-conforming (Henry et al., 2020). Over 106,000 children under 18 years of age were counted as homeless in 2020. The majority were in the company of adult guardians, except for 3,598 of them who were counted as unaccompanied minors (Henry et al., 2020). Racial disparities extend to homelessness. The 2020 PIT shows that members of the African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American/Pacific Islander communities are over-represented among the homeless masses. According to the US Census, African Americans and Blacks made up 13.4% of the US population (US Census Bureau, 2019), but when it came to the PIT count, 39% of those identified as homeless were identified or self-identified as Black or African American (Henry et al., 2020). Similarly, those of Hispanic ethnicity encompassed 18.4% of the US

266  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez population (Census, 2019), but about 23% of those counted as homeless stated they were Hispanic. Native Americans and Pacific Islanders at last count made up 1.5% of the US population but were about 5% of those living without a place to call home. These numbers represent only those who selected a single race when asked. About 6.1% of those counted stated they represented multiple races and thus were not included in the specific numbers. The majority of those counted as homeless in 2020 were located in California (28%), New York (16%), Texas (5%), and Florida (5%) (Henry et al., 2020). Those found in the Western portion of the US were more likely to be unsheltered than those in the Eastern portion of the country. Most resided in California which had nine times the number of unsheltered persons as that of the next highest state, Texas. Seventy percent of those reported as homeless in California were residing in the open air, living in tent cities, or in their vehicles (Henry et al., 2020; Nourazari et al., 2021). At the other end of the spectrum was New York, which reported that 95% of its homeless population was sheltered (Henry et al., 2020).

Causes and Effects of Homelessness Researchers have traced the root causes of homelessness to reasons that can be divided between macro-level and micro-level precursors. Macrolevel causes focus on institutional and systemic forces that create an at-risk environment that leads people to become homeless. At the micro-level, the influences are more personal and vary based on the person struggling with homelessness. Personal vulnerabilities are based on factors unique to them (e.g., childhood, generational poverty, victimization through crime, domestic violence, etc.) (Lee et al., 2010). Historically, macro-level influences in the numbers of homeless persons usually include lack of affordable housing, the status of the economy, generational trends, etc. In recent times, researchers have been less willing to divide the two. According to Chattoo et al. (2021), homelessness is “broadly rooted in systemic structural conditions, despite past news coverage that has focused more on individual deficits and deviance” (Buck et al., 2004; Min, 1999, as cited in Chattoo et al., 2021, p. 4). Those struggling with homelessness tend to be increasingly sensitive to deficits within the system and economic hard times, such as high levels of unemployment and low supply of affordable housing options. These conditions are exacerbated by their individual at-risk conditions, like those suffered by victims of physical or sexual abuse, alcohol, and drug addicts, and those lacking a support system (Chattoo et al., 2021; Lee et al., 2010). In women, for example, domestic violence was the leading cause of homelessness (Chattoo et al., 2021; Lee et al., 2010; NAEH, 2014). In the adult population, homeless individuals tend to suffer from poorer physical health and higher incidences of mental illness compared to the

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  267 general population (Nourazari et al., 2021). Cases of tuberculosis, HIV/ AIDS, hepatitis, high blood pressure, vascular disease, seizures, and chronic conditions are more common in people experiencing homeless than those who are domiciled (Lee et al., 2010). They also have a shorter lifespan with the average age at death calculated between the low 40s and mid-50s (Lee et al., 2010; Nourazari et al., 2021). For children, homelessness affects their access to a proper education. Homeless children tend to be absent from school more, move schools more often, and get held back grades more than those who have housing stability. They also get lower test scores, suffer from learning disabilities at higher rates, and have more behavioral issues in school than domiciled children (Lee et al., 2010). A person is considered “chronically homeless” when they have a disability [and] has been continuously homeless for one year or more, or has experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years where the combined length of time homeless on those occasions is at least 12 months. (Henry et al., 2020, p. 2) Research shows that the chronically homeless are less healthy due to having less access to medical care, suffering from food insecurity and lack of proper nutrition, higher levels of stress, and exposure to the elements (Lee et al., 2010). Once a person becomes chronically homeless, housing stability is harder to achieve as they are often unable to maintain that stability on their own due to health reasons (Nourazari et al., 2021). One definite found in the literature is the fact that homelessness numbers tend to be greater and the problem magnified in areas where a lack of affordable housing is an issue. Normally, this problem is greater in metropolitan areas (Lee & Farrell, 2003; Quigley et al., 2001; Wright et al., 2008, as cited in Lee et al., 2010). During the 2014 United States Conference of Mayors, eighty-five percent of the cities represented listed lack of affordable housing as the main cause of homelessness in families with children while 80% cited the same for single homeless individuals. Other causes listed included unemployment, mental health issues, lack of needed services, low-paying jobs, and poverty (National Homeless Law Center, 2015). Today, the National Homeless Law Center still lists a lack of affordable housing as the number one cause of homelessness in the United States (National Homeless Law Center, 2022).

Public Opinion and Attitudes Toward the Homeless Population Historically, the American public has had concern and compassion in their hearts for the homeless population around them (Blasi, 1994; Link et al.,

268  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez 1995; Tompsett et al., 2006; Toro and Warren, 1991, as cited in Tsai et al., 2018). Although that is the pervasive sentiment, some factors influence that opinion. In 2018, Tsai et al. surveyed 577 Americans from 47 different states. Participants were mostly white, with an average age of 37 years old, 47% male, and most (57%) reported to be college graduates. One thing all persons surveyed agreed on is that homelessness is a pervasive problem in their community. They also agreed that the problem appears to be getting worse and the expectation is that it will continue to get worse in the years to come (Tsai et al., 2018). Public opinion about homelessness varied in this study depending on the participant’s gender, earnings, and political party (Tsai et al., 2018). When asked about the causes of homelessness, survey participants stated they believed that a shortage of affordable housing was the chief cause of homelessness structurally, with “irresponsible behavior” leading the microlevel reasons (Tsai et al., 2018, p. 89). A majority of those polled favored stronger federal government involvement in the form of funding as well as programs to help combat the issue. Participants believed that federal government involvement should include welfare policies, substance abuse treatment, and raising the federal minimum wage (Tsai et al., 2018).

Federal Funding and Interventions In 2019, over ten million people in the United States received some form of rental assistance to remain in housing or to help them return to housing. Sixty-eight percent were either people with disabilities, children, or senior citizens (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities [CBPP], 2019). The majority of those who apply for rental assistance do not receive it due to dwindling or limited funds available (CBPP, 2019). According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (2019), the most often used federal rental assistance programs are Housing Choice Vouchers, followed by public housing, then Section 8 Project-Based Single Room Occupancy, Supportive Elderly + Disabled, and USDA Rural Rental Assistance.

Housing Choice Voucher The US Federal government’s primary line of defense against homelessness is what is now known as the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV). The HCV was created to help low-income families, senior citizens, veterans, and the disabled find and be able to live in safe and sanitary housing in the private market (HUD, n.d.b). The program, developed under the Housing and Community Act of 1974 (Teater, 2010), is the first subsidized tenant-based housing program that did not require families to live in government-run buildings. HCV is administered by public housing agencies and requires the resident to locate a rental property that will accept the voucher. Landlords receive partial rent (the total approved subsidy) directly from the public housing agency and the

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  269 difference is covered by the tenant. The dwelling must meet guidelines (e.g., appropriate size for the number of members of a family, safe, sanitary, etc.) set by the administering housing agency (HUD, n.d.b). To be eligible for HCV, a recipient’s or family’s income must not be more than 50% of the median income for the county or metropolitan area where the dwelling is located. The administering agency must provide 75% of the vouchers to applicants who earn less than 30% of the area’s median income as required by law (HUD, n.d.b). The program is means-tested and requires recipients to meet certain requisites before qualifying. They must submit proof of income, a list of assets, and the number of members who will be residing in the dwelling. If the applicant qualifies, they are placed on a waiting list unless the agency can approve them for a voucher right away. Waiting lists are common as demand is high. Housing agencies can establish preferential status for applicants in certain situations and based on local needs (HUD, n.d.b). For example, the housing agency may give preference to a family who is considered homeless over one that is not, or one that has been involuntarily displaced to avoid them becoming homeless.

Public Housing The better-known version of the Section 8 Program is public housing. The era of row- after-row of drabby and plain government buildings has given way to a variety of dwellings that meet the needs of those who cannot afford housing in the private market; from single-family houses scattered throughout a community to high-rise apartments in a city center, public housing is not what it used to be. Approximately, 970,000 households in the U.S. live in public housing (HUD, n.d.f). Only those who earn less than 80% (for low-income) or 50% (for very low income) of the median income of the metropolitan area or county where the housing is located can qualify for public housing under HUD rules (HUD, n.d.f). Those who live in public housing must still pay rent at a subsidized rate with HUD monies covering the subsidizing. Income limits will vary by geographical location. Income that may qualify in one area may be too great in another. It is up to the local Housing Agency to decide based on parameters set by HUD (HUD, n.d.f). To qualify for public housing, the prospective tenants must be low or very low income, be elderly or have a documented disability and be US citizens, or have eligible immigrant status. Access to the program may be denied to those whose rental history may show incidents of “detrimental effect on other tenants or the project environment” (HUD, n.d.f, p. 2).

Section 8 Project-Based Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Program Section 8 Project-Based assistance helps low-income individuals who are single to be able to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the

270  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez area-based, rehabilitated buildings. These properties are privately owned and the p ­ rogram works similarly to the HCV program in that the tenant is to pay 30% of their income toward rent, and the program covers the rest (HUD, n.d.c). Unlike HCV, individuals must be homeless and single to qualify. Under SRO, HUD contributes to the individual’s rent for ten years and compensates property owners for the cost of rehabilitation as well as related costs to maintaining the property (HUD, n.d.c).

Sections 202 (Supportive Housing for the Elderly) and Section 811 (Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities) Funding for Section 202 (Supportive Housing for the Elderly) and Section 811 (Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities) is purposely geared toward developing, whether through rehabilitation or not, housing for the elderly and disabled that provides supportive services for low-income and extremely low-income adults of advanced age and/or with disabilities (HUD, n.d.d; HUD, n.d.e). For those with disabilities, the programs aim to provide supportive, yet independent housing per the Americans with Disabilities Act. Whenever possible, Section 811 allows persons with disabilities to live on their own in communities that provide access to appropriate supportive services. The program works in two ways: (1) It provides interest-free capital to nonprofit developers planning to build affordable housing for persons with disabilities, or (2) provides subsidized rental assistance similar to HCV for people with disabilities (HUD, n.d.e).

Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act In 2009, Congress enacted the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009 (NAEH, 2008). The HEARTH Act combines three separate homeless assistance programs into the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program. The CoC program is a grant program administered by HUD that is a conglomerate of three other homeless care programs: the Shelter Plus Care Program, the Supportive Housing Program, and the Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Program (HUD Exchange, 2021b). CoC funds are used for programs that address the need for permanent housing, transitional housing, agencies that provide supportive services only, data collection under the Homeless Management Information Systems, and some homelessness prevention programs (HUD Exchange, 2021a). To ease the administration of both programs, the components of the CoC programs align with those of the Emergency Solutions Grants program to allow for consistency and continuity of service for those who qualify for both programs. Data management and outcomes as well as reporting requirements are established and applied similarly to facilitate implementation across the board. The most significant

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  271 distinction between the two programs relates to assistance under the rapid rehousing component of each, where eligibility activities and administrative requirements may differ (HUD Exchange, 2021a).

Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program The Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), formerly the Emergency Shelter Grant Program, is federal grant money used to address the urgent needs for housing and housing stability of people experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless (HUD Exchange, 2017). The program focuses on those residing in homeless shelters and transitional housing programs. Programs funded under the ESG include the creation and operation of emergency shelters, increasing the number of such shelters in areas in need, providing outreach services for those living on the street, and funding rapid rehousing programs as well as homeless prevention programs (HUD Exchange, 2017).

USDA Rural Rental Assistance Program Through its Rural Housing Services (RHS) branch, the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development agency provides loans and grant monies to fund housing programs for families and individuals living in rural areas. The funding is used for the construction of single-family homes and the provision of daycare centers, police and fire departments, hospitals, libraries, nursing homes, schools, and apartments for low-income seniors and farm laborers (Helping Americans Find Help [HAFH], 2020). The USDA Housing Programs include the Rural Rental Housing Program, the Rural Rental Assistance Program, and the Farm Labor Housing Loans and Grants. The Rural Rental Housing Program helps create affordable rental housing in underprivileged communities. The Rural Rental Assistance Program (RRAP) subsidizes rent payments for low-income to very lowincome individuals, the elderly, and those with a disability who are not able to pay monthly rent. The RRAP often is a supplement to help those who are already receiving assistance under other RHS programs. The Farm Labor Housing Loans and Grants (FLHLG) helps farmers and rural public housing agencies develop affordable housing options for farm laborers. The loans and grants may be used to build, buy, improve, and repair said housing. Loan interest rates may be as low as 1% and grants may cover up to 90% of developing costs (HAFH, 2020).

Current Strategies in State and CommunityBased Homeless Assistance Due to the variety of issues that affect those experiencing homelessness, there is no one quick solution to the problem. Strategies that have been shown

272  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez to have worked in some parts of the country have not been so successful in others. Cities around the country have put in place a variety of strategies that they hope will reduce the number of people living on the streets or returning to live on the streets. These programs include 24-hour shelters, transitional housing, Housing First programs, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, etc. (Nourazari et al., 2021). Although those discussed in this section are often community-based solutions operated by nonprofit agencies, several of them can be and are subsidized by federal government programs or grants.

Emergency Shelters Emergency shelters are the first line of defense many depend on and others resort to to get people experiencing homelessness off the street. They are often run using a Housing First (discussed in the following) model that provides an immediate place to stay as a way to provide stability (HUD, 2017). The most basic emergency shelters will allow their occupants to come in from the streets, stay overnight, and leave the next day without requirements like a background check, drug test, or promises to complete treatment. Emergency shelters often expand their services to include options for the resident to stay longer periods of time and take part in supportive services, like mental health counseling, casework, and employment assistance programs.

Transitional Housing Transitional housing programs are those set up to house those experiencing homelessness for a limited amount of time, six months to 24 months, and provide wrap-around service to provide stability and prepare them for more permanent, independent housing options (HUD Exchange, 2021). Services provided usually include structure and supervision in the form of case management, mental health and substance abuse counseling, life skills classes, financial responsibility classes, and vocational training. The temporary nature of their stay puts the onus on the individual to take full advantage of the services, get back on their feet, and return to self-sufficiency as soon as possible. Oftentimes, transitional housing culminates with the individual moving into permanent supportive housing or transferring to another supportive housing program.

Housing First HUD defines Housing First as “an approach to quickly and successfully connect individuals and families experiencing homelessness to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety, treatment

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  273 or service participation requirements” (HUD, 2014, para. 1). There are two tenets to the Housing First initiative that make it successful. First, prerequisites and barriers to housing are removed. This means minimal screenings and no income limits, no negative rental history limitations, nor mandatory completion of treatment as a requirement for admission (Wilt, 2021). The general idea is to meet basic needs like shelter, food, personal hygiene, and safety before moving on to other needs like employment, treating addiction, etc. (NAEH, 2022, as cited in Wilt, 2021). The second tenet is the provision of supportive services that allow the resident to stay on track. These services are not provided as a condition to receive housing, however. Instead, the resident is allowed to decide which services he or she will participate in without a requirement that all their issues be addressed (Wilt, 2021). Housing stability is the program’s key goal and for that reason, Housing First programs often target those considered chronically homeless. Self-determination and communication are key parts of Housing First. Many of the Housing First programs encourage their residents to engage in governance committees and be active participants in making decisions about their community (Wilt, 2021). Proponents of Housing First often advocate for their program, not as a way of helping people experiencing chronic homelessness necessarily, but as a cost-saving measure for local governments. In 2016, CitySquare, a 501(c)(3) non-profit agency located in Dallas, Texas, that specializes in Housing First programs, established a tiny house community called the Cottages at Hickory Crossing in the heart of the city. The 50-cottage community’s purpose is to house 50 individuals considered chronically homeless that were costing the city an average of $40,000 a year (Collins, 2016). That $40,000 price tag is a calculated aggregate from their use of emergency medical services (e.g., ambulance rides and emergency room care) for healthcare treatment, to getting arrested for panhandling or sleeping in public areas. A stay in jail that averages 29 days can cost the city $64 per person, per day, or $1,856 (Collins, 2016). When initially proposed and to garner support, the program was often promoted for its attractive saving of $25,000 a year per person because expenses to care for the same person are reduced to a mere $15,000 while they live in the Cottages. The 400-square-foot home includes a full kitchen and bathroom and access to medical and mental healthcare right on site (Kuo, 2016). Once selected and admitted into the program, residents are allowed to remain in their cottage for the rest of their lives as long as they pay rent (30% of their monthly income, if any) and do not disturb other residents (Collins, 2016). The Cottages business model combines the efficiency of Housing First with Permanent Supporting Housing to meet the needs of the chronically homeless. As of 2019, the Cottages were still standing and 80% of the original occupants still resided in the community (Keomoungkhoun, 2019).

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Permanent Supportive Housing and Safe Haven Programs Permanent Supportive Housing combines housing with supportive services for chronically homeless individuals for the rest of their lives (Dohler et al., 2016). For the chronically homeless who normally have a history of several instances of homeless accompanied by a disability or medical condition, simply providing a roof over their heads is insufficient to ensure they stay housed for any amount of time. PSH programs have key principles that make them successful. For starters, the accommodations are permanent to the admitted tenant and the resident is granted similar tenant rights as those of a renter in the economy. Meaning, PSH residents sign a lease, have a right to privacy, and cannot be evicted without cause (Dohler et al., 2016). They also pay rent equivalent to 30% of their income, whether that income is $1 or $1,000. PSH programs also have low barriers at intake and do not ban residents’ access due to criminal records, rental records, credit history, unemployment, or addiction. The supportive services provided as part of the program are voluntary, but “assertive” (Dohler et al., 2016, p. 2), which means that even if the resident turns down the service, case managers and others will continue to check on the individual and continue to offer the assistance. Tenants cannot be evicted because they continue to turn down services. The services in PSH are normally provided to keep the tenant in housing and are holistic with access to multidisciplinary care. They often include in-house access to a nurse, physician assistant, or similar medical professional, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, and case management (Dohler et al., 2016). PSH has proven to reduce the reliance on costly emergency room care and criminal justice system contact among those previously chronically homeless and disabled (Dohler et al., 2016). Safe Haven shelters are a type of supportive housing program for persons experiencing homelessness who also suffer from severe mental illness or substance abuse and who have difficulty or are unwilling to participate in average housing and supportive services (HUD Exchange, 2012). Created in 1992 by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, Safe Haven programs are required to provide on-demand: emergency housing for eligible persons, private or at least semi-private accommodations, limited capacity to 25 persons, limited requirements for services that give the participants the ability to opt out, and supportive services to walk-in clients (HUD Exchange, 2012). HUD has announced that no new Safe Haven programs will be funded beyond those provided for under the McKinney-Vento Act (HUD Exchange, 2021).

Rapid Rehousing Rapid rehousing “rapidly connects families and individuals experiencing homelessness to permanent housing through a tailored package of assistance that may include the use of time-limited financial assistance and targeted

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  275 supportive services” (HUD, n.d.a, p. 1). The program is geared toward helping those who are at risk of becoming homeless due to an inability to pay rent, utilities, security deposits, and/or other expenses that may prevent the individual or family from having a permanent home (NAEH, n.d.). The assistance is offered without predetermined requirements, like having to be employed, meeting a pre-specified income threshold, having a clean criminal record, or abstaining from substance use. The main goal is to prevent homelessness or return those in homelessness to having their own place to live without delay. Services under rapid rehousing usually address needs that are unique to the household and are limited to a specific amount of time, like four to six months (NAEH, n.d.). Those in the program must agree to case management that will connect them to supportive services that help reduce or eliminate the barriers that cause housing instability. Case management may continue after the cash assistance has ended. One criticism of rapid rehousing is that it must rely on the landlord’s willingness to rent to those in the program and be willing to live within the limitations of the program. Reports of discrimination are common as landlords refuse to make repairs and repeatedly try to raise the rent (Brown, 2019). The program is also seen as a temporary fix that may lead the participant back to homelessness once monetary assistance is no longer provided (Brown, 2019). Irrespective of the number of programs available to get and keep people experiencing homelessness off the streets, the number of Americans becoming homeless continues to rise each year. The problem will continue if our systems continue to work against each other. Lack of affordable housing and low wages for workers create a formula that can only produce one result. “Macro-level and micro-level causes of homelessness must be examined to ensure that public health policies and initiative will lead to sustained and stable solutions in addressing homelessness” (Nourazari et al., 2021).

Affordable Housing One in six households in the United States spends more than half of their income on housing. In the last decade, earned wages have stayed put as housing costs have skyrocketed. As a result, homeownership rates have decreased during that period, even as the number of households continues to increase. Sixty-seven percent of renters would prefer to own a home, assuming they had the financial resources to do so (Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies [HJCHS], 2018). The HJCHS suggests that the increased number of rental households is due to increased housing prices. According to the Federal Reserve, the national average home sales price in the US increased by 42.3% between 2010 ($272,025) and 2020 ($387,150) (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis [Federal Reserve], 2021; see Figure 16.1), while the real median household income increased only 18.6% between 2010 ($57,904) and 2019 ($68,703) (Federal Reserve, 2020).​

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Figure 16.1  From 1965–2020 the average sales price of homes sold in the US has increased from $21,700 in 1965 to $383,000 in 2020

Across the US, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) reports a shortage of 6.8 million rental homes for extremely low-income renters alone, not even accounting for those with slightly higher incomes (Aurand et al., 2020a). COVID-19 has affected the market. According to Real Capital Analytics, housing prices increased at an 8.8% annual rate over the 12 months ending in September 2020 (Real Capital Analytics, 2021). The NLIHC did not find a single state or county where an individual earning minimum wage and working full-time would be able to rent a twobedroom dwelling at a fair market price (Aurand et al., 2020b; Parker, 2021). Incredibly, affordable housing shortages affect the US economy every year to the tune of $2 trillion due to lower wages and productivity (Parker, 2021). With rent increases continuing to compete with income gains, some 20.4 million renter households paid more than 30% of their income for housing in 2019 (JCHSHU, 2020).

Reasons for Undersupply of Affordable Housing The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University’s State of the Nation’s Housing 2020 Report (2020) shows that there are various reasons for the continued undersupply of rental and purchase options, especially for those with lower incomes. First, due to the lengthy development process, permitting activity was down 10% from year-earlier levels through September (JCHSHU, 2020). The supply of homes for sale has not kept up with demand, shrinking already tight inventories. Only 1.47 million existing homes were on the market in September, representing a 2.7 months supply—the lowest level in decades (JCHSHU, 2020). The pandemic made the shortage even worse, preventing many potential sellers from putting

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  277 their homes on the market and leaving inventories off about 20% from ­year-earlier levels from April through September. There is a myriad of regulatory requirements and development fees that both increase construction costs and limit the amount of new housing that can be built. Many regulatory barriers—primarily at the state and local levels—constrain the ability of the private market to supply the types of well-located rental housing that these households (lower-income) can afford (JCHSHU, 2020). While landuse restrictions and building codes are essential to public health and safety, it is critical to balance those goals against the unmet need for smaller, denser housing that is convenient for transportation and employment opportunities. Tax policy at all levels of government has a powerful influence on the location, type, and cost of both new and existing homes, and should be used more strategically to reshape residential development patterns and make housing more affordable. The Joint Center analysis of the 2019 National Longitudinal Land Use Survey (NLLUS) found that more than a third of the 1,703 cities, villages, towns, and counties with zoning authority allowed no more than seven housing units per acre (Urban Institute, 2019). These density restrictions imply a minimum lot size of at least 6,200 square feet in the entire jurisdiction. Indeed, minimum lot sizes up to a full acre are common even in large metro areas. In contrast, only about a quarter of jurisdictions surveyed had zones allowing more than 30 units per acre. Regulations on housing density effectively limit the supply of new housing and push up land prices, particularly in highly restricted markets with strong demand. According to FHFA data, the median price per quarter acre of land underneath existing single-family housing was $144,100 in 2018, up 56% from 2012 (JCHSHU, 2020). Local government fees also add directly to the costs of residential development (JCHSHU, 2020). Many jurisdictions charge impact fees to fund schools, sewerage systems, roads, and other public services associated with new development and growing populations, which increase the price of new homes exponentially. Nearly half of the jurisdictions (45%) responding to the 2019 NLLUS imposed impact fees, but the share in Western communities was nearly twice as high (86%) (Urban Institute, 2019). Parking requirements can also drive up development costs by reducing the amount of land available for housing units and in some cases requiring costly parking structures. Fully 46% of jurisdictions required two or more off-site parking spaces per multifamily unit constructed, while just 4% required less than one parking space (Urban Institute, 2019). Well before the pandemic, the costs of construction materials were on the rise. Between September 2010 and September 2020, the Census Bureau calculated that the Laspeyres Price Index (Constant Quality) for the construction of single-family housing was up by 45% (JCHSHU, 2020). The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) also reports that prices for framing lumber have shot up more than 300% since April 2020 (NAHB, 2021). The persistent shortage of construction workers is yet another impediment

278  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez to housing development. The number of construction job openings averaged 321,000 in 2019—the highest level since at least 2001. Openings have remained elevated, averaging 276,000 through August 2020, despite the number of separations (including both layoffs and voluntary quits) reaching new highs in March and April when the shutdowns began (JCHSHU, 2020). Because of this housing crisis, communities have had to look at other options to address housing affordability. There are a variety of housing solutions in addition to those addressing homelessness such as new affordable housing solutions, neighborhood revitalization, and repair/clean-up programs. Some of these solutions use the existing housing stock to create the ability for the homeowners to age in place.

New Affordable Housing New homes with limited square footage can be built on existing infill lots to increase the supply of affordable homes. The challenge is finding affordable land and a for-profit builder that can build with very low margins or a non-profit housing organization. The key to keeping these homes affordable is by using a partnership housing model, where the homeowners help build their homes by contributing sweat equity hours toward the construction alongside volunteers. Habitat for Humanity has great experience with owner/builder housing programs (Habitat for Humanity, 2021). Another benefit of using a non-profit is they are tax-exempt and can secure donations to help offset the cost of cash and in-kind materials.

Neighborhood Revitalization Residents in neighborhoods are very aware of what they want their community to be composed of—decent, affordable homes, safety, security, fulfilling faith communities, a market that is close by to buy necessities and food, a playground for the kids, a school where students learn and thrive, and most of all, connection to their neighbors and the feeling that they belong (Habitat for Humanity, 2021). Addressing the needs of existing neighborhoods, cities can tailor their efforts by partnering locally with residents, community leaders, and organizations to revitalize and bring together the community. This can include demolition of substandard structures, repairs to existing homes such as roof, siding, paint, and foundations, general clean-up of landscaping, and accessibility such as wheelchair ramps, grab bars, sink height, etc. When seniors begin to age, they no longer can physically maintain their homes. Allowing them the opportunity to age in place with some assistance can help stabilize the existing housing stock in neighborhoods. To encourage an increase in housing for the workforce, cities must be creative in their solutions.

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Incentives to Increase Affordable Housing Development Various cities offer incentives to non-profit housing organizations to build affordable housing in their communities. Some items included in these ordinances can help offset the cost of building the homes. In their Affordable Housing Development Incentives Program Agreement (2008), the City of McKinney, Texas, offers the following incentives to non-profit housing providers: building permit fee waivers, landfill entry fee waivers, construction dumpster set up/haul fee waivers, engineering inspection fee waivers, erosion inspection fee waivers, impact fee waivers for compliance with architectural guidelines, opportunities to access the back tax properties available, carports instead of garages, and minimum lot square-feet requirements. Offering these incentives allows the opportunity for organizations to increase the number of families that can be served with housing solutions. The City of McKinney also has developed ordinance No. 2013-11-110, Historic Neighborhood Improvement Zone and Neighborhood Empowerment Zone (NEZ) (McKinney, Tx Municode) which allows for a reduction in the city’s ad valorem taxes based on the improvements made to the property and a waiver of impact fees. This ordinance applies to single-family, multi-family, and non-residential developments. To be eligible for this program, developers must comply with specific guidelines including height, proportion, openings, the rhythm of solids to voids, the relationship of materials, roof shapes, architectural details, scale, massing, directional expression of the front elevation, spacing, setbacks, and variation of styles.

Grants Grants can be another opportunity to increase affordable housing. The Community Development Block Grant issues funds to cities, counties, and states specifically to develop viable, urban communities. These funds create opportunities for low-income individuals to obtain affordable decent housing in safe areas in their communities. The CDBG uses US Census data to create a geographical and population-based formula to allocate its yearly funding for this purpose. CDBG can be used for down payment assistance, land acquisition, and development. This program is funded by HUD (Housing and Urban Development) (HUD, 2021) and is authorized under Title 1 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, Public Law 93-383, as amended 42 USC 5301 et seq. It is designed to reinforce important values and principles of community development under HUD (HUD, 2021). Many states offer housing grants. In Michigan, the Housing Trust Fund has an annual application to allocate $7.5 million. The criteria include a maximum per-unit development subsidy based on the number of bedrooms. The Michigan Housing Development Authority offers direct loans to homebuyers for down payment assistance ($7,500–$10,000) (MSHDA, 2021).

280  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez The state of Florida offers Housing Trust Funds collected through the doc stamp tax (Florida Housing Corporation, 2021). In 2021, the amount available in the Florida fund is $209 million. The State of Texas through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs administers an owner-builder loan program, commonly known as the Texas Bootstrap Loan Program (Bootstrap) which appropriates about $3 million annually (Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs [TDHCA], n.d.). The Bootstrap Program is a self-help housing construction program that assists very low-income households (known as “owner-builders”) to purchase or refinance real property on which to build or repair housing by contributing the labor themselves. Under Bootstrap loan regulations, households can borrow a maximum of $45,000 at 0% interest for up to a 30-year term (TDHCA, n.d.). Owner-builders make up the difference from their Bootstrap loan with loan funds from other sources, including non-profit financing, Community Development Financing Institutions (CDFI), or the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 502 and 504 loan programs for rural areas (TDHCA, n.d.). To augment the number of available affordable housing options for lowincome and very low-income families, the National Low Income Housing Association (NLIHA) Housing Trust Fund (HTF) created an affordable housing production program to support the available supply already in the market (NLIHA, 2021a). These housing options are available to accommodate those experiencing homelessness as well as individuals with disabilities. Congress established the HTF through the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) (NLIHA, 2021a). Many states also offer a tax credit program; Florida’s is $10.5 million. There are 9% and 4% housing tax credits. Housing developers must receive local government and NGO (non-governmental organizations) support to qualify for these funds and complete a lengthy and competitive application process (FHFC, 2021).

“NIMBY” While incentives and grants are very helpful in increasing the supply of affordable housing, there remains a nationwide fight against affordable housing developments. This is commonly referred to as the NIMBY (not in my backyard) mentality. According to Oxford Dictionary (2021), a NIMBY is a person who “objects to the siting of something perceived as unpleasant or potentially dangerous in their neighborhood, such as affordable housing, a landfill or hazardous waste facility, especially while raising no such objections to similar developments elsewhere.” There continues to be a lively debate over the locations for affordable housing developments. The main reason for this debate is the lack of education on the terms. According to US News and World Report in a recent article by Parker (2021), when the term “affordable housing” is used, it tends to imply poor people. The author also discusses the terms “workforce housing” and “attainable housing”

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  281 (Parker, 2021, paras. 15–16). “Workforce housing” refers to those who are working, although it does not specifically denote their level of income. “Attainable housing” is a more inclusive term, but it has yet to be commonly used (Parker, 2021).

Look into the Future: The Role of Auxiliary/ Accessory Dwelling Units in Addressing Homelessness and Affordable Housing According to the American Planning Association (2021), an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) is a “smaller, independent residential dwelling unit located on the same lot as a stand-alone single-family home” (American Planning Association, 2021, para. 1). ADUs may be known by other names such as mother-in-law suites, granny flats, and secondary suites. These types of dwellings can increase the supply of affordable housing, allow seniors to live near family as they age, and add additional housing options in established neighborhoods. ADUs could also be converted portions of existing homes or what is known as a junior accessory dwelling unit (JADU). They can also be “additions to new or existing homes, or new stand-alone accessory structures or converted portions of existing stand-alone accessory structures (i.e., detached ADUs)” (American Planning Association, 2021, para. 1). Ordinances must be put in place and incorporated into the comprehensive plan to allow them to be constructed in most zoning districts. Many cities and states support ADUs. In California, ADUs are allowed and are limited to a maximum of 850 square feet to 1,000 square feet if it provides more than one bedroom (California Department of Housing and Community Development [CDHCD], 2021). In contrast, a JADU can be created within existing single-family residence walls and contain no more than 500 square feet (California Legislative Information, 1965). JADUs do not add additional demand on utility services or infrastructure because they are simply an expansion of existing space within the residence without adding to the expected occupancy number of the dwelling (CDHCD, 2021).

Is Inclusionary Zoning Creating Less Affordable Housing? Since the 1970s, real estate developers have been required to include belowmarket-rate units in new projects. This is referred to as inclusionary zoning (Hamilton, 2018). The policy has been popular with both growing and shrinking cities, even though its requirements make the construction of new market-rate houses more expensive (Hamilton, 2018). Inclusionary zoning has become a hot topic of controversy as both politicians and political activities use it and rent control as a way of addressing housing affordability issues. But both inclusionary zoning and rent control only redistribute a fixed supply of housing and do not necessarily expand the number of people who could afford housing in a particular area (Yglesias, 2015).

282  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez Inclusionary zoning requires that a portion of new homes in new residential projects be reserved for families in a certain income threshold (about 80% of the area median income) at a price that is affordable for such a family (Yglesias, 2015). As it is intended, this requirement increases the opportunity for people of various income brackets to move into the area, which increases the diversity of new neighborhoods. However, many developers will raise the price of the other units in the development to offset the cost of the set-aside units, therefore, causing less affordable housing to be created (Yglesias, 2015). That unintended (or intended?) consequence casts doubt on whether inclusionary zoning does increase the affordability of the area.

Foreclosed Properties Cities, counties, and school districts accumulate an inventory of foreclosed (back-tax) properties. In some areas, these properties are being given to nonprofits and CDCs (community development corporations) to create affordable housing. This reduces the high cost of land and helps encourage new housing development. Many banks also provide foreclosed properties for affordable housing development. The theory is that putting the properties back into homeownership will eliminate vacant properties and potential vandalism and make the opportunity for renewed tax revenue from the property once it is sold to a low-income family. Wells Fargo recently announced a $1 billion commitment to housing affordability. This will include transferring foreclosed properties to non-profits as part of their “Housing Affordability Challenge” (Philanthropy News Digest, 2019). Increasing access to affordable housing bolsters economic growth. Research shows that the shortage of affordable housing costs the American economy about $2 trillion a year in lower wages and productivity (NLIHC, 2021b). When a family spends the majority of their income on rent or mortgage, they are unable to grow their earnings which, in turn, causes a slower growth of the gross domestic product (GDP). Studies show that the national GDP would have been almost 14% higher between 1964 and 2009 if consumers had had more access to affordable housing options (NLIHC, 2021b). Their estimates show that families overall would have had an additional $1.7 trillion in income or $8,775 in wages per worker (NLIHC, 2021b). Investing in affordable housing helps local economies by generating income and supporting job creation and retention (NLIHC, 2021b).

Case Study I: Lorna’s Story Lorna served in the United States Army for five years as a military policeman. During her time in the service, she served overseas, training members of the Iraqi army to learn new skills for providing security at their base. Her deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom lasted 18 months. After leaving the Army, Lorna and her two children, ages nine and ten, moved to

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  283 Texas to settle down in her post-service life. She had dreams of using her post-9/11 GI Bill to finish her bachelor’s degree and get a well-paying job that would allow her to provide for her children. Lorna found a job quickly, but almost immediately, this single mother struggled to find housing she could afford for an extended amount of time. They could never settle in for very long because without fail, at the end of her lease, their rent would go up if they opted to stay. For the better part of six years, Lorna kept her family housed by moving from one apartment to the next in the northern part of the Dallas-Fort Worth area to find affordable housing. From Denton County to Collin County and back again, Lorna tried her best to keep her job by finding a place they could live in on the low wages she earned. The rent prices kept increasing, but earnings did not. With few options left to her and little to no family support, Lorna and her kids found themselves at risk of becoming homeless. With stress building and after giving it a lot of thought, she decided to sign up for a local homeless shelter. The realization that she needed this type of help left her deflated and her confidence took a hit. She felt that in a way she had let her kids and herself down. The Samaritan Inn, a homeless shelter in McKinney, provided a comfortable private room for her and the kids and the services provided covered the family’s every need. All Lorna needed to do was work and set her path back to independence. The Samaritan Inn became their new temporary home. While at the Inn, her caseworker helped her with financial counseling and working toward employment with a company that paid a living wage. After graduating from the program, she moved into the shelter’s transitional housing program, which allowed the family to have their own apartment at a reduced rate that they could afford. She then applied to Habitat for Humanity for the Homebuyer Partnership Program. The day she was approved for the program, she tearfully shared her joy. As part of the program, the homeowners are required to work sweat equity hours. She earned over 350 hours by working on construction sites every weekend helping to build others’ homes and her own. She learned a lot about framing, laying flooring, installing cabinets, and roofing. She also worked monthly participating in a budgeting/homebuyers class to make sure her finances were strong and that she would be financially stable long term. What she liked most was that the Habitat organization instilled Christ’s love into her family. Lorna learned that “just because you want something now, if you believe, he will teach you patience and how to rely on others to reach your goal of homeownership.” She is now living in a three-bedroom, two-bath home that she helped build and owns. Her mortgage was financed through Habitat for Humanity mortgage company with a 0% interest, 30-year mortgage, making her monthly payments including taxes and insurance less than $750.00 a month. This is less than she would be paying for rent in an apartment.

284  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez Her home was the product of a restriction that is placed in Habitat homeowners deed restrictions called “right of first refusal.” When an owner wants to sell their home, they must provide the offer to Habitat to have the opportunity to buy it back at a set rate determined in the deed restriction. In this way, the homes can be rehabilitated and serve other low-income families. Also, the county in which this property is located offers a special taxing neighborhood rate specifically for subsidized housing. In Texas, when the appraisal district appraises real property that was previously owned by an organization that received an exemption for the property and was then sold to a low-income individual or family meeting income eligibility standards, the chief appraiser shall take into account any resale restrictions or conditions that would reduce the market value of the property (Texas Property Tax Code, 2021). The tax typically reflects the repayable portion of the note, not the appraised value. As the property appraisals increase, the affordable housing units can only increase by 1% per year due to the deed restrictions placed on the property, the resale restrictions, and the right of first refusal. This allows these property owners to pay an average of 90% less than other homeowners in local taxes, therefore, maintaining long-term affordability. Another opportunity this homeowner received was a subsidy from the State of Texas called Bootstrap (TDHCA, 2021). Bootstrap is an ownerbuilder loan program that is funded through the unemployment insurance fund proceeds. It will fund up to $45,000 per very-low-income applicant at a 0% interest mortgage for up to 30 years, which is the same rate that the Habitat program offers (TDHCA, 2021). Under Section 2306.753(d) of the Texas Government Code, at least two-thirds of the Bootstrap funds are reserved for owner-builders whose property is located in geographic areas with a median income that is no greater than 75% of the median state household income. The program also provides builders with a 10% admin fee to administer the program for each loan. This program is funded from money received under Federal Block grants or from available funds in the Housing Trust Fund (TDHCA, 2021). In Texas, $3 million is annually set aside into the Texas Bootstrap Loan Program per Tex Gov. Code, Chapter 2306.753(d). Other states offer similar programs. For example, in Florida, the Housing Trust Funds use income from the Documentary Stamp Tax to fund affordable housing projects. In 2021, the annual fund was $209 million (Florida Habitat State Support Organization, 2021). Without these local programs and state programs, Lorna would not have been able to afford her own home.

Case Study II: Innovative Solutions to Affordable Housing—Shipping Container Developments As for-profit and non-profit developers continue to deal with rising land and material costs, the need for creative solutions and higher-density

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  285 developments will increase. Creative solutions to serve more families on less land have become a hot topic in many cities. In 2003, the cost of an infill lot for an affordable home was between $2,500 and $10,000. Today, those same lots are selling for $80,000 to $100,000 which represents an increase of up to 900%. With this challenge in price and the decrease in charitable giving, Habitat for Humanity of Collin County, Texas, has come to the realization that every property available needs to maximize the number of units. Creative solutions include requests for higher-density zoning, planned developments, zero lot line projects, and changes in construction materials. In 2018, Habitat for Humanity of Collin County (Habitat) purchased 2.75 acres for $220,000 with a grant from the McKinney Community Development Corporation (MCDC, 2021). The property was previously owned by the McKinney Housing Authority and then a developer. It was an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brownfield site as it had a home on it with lead-based paint and asbestos. The lot is located in East McKinney in an underserved, low-moderate income neighborhood which also happens to be a Neighborhood Empowerment Zone (NEZ). The previous developer’s site plan showed 10–17 housing units on the property. The lot is 626 by 200 feet. After the purchase of the lot, Habitat proceeded with the demolition and abatement of the structure. The architects were tasked with designing the project to maximize the number of units to serve more families. After many drafts, the idea was proposed to have zero lot lines and use a building material that could easily be assembled and fit tightly on the lots. The use of the corten steel containers was ideal as it would provide sustainable, durable construction while reusing a structure for a new purpose. The architects were able to get 35 townhomes on the lot by using a hammerhead turnaround at the end of the street plus an amenity center and playground to design a walkable community. The ideal solution would have been to gain access to an existing road in the adjacent neighborhood, but the builder had never been successful at transferring the ownership to the homeowners. Therefore, it would have required a meeting of the existing homeowners and 51% approval to gain easement access to that road. At least 50% of the properties in the neighborhood were rentals. This was a no-win proposition, so the hammerhead single entrance was the desired choice. The next step was developing a planned development (PD) to submit to the city for approval. Amazingly, because this project had received such support from the city staff and elected officials, it only took four months to get through the review process. The fire department required fire suppression systems and fire barrier walls on the exterior walls that touched the units. They also required openings between blocks of homes for the fire hose access to each of the units. Habitat was fortunate to receive another grant from MCDC (2021) to develop the land with infrastructure, roads, water, sewer, and so on. The

286  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez cost to develop the land was $1,045,028, which with the land cost averages $35,000 per lot. In the current Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) market, this is a bargain since infill lots are selling for $80–$100,000. The name for the community, Cotton Groves, was created from the surrounding neighborhood and amenities. The lot is lined with a grove of trees on the north and south sides and is in the Historic Cotton Mill neighborhood. It was also the land that was previously home to cotton farmers. While the infrastructure was being developed, the Habitat staff and volunteers began to build a prototype townhome in the parking lot of their existing Habitat for Humanity ReStore resale store. The design included two 40-foot containers on the bottom floor and two on top which required the use of a crane. The unit has 1,280 square feet, three bedrooms, and two baths. Nine of the units will be four-bedroom, two-bath with 1,480 square feet. An added amenity is the carport/deck structure which will allow for two cars covered parking tandem with an electric vehicle charging station at the rear of the carport. There is also a storage shed at the rear that holds the water heater, fire suppression system, electric panel, and water heater. Above the carport is a huge deck for outdoor living space. Building a prototype gave the volunteers and staff the opportunity to test and model what the future homes would look like. It also provided a training site for the city building inspectors, planners, and engineers. The city staff was intimately involved in the prototype as this was a type of construction that had never been pursued in McKinney. Habitat was fortunate to get design consultation services donated by a leader in the industry, Stephan Shang, CEO and co-founder of Falcon Structures. He currently serves as a member of the Texas Industrialized Building Code Council and the Modular Building Institute’s Board of Directors. His respect within the industry and guidance and training of the City Code and Planning staff was essential to the success of this project. The city had to get up to speed on this type of construction material. Construction with containers was added as an allowed use in Chapter 31 of the International Building Code (IBC) (International Code Council, 2021). This code developed standards based on the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Convention for Safe Containers and the International Organization for Standards (ISO) 1496-1. The International Code Council (ICC), in conjunction with the Modular Building Institute, released ICC G5-2019—Guideline for the Safe Use of ISO Intermodal Containers Repurposed as Buildings and Building Components—to provide useful information for the industry, design professionals, and code officials. New and used containers are now repurposed at a pace that makes their reuse a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Containers are regularly repurposed and converted into International Residential Code (IRC) and International Building Code (IBC) occupancy uses. As a building material, the applications are widely diverse, as is the extent to which the container is used as a structural building element.

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  287 Local jurisdictions and state administrative programs are reacting to the growing trend of shipping container repurposing but can be behind in terms of regulations and compliance. These guidelines in the ICC, IBC, and IRC are intended to help state and local jurisdictions as well as owners, architects, builders, and engineers in their assessment of how to design, review, and approve shipping containers as a building element.

Challenges Many challenges arose as the prototype was developed, including how to fit an out-of-the-box construction into the city’s permitting process. Because the containers are set first, then the interior framing and finish, it does not follow the normal steps that a residential home typically has. For that reason, the system would not allow the permits and inspections to follow the normal process. Creative problem-solving by the city staff was crucial in this project. Other challenges included the engineer’s design and placement of columns that made sense in the space and the overall design. The first floor is designed to be handicap accessible with a roll-in shower and vanity. It also has the container as the ceiling, so finding room to fit the AC and electrical made the use of exposed ductwork, electrical, and sprinklers a design element for a more modern unit. The staircase was also a challenge and the wooden stairs did not really fit with the more industrial feel. Habitat was fortunate to have volunteer welders that built a staircase, welded the containers together, and built the deck structure. Another challenge was figuring out how to keep the container from leaking where the two containers joined on the second floor and at the door leading to the deck. A highperformance, self-leveling, one-part polyurethane sealant manufactured by SIKA was found to work well. The subcontractors had to drill through corten steel for the openings for HVAC electrical, which was very difficult. The solution to this problem has been resolved by having the fabricator cut all the openings prior to their arrival at the site. The reason Habitat chose the containers was to reduce the amount of construction time in order to serve more families. A typical stick-frame home takes 12–16 weeks to build. The container homes should take only six weeks to complete as a lot of the work is done in fabrication off-site. The construction cost is about the same as a stick-frame home. This project was located in a low-moderate income census tract that the city had designated as a NEZ. To be eligible for a waiver of impact fees, the city had to review the designs and determine that the structure met the architectural guidelines and the restrictions set up in the planned development. Habitat met with the Historic Preservation Officer at the beginning of the project, but then at the time of permit submission, a new staff was in the position and the review process started over again. Some minor changes

288  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez were proposed to be eligible for a Certificate of Appropriateness. The most challenging was the proposed change in the roof height. The roof is really just a solar structure as it serves no purpose for the townhome as it has its own roof—the top of the container. Instead of a flat TPO roof, the city is recommending a pitched roof which will require trusses and a standing seam metal roof or shingles. This design change will add additional expense to the project. Determining whether the additional cost will be offset by differences in the City Impact fees is yet to be determined. A further costbenefit analysis review into the city incentives for affordable housing vs. the additional cost in construction required to receive those incentives will need to be addressed for this project and future projects.

Homeowners For homeowners to qualify for this project, they need to be in the 30–80% range of median household income which is considered low income. For Collin County, Texas, the income range for a family of four is $26,000– $53,000. The income criteria are based on HUD income tables that are set each February and are based on the median household income for each metropolitan area (HUD USER, 2021). The first seven families that have been approved for this project range from 40% to 80% of the area median income (AMI). Their repayable notes for the townhomes are based on 30% of their gross monthly income. This range is between $81,000 and $228,000, which translates into a monthly payment of $666–$950 which includes principal, HOA fees, taxes, and insurance. The average monthly rent for a twobedroom apartment in Collin County is $1,457 in 2019 according to the Census ACS Survey (Department of Numbers, n.d.). Therefore, this allows the homebuyer the opportunity to own a home for less than they would pay in rent.

Financial The townhomes were appraised by the bank that was financing the interim construction loan. The three-bedroom unit was appraised at $228,000 and the four-bedroom was $238,000. The cost to build is estimated at $165,000 and the land and infrastructure (grant funds) were $33,000. This project including an amenity center and playground will cost $7,960,000. To fund the project, various sources were used. A capital campaign was initiated with five-year pledges from individual donors. Specific foundations and grants were submitted and received. One of the creative solutions was to use banks that had an appetite for Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) credits. Benchmark Bank stepped up to offer 0% interest construction loans for the cash cost of construction and then purchase the mortgage notes at 100% of the value at closing to pay off the construction loan. This provided an avenue to reduce the cash required for the project while allowing the bank the opportunity to

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  289 hold low-income mortgage notes in their portfolio and receive credit during their annual examinations. Another source was the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) Bootstrap loan program. Any family that is 60% or below is eligible for up to a $45,000 loan per home. Of the first seven, five will qualify for this program. This allows Habitat to receive these funds at closing and then collect the payments on behalf of TDHCA from the borrower to repay the note over the 30 years. Many organizations that work in affordable housing development are realizing that with the cost and availability of land, rising construction material costs, and labor shortages, the need to increase density and reduce the per lot costs will continue to be an issue. Working with local governments to find creative solutions to solve the affordable housing crisis and serve more families will serve to provide the workforce that is needed to continue to grow local and global economies.

Conclusion The lack of affordable housing can lead an individual or, as in the case of Lorna, a family to homelessness. In her situation, community programs like the Samaritan Inn and Habitat for Humanity prevented that inevitable trajectory, but not all communities have the programs necessary to prevent homelessness, and in many, the demand has put an increased burden on the services available. The trends discussed here tell us that the combination of low wages and a diminished supply of affordable housing is a mixture that will exacerbate the gap between those who live in poverty and the top 1%. Community-based solutions and the limited government services and funding available continue to be insufficient to counter the growth in the homeless population (Nourazari et al., 2021). We must look to more permanent solutions than just depending on our community members’ willingness to fill in for a need that necessitates increased government involvement. State and local governments, with the support of the federal government, must look at this looming, increasing problem and implement policies that match the actual needs of our communities. “Continuing to focus on philanthropic solutions may inadvertently avert attention away from structural solutions to homelessness that must be enacted by government at the federal and local levels, along with private industry” (Chattoo et al., 2021).

References American Planning Association, 2021. Accessory dwelling units. https://planning​ .org​/knowledgebase​/accessorydwellings/. Aurand, A., Emmanuel, D., Threet, D., Rafi, I., and Yentel, D., 2020a. The gap: A shortage of affordable homes. National Low Income Housing Coalition. https:// reports​.nlihc​.org​/sites​/default​/files​/gap​/Gap​-Report​_2021​.pdf.

290  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez Aurand, A., Emmanuel, D., Threet, D., Rafi, I., and Yentel, D., 2020b. Out of reach: The high cost of housing. National Low Income Housing Coalition. https:// reports​.nlihc​.org​/sites​/default​/files​/oor​/OOR​_2020​.pdf. Blasi, G., 1994. Are we not seen: Ideological and political barriers to understanding homelessness. American Behavioral Scientist, 37(4), 563–586. Brown, M., 2019. Rapid rehousing: The problems with this solution. Spare Change News. September 15, 2019. http://sparechangenews​.net​/2019​/09​/rapid​-rehousing​ -the​ - problems ​ - with ​ - this ​ - solution/#:~ ​ : text ​ = Supporters ​ % 20of ​ % 20rapid​ %20rehousing​%20say​,to​%20be​%20a​%20temporary​%20fix. Buck, P., Toro, P., and Ramos, M., 2004. Media and professional interest in homelessness over 30 years (1974–2003). Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 4(1), 151–171. Burnes, D., and DiLeo, D., 2016. Ending homelessness: Why we haven’t, how we can. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. California Department of Housing and Community Development, 2021. Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and junior accessory dwelling units (JADUs). https://www​ .hcd​.ca​.gov​/policy​-research​/acc​esso​rydw​elli​ngunits​.shtml. California Legislative Information, 1965. Government code title 7 planning and land use, article 2. Section 65852.2. Accessory Dwelling Units. https://leginfo​ .legislature​.ca​.gov​/faces​/codes​_displaySection​.xhtml​?sectionNum​=65852​.2.​ &nodeTreePath​=10​.1​.10​.2​&lawCode​=GOV. Chattoo, C., Young, L., Conrad, D., and Coskuntuncel, A., 2021. “The rent is too damn high”: News portrayals of housing security and homelessness in the United States. Mass Communication and Society. https://doi​.org​/10​.1080​/15205436​ .2021​.1881126. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2019. Federal rental assistance fact sheet. December 10, 2019. https://www​.cbpp​.org​/sites​/default​/files​/atoms​/files​/12​-10​ -19hous​-factsheet​-us​.pdf. City of McKinney, 2008. Historic neighborhood improvement zone, Tx Municode, Sec. 98–84 – 2008. https://library​.municode​.com​/tx​/mckinney​/codes​ /code​_of​_ordinances​?nodeId​=SPAGEOR​_CH98TA​_ARTIIIHINEIMZO​_S98​ -84HINEIMZOPR. Collins, C., 2016. 50  Tiny houses built as a haven for Dallas’ homeless and a MoneySaver for Taxpayers. KERA. June 14, 2016. https://www​.keranews​.org​/business​ -economy​/2016​-06​-14​/50​-tiny​-houses​-built​-as​-a​-haven​-for​-dallas​-homeless​-and​ -a​-money​-saver​-for​-taxpayers. Department of Numbers, n.d. Collin county Texas residential rent and rental statistics. https://www​.deptofnumbers​.com​/rent​/texas​/collin​-county/. Dohler, E., Bailey, P., Rice, D., and Katch, H., 2016. Supportive housing helps vulnerable people live and thrive in the community. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. May 13, 2016. https://www​.cbpp​.org​/sites​/default​/files​/atoms​/files​/5​ -31​-16hous​.pdf. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 2020. Real median household income in the United States. Federal Reserve Economic Data. September 16, 2020. https://fred​ .stlouisfed​.org​/series​/MEHOINUSA672N Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 2021. Average sales price of houses sold for the United States. April 23, 2021. https://fred​.stlouisfed​.org​/series​/ASPUS. Florida Housing Finance Corporation, 2021. Homebuyer loan programs. https:// Floridahousing​.org.

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  291 Habitat for Humanity, 2021. Apply for a habitat house. https://www​.habitat​.org​/ housing​-help​/apply. Habitat for Humanity of Florida, 2021. Housing crisis. https://www​.habitatflorida​ .org​/housing​-crisis. Hamilton, E., 2018. Is inclusionary zoning creating less affordable housing? Strong Towns. April 11, 2018. https://www​.strongtowns​.org​/journal​/2018​/4​/10​/is​ -inclusionary​-zoning​-creating​-less​-affordable​-housing. Helping Americans Find Help, 2020. USDA rural housing programs. https://hel​ping​ amer​ican​sfindhelp​.org​/usda​-rural​-housing/. Henry, M., de Sousa, T., Roddey, C., Gayen, S., and Bednar, T., 2020. The 2020 annual homeless assessment report to congress, part 1. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. https://www​.huduser​.gov​/portal​/sites​/default​ /files​/pdf​/2020​-AHAR​-Part​-1​.pdf. Hopper, K., Shinn, M., Laska, E., Meisner, M., and Wanderling, J., 2008. Estimating numbers of unsheltered homeless people through plant-capture and post count survey methods. American Journal of Public Health. http://ajph​.aphapublications​ .org​/doi​/abs​/10​.2105​/AJPH​.2005​.083600. HUD Exchange, 2017. Hearth: ESG program and consolidated plan conforming amendments – ESG program interim rule. https://www​.hudexchange​.info​ /resource​ / 1927 ​ / hearth ​ - esg ​ - program ​ - and ​ - consolidated ​ - plan ​ - conforming​ -amendments/. HUD Exchange, 2021a. Continuum of care program eligibility requirements. https:// www​.hudexchange​.info​/programs​/coc​/coc​-program​-eligibility​-requirements. HUD Exchange, 2021b. Homeless emergency assistance and rapid transition to housing Act. https://www​.hudexchange​.info​/homelessness​-assistance​/hearth​ -act/. HUD User: Office of Policy Development and Research, 2021. Income limits. https:// www​.huduser​.gov​/portal​/datasets​/il​.html. International Building Code, 2018. Alternative materials, design and methods of construction and equipment. https://codes​.iccsafe​.org​/content​/IBC2018​/chapter​ -1​-scope​-and​-administration​?site​_type​=public. International Code Council, 2019. Guideline for the safe use of ISO intermodal shipping containers repurposed as buildings and building components. https:// codes​.iccsafe​.org​/content​/ICCG52019. International Code Council, 2021. Updates to AC462 accommodate growing number of evaluation reports for repurposed shipping containers. https://icc​-es​ .org​/acceptance​-criteria​/ac462/. International Organization for Standards, 2019. ISO 1496-1:2013 series 1 freight containers - specification and testing - part 1: General cargo containers for general purposes. https://www​.iso​.org​/standar​/59672​.html. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2020. The state of the nation’s housing 2020. https://www​.jchs​.harvard​.edu​/sites​/default​/files​/reports​ /files ​ / Harvard ​ _ JCHS ​ _ The ​ _ State ​ _ of ​ _ the ​ _ Nations ​ _ Housing ​ _ 2020 ​ _ Report ​ _ Revised​_120720​.pdf. Keomoungkhoun, N., 2019. What happened to all of the tiny houses for the homeless in Dallas? Curious Texas investigates. Dallas Morning News. December 9, 2019. https://www​.dallasnews​.com​/news​/curious​-texas​/2019​/12​ /09​/what​-happened​-to​-all​-of​-the​-tiny​-houses​-for​-the​-homeless​-in​-dallas​-curious​ -texas​-investigates/

292  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez Kuo, S., 2016. Dallas is placing 50 homeless residents in tiny homes. KERA. September 9, 2016. https://www​.keranews​.org​/texas​-news​/2016​-09​-09​/dallas​-is​ -placing​-50​-homeless​-residents​-in​-tiny​-home. Lee, B., and Farrell, C., 2003. Buddy, can you spare a dime? Homelessness, panhandling, and the public. Urban Affairs Review, 38(3), 299–324. Lee, B., Tyler, K., and Wright, J., 2010. The new homelessness revisited. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 501–521. Link, B., Schwartz, S., Moore, R., Phelan, J., Struening, E., Stueve, A., and Colten, M.E., 1995. Public knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about homeless people: Evidence for compassion fatigue? American Journal of Community Psychology, 23(4), 533–555. Local Housing Solutions, 2021. Policy map housing needs assessment report. https:// www​.loc​alho​usin​gsol​utions​.org​/analyze​/policymap/. McCue, D., 2018. Same challenges, bigger numbers: 30 years of reporting on the state of the nation’s housing. Shelterforce. October 3, 2018. https://shelterforce​ .org​/2018​/10​/03​/same​-challenges​-bigger​-numbers​-30​-years​-of​-reporting​-on​-the​ -state​-of​-the​-nations​-housing/. McKinney Community Development Corporation, 2021. Grants - over $180 million in grants since 1996. https://www​.mckinneycdc​.org​/166​/Grants. McKinney Historic Neighborhood Improvement Zone and Neighborhood Empowerment Zone (NEZ), 2021. Texas Municode. Sec. 98-84., 2021. https://library​.municode​.com​/tx​/mckinney​/codes​/code​_of​_ordinances​?nodeId​ =SPAGEOR​_CH98TA​_ARTIIIHINEIMZO​_S98​-84HINEIMZOPR. Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), 2021. Homebuyers. https://www​.michigan​.gov​/mshda​/0​,4641​,7​-141​-45866---​,00​.html. Min, E., 1999. Reading the homeless: The media’s image of homeless culture. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2008. Summary of HEARTH act. October 21, 2008. https://endhomelessness​.org​/resource​/summary​-of​-hearth​-act​-2/. National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2010. What is a continuum of care? https:// endhomelessness​.org​/resource​/what​-is​-a​-continuum​-of​-care/. National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2014. The state of homelessness in America. https://b​.3cdn​.net​/naeh​/d1b106237807ab260f​_qam6ydz02​.pdf. National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2022. Housing first. Updated: March 20, 2022. https://endhomelessness​.org​/resource​/housing​-first/. National Alliance to End Homelessness, n.d. Rapid rehousing. https:// endhomelessness​.org​/rapid​-re​-housing​-works/. National Association of Home Builders, 2021. Framing lumber prices. https://www​ .nahb​.org​/news​-and​-economics​/housing​-economics​/national​-statistics​/framing​ -lumber​-prices. National Homeless Law Center, 2015. Homelessness in America: Overview of data and causes. https://homelesslaw​.org​/wp​-content​/uploads​/2018​/10​/Homeless​ _Stats​_Fact​_Sheet​.pdf. National Homeless Law Center, 2022. Causes of homelessness. https://homelesslaw​ .org National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2021a. National housing trust fund. https://nlihc​.org​/explore​-issues​/projects​-campaigns​/national​-housing​-trust​-fund National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2021b. The problem. https://nlihc​.org​/ explore​-issues​/why​-we​-care​/problem

Homelessness and Affordable Housing  293 Nourazari, S., Lovato, K., and Weng, S., 2021. Making the case for proactive strategies to alleviate homelessness: A systems approach. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. https.//doi​.org​/10​.3390​/ ijerph180205​26. Oxford English Dictionary, 2021. https://www​.lexico​.com​/definition​/nimby. Parker, M., 2021. NIMBYism and the language of affordable housing. U.S. News & World Report. April 8, 2021. https://www​.usnews​.com​/news​/health​ -news​/articles​/2021​-04​-08​/not​-in​-my​-backyard​-affordable​-housing​-epidemic​ -continues. Philanthropy News Digest, 2019. Wells Fargo announces $1 billion commitment to housing affordability. June 6, 2019. https://phi​lant​hrop​ynew​sdigest​.org​/news​/ wells​-fargo​-announces​-1​-billion​-commitment​-to​-housing​-affordability. Quigley, J., Raphael, S., and Smolensky, E., 2001. Homeless in America, homeless in California. Review of Economic and Statistics, 83(1), 37–51. Real Capital Analytics, 2021. Housing trends. https://www​.rcanalytics​.com​/rca​ _cppi. Schneider, M., Brisson, D., and Burnes, D., 2016. Do we really know how many are homeless?: An analysis of the Point-in-Time homelessness count. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 97(4), 321–329. SIKA Self Leveling Underlayment, n.d. https://usa​.sika​.com​/en​/construction​/concrete​ -repair​/mortars​/self​-leveling​-underlayments​.html. Teater, B., 2010. A qualitative evaluation of the section 8 housing choice voucher program: The recipients’ perspectives. Qualitative Social Work, 10(4), 503–519. Texas Administrative Code, 2021. Title 10, part 1, chapter 24, rule 24.3 Texas bootstrap loan program rule. https://texreg​.sos​.state​.tx​.us​/public​/readtac$ext. TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_ tac=&ti=10&pt=1&ch=24&rl=3. Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, 2021. Texas bootstrap loan program. https://www​.tdhca​.state​.tx​.us​/oci​/bootstrap​.htm. Texas Property Tax Code, 2021. Section 23–21 (e) property used to provide affordable housing. https://statutes​.capitol​.texas​.gov​/Docs​/TX​/htm​/TX​.23​.htm​#23​.21. The Cotton Groves, 2021. An affordable housing community built entirely with repurposed shipping containers. https://thecottongroves​.com/. Tompsett, C., Toro, P., Guzicki, M., Manrique, M., and Zatakia, J., 2006. Homelessness in the United States: Assessing changes in prevalence and public opinion, 1993–2001. American Journal of Community Psychology, 37(1–2), 47–61. Toro, P., and Warren, M., 1991. Homelessness, psychology, and public opinion: Introduction to section three. American Psychologist, 46(11), 1205–1207. Tsai, J., Lee, C., Shen, J., Southwick, S., and Pietrzak, R., 2018. Public exposure and attitudes about homelessness. Journal of Community Psychology, 47(1), 76–92. Urban Institute National Longitudinal Land Use Survey, 2019. https://datacatalog​ .urban​ . org​ / dataset​ / national​ - longitudinal​ - land​ - use​ - survey​ - nllus​ / resource​ / f6cc8289​-d174​-4ada​-be49​-d8932f473360#. U.S. Census Bureau, 2019. Quick facts. https://www​.census​.gov​/quickfacts​/fact​/ table​/US​/PST045219. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2012. Safe haven fact sheet. https://files​.hudexchange​.info​/resources​/documents​/SafeHavenFactSheet​ _CoCProgram​.pdf.

294  Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2014. Housing first in permanent supportive housing brief. https://www​.hudexchange​.info​/resource​ /3892​/housing​-first​-in​-permanent​-supportive​-housing​-brief/. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2021. Community development block grant program. https://www​.hud​.gov​/program​_offices​/comm​ _planning​/cdbg. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, n.d.a. Rapid re-housing. https://files​.hudexchange​.info​/resources​/documents​/Rapid​-Re​-Housing​-Brief​.pdf. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, n.d.b. Housing choice vouchers fact sheet. https://www​.hud​.gov​/topics​/housing​_choice​_voucher​_ program​_section​_8. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, n.d.c. Section 8 moderate rehabilitation single room occupancy (SRO) program. https://www​.hud​.gov​/ hudprograms​/sro. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, n.d.d. Section 202 supportive housing for the elderly program. https://www​.hud​.gov​/program​_offices​/housing​/ mfh​/progdesc​/eld202. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, n.d.e. Section 811 supportive housing for persons with disabilities. https://www​.hud​.gov​/program​_offices​/ housing​/mfh​/grants​/section811ptl. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, n.d.f. HUD’s public housing program. https://www​.hud​.gov​/topics​/rental​_assistance​/phprog. Wilt, M., 2021. An overview of the housing first model. Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation. October 5, 2021. https://www​.tsahc​.org​/blog​/post​/an​ -overview​-of​-the​-housing​-first​-model​-and​-how​-its​-implemented. Wright, J., Donley, A., and Gotham, K., 2008. Housing policy, the low-income, housing crisis, and the problem of homelessness. In Homeless in America, vol. 2. causes of homelessness, ed. R. McNamara, pp. 31–48. New York: Prager. Yglesias, M., 2015. Everything you need to know about the affordable housing debate. Vox. May 11, 2015. https://www​.vox​.com​/2014​/4​/10​/18076868​/ affordable​-housing​-explained. Zeitlin, M., 2019. Affordable housing is disappearing: So cities are designating parking lots to sleep in. Vox. October 18, 2019. https://www​.vox​.com​/the​ -highlight​/2019​/10​/11​/20897485​/california​-homeless​-safe​-parking​-lots​-cars​-rvs.

17 Immigration and the American City Jesus Nava

Introduction “Migration is a fundamental human activity,” writes Roger Daniels in Coming to America (2002, p. 3). Since the beginning of time, humans have migrated and settled. Scientific evidence tells us that humans originated in Africa and over the millennia migrated across the world, populating the landscape as they moved and settled (National Geographic Society et al., 2018). During the last Ice Age, Asian migrants crossed the land bridge now called Beringia and arrived in North America to populate a new continent (Montaigne, 2019). Daniels adds that, “In historic times, we make a distinction between the term migration, which simply means moving, and immigration, which means moving across a national frontier” (2002, p. 3). Migration as a human trait is now controlled by international boundaries and laws, political constructs that control who, how, or when someone may cross a border and enter a country. Each modern nation-state has its own set of ever-changing immigration rules. Some, like the European Union, share common immigration guidelines but individual nations still set admission limits (European Commission, 2020). In the United States, Congress has the power to establish uniform rules of naturalization (Daniels, 2002, p. 113). But it has become commonplace for the president to enact immigration policy by executive order relieving Congress of its duty and responsibility. The president now sets the country’s immigration agenda meaning that American immigration rules can change every four years depending on the outcome of a presidential election (DeSilver, 2014). This has made immigration a volatile political issue in the United States. According to the American Immigration Council, every US president since 1956 has granted temporary immigration relief to one or more groups (American Immigration Council, 2014). They include refugees from China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nicaragua, Iran, Poland, El Salvador, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, and others who have been given asylum (American Immigration Council, 2014). Presidential DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-17

296  Jesus Nava executive orders have reflected the political spectrum. President Obama shielded people who were brought to the US illegally as children from deportation through the DACA executive order, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Mayorkas, 2012). President Trump halted the US refugee program and denied individuals from certain Muslim nations entry into the country with his 2017 executive order, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States (Times, 2017). Each president enacted politically popular immigration law without Congressional authority. American attitudes about immigration and the resulting laws have “reflected the politics and migrant flows of the times” (Cohn, 2015). In the course of our national history, immigrants have been welcomed and shunned (Quintero, 2017). They’ve been heralded as contributors to the nation during times of economic growth and have been expediently made scapegoats for the country’s troubles during economic crises (Merelli, 2017). It is a cycle that has repeated itself throughout our national history as evidenced by such contradicting policies as the 1864 Immigration Act to Encourage Immigration, which was later followed by the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act barring Chinese immigration and citizenship (Cohn, 2015). At the heart of the US immigration debate lies the question: who is an American? The answer, it seems, depends on who you ask. Americans generally accept the notion that every person in the United States, with the exception of Native Americans, is an immigrant or a descendent of immigrants. But there is conflict over which race, culture, and religion are predominant in US society and how immigration affects such standing. US history will show the source of the conflict to be racism, xenophobia, and nativism. An understanding of how immigration impacts the nation is important to any public administrator, especially in “a nation of immigrants” (Kennedy, 2016). If Daniels is correct and “migration is truly a fundamental human activity” (2002, p. 3), then public policy must recognize migration as intrinsic to our species and vital to the well-being of humanity.

An Ambivalent America Americans have long had a love–hate relationship with immigration (Quintero, 2017). “Oddly for a nation made up mostly of immigrants, the United States has always had a problem with immigration” wrote Angelica Quintero in the Los Angeles Times (2017). This ambivalence was inherited from our fore-fathers: “Most [early] Americans understood that it was necessary to fill up the country and welcomed most of the foreigners who came” (Daniels, 2002, p. 265). But disagreements over which immigrants and how many to admit occurred since before America was a nation (Merelli, 2017). As early as 1751, Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us, instead of

Immigration and the American City  297 our Anglifying them and will never adopt our language or customs, any more than they can acquire our complexion? (Merelli, 2017) The virtuous Mr. Franklin, signatory to the Declaration of Independence, realized immigration was vital to the growth of the nation, yet was considered a “hater of Germans” (Merelli, 2017). Rather than limit German immigration, he sought to control it (Merelli, 2017). American history shows that our national sentiments about immigration have been influenced by racism (the belief that one racial group is superior to another); xenophobia (the fear of foreigners); and nativism (the belief that the interests of the native-born supersede all others). US history is replete with racially motivated, anti-immigrant discrimination and violence beginning with the horrific enslavement and forced immigration of African peoples (AHA, 2020). Irish and German immigrants were targets in the early 1800s when anti-Catholic discrimination became “a major social and political force in America” (Daniels, 2002, p. 267). However, as free white persons, they were able to achieve citizenship under early US law (Quintero, 2017). Rising prejudice against Asians in 1871 led a mob of 500 white men to murder 18 Chinese men and boys in Los Angeles, California (Quintero, 2017). A decade later, the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act banned all Chinese immigration to the US and their citizenship (Cohn, 2015). As recent as 2019, self-proclaimed white supremacist, Patrick Crusius, murdered 23 people in El Paso, Texas. His message to the world: “This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas … I am simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion” (Anti-Defamation League, 2019). Every ethnic group arriving in America, with perhaps the exception of the English, has been subjected to prejudices and animosities. In 2020, the virulent, racist, anti-immigrant sentiments voiced by President Donald Trump and echoed by the conservative, right-wing media have targeted Latinos, Muslims, and Haitians, with the President referring to their countries of origin as “shit-holes” (Lanktree, 2018). In the twenty-first century, right-wing pundits have stoked the fires of American discontent in an attempt to influence a new generation on the evils of immigration. Patrick J. Buchanan, former White House Communications Director for President Ronald Reagan, authored State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, in which he warned about the immigrant invasion of America and the end of the United States as an Anglo-Saxon nation (2006). Former talk show host Rush Limbaugh repeatedly denigrated and derided immigrants as “invasive species” (Uwimana, 2012). Such rhetoric has been shown to influence extreme racial violence given that similar language was found in Patrick Crusius’s written manifesto (Anti-Defamation League, 2019). In 2016, Republican presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump, made immigration restrictions and tighter border control the centerpiece of his

298  Jesus Nava campaign (Corasaniti, 2016). He demonized Latino immigrants referring to them as “criminals, drug dealers and rapists” (Lee, 2015). As president, he immediately enacted immigration restrictions and suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program for a period of time (Times, 2017). At the helm of the president’s anti-immigrant efforts was senior policy advisor, Stephen Miller, described by Jonathan Blitzer in The New Yorker as “a public scourge and a catch-all symbol of the racism and malice of the current [Trump] government” (Blitzer, 2020). Moderate and progressive voices have historically countered antiimmigrant rhetoric, promoting America as “a nation of immigrants” (Kennedy, 2016). Organizations like the Irish Emigrant Society, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, and Sembradores de Amistad played historic roles in welcoming immigrants to America (Central Michigan University, n.d.; Daniels, 2002, pp. 103, 244; Sembradores de Amistad, n.d.). In current times, national social justice organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) have assumed the legal fights to redress immigrant rights violations and racial discrimination. Their invaluable work helps keep antiimmigrant laws in check. American mayors have emerged as champions of immigrant rights given that most immigrants live in cities (Matza, 2016; New American Economy Research Fund, 2019). As elected local leaders, they understand the need to counteract incendiary rhetoric that causes division and instead welcome and integrate immigrants into their communities (Matza, 2016). Mayors cite the positive economic and social impacts of immigration while recognizing that undocumented immigrants live in constant fear of deportation (Perez-Luna, 2016). “When mayors sit and talk, especially if their cities have a sizable immigrant population, they tend to think in practical terms,” says Elisabeth Perez-Luna, reporting for WHYY in Philadelphia (2016). Mayors cannot make immigration laws but they can influence municipal public policy and city budgets. A review of the official websites of the United States’ top ten largest cities (by population) reveals that all but Phoenix, Arizona, maintained offices of immigration affairs. The City of San José, California, established its Office of Immigrant Affairs in 2015 as part of San José Mayor Sam Liccardo’s “We’ve got your back” (Liccardo, n.d.), pro-immigrant campaign that offered city support in the face of heightened federal enforcement and deportations (City of San José, n.d.). Mayor Ron Nirenberg of the City of San Antonio, Texas, initiated the San Antonio Welcoming Plan, a strategic blueprint “to make San Antonio a more welcoming city for immigrants and refugees” (City of San Antonio, n.d.). He and the city council created the Office of Immigration Services in 2018 during the midst of President Trump’s hardline crackdown on immigration. At first glance, these local government initiatives may seem to run

Immigration and the American City  299 afoul of federal immigration law, but a closer look reveals the practical ­recognition and acceptance that immigration to the US will continue and that most new immigrants will live in cities. Academic studies, like the 2017 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering. and Medicine, have documented the overall positive impacts of immigration on the American economy (Frazee, 2018). Immigrants offset a shrinking US workforce, take less desirable jobs, and have children who are more productive than the US-born (Frazee, 2018). Cities are eager to reap these benefits (Hauck, 2019). The economic importance of immigrants is well understood by cities like Chicago, Illinois, where two out of ten residents are foreign-born and represent $17 billion in income and $6 billion in taxes (Hauck, 2019). “We are tremendously proud Chicago has been named the most welcoming city in America for immigrants and refugees,” crowed Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2019 (Hauck, 2019). Cities may soon be competing for immigrants. Mayors understand the partisan nature of federal immigration law made by presidential edict. “Immigrants are productive contributors to the economic and social cultural fabric of our community, and when they feel unsafe, that is a problem,” said Mayor Michael Hancock of Denver, Colorado, expressing frustration with the Trump administration (Aratani, 2019). “He has used our vulnerable immigrants and refugees who are fearing for their very livelihood and their families to distract us” (Aratani, 2019). In response, mayors have organized pro-immigrant organizations such as Cities for Action, which boasts a membership of more than 150 US mayors and county executives (Cities for Action, n.d.). American mayors point out the discriminatory nature of US immigration policy. “If these were white European undocumented immigrants we wouldn’t be having this discussion. This is about brown people,” lamented Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenny (Perez-Luna, 2016). New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio agrees, recalling his own family’s hardships as Italian and German immigrants. “Anyone who thinks that they don’t have an American story that one point involved discrimination in the sense of coming from the wrong place, doesn’t know American history,” said Mayor de Blasio (Matza, 2016). American national pride is well deserved. Our national victories and accomplishments are many. But we must also acknowledge our darker history if our fidelity to American values is to be rooted in truths, not illusions. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed universal human equality, freedom, and the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as our national values. These ideals, however, have not been afforded equally to all people in our nation. As learned individuals aspiring to positions of leadership in government, we must reject the notion that America is for a select, privileged few. The English may have founded the nation, but it was the countless immigrants from around the world who built it. American public policy and immigration law should reflect these contributions and achievements.

300  Jesus Nava

A Brief History of American Immigration The shortest abridged history of the American people is that humans migrated to North America in the last Ice Age and evolved into the indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere. Over the millennia, Native American civilizations flourished and died. Europeans arrived at the end of the fifteenth century CE. They subdued and colonized the native people, took their land, and destroyed their cultures in the process. Through war and treaties, the modern political states of the Americas ultimately emerged, each with its own citizenship and immigration laws based on its national political and pecuniary self-interests. Primacy of arrival in America—who was here first—is claimed by Native Americans (Worrall, 2018). Historic evidence indicates that migrants crossed the Bering Strait from Asia between 20,000 and 30,000 BCE (Worrall, 2018; Daniels, 2002, p. 3). This would make them the first human inhabitants of the Americas. The more commonly accepted scientific knowledge is that the Americas were populated 15,000 years ago, and enough findings suggest humans were widespread 20,000 years back (Worrall, 2018). These early sojourners and their descendants eventually inhabited all of the Western Hemisphere from North America to Central and South America (Montaigne, 2019). The Native American people were both migrants and settlers (Pauls, 2019). As humanity expanded across the American continents, early native civilizations took hold (Coe et al., 2020). Some indigenous cultures built major cities like the Mayans in Chichen Itza (c.550–c.1500); the Aztecs in Tenochtitlan (c.1325–1521); and the Inca in Cuzco (c.1200–1533) (Coe et al., 2020). It is difficult to accurately project the number of America’s indigenous people prior to the arrival of Europeans because no records exist. “Scholarly estimates of the pre-Columbian population of Northern America have differed by millions of individuals: the lowest credible approximations propose that some 900,000 lived north of the Rio Grande in 1492, and the highest posit some 18 million” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020). One source estimates the indigenous population at more than 60 million (Koch et al., 2019). Regardless of the exact number, the Americas were inhabited by a multitude of people and complex cultures (Daniels, 2002, p. 3). The European Age of Exploration resulted in a newfound passage to America when Christopher Columbus set foot on San Salvador in 1492 (Briney, 2020). A wave of European immigration and colonization commenced. “Faith and empire were prime forces in the process of European migration overseas … but so was the desire for economic gain” (Daniels, 2002, p. 5). For the native societies, the arrival of Europeans resulted in the almost complete annihilation of their way of life due to disease, warfare, and enslavement (National Geographic Society, 2020). For the Europeans, it represented the creation of a new world order.

Immigration and the American City  301 Migration to the new world was minimal during the English colonial period, 1607 to 1788. “Fewer than a million came—some six hundred thousand Europeans and perhaps some three hundred thousand Africans. The vast majority were British—and most of those English” (Daniels, 2002, p. 30). Colonial society reflected British life abroad. English was the common language and the practice of English law, commerce, and social customs was the norm (Daniels, 2002, p. 30). The colonial monarch, King George III decided immigration law. Royal interests determined who could enter and settle in the British colonies. American colonists listed royal immigration restrictions as one of their grievances in the US Declaration of Independence, accusing the King of restricting much-needed immigration, thereby preventing “the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; and refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither” (Daniels, 2002, p. 112). The founding fathers knew that immigration was vital to the growth and development of the colonies and the future of the new nation. Enslaved African immigrants helped populate and enrich the British colonies (Daniels, 2002, pp. 53–54). The first Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619 as indentured servants (ProCon​.or​g, 2021). Slavery quickly gained a foothold in the English colonies (Elliott and Hughes, 2019). Slaves were used by all Western European nations and colonies, but it was the “New World plantation economy of Virginia with its insatiable demand for labor to grow cash export crops, which shaped it” (Daniels, 2002, p. 61). According to Daniels, “Nearly 10 million persons were kidnapped out of Africa, all but about 350,000 of them for sale in the Americas” (2002, p. 61). Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author and narrator of the PBS series The African Americans, Many Rivers to Cross, believes the best estimate to be 12.5 million Africans shipped to the new world of which only 10.7 million arrived in the Americas (2013). Slavery was a major factor in Western European and American capitalism. Profits from the slave trade fueled the growth of other European enterprises (Daniels, 2002, p. 53). Queen Anne of England, having established British military supremacy over France and Spain in the European War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714), ordered Spain to furnish African slaves to the English colonies for a period of 30 years as part of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht (Viorst, 1994, p. 155). The treaty guaranteed the supply of slaves to the English colonies. The abomination of African slavery is one of the darkest episodes of our American history—“a great international crime” (Daniels, 2002, p. 53). The US began as a slave society and its effects are felt even now in our cities where people of African descent represent the majority of the underclass (Loury, 1998). As Americans, we must reckon with this grave error and seek our social and personal redemption through the full embrace of our Black brothers and sisters as well as all the other peoples of the world. This will be the salvation of our nation.

302  Jesus Nava African immigrants and their progeny were enslaved in America until 1865 when ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution outlawed slavery (The 13th Amendment of the US Constitution, n.d.). In 1868, African-Americans were granted US citizenship by the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution (The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, n.d.). Racial equality, however, was not easily gained or gotten. “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line— the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea,” wrote W. E. B. Dubois in The Souls of Black Folk (1903). For Dubois, America’s “Negro problem” was about racism and the inability of white Americans to accept Blacks as equal and rightful members of American society (1903). The struggle for equality has extracted a heavy price for African Americans as evidenced by the historical racial conflict and violence that continues to this day (Solly, 2020). African immigrants have strongly influenced our national culture. We recognize and celebrate the contributions made by African Americans in all aspects of society, many unique to the American experience. Some people say that jazz is America’s only true art form. That’s because it began here, hundreds of years ago, in the fields where Black people worked as slaves and made up songs to pass time, to express themselves and to keep the culture and traditions of their African homelands. (McLaughlin, 2012) But regardless of the social, educational, artistic, and cultural gifts to our nation, Blacks continue to experience racial discrimination in America. The first US immigration law, the 1790 Naturalization Act enacted a strict racial guideline that allowed only “free white persons” to become American citizens (Cohn, 2015). Anglo-Saxon migrants from Northern Europe, especially the English were given preference. The first US Census taken that same year recorded the official population as: 3.1 million whites and 750,000 Africans (Daniels, 2002, p. 31). A breakdown of the 1790 US Census, by “National or Linguistic Stocks” (Daniels, 2002, pp. 67–68), which uses language as a proxy for country of origin, indicates 60% of the US population as English. The number of English speakers increases to 78% when you include the Irish and Scots, who are counted separately but were British subjects. The next highest language spoken was German at a distant 8.6% (Daniels, 2002, pp. 67–68). US immigration law used race as a criterion to exclude people from America until 1952 (Cohn, 2015). When instances of rapid growth in the non-English immigrant population occurred, US immigration law consistently tried to restore historic patterns of migration from northern Europe, mainly the United Kingdom (Pew Research Center, 2015). National origins quotas were finally eliminated in 1965 with the Immigration and Nationality Act (Cohn, 2015).

Immigration and the American City  303 According to Angelica Quintero, scholars have identified three historic waves of immigration to America (2017). The first era (1840 to 1889) was characterized by the arrival of poor and unskilled migrants from Northern Europe and Asia. The Irish and German, considered “free white persons,” were eligible for citizenship, but Asians were not. The second wave (1890 to 1924) included 4.3 million Italians and about five million Eastern Europeans and resulted in immigration laws that limited Southern and Eastern Europeans and barred the sick, indigent, and those with conflicting political beliefs. The third wave (1965 to present) began with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965, which eliminated the historic quota system of national origin that had been used for decades. Immigrants from Latin America and the Far East have dominated this era of immigration (Quintero, 2017). Immigrants have proven essential to America’s labor needs (Furman and Gray, 2012). Twelve million flocked to the US after the Civil War including a significant number of Chinese who migrated to California for the Gold Rush (Library of Congress, n.d.a). Asians would later help build the Intercontinental Railway. When World War II created concerns about agricultural labor shortages, the infamous Bracero Program of 1942 was enacted by a presidential executive order (Library of Congress, n.d.b). Many would be deported back to Mexico after the war as part of “Operation Wetback” (Funderburk, 2017). In the twenty-first century, American attitudes about immigration have been shaped by the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (Green, 2017). Although most of the attackers were from Saudi Arabia, the resulting American animus was directed at all Muslims (Desmond-Harris, 2016). By 2016, Latinos had become the favorite target of President Trump. His promise to deport 11 million undocumented residents and build a wall between the US and Mexico became his rallying cry to supporters during his campaign (Corasaniti, 2016). Our failure to resolve the racial problems that afflict us prevents any progress on immigration. The hatred that some people have toward minorities, the fear that they feel toward foreigners, and the belief that America is for white Anglo-Saxons keeps a new, more accepting American society from emerging. To reconcile the immigration problems in our country, we must change the narrative of how our nation was founded and established.

An American Hegemony: A Nation for White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants The assumption that America was ordained as a nation for white, AngloSaxon, Protestant people is as old as the country itself. The American colonies were founded by English Protestants. The colonists, whether born in England or America, were British subjects living abroad and helping to expand the empire. Colonial society was simply a reflection of the mother

304  Jesus Nava country (Daniels, 2002, p. 30). By 1700, 90% of the colonists were English or of English descent (Daniels, 2002, p. 103). All but a few were Protestant (Daniels, 2002, p. 69). The American Revolution forged a new political identity for the colonists. “The victory in the Revolution produced in the new nation an overwhelming feeling of confidence that all battles could be won” (Daniels, p. 115). The new Americans believed they were different from other nations, superior in many respects (Daniels, 2002, p. 118). The relentless westward expansion that followed and the unseemly omnipotence of the American military against the native people spawned the conceit that Americans were destined by Divine Providence to dominate the entire continent (Heidler and Heidler, 2021). Manifest Destiny, the “supposed inevitability of continued territorial expansion” (Heidler and Heidler, 2021) became the justification for rapine and the forceful removal of indigenous inhabitants. Through a series of wars, treaties, and land purchases, that included the 1846 US–Mexican War and subsequent Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United States subdued and secured the northern American continent from coast to coast (Heidler and Heidler, 2021). The new nation was intact, its Manifest Destiny realized. America’s foreign ambitions were expressed early through the Monroe Doctrine. In 1823, President James Monroe warned the European nations against further intervention in the Western Hemisphere, declaring the independent lands solely the domain of the United States (History​.c​om Editors, 2019). The doctrine, as foreign policy, led to the 1898 US–Spanish War and the taking of the former Spanish territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. It was during this time that the Island of Hawaii was also annexed from its tribal people in 1893 after a long struggle for American control of the island (US National Archives, 2016). US military dominance over the entire Western Hemisphere was established by the start of the twentieth century (History​.c​om Editors, 2019). The US Army and Navy now policed the Americas under President Theodore Roosevelt’s Corollary which warned all Latin American nations that cases of flagrant and chronic wrongdoing would be met with US military force (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020). Roosevelt’s “Speak softly and carry a big stick” diplomacy was considered an “assertion of U.S. domination when such domination was considered a moral imperative” (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020). The US military intervened in Mexico as late as April 1914 when 500 US Marines and 300 Navy sailors occupied the port of Veracruz, Mexico. Several US sailors had been arrested for landing on a restricted Mexican dock and President Woodrow Wilson demanded that the Mexican government apologize and issue a 21-gun salute to the US flag as an apology. The Mexican government apologized but refused the gun salute to the flag, prompting American troops to land and seize the Mexican Custom House. The official cause given was Mexico’s violation of an American

Immigration and the American City  305 arms embargo during the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The US military occupied Veracruz, Mexico, for six months after a decisive battle (Dasandi, 2021). Military strength is part of our American heritage and military triumphs are part of our national psyche. The oldest song of the US Armed Forces, the US Marine Hymn, celebrates the defeat of swarthy foes: “From the Halls of Montezuma / To the shores of Tripoli … We have fought in every clime and place / Where we could take a gun.” According to the US Marine Corps, “the song was penned by a Marine on duty in Mexico … and the Halls of Montezuma refers to the Battle of Chapultepec, during the MexicanAmerican War, when a force of Marines stormed Chapultepec Castle” (Human Resources and Organizational Management, n.d.). Marines are required to memorize a portion of the song as part of their military training (Human Resources and Organizational Management, n.d.). US military dominance over all native people and foreign forces in North America resulted in Anglo-Saxon dominance over the continent and the entire western world (OpenEd CUNY, n.d.). This became proof of “American exceptionalism,” the belief that American values, political system, and history are unique in the world and worthy of universal admiration (Walt, 2019). Yale historian, George Burton Adams (1851–1925) even proposed in 1896 that America “assume the position of world leadership which England hesitates to take, and thus make the world-empire of the Anglo-Saxon a certainty” (Adams, 2017). The ideology of white Anglo-Saxon supremacy has long been espoused in America (Southern Poverty Law Center, n.d.). White supremacy is the belief that the white race is genetically superior to other races and therefore in control of other races (Anti-Defamation League, n.d.). White supremacists promote the idea that the US is a nation for Anglo-Saxons and that immigration to the US is the main culprit for the demise of Anglo-Saxon culture in America (Southern Poverty Law Center, n.d.). “America faces an existential crisis,” wrote Patrick Buchanan in State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America (2006, p. 31). “If we do not get control of our borders, by 2050 Americans of European descent will be a minority in the nation their ancestors created and built. No nation has ever undergone so radical a demographic transformation and survived” (Buchanan, 2006, p. 31). The ever-changing demographics of the country will transform the nation. The US Census projects that by 2044, non-Hispanic whites will no longer be the majority of the population and that by 2060, the combined minority population will rise to 56% (US Census Bureau, 2021). Republican politicians have used the forecast to make Anglo-Americans feel uneasy about the implications this change will produce (Budiman, 2020). Talk of an immigrant invasion—“a reconquista” (reconquest)—that is replacing traditional white Americans and their culture is commonplace in American media (Bump, 2021). Social media in particular seems to have become the medium

306  Jesus Nava of choice for both legitimate and illegitimate sources of information about what will happen when “minorities take over” (Ekman, 2019). America’s future population will certainly look different. Our society would do well to prepare for such diversity by eliminating all forms of discrimination. Views that espouse the superiority of one race over another are invalid and morally wrong. So is the idea that America is a nation for one race or culture. Racism and nativism have plagued us long enough. We can consider them vestiges of a former era and of no further use to humanity.

Life Amongst Immigrants My life has been spent among immigrants. I was born a descendant of Mexican migrants. My maternal grandmother and great-aunt were US resident aliens until death. Neither spoke nor read English. My paternal grandparents were born in south Texas around 1900 on land that was once Mexico. Both my parents were US-born and bilingual. I am the second generation of immigrants and speak Spanish, having learned it as my first language at home. I attended schools in San Antonio, Texas, alongside many Mexican immigrants. We studied and played together daily. They were my neighbors and friends. In all aspects, we were alike: Latino, of Mexican descent, brown-skinned, Spanish-speaking, and Catholic. We celebrated the same holidays and enjoyed the same food, music, and sports. We all shared the American dream of a better life beyond the barrios of westside San Antonio. But we were different under the law. I was a citizen of the United States. They were not. I had legal rights and protections guaranteed by the US Constitution. They had none. My life was secure. Theirs was insecure. And although deportations were rare, they did occur. Neighbors would suddenly disappear or children would no longer attend school and people would ask what had happened. “They returned to Mexico,” was the usual answer. As a child, I found it hard to understand how we could be treated so differently yet be identical in most ways. My family coexisted between two nations for generations; some family members as American, others Mexican. I was aware of the difference in nationalities but never thought of my relatives as immigrants. They were just family and the border was just a river to cross. Travel to Mexico was constant. My family made monthly trips to Laredo, Texas. The treks across the Río Grande to shop and dine in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, were always the highlight of the trips. The memory of being asked if I were an American citizen upon returning from Mexico is engrained in my head. I would recall those trips years later as I walked to and from Mexico while employed as Assistant City Manager in Laredo, Texas. Moving back and forth between two nations was natural for my family and me, no harder than crossing the bridge for lunch. Back then, a simple “I am an American citizen” would suffice to reenter the country.

Immigration and the American City  307 Now a national passport is required (Crossing the US–Mexico Border by Land, n.d.). Most cities I served had large Latino immigrant populations, so my ability to speak Spanish and familiarity with immigrants proved invaluable to my work. Latino residents were always initially surprised to hear me speak Spanish at public meetings. But they always took it as a sign that the city government cared enough to communicate in their native language. In return, they gave me their trust and respect. In the early 1980s, the City of San Antonio, Texas, had difficulty getting Latinos to participate in a first-time homebuyer’s program that offered downpayment assistance and below-market-rate mortgages for qualifying individuals. The problem as I perceived it was the lack of program information in Spanish. I suggested that the city’s presentations and accompanying pamphlets be translated into Spanish given that many of the city renters were immigrants. The job was given to me to complete. The simple task of translating and presenting the information in Spanish gave residents the confidence to apply for the new homeowners’ program. In a short time, the program was oversubscribed. In the 1990s, I helped spearhead the City of Denton, Texas, Community Oriented Policing Services in both Latino and African American neighborhoods. Criminals had been victimizing Spanish-speaking residents who were afraid to report the crimes because of their immigration status. In response, the city police organized meetings with residents but they initially proved unproductive. The city then enlisted the help of the Denton League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a local organization with a history of advocacy for Latinos in North Texas. Their assistance proved invaluable in gaining the trust of the Spanish-speaking immigrant community. The meetings immediately proved fruitful. Residents identified safety improvements that were needed and the city worked with landlords to construct them. A police substation was also established with Spanishspeaking staff. Within six months the criminals were apprehended and the neighborhood security problems resolved. The Denton immigrant community learned to trust and work with the police without the fear of arrest and deportation. As City Manager of Las Cruces, New Mexico, in the late 1990s, I experimented with neighborhood-based service delivery, thinking that just like police, other quality-of-life services (code enforcement, fire protection, housing, and parks) could be tailored to meet specific neighborhood needs. Step one was to get to know the city neighborhoods and their residents. From the start, we encountered blocks of Spanish-speaking immigrants that historically had little contact with city hall. This required us to conduct the city’s business in Spanish. Bilingual city employees stepped up and proved invaluable to the effort. They worked with residents and helped correct many of the problems: vacant lots, junked vehicles, stray animals, and crime. The monthly neighborhood meetings became social gatherings for

308  Jesus Nava the neighbors who over time reported great satisfaction with the city and their quality of life. The city management profession allowed me to work directly with immigrants and personally witness how local government can change their lives. San Antonio, Texas, and San José, California, had large numbers of foreign-born residents, as did Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Santa Barbara and Oxnard, California. Even the small city of Burlingame, California (population 28,800) required constant interactions with immigrant entrepreneurs who opened businesses in town. Each city’s population was unique, so there was no standard approach other than to become personally familiar with each local immigrant community. I am proud to have shared in many successes and thankful to the elected officials, city staff, and civic and religious leaders who gave me their confidence and support over the years. Unfortunately, I also saw and endured many incidents of racism during my career in local government. Some insults were general, others personal; most innocuous, but some venomous. In 1982, I studied city management at the prestigious University of Kansas. I was one of six minority students who received fellowships from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Our classmates, who were Anglo, called us the “HUD Section 8 students” after the federal rental subsidy program that assisted low-income, minority renters. In their view, which they expressed often, we were there due to race and the availability of federal funds, which they considered public welfare. In my job, I was called a “wetback,” “spic,” and “Mes-skin” by certain city residents, mostly older Anglo persons who had lived during segregation and were unaccustomed to a Latino in a position of authority. I was introduced by officials at public events as Native American, South American, Indian, and even Hawaiian. A prominent California State Senator mistook me for a waiter at a black-tie event. Even my own boss, the city manager, introduced me at a Chamber of Commerce dinner saying, “This is Jesús Nava … We are all still trying to figure out where the heck he’s from,” to the laughter of the crowd. Rather than be angry, I used each insult as an opportunity to set a new direction, believing that my job as a city leader was to advance the course of human understanding. The invectives also gave me personal insight into the treatment that immigrants have endured for generations. I return to Denton, Texas, given its history of Jim Crow segregation. It became obvious that most immigrants worked and hid in their apartments, too afraid to venture out into the community for fear of arrest and deportation. To help ease their anxiety and coax them into public life, the city and Denton LULAC began to publicly celebrate Mexican holidays and fiestas. The achievements of local Latino students and businesses also were highlighted and celebrated in the city news. This helped change the perception that Denton residents had about Latinos as poor, uneducated, immigrant ranch hands. Latinos

Immigration and the American City  309 were now seen as progressive contributors to the success of the community and no longer strangers in the city. I was fortunate to have worked with immigrants. I was always welcomed and accepted as a member of their community. My experiences have shown me that immigrants come to America to start new lives, work, and raise families. Each successive generation contributes in new and greater ways to the country. Many of the immigrants I grew up with are now doctors, lawyers, educators, and judges—all positive contributors to American society.

A New Path Forward The United Nations reported over 68 million refugees displaced by war and economic hardship as of 2017 (Goldberg, 2019). Modern nations cannot ignore the scale of such human suffering with a clear conscience. The World Bank also predicts that climate change will force another 143 million people to migrate by 2050 (Goldberg, 2019). America, along with the other nations of the world, can either intelligently address this impending crisis or ignore it. Regardless, people will move and amass at our borders. Our immigration policy should reflect the human right to migrate instead of trying to prevent it (Hamid, 2019). “Ours is a migratory species,” writes Mohsin Hamid for National Geographic (2019). “Humans have always moved.” He thinks that governments should legitimize this basic human instinct and proposes a more compassionate approach to immigration law given the potential for our own future relocation (Hamid, 2019). Immigration law should help migrants resettle and integrate quickly into the social, political, and economic life of a community. The sooner they establish a home and work, the sooner they can contribute to civic and economic life. Smart policies would encourage employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for immigrants to hasten the economic benefits to the nation. But Americans must change their attitudes for immigration law to change. They must see immigration as a positive force and oppose racist, xenophobic, and nativist voices that stymie the social progress of our nation. We can start by recognizing that all humanity stems from the tree of life rooted in Africa (National Geographic Society et al., 2018). This is where our primordial journey began as a species. Each human race is but a branch that blossomed in its own unique way to diversify our common human stock. Our historic global migration is reflected in the diversity of American society. People of all races and nations call the US home. This diversity strengthens the nation and tempers all discrimination. Getting Americans to value immigration will take effort. Our national history still haunts us and those who desire political division continue to espouse anti-immigrant views to create fear and prevent any meaningful consensus or reform. But this work is important and necessary to set a new path forward for the nation.

310  Jesus Nava “New art, new stories and new ways of being will be needed” (Hamid, 2019). Fortunately, America is full of stories about immigrant perseverance and success. We just need to weave them into our evolving American culture. Our new stories will celebrate immigrant life. They will acknowledge the mistakes of our national past and atone for the historic mistreatment of other races. But above all, they will herald America’s greatest triumph over the evils of racism, xenophobia, and nativism. These are the true enemies of progress. We have always aspired as a nation to be a leader in the world. America can lead the global effort to resettle the multitudes currently adrift and in the process create international peace and cooperation. Our nation can once again set an example for how to treat immigrants. The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States for the freedom and liberty it gave immigrants and refugees. Let its inscription, “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, remind us of the true values we Americans hold so dearly: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! As policymakers, we can ensure a new future by recognizing migration as the right thing to do, the human thing to do.

References The 13th Amendment of the US Constitution, n.d. National Constitution Center – The 13th Amendment of the US Constitution. Retrieved July 2, 2021, from https://constitutioncenter​.org​/interactive​-constitution​/amendment​/amendment​ -xiii. The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, n.d. National Constitution Center – The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. Retrieved July 2, 2021, from https://constitutioncenter​.org​/interactive​-constitution​/amendment​/amendment​ -xiv. The 200 Largest Cities in the United States by Population 2021, n.d. Retrieved July 15, 2021, from https://wor​ldpo​pula​tion​review​.com​/us​-cities. Adams, G. B., 2017. The United States and the Anglo-Saxon Future. The Atlantic. May 5, 2017. https://www​.theatlantic​.com​/magazine​/archive​/1896​/07​/the​-united​ -states​-and​-the​-anglo​-saxon​-future​/525690/. AHA Statement on the History of Racist Violence in the United States, (June 2020) | AHA., n.d. Retrieved July 12, 2021, from https://www​.historians​.org​/news​-and​ -advocacy​/aha​-advocacy​/aha​-statement​-on​-the​-history​-of​-racist​-violence​-in​-the​ -united​-states-(june-2020). American Immigration Council. Executive Grants Temporary Immigration Relief, 1956 to Present, 2014. 2014, October 2. https://www​.ame​rica​nimm​igra​tion​

Immigration and the American City  311 council ​ . org ​ / research ​ / executive ​ - grants ​ - temporary​ - immigration​ - relief​ - 1956​ -present. Anti-Defamation League, 2019. White Supremacist’s Anti-immigrant Rhetoric Echoes Comments from Public Figures. August 8, 2019. https://www​.adl​.org​/ blog​/white​-supremacists​-anti​-immigrant​-rhetoric​-echoes​-comments​-from​-public​ -figures. Anti-Defamation League, n.d. White Supremacy. Retrieved July 17, 2021, from https://www​.adl​.org​/resources​/glossary​-terms​/white​-supremacy. Aratani, L., 2019. US Mayors Fight Back and Pledge Help for Migrants Targeted in Ice Raids. The Guardian. July 12, 2019. https://www​.theguardian​.com​/us​-news​ /2019​/jul​/12​/us​-mayors​-immigration​-ice​-raids​-migrants. Blitzer, J., 2020. How Stephen Miller Manipulates Donald Trump to Further His Immigration Obsession. The New Yorker. February 21, 2020. https://www​ .newyorker​.com​/magazine​/2020​/03​/02​/how​-stephen​-miller​-manipulates​-donald​ -trump​-to​-further​-his​-immigration​-obsession. Briney, A., 2020. Discover the Age of Exploration. Thought.Co. January 24, 2020. https://www​.thoughtco​.com​/age​-of​-exploration​-1435006. Buchanan, P. J., 2006. State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America [E-book]. Thomas Dunne Books. Budiman, A., 2020. Americans Are More Positive about the Long-Term Rise in U.S. Racial and Ethnic Diversity than in 2016. Pew Research Center. October 1, 2020. https://www​.pewresearch​.org​/fact​-tank​/2020​/10​/01​/americans​-are​-more​-positive​ -about​-the​-long​-term​-rise​-in​-u​-s​-racial​-and​-ethnic​-diversity​-than​-in​-2016/. Bump, P., 2021. The Washington Post. April 9, 2021. https://www​.washingtonpost​ .com​/politics​/2021​/04​/09​/tucker​-carlsons​-espousal​-replacement​-theory​-is​-both​ -toxic​-ahistoric/. Central Michigan University, n.d. Immigrant Benevolent Societies and Fraternal Orders. Retrieved May 28, 2021, from https://www​.cmich​.edu​/library​/clarke​/ researchresources​/michigan​_material​_local​/beaver​_island​_helen​_collar​_papers​/ subject​_cards​/emi​grat​iona​ndim​migr​antlife​/pages​/immigrant​-benevolent​-societies​ -and​-fraternal​-orders​.aspx. Cities for Action, n.d. About Cities for Action. Retrieved July 30, 2021, from https:// www​.citiesforaction​.us​/mission. City of San Antonio, n.d. Immigration Services. Retrieved April 1, 2020, from https://www​.sanantonio​.gov​/humanservices​/ImmigrationServices. City of San José, n.d. Immigrant Affairs. Retrieved July 15, 2021, from https:// www​.sanjoseca​.gov​/your​-government​/departments​/office​-of​-the​-city​-manager​/ citywide​-initiatives​-topics​/immigrant​-resources. Coe, M. D., Willey, G. R., Murra, J. V., Hagen, V. W., & Sanders, W. T., 2020. Pre-Columbian Civilizations | Definition, Map, Empires, Art, & Architecture. Encyclopedia Britannica. November 18, 2020. https://www​.britannica​.com​/ topic​/pre​-Columbian​-civilizations. Cohn, D., 2015. How U.S. Immigration Laws and Rules Have Changed through History. Pew Research Center. September 30, 2015. https://www​.pewresearch​ .org​/fact​-tank​/2015​/09​/30​/how​-u​-s​-immigration​-laws​-and​-rules​-have​-changed​ -through​-history/. Corasaniti, N., 2016. A Look at Trump’s Immigration Plan, Then and Now. The New York Times Company. August 31, 2016. https://www​.nytimes​.com​/ interactive​/2016​/08​/31​/us​/politics​/donald​-trump​-immigration​-changes​.html.

312  Jesus Nava Crossing the U.S.–Mexico Border by Land, n.d. Retrieved July 6, 2021, from https:// travel​.state​.gov​/content​/travel​/en​/passports​/need​-passport​/us​-mexicoborder​ .html. Daniels, R., 2002. Coming to America (2nd ed.). HarperCollins. Dasandi, N., 2021. United States Occupation of Veracruz | Summary. Encyclopedia Britannica. April 14, 2021. https://www​.britannica​.com​/event​/United​-States​ -occupation​-of​-Veracruz. DeSilver, D., 2014. Executive Actions on Immigration Have Long History. Pew Research Center. November 21, 2014. https://www​.pewresearch​.org​/fact​-tank​ /2014​/11​/21​/executive​-actions​-on​-immigration​-have​-long​-history/. Desmond-Harris, J., 2016. The Way We Talk about Islamophobia Every 9/11 Anniversary Is Maddeningly Oversimplified. Vox. September 9, 2016. https:// www​.vox​.com​/2016​/9​/9​/12856912​/islamophobia​-september​-11​-oversimplified. Dubois, W. E. B., 1903. The Souls of Black Folk [E-book]. Bookbyte Digital Edition. Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020. Roosevelt Corollary | History & Significance. Encyclopedia Britannica. July 29, 2020. https://www​.britannica​ .com​/event​/Roosevelt​-Corollary. Ekman, M., 2019. Anti-immigration and Racist Discourse in Social Media. European Journal of Communication, 34(6), 606–618. https://doi​.org​/10​.1177​ /0267323119886151. Elliott, M., & Hughes, J., 2019. A Brief History of Slavery That You Didn’t Learn in School. The New York Times Company. August 19, 2019. https://www​.nytimes​ .com​/interactive​/2019​/08​/19​/magazine​/history​-slavery​-smithsonian​.html. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020. Native American History. June 25, 2020. https:// www​.britannica​.com​/topic​/Native​-American​/Native​-American​-history. European Commission, 2020. Who Does What? EU Immigration Portal. European Commission. February 1, 2020. https://ec​.europa​.eu​/immigration​/general​ -information​/who​-does​-what​_en. Frazee, G., 2018. 4 Myths about How Immigrants Affect the U.S. Economy. PBS NewsHour. November 2, 2018. https://www​.pbs​.org​/newshour​/economy​/ making​-sense​/4​-myths​-about​-how​-immigrants​-affect​-the​-u​-s​-economy. Funderburk, B., 2017. Operation Wetback | United States Immigration LawEnforcement Campaign. Encyclopedia Britannica. September 4, 2017. https:// www​.britannica​.com​/topic​/Operation​-Wetback. Furman, J., & Gray, D., 2012. Ten Ways Immigrants Help Build and Strengthen Our Economy. July 13, 2012. https://obamawhitehouse​.archives​.gov​/blog​/2012​ /07​/12​/ten​-ways​-immigrants​-help​-build​-and​-strengthen​-our​-economy. Gates, Jr., H. L., 2013. How Many Slaves Landed in the U.S.? The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross | PBS. September 19, 2013. https://www​.pbs​.org​/wnet​/ african​-americans​-many​-rivers​-to​-cross​/history​/how​-many​-slaves​-landed​-in​-the​ -us/. Goldberg, S., 2019. Humanity in Motion. National Geographic, August 4, 2019. Green, M., 2017. How 9/11 Changed America: Four Major Lasting Impacts (with Lesson Plan) - The Lowdown. KQED. September 8, 2017. https://www​.kqed​.org​ /lowdown​/14066​/13​-years​-later​-four​-major​-lasting​-impacts​-of​-911. Hamid, M., 2019, August. We Are All Migrants. National Geographic, 236(2), 17–20. Hauck, G. U. T., 2019. This is the Most Immigrant-friendly City in America, New Report Says. USA Today. November 14, 2019. https://eu​.usatoday​.com​/story​/

Immigration and the American City  313 news​/nation​/2019​/11​/13​/chicago​-ranked​-top​-city​-immigrants​-new​-american​ -economy​-says​/4182404002/. Heidler, D. S., & Heidler, J. T., 2021. Manifest Destiny | Summary, Examples, Westward Expansion, & Significance. Encyclopedia Britannica. April 2, 2021. https://www​.britannica​.com​/event​/Manifest​-Destiny. History​.c​om Editors, 2019. Monroe Doctrine. History. September 20, 2019. https:// www​.history​.com​/topics​/westward​-expansion​/monroe​-doctrine. History​.c​om Editors, 2021. Slavery in America. History. April 20, 2021. https:// www​.history​.com​/topics​/black​-history​/slavery. Human Resources and Organizational Management, n.d. What Is the Marines’ Hymn? Retrieved July 5, 2021, from https://www​.hqmc​.marines​.mil​/hrom​/new​ -employees​/about​-the​-marine​-corps​/hymn/. Kennedy, J. F., 2016. -A Nation of Immigrants. Apple Books. March 28, 2016. https://books​.apple​.com​/us​/book​/a​-nation​-of​-immigrants​/id1103943037. Koch, A., Brierley, C., Maslin, M., & Lewis, S., 2019a. European Colonization of the Americas Killed 10 Percent of World. The World from PRX. January 31, 2019a. https://www​.pri​.org​/stories​/2019​-01​-31​/european​-colonization​-americas​ -killed​-10​-percent​-world​-population​-and​-caused. Koch, A., Brierley, C., Maslin, M. M., & Lewis, S. L., 2019b. Earth System Impacts of the European Arrival and Great Dying in the Americas after 1492. Quaternary Science Reviews, 207, 13–36. https://doi​.org​/10​.1016​/j​.quascirev​.2018​.12​.004. Lanktree, G., 2018. Trump’s “Shithole” Countries Are Worth $46.6 Billion in Trade to America. Newsweek. January 12, 2018. https://www​.newsweek​.com​/trumps​ -shit​-hole​-countries​-are​-worth​-466​-billion​-trade​-america​-779324. Lee, M., 2015. Donald Trump’s False Comments Connecting Mexican Immigrants and Crime. Washington Post. July 8, 2015. https://www​.washingtonpost​.com​ /news​/fact​-checker​/wp​/2015​/07​/08​/donald​-trumps​-false​-comments​-connecting​ -mexican​-immigrants​-and​-crime/. Library of Congress, n.d.a. Immigration to the United States, 1851–1900 | Rise of Industrial America, 1876–1900 | U.S. History Primary Source Timeline | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress. Retrieved May 12, 2021, from https://www​.loc​.gov​/classroom​-materials​/united​ -states​-history​-primary​-source​-timeline​/rise​-of​-industrial​-america​-1876​-1900​/ immigration​-to​-united​-states​-1851​-1900/. Library of Congress, n.d.b. Research Guides: A Latinx Resource Guide: Civil Rights Cases and Events in the United States: 1942: Bracero Program. Retrieved July 3, 2021, from https://guides​.loc​.gov​/latinx​-civil​-rights​/bracero​-program. Liccardo, S., n.d. About Us | City of San José. Retrieved July 15, 2021, from https:// www​.sanjoseca​.gov​/your​-government​/departments​/office​-of​-the​-city​-manager​/ citywide​-initiatives​-topics​/immigrant​-resources​/about​-us. Loury, G. C., 1998. An American Tragedy: The Legacy of Slavery Lingers in Our Cities’ Ghettos. Brookings. March 1, 1998. https://www​.brookings​.edu​/articles​/ an​-american​-tragedy​-the​-legacy​-of​-slavery​-lingers​-in​-our​-cities​-ghettos/. Matza, B. S. M. W., 2016. Mayors Champion Immigration; Activists March against Trump. July 25, 2016. https://www​.inquirer​.com​/philly​/news​/politics​ /dnc ​ / 20160726​ _ Immigrants​ _ march​ _ against​ _ Trump_​ _ for​ _ moratorium​ _ on​ _ deportations​.html. Mayorkas, A., 2012. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals: Who Can Be Considered? Whitehouse.Gov. August 15, 2012. https://obamawhitehouse​

314  Jesus Nava .archives​.gov​/blog​/2012​/08​/15​/deferred​-action​-childhood​-arrivals​-who​-can​-be​ -considered. McLaughlin, M. E., 2012. All about Jazz, Uniquely American Music. May 24, 2012. https://www​.washingtonpost​.com​/lifestyle​/style​/all​-about​-jazz​-a​-unique​-form​-of​ -american​-music​/2012​/05​/24​/gJQA4bswnU​_story​.html. Merelli, A., 2017. A History of American Anti-immigrant Bias, Starting with Benjamin Franklin’s Hatred of Germans. Quartz. February 12, 2017. https://qz​ .com​/904933​/a​-history​-of​-american​-anti​-immigrant​-bias​-starting​-with​-benjamin​ -franklins​-hatred​-of​-the​-germans/. Montaigne, F., 2019. The Story of How Humans Came to the Americas Is Constantly Evolving. Smithsonian Magazine. December 18, 2019. https:// www ​ . smithsonianmag ​ . com ​ / science ​ - nature ​ / how​ - humans​ - came​ - to​ - americas​ -180973739/. National Geographic Society, 2020. Native Americans in Colonial America. February 18, 2020. https://www​.nationalgeographic​.org​/encyclopedia​/native​ -americans​-colonial​-america/. National Geographic Society, Micalizio, C. S., & O’Connor, S. P., 2018. Global Human Journey. National Geographic Society. November 29, 2018. https:// www​.nationalgeographic​.org​/media​/global​-human​-journey/. New American Economy Research Fund, 2019. Immigrants and the Growth of America’s Largest Cities. July 10, 2019. https://research​.newamericaneconomy​ .org​/report​/immigrants​-and​-the​-growth​-of​-americas​-largest​-cities/. OpenEd CUNY, n.d. U.S. History, Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840–1900, Introduction. Retrieved July 30, 2021, from https://opened​.cuny​.edu​ /courseware​/lesson​/393​/overview. Pauls, E. P., 2019. American Indian - Prehistoric Agricultural Peoples. Encyclopedia Britannica. October 20, 2019. https://www​.britannica​.com​/topic​/American​ -Indian​/Prehistoric​-agricultural​-peoples. Perez-Luna, E., 2016. Cities and Immigrants: Three Views. WHYY. July 28, 2016. https://whyy​.org​/articles​/cities​-and​-immigrants​-three​-views/. Pew Research Center, 2015. Chapter 1: The Nation’s Immigration Laws, 1920 to Today. Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project. September 28, 2015. https://www​ . pewresearch​ . org​ / hispanic​ / 2015​ / 09​ / 28​ / chapter​ - 1​ - the​ - nations​ -immigration​-laws​-1920​-to​-today/. ProCon​.org, 2021. Historical Timeline: History of Legal and Illegal Immigration to the United States. January 28, 2021. https://immigration​.procon​.org​/historical​ -timeline/. Quintero, A., 2017. America’s Love-Hate Relationship with Immigrants. August 2, 2017. https://www​.latimes​.com​/projects​/la​-na​-immigration​-trends/. Sembradores De Amistad, n.d. Sembradores de Amistad: Corpus Christi Chapter. Retrieved April 1, 2020, from http://sem​brad​ores​deamistad​.net​/hist​.html. Solly, M., 2020. 158 Resources for Understanding Systemic Racism in America. Smithsonian Magazine. June 4, 2020. https://www​.smithsonianmag​.com​/history​ /158​-resources​-understanding​-systemic​-racism​-america​-180975029/. Southern Poverty Law Center, n.d. White Nationalist. Retrieved July 30, 2021, from https://www​.splcenter​.org​/fighting​-hate​/extremist​-files​/ideology​/white​ -nationalist. Times, T. N. Y., 2017. Full Executive Order Text: Trump’s Action Limiting Refugees Into the U.S. The New York Times. January 28, 2017. https://www​

Immigration and the American City  315 .nytimes​.com​/2017​/01​/27​/us​/politics​/refugee​-muslim​-executive​-order​-trump ​ .html​?referringSource​=articleShare. US Census Bureau, 2021. New Census Bureau Report Analyzes U.S. Population Projections. The United States Census Bureau. April 8, 2021. https://www​.census​ .gov​/newsroom​/archives​/2015​-pr​/cb15​-tps16​.html. U.S. National Archives, 2016. The 1897 Petition Against the Annexation of Hawaii. National Archives. August 15, 2016. https://www​.archives​.gov​/education​/lessons​ /hawaii​-petition#:​%7E​:text​=On​%20July​%2012​%2C​%201898​%2C​%20the​,on​ %20Hawaii​%2C​%20landed​%20in​%201778. Uwimana, S., 2012. 15 of Limbaugh’s Most Offensive and Controversial Comments Targeting Immigrants. Media Matters for America. March 10, 2012. https://www​.mediamatters​.org​/rush​-limbaugh​/15​-limbaughs​-most​-offensive​-and​ -controversial​-comments​-targeting​-immigrants. Viorst, M., 1994. The Great Documents of Western Civilization. Barnes & Noble Books. Walt, S. M., 2019. The Myth of American Exceptionalism. Foreign Policy. May 9, 2019. https://foreignpolicy​.com​/2011​/10​/11​/the​-myth​-of​-american​ -exceptionalism/. Worrall, S., 2018. When, How Did the First Americans Arrive? It’s Complicated. Science. June 8, 2018. https://www​.nationalgeographic​.com​/science​/article​/when​ -and​-how​-did​-the​-first​-americans​-arrive-​-its​-complicated-.

18 Green Movement Environmental Concerns Jill Jordan

Introduction The tragedy of the commons is playing out once again. This time, however, the tragedy does not involve local farmers allowing their cattle to overgraze their English village’s common grazing land; this time, the tragedy is playing out on a planetary scale in terms of carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Carbon levels are at their highest point in the past 800,000 years, having increased by 52% from 270 to 410 parts per million in the atmosphere over the last 120 years. As a result, the global overall temperature has increased by one degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels (World Meteorological Organization, 2019). While such a change may appear insignificant, this increase is sufficient to change global weather patterns, with some areas experiencing larger, more severe storms and other areas experiencing droughts and more frequent largescale wildfires. Without intervention, these extreme weather events and changing weather patterns will continue to accelerate and worsen. Global mean surface temperatures could increase from 3.7° C to 4.8° C by 2100 with some projections as high as 7.8° C (International Panel on Climate Change, 2014). To prevent such scenarios from happening, over 180 countries signed the Paris Climate Accord, COP21, which has as its goal to limit the global temperature rise to below 2° C and to attempt to further restrict the increase to only 1.5° C. Besides countries, cities across the globe have pledged to do their part to reduce carbon emissions. The C40 Cities, a network of over 94 international cities representing over 700 million people, have pledged to meet the emission requirements needed for the 1.5° C goal (C40 Cities, 2020). In response to the decision by the United States of America to withdraw from the Paris Accord, as of late 2019, 438 US mayors representing 70 million people have committed through Climate Mayors to honor and uphold the COP21 goals (Climate Mayors, 2020). While these cities have pledged to do their part, many other US cities have not made such a pledge. One challenge is convincing the other 19,0001 cities and towns in the United States to be more involved. Another even more difficult challenge is delivering on those promises, especially given that city councils and mayors and their priorities change over time. DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-18

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Complicating it all is that carbon emissions and climate change are not the only environmental issues with which cities must contend. Air pollution from one city blows into the next city. Stormwater runoff moves from city to city within a watershed following the topography. Likewise, traffic follows travelsheds set by the transportation network and land uses in a region without regard for city boundaries. Solid waste and hazardous waste must be disposed of properly. Water must be available and treated, and wastewater must be collected and treated. Standing water can breed mosquitos. Public lands must be maintained, and contaminated properties must be addressed. Public buildings, fleets, and transportation systems must be operated efficiently. Cities and infrastructure must be built. All of these issues can be addressed from a sustainability standpoint or they can be handled in a traditional manner with little thought given to the environmental consequences beyond permitting requirements. Given these environmental challenges, what is a city manager to do when trying to run a city? In addition, given that leadership can come from below, what can any government employee do to improve the environment?

Basic Compliance with Laws and Regulations Each city must begin dealing with environmental issues by complying with state and federal environmental laws and regulations. Coming into a new city or department, one might assume that the city is already in compliance given that environmental laws and regulations have been in place for decades. Such an assumption, however, can be erroneous. Thus, a new city manager or department head should ask whether the city or department is currently under any consent decrees for past violations or whether the city has been fined or under investigation for permit violations. Department heads with environmental issues can be asked for a status report on the environmental issues facing their departments. These departmental officials, however, may not know that their operations are in violation: regulations change; new regulations are always being promulgated. What has been acceptable practices in the past may no longer be compliant. One cannot report issues without knowing that the issue exists. Another challenge is that officials might not even recognize that their operations have environmental issues in the first place. Does the police chief give much thought as to whether impounded vehicles are leaking fluids? Does the building maintenance department head think about how to dispose of fluorescent bulbs? Given that many organizations, particularly small to medium-sized cities, are not fully engaged in thinking about environmental issues, a new city manager could be given an all-clear signal from his or her department heads when in fact there are issues. A simple strategy that a city manager could do to get an idea as to whether there may be hidden issues is simply to observe city facilities when visiting departments. At the

318  Jill Jordan service centers, are there oil stains where employee and city vehicles are parked, trash along the fences, or barrels or other containers without clear labels as to their contents? Do the driveways at fire stations drain toward the street or to a catch basin with an oil/water separator? Are grass clippings left in the gutters after the city’s medians are mowed? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then a closer examination of how city operations are handling environmental issues is in order. Structure. Such an examination can begin with looking at the city’s structure with respect to environmental issues. The typical city divides its operations into separate departments based on separate subject areas. For example, a water or utility department will handle water and wastewater operations. A solid waste department will handle the collection of waste products and operate the landfill. Stormwater management could be handled by a public works department or a water utility department. Each of these separate departments may have its own staff responsible for managing the environmental aspects of the operation and compliance with regulations. Such a decentralized approach may lead to silos whereby departments may not assist each other with environmental issues and may not share ideas. In these instances, city management may not be actively monitoring environmental compliance unless problems arise. Little synergy or economies of scale are achieved. An alternative structure is to have a more centralized approach to environmental management with a single department responsible for monitoring and managing environmental issues. This centralized department could be quite small, having an experienced staff that oversees how the other departments are handling their environmental operations. This oversight could take the form of an enforcement or inspection role or the role of a consultant that assists the other departments as needed. Alternatively, the centralized department could be substantially larger with many professionals divided into teams by subject, such as water or air. This large department could submit applications for required permits, monitor operations, submit annual reports to state or federal enforcement agencies, and generally handle the environmental aspects for the other departments. A third approach to the structure for handling environmental matters is to use some combination of decentralized and centralized approaches. This hybrid approach takes the form of having a department with the general charge of certain environmental issues while other large departments handle their own issues. In this case, a water department might handle its own permits and issues, while a centralized department handles the issues for other departments that might not have the staff or expertise to handle their own issues. Environmental management systems. A city manager trying to ascertain whether the city is compliant with environmental regulations should inquire if the city has an environmental management system (EMS). An EMS is a defined, repeatable, set of practices that serve as a framework for

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monitoring and managing the environmental aspects of an o ­ rganization. The most common EMS system is the one from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) called ISO 14001:2015. This standard provides the framework and methodology for businesses and governments across the globe to manage their environmental issues. It is based upon a cyclical model of Plan, Do, Check, and Act, which is then repeated year after year. Planning involves setting environmental goals and policies for the organization and identifying the organization’s environmental aspects and how its operations interact and affect the environment in terms of “air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna, humans and their interrelationships” (International Organization for Standardization, 2020). Once these aspects are known, organizations identify what environmental impacts, both beneficial and adverse, are caused by their operations and products. Organizations also identify what are the environmental regulations and laws governing their operations or compliance obligations. Using all of this information, organizations then set their environmental objectives and targets for each operation. Here the ideas of continuous improvement, minimizing waste, promoting efficiency and performance, reducing costs, conserving resources and inputs, and preventing pollution come into play by setting objectives and targets around these ideas. In the Plan, Do, Check, and Act model, doing begins with developing written procedures for each operation with environmental aspects. It may seem obvious that all city departments should have employee manuals explaining how to do all tasks, but often field operations lack this documentation and instead rely on word of mouth to pass techniques to new employees. As a result, different crews and different departments can be doing the same task in widely different ways. Documentation of the best practices can help to standardize the operation, and if standardization is being pursued, then standardizing the methodology with the fewest environmental impacts or risks makes sense. While simply documenting what has always been done may seem expedient, greater benefits can be realized by taking the time to use efficiency tools, such as Six Sigma or Lean Six Sigma, to refine processes in terms of identifying wastes, errors, and time and cost savings. The resulting improved processes can then be documented and used across the organization to standardize operations, cut costs, and save time, amongst many other benefits. When first setting up an EMS, time might not be available to run all processes through an efficiency improvement process, but all processes can eventually go through an efficiency process in subsequent years of an EMS implementation. Once the desired process has been identified and documented, it must be taught to employees. Training and communication of environmental goals, aspects, and procedures become critically important to the success of the EMS. All employees must know this information, and only then can the Do phase be successful. Checking involves monitoring the operations and measuring the progress toward the objectives and targets. Some monitoring may involve daily inspections of grounds or equipment using checklists. Other ­monitoring

320  Jill Jordan may be done weekly or monthly, or it may be done on an ongoing basis using automated equipment. Analysis of the monitoring data is done to determine if problems or patterns are being experienced. Checking also involves compiling the data and presenting it at least annually to the highest level of managers in the organization, which for cities would be to the city manager or mayor and council. From this presentation, the city manager can make strategic decisions regarding budget allocations for upcoming environmental operations, compensation for department heads, and targets for the upcoming year. Successful implementation of an EMS should be included in the annual performance plans and evaluations of every applicable city employee. Acting involves putting those decisions into action for the upcoming year and making any course corrections to correct any deficiencies and prepare the organization for the next round of Plan, Do, Check, and Act. Implementation of an EMS does not guarantee that an organization will have no more compliance issues; instead, it works to minimize the risk of noncompliance and prepares the organization to deal with any issues that arise. Regulatory agencies are more likely to work with an organization with a robust EMS to resolve any compliance issues that may arise over time. Regulatory agencies and the public can know if an EMS system is robust through third-party certification of the system. The ISO system encourages organizations to achieve this kind of certification, meaning that the organization’s practices and procedures have been reviewed and approved by a neutral third party who is trained and certified to review and certify other organizations against the ISO standards. Having a third-party certification signals that an organization has indeed met the rigorous ISO standards.

Case Study on Compliance: The City of Dallas Dallas, Texas, provides an example of a city that faced and then met the challenges of coming into compliance and developing an EMS. When a new city manager came on board, he received no indication that any of the city departments were experiencing unusual compliance issues. Some departments provided the usual communications that they had issues but that they were handling them; however, most departments were silent on environmental issues because they did not know that they had any issues. In particular, the sanitation department did not disclose that they were having any major issues, yet one day, seemingly out of the blue, the city was slapped with a major fine for compliance violations at the city landfill. Receiving this substantial fine raised the question of whether any of the other city departments had unknown or undisclosed environmental compliance issues. A suggestion was made that the city should implement an EMS. While the advantages of having an EMS were obvious, there was a risk that implementing an EMS could identify expensive problems for which the city could

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not afford the solutions. The idea of implementing an EMS was put on hold, but two positions were funded to begin a public education program on environmental issues. After a couple of years, the city discovered that the city staff person responsible for managing the city’s underground storage tanks for fuel had quit and not been replaced when the state regulatory agency over leaking tanks contacted the city about its compliance obligations for the leaking tanks. Once again, the idea of instituting an EMS for the city was discussed but not acted upon due to concerns about unknown financial obligations that an EMS might identify. Concurrently with the tank issue, trouble was brewing in the stormwater management section of the public works department. This stormwater section was responsible, via delegation from first the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and then from the State of Texas, for inspecting construction, industrial, and commercial sites for compliance with their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Permits. As part of this responsibility, the group had to inspect city operations in addition to the private sector inspections and inspections of other governmental agencies dealing with stormwater. In their inspection of the city’s and other governmental agencies’ operations, the inspectors found numerous violations, which they brought to the attention of their managers to resolve. Given how the managers handled these violations, the inspectors felt that the governmental violations were treated more laxly than violators in the private sector were. The inspectors and the management team were trying to work out a solution to what approach to use with government sector violators, but several inspectors became frustrated with the slow progress. They became whistle-blowers, going to both the EPA, which had a regional office in Dallas, and to the press. For a month, trash along the fences at city facilities, oily residue in parking lots, and leaking fluids at the city vehicular impound were put on display in the local nightly news. As a result of the complaint to the EPA, the EPA did a full inspection of city facilities and brought a compliance action (i.e., lawsuit) against the city. The EPA and the city negotiated a consent decree for how to settle the lawsuit. One point of the decree was that the city would implement an EMS. The EPA suggested an EMS methodology that one of its employees had developed, but the city countered by adopting the ISO 14001 standard because its requirements were well established and numerous independent third parties could judge whether the city’s EMS efforts met the known standard. Another part of the consent decree was that the city would establish an Office of Environmental Quality (OEQ). The office would be a small centralized department with ten employees that would oversee the implementation of the EMS for all the city departments with environmental aspects. The OEQ became the technical experts helping the other city departments with their part of the EMS. The other city departments consisted of the aviation, code, convention center, equipment and building services, fire, park and recreation, police, public works, sanitation, streets, and water departments.

322  Jill Jordan Each of these departments had to appoint one staff member who had to have direct access to their department head to lead their department’s efforts. The OEQ led this team of departmental representatives through all the various steps of developing the EMS. From the time that the consent decree was signed until the city received the third-party certification of its ISO 14001 program, 4.5 years passed. Development of the EMS was essentially a cultural change initiative, with city council and city management buy-in and support, extensive communication, branding, staff committees, awards for outstanding staff achievements, inclusion of environmental performance in individual performance plans, inclusion of objectives and targets in the city’s strategic plan, and training for all staff members in the affected departments and for contractors working for those departments. Results of the EMS included the reduction of major nonconformances, reduction in the number of notices of violation from regulatory agencies, increases in materials being recycled, cost savings, and numerous new sustainability initiatives being started. At the time of the development of the EMS, Dallas became only the second city in North America to have a certified ISO 14001 program across all of its environmental operations. The usual practice of cities was to certify one department at a time, which takes many years to accomplish. Critics of Dallas’s approach to certifying its EMS said that it would be foolish to attempt a simultaneous certification across all city departments, but certification was achieved in a relatively short time for such an effort. This time frame can be compared to the time frame for certifying departments one or two at a time in that Dallas began working to certify many of these same departments in the ISO 9001 quality standard. After a decade of working on obtaining the quality standard, fewer departments had been certified compared to the number of departments certified over the 4.5-year period for the ISO 14001 environmental standard.

Beyond Compliance: Moving Toward Sustainability Once compliance has been achieved or is at least under proper management control, cities can consider expanding their environmental efforts to promote sustainability. A widely used definition of sustainability comes from the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, which states that “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland, 1987). Substituting the word “city” for “development” in this definition provides a challenge for cities––how a city can function and prosper today without compromising its future for residents and the environment. Meeting this challenge can be done by identifying opportunities for sustainability initiatives through one of several methods. For example, sustainability initiatives can be selected strictly on an ad hoc basis by taking

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advantage of ideas as they are presented. Ideas might come from council members, staff members, or the public. Alternatively, a city might identify sustainability initiatives through a strategic planning process. Additionally, a city manager might also identify sustainability initiatives by guiding staff through the five-step process shown in Figure 18.1. Understanding what comprises each of these steps may assist in identifying sustainability opportunities no matter which identification methodology is used.​ Understanding the background. Understanding the background requires the city official to know the characteristics of the city’s physical environment, the political environment, and the culture and characteristics of the city organization itself. As for the physical environment, is the city along a coast or river? Is the city in a desert, forest, prairie, or marshy area? What type of storms or severe weather does the city experience? How is the climate of the city expected to change? What is the air quality in the city? Is the city expanding from an older urban core, expanding for the first time from a small rural town, contracting, or remaining stable? What is the city’s water supply? Does the city have a unique environmental feature that is a source of pride for the community? How is the city impacted by upstream, upwind, or adjacent cities? How does the city affect other cities? Does the city have lowincome areas adjacent to older industrial areas or areas without access to healthy food? Does the city have older housing stock with lead-based paint or asbestos-containing building materials? How does the city dispose of its trash? What are the transportation systems used in the city? Understanding the background requires being able to describe the city’s air, water, soil, materials, and land use characteristics. These characteristics are external to the city’s operation, but they affect what the city does, how it operates, and how it regulates or affects the community at large. Understanding the background also requires knowing the city’s political climate. A city council made up of climate change deniers will react very differently to sustainability proposals and policies than will a council made up of environmental activists. The likelihood is that the council will be somewhere in between these extremes, which means that a city manager must know what issues are important to each council member and which issues will upset individual council members. For example, a council member who wants to keep taxes low and who has expressed no interest in environmental issues may become the council member who supports green building initiatives because these initiatives can have lower life cycle costs than traditionally designed buildings.

Understand the background

Perceive the problems and oppotunies

Idenfy alternave acons

Figure 18.1  Decision-making process.

Evaluate the effecveness

Select an alternave and take acon

324  Jill Jordan Besides knowing the political persuasion of the council, a city manager must know the attitudes of the citizens in general and lobbyists and other power brokers in particular. Does the citizenry demonstrate an interest in environmental issues or are they more apathetic about this topic? Are active, influential environmental groups operating in the city, and if so, what issues are they working on? Do strong industrial sector groups wield power and control the discussion on particular environmental issues? Are there professional associations, universities, or other nonprofits that might become partners in dealing with particular issues? Who might support sustainability issues and who might oppose them? A final broad area needing to be understood is the city culture and organization itself. Have employees embraced the value of environmental stewardship? What sustainability initiatives are already underway? In what sustainability topics do the current staff members have expertise or interest? Are the types of products and equipment used by staff environmentally friendly? From where does the city get its electrical power? What vehicles are in the city’s fleet? Answers to these questions suggest areas of opportunities or problems and indicate the level of support or opposition and the amount of training that might need to be done internally. Perceive the problems and opportunities. Armed with this background knowledge, the next step is to perceive the problems and opportunities. Problems and opportunities are often two sides of the same coin, with each problem needing solutions that are opportunities for improvement. Problems include the environmental issues that are hurting a city while opportunities can be viewed as whatever solutions could assist the city in some way. Problems and opportunities can be either external to or internal to the city’s operations. External problems are those in which the city does not control or cause the problem but instead must react to and plan for managing the consequences of the problem. For example, the city may be located in an area that is in non-compliance with an air quality standard due to a myriad of causes. City policies and operations can affect air quality but cannot completely mitigate the non-compliance. Other problems are internal to the city’s operation, which means that the city can more readily address the problem. For example, the city can decide how pest control at city facilities will be handled or how parks and other public green spaces will be maintained. The point of this step of the decision-making process is to identify as many problems and opportunities as possible. Listed in Tables 18.1 and 18.2 are some of the common external and internal problems and corresponding opportunities that cities face today, respectively. Identify alternative actions. For each problem or opportunity, a variety of alternatives exist to solve the problem or take advantage of the opportunity. Alternatives could take the form of programs, incentives, policies, or codes. As an example, a water conservation program for the community could take the form of providing low-flow toilets to customers who have older, high-water-usage toilets or helping residents to install xeriscaping for

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Table 18.1 Examples of External Problems and Opportunities Problems

Opportunities

Water shortages or increased demand Water conservation programs Contaminated stormwater runoff or Low-impact development design and increased flooding construction methodologies that seek to reduce the negative consequences to stormwater quality from development by trying to preserve or mimic a site’s predevelopment ecological and hydrological functions Food deserts where access to Community gardens and farmer’s markets affordable fresh produce and other healthy foods is limited Air quality problems Public transit, improved transportation systems and policies, better air quality monitoring and inspection programs, ozone action plans, and development codes and zoning practices that promote walkability through better urban design Disposal of solid waste or presence Waste reduction, community recycling of trash in city rights-of-way programs, improved collection programs, community education programs Contaminated soils and lands Brownfield programs for properties that may be more difficult to redevelop due to real or perceived issues of the properties being previously contaminated. Such programs can promote the transparency of data on contaminated properties Contaminated, poorly performing Programs to remove lead-based paint and buildings or children in the asbestos from multi-family properties community whose blood has high levels of lead Lack of jobs Programs to create green jobs in manufacturing, construction, or service that improve the environment or conserve natural resources High costs of renting or owning Green, energy-efficient development codes housing units that lower heating and cooling costs Urban heat islands of areas in an Programs to increase tree canopies or cool urban setting that are experiencing roofs that absorb less heat and reflect increased temperatures compared more sunlight than traditional roofs made to surrounding areas due to with darker materials. human activities

yards, or the program could take an entirely different approach by changing building codes to require the use of low-flow toilets and xeriscaping of yards. Identifying the alternatives will likely be the task of the professional staff members in the respective city departments that deal with the particular subject matter on a daily basis. Research of the best practices of other cities will also assist in identifying alternatives.

326  Jill Jordan Table 18.2 Examples of Internal Problems and Opportunities Problems

Opportunities

High cost of water and energy for city facilities More stringent wastewater treatment requirements

Water and energy conservation programs

Purchase of traditional, more hazardous chemicals for cleaning city buildings or for use in city vehicles Buying electricity Operation and maintenance of the city’s vehicular fleet

Leveraging new technologies or developing treatment wetlands that can remove contaminants from the wastewater Green purchasing programs for buying products that have less impact on the environment and human health than traditional products

Buying only electricity made from renewable sources Using more sustainable fuels and more fuel-efficient vehicles that are only as big as needed for the job as opposed to buying larger vehicles that staff might prefer Leaking underground storage Programs to clean up any fuel spills that have tanks and fuel dispensing for occurred over time and programs to manage the the city’s fleet in general purchase, storage, and distribution of gasoline, diesel, propane, biodiesel, compressed natural gas, liquified natural gas, and any other type of fuel used by the city’s fleet or buildings Poor housekeeping at city Good housekeeping programs that include recycling service centers and parking and reuse programs of materials used by the city lots that have automotive oil and hazardous waste management programs to and grease stains, trash, and minimize the amount of hazardous materials other sources of nonpoint purchased and stored in the first place and then source pollution disposed of properly after use Grounds management practices Xeriscaping programs to reduce or eliminate the at city parks, rights-of-way, use of irrigation water and integrated pest and golf courses that use management programs to reduce or eliminate the large amounts of fertilizers, use of primarily pesticides but also herbicides by herbicides, insecticides, and using non-chemical methods as much as possible irrigation water to control pests and weeds and using least toxic pesticides as a last resort Contaminated city-owned Land management practices, such as conducting phase properties 1 environmental site assessments for identifying whether new properties being purchased for the city are free from contamination, or entering properties already owned by the city that have contamination issues into state-run voluntary cleanup programs Reporting of a city’s financial Triple bottom line accounting framework of “people, status profit, and planet” in which a city not only reports its financial status but also how it has impacted the social and environmental aspects of its community Financing of capital Issuance of green bonds for environmentally friendly improvement projects projects instead of traditional municipal bonds and the use of grant funds, tax incentives, and other types of alternative financing strategies for funding various types of environmentally focused projects

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Evaluate the effectiveness. The effectiveness and desirability of each alternative need to be determined so that the alternatives can be compared. This determination can be made by the usual policy analysis tools available in public administration, including cost/benefit analysis, life cycle analysis, and risk analysis. It is also helpful to identify who are the stakeholders in each alternative. Who would benefit from the program or policy? Who will have to pay for the program or policy? Who might oppose the city as it implements the alternatives? How might that opposition be diminished? Are residents or businesses in the community exposed to differing participation costs, such that social equity considerations must be made? Are there alternatives that address historic environmental justice issues? Another consideration when evaluating the alternatives is related to whether there are partnership opportunities available to help fund or implement one or more of the alternatives. Sometimes an alternative would be better done by a nonprofit, for-profit firm, or other governmental agency, so considering who else might be better suited to do the alternative or who could assist the city with the implementation of the alternatives is important. These other entities could have grant funding or low-interest loans available to help fund various alternatives. In particular, local electric utilities and large energy-related companies typically have funds available for cities to use for energy conservation projects. The evaluation of alternatives should also look for synergy opportunities amongst the alternatives. Sometimes one alternative can address multiple opportunities or problems. For example, starting an internal recycling program for city staff could have a training and communication component that could also be used to communicate the need for water and energy conservation at the office. Thus, the recycling program could be couched as an environmental stewardship program in which multiple environmental aspects are addressed. The final areas to consider during the evaluation phase are related to timing and ease of implementation. Some alternatives will be the “lowhanging fruit” that can be done with minimal new funding or staff and little opposition from the city council. Other alternatives will require new funding, meaning that the implementation of the alternatives will have to be coordinated with the city’s budget cycle. Some alternatives are within a city manager’s prerogative such that council support is not required while other alternatives will require education of the council and ultimately their support. Select an alternative and take action. Armed with all the information from the previous steps, decisions must be made as to which alternatives to take. Depending upon the alternatives, the city council or the city manager might be the one to make those decisions. Once the decisions are made, staff will then begin the implementation. The questions then become how can this implementation be monitored and how can the chances for success

328  Jill Jordan be amplified, especially given that multiple sustainability initiatives could be underway simultaneously.

Managing Sustainability and Promoting Success Several techniques and strategies exist to help manage and coordinate sustainability efforts, including the development of various types of planning documents, tracking of performance indicators, and use of public input. In addition, the success of sustainability efforts can be enhanced through the use of several different tactics, including leading by example and forming partnerships. These strategies and tactics to promote success are discussed in the following sections. Planning documents. Faced with managing numerous sustainability initiatives, many cities track the progress of the initiatives by having sustainability plans, climate action plans, or various subject matter plans. Much like strategic plans, sustainability plans lay out the city’s goals, objectives, and strategies related to improving the environment along with outlining timelines and identifying who is responsible for doing what actions. Also like strategic plans, sustainability plans can be developed top-down by the city council or citizen advisory groups or from the bottom up by staff members from all the departments with environmental aspects and impacts. Sustainability plans are usually written for a lay audience so that the plans can be widely distributed and posted online. Progress toward the plans’ objectives is usually reported at least annually. For those cities with both a strategic plan and a sustainability plan, decisions must be made as to whether the sustainability goals and strategies are also included in the strategic plan. If they are included, the two documents should be coordinated and updated simultaneously so that information in the two plans is not in conflict. An advantage of having both types of plans is the clear message of the importance of environmental initiatives by having a separate sustainability document. An obvious disadvantage is the double reporting that occurs with having the sustainability information also included in the strategic plan. A disadvantage of having two plans but not including the sustainability information in the overall strategic plan is that readers of only the strategic plan will not be aware of the city’s sustainability efforts and vice versa. Similar to coordinating with strategic plans, coordination is needed between a city’s sustainability plan and its performance indicator program. Many cities include performance and community indicators included in their sustainability plan, such as per capita water use or number of days that air quality standards have been violated. Sustainability plans will also include performance indicators, such as the percent reduction in CO2 equivalent emissions from city vehicles or number of trees planted. These performance indicators are tied to the various initiatives and tasks outlined in the sustainability plans. If a city also has a general performance indicator program

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across all the city departments, the city should allow departments to use the same indicators for both the sustainability and performance indicator programs in order to promote efficiency in both efforts. Sustainability plans must also be coordinated with other city planning documents. A city’s comprehensive land use plan and urban design plans will likely be promoting walkability, reduction of urban heat island effects, and the use of more sustainable stormwater management practices, amongst other topics. These same topics may also be covered in the city’s sustainability plan, and hence, coordination between the documents and responsible departments is needed. Likewise, floodplain management plans, thoroughfare plans, economic development plans, and water supply and wastewater treatment plans will likely have sustainability topics that need to be coordinated with the sustainability plan. If a city does not have a specific sustainability plan, the city can still manage and coordinate its environmental initiatives by including sustainability projects and policies in each of these subject matter planning documents. Climate action plans typically outline how a city is going to meet its goals for reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and responding to climate change. These plans usually begin by doing a GHG emission inventory of both emissions from the city’s own internal operations and the external emissions from the community at large. Typical major sources of GHGs from city operations are buildings, street lights and traffic signals, city vehicles, water and wastewater operations, and collection and disposal of solid wastes. Once the major sources and amounts of GHGs being produced are known, planning can begin on how to mitigate or reduce those emissions and how to adapt to the changing weather patterns and their effects on the built environment. Mitigation in terms of reducing the amount of greenhouse gases produced and emitted in the first place can be addressed through such means as the purchase of electricity generated from renewable sources; co-generation of power at wastewater treatment plants or solid waste disposal facilities; LED lighting retrofits; energy saving retrofits of existing city buildings, including the installation of solar panels and geothermal heat pumps; construction of new, more energy-efficient buildings; and the use of alternative fuel vehicles and more fuel-efficient vehicles. For the community at large, typical GHG emissions originate from residential and commercial energy use, transportation and mobile sources, and industrial sources. A city does not control the production of the emissions from these sources, but a city can affect the amount of certain types of emissions thereby helping to mitigate emissions. To lower emissions, city codes can call for private sector buildings to be more energy efficient, and codes can level the playing field between builders who want to install the cheapest, most energy-inefficient buildings and those who want to deliver a more quality product. City codes can also be changed to accommodate more climate-friendly designs and equipment, such as allowing for the installation of solar panels on residential roofs. For transportation emission sources,

330  Jill Jordan city codes can address items like curtaining the idling of buses and trucks, and city programs and policies can help steer private fleets to use alternative fuels or to replace older trucks with more energy-efficient and cleaner models. For industrial sources, cities can direct their purchase of materials away from materials made from traditional, higher-emitting processes to cleaner, more environmentally friendly products produced with fewer emissions. For example, cities can substitute concrete made with a fly ash additive for concrete made without fly ash, which has a much greater environmental footprint than concrete with a fly ash additive. Cities can also ensure that city inspection programs of industrial facilities are robust and thorough so that facilities are not emitting more than their permits allow. Because cities do not control the amount of emissions from the community at large, cities should develop their climate action plans with a comprehensive public participation process. The public can help to set the goals for the plan, identify alternative policies and programs, and determine implementation timelines. Without public support, city councils may be unwilling to approve the needed funding and policy changes for the implementation of the climate action plan. Public support of a more general sustainability plan is also advisable, which suggests that sustainability plans can also be developed with a citizen advisory group taking the lead or staff obtaining public input during the development of the sustainability plan. Partnership opportunities and leading by example. Just as public support is important, partnering with nonprofit organizations and other governments can facilitate the implementation of sustainability efforts. Nonprofits can offer training to city staff and technical assistance in the development of proposed policies and programs. Nonprofits can also rally citizen support for proposed policies and programs when staff is presenting these new ideas to the council. Technical experts from other agencies can be called upon to help brief city councils about proposed policies and programs. An example of how nonprofits can assist a city is shown in the following case study. This case study also shows how a city can demonstrate leadership by example by practicing a new sustainability practice first, working out the kinks, and helping to train community members in the practice.

Case Study on Nonprofit Partnerships: The City of Dallas Three Dallas residents, one of whom was a local architect practicing sustainable design, decided that they needed to make their city more sustainable. They did this by forming a nonprofit called Sustainable Dallas, and one of the organization’s first actions was to organize a conference about various aspects of sustainability. They invited staff members of the City of Dallas to attend the conference, and they waived the conference fee for these officials. One Dallas official came to the conference as a result. One of the sessions at the conference was about the newly developed Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program that the US Green Building Council

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(USGBC) had developed several years before. The Dallas official was intrigued by the LEED program with its claims of promoting better design and lower life cycle costs for buildings. The official took the idea back to the city’s architectural group and asked them what they thought of LEED. The reaction was mixed, with older architects saying that they always practiced sustainable design and hence adopting LEED was not needed, and younger architects saying that city buildings could be more energy efficient and more sustainable such that LEED should be tried out. At that time, the Dallas police headquarters building was nearing the completion of its design. The construction management company and the architectural firm for the building along with the city’s project manager were given the task of trying to incorporate LEED into the project at that late date as a pilot project. One member of the construction management company, one member of the architectural firm, and the city’s project manager took an interest in making LEED work. Together they developed alternative bid packages that had LEED components. As each phase of construction was bid out, the LEED components were bid as separate add alternative items so that a comparison in the cost with conventional components could be made. In spite of greater upfront costs, the life cycle costs showed cost savings to the city. The city council was given this information and accepted all of the LEED packages, and ultimately, the building became a LEEDcertified building. During this bidding phase, a second Dallas building was designed under the LEED program starting from the beginning of the building’s design phase, which is the proper way to use LEED. Word of the city experimenting with LEED spread back to the architect with Sustainable Dallas, and he recruited several more local architects who had participated in the beta testing of LEED. This group approached the city and offered their technical assistance in helping the city to develop a green building policy for city buildings. With their guidance and support in lobbying the council, the city adopted its green building ordinance. The city returned the favor of assistance by offering the outside architects a free meeting place as they organized the Dallas Chapter of USBGC and by allowing city architects on city time to help them organize the chapter. Later the city supported one of its architects as she served on the USGBC’s national board. The adoption of the green building policy allowed the city to lead by example in showing how LEED could be achieved. Consulting architects working on city buildings had to become LEED-certified professionals. They could then transfer this knowledge gained on city projects to their other clients. City staff also made numerous presentations about LEED at various community meetings and technical sessions for the architectural and construction industry, thereby providing training to the private sector. After several years of successfully using LEED on the new city buildings, the city began thinking of expanding green building principles to private sector buildings. A task force was put together of both residential

332  Jill Jordan and commercial building stakeholders, including the architects who helped with the adoption of the city’s first green building ordinance. Other local environmentalists joined the task force as well. Public input was obtained, through which it was discovered that some private-sector stakeholders were not in favor of codifying a green building policy. However, the environmentalists and architectural community working with city staff were able to eventually push through the new green building policy for private buildings through the council adoption process. This collaboration lasting over a decade between the city, nonprofits, and concerned citizens showed how valuable partnerships can be.

Relationship to Resiliency As mentioned in the discussion about climate action plans, climate change is forcing cities to both try to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to the inevitable climate changes. Adaptation involves cities being better prepared to deal with emergency situations involving floods, droughts, wildfires, and other natural disasters and being more resilient in terms of their infrastructure to be able to handle these extreme events. Cities are developing resiliency plans to coordinate their efforts to help enable themselves to adapt to changing conditions and “thrive,” even when experiencing chronic stresses like poor economic conditions, housing blight, poverty, and health issues (City of Dallas, 2018). With respect to the changing conditions, infrastructure must be able to handle larger storms and floods. For example, storm sewers and other drainage-related infrastructure is typically designed to handle a rainfall event that has a one percent chance of occurring in any particular year, but with hurricanes and other storms increasing in severity, the question becomes whether drainage infrastructure should be designed to handle larger flood events that have a 0.2% to 0.01% chance of occurring. The design of this more resilient infrastructure may or may not be sustainable in the sense of being environmentally friendly. The design could call for natural systems like keeping floodplains in their natural condition, or the design could call for large concrete channels that deliver stormwater faster downstream at a higher velocity than natural channels do. The first of these designs is considered sustainable, whereas the second one is not considered sustainable. For infrastructure to be sustainable, it should be resilient, but not all resilient infrastructure is sustainable. Given this relationship of close but slightly different terms, cities may incorporate sustainability principles into their resiliency plans. Such inclusion can be a tool that city managers use to further sustainability goals under the umbrella of planning for resiliency. This tool is particularly useful when managers work for city councils that may not believe that climate change is real or that sustainability is important. One way that city managers can help their staff design infrastructure with sustainability and resiliency in mind is to use the EnvisionTM system from

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the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI). EnvisionTM and ISI were created through a joint effort of the American Public Works Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the American Council of Engineering Companies. This system is to civil engineering infrastructure projects what the LEED system is to buildings. Both systems include professionals obtaining credentialing in the use of the system and projects being certified for meeting a rating system. The EnvisionTM system rates projects based on points earned in five categories that cover climate and risk, the natural world, resource allocation, leadership, and quality of life. EnvisionTM also encourages the use of Triple Bottom Line Cost Benefit Analysis (TBLCBA) in planning and designing projects by allowing a direct comparison of alternative project components. TBL-CBA uses life cycle cost accounting in a cost-benefit analysis of a project’s environmental, social, and economic impacts and aspects. The EnvisionTM system also provides checklists of sustainability and resiliency issues that can be used to plan projects without requiring that all projects be carried through the entire certification process. Cities can require that their staff or design consultants use EnvisionTM when designing, reconstructing, or rehabilitating infrastructure. Cities can also require their engineering staff or consultants to have EnvisionTM credentials and offer training programs on the use of the system. The use of EnvisionTM can help to facilitate the sustainability and resiliency of new infrastructure.

Final Thoughts: Ethical Considerations City councils come in all types of political persuasions, with some who believe firmly in the threat of climate change, some who are more concerned about other topics but are open to doing something about climate change, and some who do not feel that climate change is real. This spectrum means that some cities will have active, ongoing sustainability and climate change action programs while others will be openly hostile toward such efforts. For new city managers coming into a community with ongoing sustainability efforts, the task is to jump on board and support those efforts. For new managers of cities somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, the task is to ensure compliance and propose sustainability programs that make sense for their communities. For new managers entering a community of climate change deniers where the council is openly hostile to sustainability, a question of ethics arises. York Willbern, in his classic 1984 article, outlines that there are six levels of public morality for public officials (Willbern, 1984). Each of these levels builds upon the preceding ones, but three of these levels are particularly important to the issue of promoting sustainability in cities. The first level is basic honesty and conformity with laws and regulations, which implies that new city managers must ensure that their cities’ operations comply with all environmental regulations. Getting council members to understand this basic duty can usually be achieved.

334  Jill Jordan Willbern’s fourth level is the ethic of democratic responsibility, in which he suggests that appointed officials, like city managers, should not substitute their own personal ethics and judgments as to what should be done for the judgment of what the elected officials want to be done, given that the elected officials have the political mandate from the public. It is still ethical for appointed officials to make recommendations that may be contrary to the political platform of the elected officials, but many city managers tend to not do this. Instead, many managers do not push sustainability and stop their ethical considerations at this level without ever moving to next level. The fifth and most complex of Willbern’s levels is the ethic of public policy determination in which moral judgments of rightness and wrongness must be made when determining what a city is going to do or what policy it is going to follow. City managers must consider the equity and justice of policies and programs, along with the costs, benefits, and distribution of who gains or loses as a result of the new programs or policies. It is at this point that city managers must ask themselves if blindly following the political persuasions of the council is the right thing to do or if they should act to encourage sustainability for the good of the greater public than just the citizens of their one community. The manager does not have to sell proposed sustainability policies and programs under the sustainability banner, but can instead, recommend and implement them on the basis of promoting public safety, which is a goal of resiliency planning, or on the basis of saving money, which can be a byproduct of using LEED or EnvisionTM. The financial reality is that many of the sustainability tactics can be done for the same or lower cost as traditional means by just substituting safer, more sustainable products or buying wisely. Even the most ardent climate change deniers appreciate saving money and promoting public safety. Given this, no city should be without a sustainability initiative, and all cities can do their part in addressing climate change and other environmental issues.

Note 1 This figure comes from subtracting 438 from the total of 19,495 incorporated cities, towns, and villages in the United States of which 14,768 have less than 5,000 in population, according to the World Population Review in 2020.

References Brundtland, G., 1987. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future Chapter 2. United Nations General Assembly Document A/42/427. Retrieved from http://www​.un​-documents​.net​/ocf​-02​.htm​#I. C40 Cities, 2020. About. Retrieved from https://www​.c40​.org​/about. City of Dallas, 2018. Resilient Dallas: Dallas’ Path to Shared Prosperity. Retrieved March 18, 2020, from http://www​.100resilientcities​.org​/wp​-content​/uploads​ /2018​/06​/Resilient​-Dallas​-Strategy​-Reduced​-PDF​.pdf.

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Climate Mayors, 2020. US Climate Mayors Commit to Adopt, Honor and Uphold Paris Climate Agreement Goals. Retrieved from http://climatemayors​.org​/actions​ /paris​-climate​-agreement/. International Organization for Standardization, 2020. ISO 14001:2015(en) section 3.2.1. Retrieved from https://www​.iso​.org​/obp​/ui/​#iso​:std​:iso​:14001​:ed​-3​:v1​:en. The International Panel on Climate Change, 2014. Summary for Policymakers. In O. Edenhofer, R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S. Kadner, K. Seyboth, A. Adler, I. Baum, S. Brunner, P. Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow, T. Zwickel and J. C. Minx (Eds.), Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://www​.ipcc​.ch​/site​/assets​/uploads​/2018​/02​/ipcc​_wg3​_ar5​_summary​-for​ -policymakers​.pdf. Willbern, Y., 1984. Types and Levels of Public Morality. Public Administration Review, 44(2), 102–108. https://doi​.org​/10​.2307​/975860. World Meteorological Organization, 2019. WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018. WMO - No, 1233. Retrieved from https://library​.wmo​ .int​/doc​_num​.php​?explnum​_id​=5789. World Population Review, 2020. How Many Cities Are in the US Population. January 13, 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2020, from http://wor​ldpo​pula​tion​ review​.com​/us​-cities​/how​-many​-cities​-are​-in​-the​-us/.

19 Accountability Tarron J. Richardson

Introduction As the nineteenth century ended, there was a significant push to create more accountability and transparency in government. This desired change in governance can be attributed to many factors, but none were more prevalent than the ongoing exploitation of political and appointed officials by large corporations following Reconstruction (Orser, 2012).1 Reconstruction came to fruition following the American Civil War, which divided family members and friends in their quest to either preserve slavery or end this malevolent institution. During this time, white landowners who amassed great wealth from enslaved labor were unable to maintain their once-thriving crops and financial earnings as mechanization gradually replaced husbandry. The production of manufactured goods was occurring at a far more rapid pace than ever before with industrialization. Many of the companies that profited from these new modes of production had a heavy influence on elections and policy decisions (Orser, 2012).2 This was in addition to bribery and other schemes that were used to protect their individual interests. These immoral actions gave rise to governmental scandals and corruption. The most notorious perpetrator of these egregious deeds during this epoch was William Tweed. Tweed was a New York City politician who became known as the “Boss” of Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall was the headquarters for the Democratic Party’s political machine (Anbinder, 1995).3 Political machines are responsible for garnering votes in an effort to win elections and adopt legislation that favors a particular party. Throughout his tenure as the “Boss” of Tammany Hall, Tweed was extremely successful in securing elections and appointments for those he considered as associates to various high-ranking posts in government. Tweed utilized this network to pilfer funds from the city for personal financial gain, which eventually landed him in prison for larceny and forgery. Issues of this nature continued to exist throughout the late nineteenth century, which became known as the Gilded Age. This term was derived from the title of a novel called Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, written by Mark Twain and Dudley Warner. In this book, Twain and Warner depict DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-19

Accountability  337 the political corruption and avarice of government officials following the Civil War (Twain and Warner, 1873).4 Although this novel was penned during Reconstruction, many of the socioeconomic conditions that were illustrated in this work became a reality during the Gilded Age. Many of those factors, amongst others, paved the way for a new idea of thought that would target political corruption, immigration, urbanization, and industrialization (Hillstrom, 2006).5 This new movement, called the Progressive Era, ushered in a wealth of reforms that promoted social and political change (Hillstrom, 2006).6 During this period, activists who were predominately middle-class sought to quash corruption in government that was being driven by political machines. Some of the most notable advocates for this ideology were former President Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Childs. Roosevelt, who was also a founding member of the National Municipal League, championed progressive policies on the federal level that would suppress social issues and thwart political corruption. On the contrary, Childs, a businessman and reformer, played a significant role in local politics by generating awareness about the manager-council form of government. Today, many municipalities throughout the United States use either a manager-council or mayor-council form of government to manage their daily affairs. The roles and responsibilities of these binary structures are defined by a charter. Arian Liazo (2020) contends that this document holds public figures on all levels of government accountable for their actions and inactions .7 He also stated that “the earliest architects and promoters of the manager plan repeatedly maintained that managers, as unelected administrators, would not play any role in formulating public policies: the plan would separate politics and administration (Liazo, 2020).”8 This ideally creates a clear delineation between the specified roles and responsibilities for each body of government. In the manager-council form of government, the city manager is appointed and terminated by an elected city council. As the chief executive officer, this individual is accountable for all administrative functions, as well as the hiring of other professionals to provide a host of public services. This is in addition to creating annual budgets and executing policies set forth by the elected body. Hayes and Chang (1990) proclaim that this model of governance is akin to a private sector entity due to its hierarchical framework, wherein the chief executive officer reports to a board of directors or trustees. Despite the manner by which the chief executive officer assumes their position, can the presumption of ethics and morality be any more reliable ?9 Within this format, power is equally shared amongst all members of the council. Unlike the mayor-council form of government, the council selects its mayor through an internal electoral process. This position is part of the elected body that implements policies, appoints certain positions, approves budgets, and establishes tax rates. The mayor also serves as the presiding officer over its meetings and attends ceremonial events.

338  Tarron J. Richardson In contrast, the mayor-council form of government utilizes a different process to elect its mayor and legislative body. The mayor and council are elected independently from one another, which creates a separation of powers. This structure precludes the mayor from voting on legislation. However, the mayor does have veto power over policies, while the council can still vote to overturn a veto.

Ethics Ethics play an essential role in every aspect of human endeavor. This has resulted in there being more than one school of thought relating to what the word “ethics” truly means. Ethics, according to Deigh (2010) is the “philosophical study of morality. It is the study of what are good and bad ends to pursue in life and what it is right and wrong in the conduct of life.”10 Chapman (2000) noted that “ethics in government refers to moral standards in the public service.”11 These two definitions have served as a source of discourse over time within the local government profession when unethical practices violate ethical principles. More than a century ago, the Gilded Age brought attention to these issues in local government through the use of print media. This made the public aware of these ongoing transgressions, which spurred the establishment of policies that were designed to discourage misconduct. However, these misdeeds continue to take place in large and small communities throughout this country. Although many of these criminal acts have led to imprisonment and other forms of justice, it has yet to deter government officials, as well as rank-and-file employees, from engaging in corruptive behavior and other immoral acts that bring shame to localities. Case in point, the City of Detroit, Michigan, became a topic of discussion due to a scandal that involved its “hip-hop” mayor and former State House Representative, Kwame Kilpatrick. During his time as mayor, Kilpatrick built a network of family members and friends that enriched the participants through various money-making schemes (Bohy, 2011).12 As the head of this criminal enterprise, Kilpatrick received kickbacks and other forms of compensation from those who sought business with the city. In the end, Kilpatrick received a 28-year federal prison sentence for tax crimes, fraud, extortion, and racketeering. His malfeasance, in collaboration with a host of other financial issues that existed prior to his taking office, resulted in the city filing for bankruptcy. Similarly, the City of Bell, California, was brought into disrepute and close to bankruptcy when its city manager engaged in a scheme with his council members that defrauded taxpayers for many years. Although its residents had incomes lower than the national average, levies and other fees were illegally increased to fund salaries plus retirement benefits (Anonymous, 2004).13 The city manager, Robert Rizzo, received an annual salary of $787,637 with a total compensation package that equaled $1.5

Accountability  339 million dollars (Anonymous, 2004).14 His superiors, the city council, were also paid handsomely in the amount of $100,000 per year for meeting once a month (Anonymous, 2004).15 In the end, Rizzo received a 12-year prison sentence for his role in this conspiracy. Members of the city council, as well as his assistant city manager, also received varying sentences for their fraudulent behavior. There are various strategies that can be employed to possibly dissuade governmental personnel from journeying down these unethical paths. Steven Koven (2015) uses a phased approach toward “enhancing public sector ethics” to explain how competing outside factors can impact the philosophy of an organization.16 This can ultimately lead an organization, as well as its public officials, down two separate channels. One path takes the standpoint of having a cause-and-effect relationship. An ethical government has a higher probability of producing its “desired” outcomes than one that is unethical. Confronting an unethical government leads to two choices. The first choice accepts unethical practices as a cultural norm, while the other alternative seeks to prevent and correct immoral behaviors through “change.” The final segment of this diagram illustrates how “carrots and sticks” can influence change. These inducements can result in negative or positive outcomes based on the principles and standards of an organization.

Case Study: Governance There are various issues that can negatively impact the public’s perception of a municipality. These matters, whether big or small, can create epic challenges for a governmental entity. However, these deficiencies can be addressed by holding officials accountable for their actions and inactions. In an effort to regain the trust of their citizenry, many cities have either terminated their top executive or changed their form of governance. One of those communities is Richmond, Virginia, which has an epic history of change and accountability within its local government. The City of Richmond, which is the former capital of the Confederacy, has a storied past of racialized politics and paradigm shifts in its governmental structure. These collective matters were magnified during a local election more than 50 years ago when the city council was majority-white. At the conclusion of this election, an African American man by the name of Curtis Holt lost his bid for public office and filed successive suits that began in 1971 (Hayter, 2014).17 This ultimately led to an injunction where local elections were suspended until a final decision was reached by the court in 1977 (Hayter, 2014).18 At the end of its first election in nearly seven years, African Americans became the majority members of city council. Dissimilar to past at-large elections, these candidates were elected from nine single-member council districts (Hayter, 2014).19 This unprecedented election also created a pathway for the first African American to become city manager in 1979 (Kollatz,

340  Tarron J. Richardson 2016).20 The appointment of African Americans to this post continued until 2004 (Kollatz, 2016).21 In 2002, former Governor Lawrence Douglas Wilder began a campaign to replace the manager-council form of government. Wilder teamed up with Tom Bliley, who previously served as a Republican Congressman in the United States House of Representatives on this initiative. Interestingly, Bliley also once held the title of mayor for Richmond. This bipartisan effort was designed to rid the city of its manager-council form of government (Haney, 2010).22 This was in addition to eliminating corruption and establishing accountability standards within the ranks of city government (Haney, 2010).23 As a result of past discriminatory voting practices in Richmond, this move from a council-manager form of government to mayor-council did not come to fruition without opposition. The African American community felt that an at-large mayor would once again dilute their vote, as it related to the election of a mayor who did not receive favorable support from predominately African American districts. Although there was a significant amount of opposition to this model, Richmond voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum to elect a mayor-at-large in 2003 (Oliver, 2014).24 In 2004, Richmond elected its first at-large mayor in nearly six decades. As a result of this election, the title of city manager was eradicated and replaced with chief administrative officer. This new form of governance also changed the election process for mayor. Previously, the city council selected one of its nine members to serve as mayor. The current structure requires a candidate for mayor to win five out of nine council districts (Oliver, 2014).25 In transitioning to the mayor-council form of government, the desire was to curtail the prevalence of reoccurring legal matters that had led to a string of convictions and indictments that began in 1997. These unethical practices were duly noted by Haney (2010), in her article “Wilder’s Last Crusade”: Between 1997 and 2004, the city saw a mayoral aide plead guilty to cocaine distribution and racketeering; the mayor he served resign from the council and plead guilty to federal charges of mail fraud and obstruction of justice; a city councilman and his wife convicted on federal tax evasion charges; the vice chairman of the Industrial Development Authority convicted in a bribery scandal; and a former aide to the city manager plead guilty to charges in city hall billing scam.26 (Haney, 2010) Moreover, there were also a host of other public ills such as poverty and high crime rates that continued to prevail since instituting the single-member district election system. Resolutely, the Wilder-Bliley Commission contended that the election of an at-large mayor would prevent these woes (Haney, 2010).27 However, the exclusive group of handpicked candidates

Accountability  341 who were deemed highly qualified for this top leadership position never came into being. Although there were other candidates vying for this seat, Wilder considered them to be complicit in the problems that were plaguing Richmond (Haney, 2010).28 This void in qualified entrants became a motivating factor for Wilder to enter the mayoral race. Wilder contended that he could not find a viable contender for mayor who could meet the public demand for “change and reform (Phillips, 2004).”29 These two words ultimately became his campaign manifesto (Crocker, 2004).30 In the end, Wilder would move on to win the mayoral election by winning more than 75% of the votes in each council district (Phillips, 2004).31

Accountability Accountability can be defined and articulated in many ways. In government, accountability is often used as a means to hold public officials responsible for their actions and inactions (Gortner, 1991).32 These terms can explain the performance of an organization and how it responds to issues. This information can be derived from various sources. For instance, municipalities use performance evaluations to assess an employee’s level of productivity. Conversely, voters utilize the ballot to either re-elect an incumbent or unseat them. A petition was used to gauge the need for a strong-mayor form of government in Richmond. In 2004, the Wilder-Bliley Commission utilized “accountability” as one of their key talking points to garner support from voters (Haney, 2010).33 This notion paid dividends as they gathered the necessary signatures for the required referendum to change its current mayorcouncil form of government. The voting public later approved this initiative in an overwhelming fashion. In his quest to ensure that the populace had their voices heard, mayorelect L. Douglas Wilder, who spearheaded this shift in governance, began implementing reforms shortly after winning the election. His top three areas of concern at the time were public safety, education, and economic development (Phillips, 2004).34 While addressing these matters, Wilder established committees to evaluate other matters that related to “health, efficiency and effectiveness at City Hall, public housing, social services, the effectiveness of the City Attorney’s Office (Crocker, 2004).”35 These recommendations along with Wilder’s own personal view of city government and its top bureaucrats led to mass terminations. Wilder signaled that this would occur early on in his administration due to his negative perception of most city employees who he considered to be part of a “fattened and corrupt bureaucracy (Oliver, 2014).”36 These departures led to a slew of new appointees who were charged with making city departments more efficient and effective. At the beginning of his tenure as mayor, the public welcomed these organizational changes

342  Tarron J. Richardson and public service improvements. For many, it generated a sense of hope that Richmond was finally moving in a new direction. However, as the ­honeymoon period came to an end, the battle for power between city council and the mayor’s office became a source of contention. Throughout the course of his tenure as mayor, Wilder and city council would disagree on many issues that would receive regional and national attention. Wilder, on one hand, felt that the city council should maintain its role as policymaker (Times Dispatch Staff, 2007).37 On the contrary, city council felt that Wilder and his administration were unwilling to address their concerns or follow their policy decisions (Times Dispatch Staff, 2007).38 These two diametrically different views on governance adversely impacted both branches of government in opposing ways. There were three very interesting conflicts that occurred during his mayorship, which questioned the efficiency and effectiveness of this new form of government. One involved a failed attempt by Wilder to forcefully remove the entire public school system from city hall. This led to a court injunction that prevented this tactical eviction from occurring. Unfortunately, this botched plan of action cost taxpayers millions of dollars in expenses from the moving company and legal fees (Jones, 2008).39 Secondly, his interim chief administrative officer was denied the permanent position by council. in many ways, the council felt that his interim chief administrative officer was an extension of Wilder. This was in addition to his actions and inactions on matters they deemed as important. Lastly, Wilder became the subject of an investigation due to his use of city transportation while still receiving a monthly auto allowance. As an executive-level employee of the city, Wilder was entitled to a monthly auto allowance of $700 for using his personal vehicle for city business (Biegelsen and Dovi, 2008).40 Although he regularly accepted these stipends for said purposes, he never utilized his personal vehicle for city business (Biegelsen and Dovi, 2008).41 This was primarily due to him having a security detail that escorted him from place to place. Yet, another high-level city employee who was also receiving compensation for his auto expenses was forced to resign. Unlike Wilder, this staffer was using his city-owned vehicle to conduct work and personal affairs. Although these actions by both were in direct violation of a city ordinance, neither of the two was ever prosecuted and Wilder was able to maintain his position as mayor (Biegelsen and Dovi, 2008).42 Such troubling activities would continue to exist in Richmond’s government following the departure of Wilder. Ironically, the person who succeeded Wilder was once opposed to having a strong-mayor form of government (Oliver, 2014).43 Dwight Jones, the former state delegate and school board member, had a leadership style that was significantly different from Wilder’s. Jones’s style of leadership was very reserved and methodical, which was characterized by some as being unengaged and unfocused (Bass, 2012).44 During his first term as

Accountability  343 mayor, these characteristics were solidified by his nonchalant approach toward handling a natural disaster and city council–related matters (Bass, 2012).45 These lapses in management and judgment would continue to persist during his second term in office. After winning his first election for mayor in 2008, Jones continued to maintain his position as Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of South Richmond. His congregants came into question as allegations of cronyism and malfeasance began to surface. These claims were generated by a division chief and another employee from the City of Richmond’s Department of Public Works. The division chief, who was in charge of finance and administration, interviewed candidates for a vacant position in one of his assigned areas. After completing his interviews and selecting a qualified candidate, Jones’s senior advisor met with the division chief about his choice of hire. This conversation between the two revolved around a city employee who was also a member of Jones’s congregation who was not offered the position, which essentially motivated his senior advisor to intervene in the hiring process (Burnell Evans, 2016).46 At the conclusion of their discussion, the division chief took a short leave of absence and later resigned. It was revealed later that the employee never officially applied for this vacancy (Burnell Evans, 2016).47 This altercation shed light upon the covert practice of partiality for those who were church members. This saga continued with another parishioner who was involved with the construction of Jones’s new church in Chesterfield County, which is a suburban municipality that surrounds the City of Richmond. During the construction of this facility, the Director of Public Works used his work hours to conduct church business affairs with contractors. An audit report showed that the subject employee spent approximately 38 hours of city time exchanging emails and phone calls with developers (Burnell Evans, 2016).48 In an effort to atone for his wrongdoing, the director relinquished 38 hours of his earned annual vacation time (Oliver, 2016).49 In the aftermath of this scathing auditor’s report being released publicly, Jones immediately tried to rectify the situation by contacting the Virginia State Police and requesting their assistance in the matter (Oliver and Burnell Evans, 2016).50 However, his act of good faith led to an investigation that would involve more than just one agency. It included the Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney and City Auditor, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Although Jones escaped criminal prosecution from these agencies, his legacy as the second at-large mayor of Richmond was tarnished as a result of these scandals that could have been prevented. Levar Stoney, who serves as the current mayor, was recently re-elected for a second term in office. Prior to being elected for his first term, Stoney pledged to conduct an audit of city hall to cure what he considered a “broken organization (Chaney, 2016).”51 Although Stoney had great intentions to rid the city of corruption and other ills, his holdover Chief Administrative

344  Tarron J. Richardson Officer, Selena Cuffee-Glenn, from the Jones administration became the target of an investigation for nepotism. This scheme netted five of her family members jobs in various departments. This fiasco gained traction after an employee in the Department of Public Utilities complained about Cuffee-Glenn’s daughter’s hourly rate of pay (Robinson, 2019).52 Prior to her hiring, there were several senior-level administrators who exchanged emails about her daughter possibly working for the Department of Public Utilities. According to the Inspector General’s report, there was only one administrator who raised a red flag and refused to sign off on the requested salary for Cuffen-Glenn’s daughter (Robinson, 2019).53 This was primarily due to her entry-level salary being relatively higher than those who had more work experience and years of service in this particular position (Robinson, 2019).54 Eventually, that employee approved the hiring and compensation as presented for Cuffee-Glenn’s daughter. As the chief administrative officer, Cuffee-Glenn was responsible for managing all city operations on a daily basis and its personnel. This position wields an enormous amount of power, which most likely was a motivating factor for those in subordinate roles to follow suit and hire her daughter along with the recommended salary. Although Cuffee-Glenn was never a part of any discussions that pertained to the hiring of her daughter, she still had a vast amount of influence that could sway decisions made by employees under her leadership. This misstep did not bode well with Stoney, who ultimately terminated her services as chief administrative officer. The triangle model of responsibility, as offered by Schlenker et al. (1994), presents a vivid illustration of the corresponding connections that would purport to control the actions of political actors.55 In triangulating the concepts of prescriptive actions, relevant events, and identity characteristics, one can argue a strong connection to corruption in local government. As previously discussed, the issues of ethics and morality as guiding factors in accountability are less contingent upon the form of government and more influenced by the motivations of those in positions of power and authority. With the prescriptive expectations associated with elected officials or highlevel city government leaders, the public requires a certain degree of adherence to the norms of these roles, specifically in terms of morals and ethics. Moreover, the performance of the prescribed actions is evaluated through specific events such as elections that either reaffirm the public’s faith in the incumbent, or lack thereof, with the election of a different candidate. All the while, the actor, or official, in this case, be it elected or appointed, performs their role vis-à-vis very specific identity images, which seemingly remain consistent between the titles of mayor-at-large or city manager. Regardless of the primary actor’s title or ascension to power, the correlations between the events, prescriptions, and identity associated with leadership in either

Accountability  345 form of government remain ripe for the dissolution of responsibility and susceptibility to corruption.

Conclusion The Gilded Age and Progressive Era were both instrumental in bringing attention to corruption, as well as accountability issues in government. These movements were essential in creating a foundation for ethical standards and principles during a time when misconduct was rampant among government officials. These issues became magnified with the growth of large manufacturing companies that sought to control legislation that would negatively impact their earnings. This period in American history became known as the Gilded Age, which was a time of great transition from agriculture to industrialization. As a result of this change in industry, the economic engine of chattel slavery dissipated as manual labor became extinct due to advancements in technology and machinery. This created a greater divide between those who were wealthy and the poor. The Progressive Era addressed these inequitable economic conditions and political immorality through reforms that were driven by social activists. Although there was a considerable amount of work being done during these periods in history to prevent transgressive behavior, government officials continued to engage in practices that breached public trust. In an effort to curtail some of these misdeeds, Progressive Era activists sought to create a concept that would grant an administrator with sole control over operations and appointments. These innovative thinkers developed two plans during this era that are still being used today. One model was the mayor-council form of government, which was approved by the National Municipal League in 1898. The second one was the manager-council form of government. Richard Childs, who played an essential role in the municipal reform movement, championed the manager-council form of government for many years before it was officially adopted in 1915. Today, both forms of government are still dealing with similar issues that relate to misconduct and accountability. As with the former mayor of Detroit and city manager for Bell, California, each used his power and influence to abuse the trust bestowed upon them by the public to perform their duties ethically and morally. Both of these public officials, in their divergent ascensions to power, received prison sentences as a result of their unscrupulous behavior. Yet, the question still remains as to which form of government best suits a community that is considering changing its form of government when crime and corruption are very likely to occur in either structure. Although not in isolation, the City of Richmond, Virginia, serves as a telling example of how transitions in government may seem beneficial to some and detrimental to others. Over the years, Richmond has had its share

346  Tarron J. Richardson of scandals that involved staff and elected officials. These matters paved the way for a structural change in its form of government from manager-council to mayor-council. This new form of government received a considerable amount of support from voters in 2004. The mayor-elect, who was the former Governor of Virginia, campaigned that this form of government was the necessary panacea for change and accountability in city government. However, the dissolute behavior that was occurring prior to his taking office remained prevalent during his tenure as mayor and, subsequently, for years thereafter following his departure. Since the late 1800s, there has been a substantial amount of work done to deter crime and corruption within local government. Yet, these unprincipled acts continue to surface at all levels of these organizations. This then begs the question as to whether or not accountability truly exists within the field of public administration. The immediate answer would be yes; however, when there are incidents involving those in executive level and policymaking positions making poor decisions, this response then becomes no. Ethical and moral ideologies that exist at the top levels of any organization will trickle downward, promoting and sustaining accountability within all ranks of government. However, there must first be a viable source from which these principles flow.

Notes 1 Orser, Charles E., Jr., Why the Gilded Age … and Why Now? (New York: Springer Science and Business Media, 2012) pp. 623–631. 2 Ibid. 3 Anbinder, Tyler (1995). “Boss” Tweed: Nativist. Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 15, No. 1: p. 109. 4 Twain, Mark, and Warner, Dudley, The Gilded Age; A Tale of Today (Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1873) pp. v–vi, 320–379. 5 Hillstrom, L. C., Muckruckers and the Progressive Era (Omnigraphics, Incorporated, 2006) pp. 7–22. 6 Ibid. 7 Liazo, Arian, Returning the City: The Contested Origins of Urban Government 1890–1930, (New York: Columbia University Press. 2020) pp. 255–256. 8 Ibid. p. 256. 9 Hayes, K. and Chang, S. (1990). The Relative Efficiency of City Manager and Mayor-Council Forms of Government. Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 57, No. 1: pp. 167–168. 10 Deigh, John, An Introduction to Ethics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010) p. 7. 11 Chapman, Richard A., Ethics in Public Service for the New Millenium (Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2000) p. 1. 12 Bohy, Ric (2011, May 23). How Kwame Kilpatrick’s Arrogance Spawned a Reign of Corruption in Detroit. Premiere: Detroit’s Business Journal. 13 Anonymous (2004, April 16). Bell, Calif. City Manager Gets 12 Years Prison for $6 million Corruption Scheme. Daily News. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid.

Accountability  347 16 Koven, Steven, Public Sector Ethics (Florida: CRC Press, 2015) p. 195. 17 Hayter, Julian Maxwell (2014,). From Intent to Effect: Richmond, Virginia, and the Protracted Struggle for Voting Rights, 1965–1977. Journal of Policy History, Vol. 26, No. 42: pp. 534–567. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 Kollatz, Harry (2016, October 21). Shifting Leadership. Richmond Magazine. 21 Ibid. 22 Haney, Sarah (2010, August 17). Wilder’s Last Crusade. Governing. 23 Ibid. 24 Oliver, Ned (2014, December 16). The Experiment. Style Weekly. 25 Ibid. 26 Haney, Sarah (2010, August 17). Wilder’s Last Crusade. Governing. 27 Ibid. 28 Ibid. 29 Phillips, Matthew (2004, November 4). Wilder Wins. Richmond Times Dispatch. 30 Crocker, Robb (2004, November 17). R-E-F-O-R-M. Richmond Times Dispatch. 31 Phillips, Matthew (2004, November 4). Wilder Wins. Richmond Times Dispatch. 32 Gortner, Harold, Ethics for Public Managers (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1991) pp. 10–11. 33 Haney, Sarah (2010, August 17). Wilder’s Last Crusade. Governing. 34 Phillips, Matthew (2004, November 4). Wilder Win., Richmond Times Dispatch. 35 Crocker, Robb (2004, November 17). R-E-F-O-R-M. Richmond Times Dispatch. 36 Oliver, Ned (2014, December 16). The Experiment. Style Weekly. 37 Times Dispatch Staff (2007, September 28). Councilwoman Says Wilder Simply Ignores Laws of City. Richmond Times Dispatch. 38 Ibid. 39 Jones, Will (2008, December 28). Wilder Had Hits, Misses as Richmond Mayor. Richmond Times Dispatch. 40 Biegelsen, Amy, and Dovi, Chris (2008, May 28). Wilder May Owe More in CarAllowance Fiasco. Style Weekly. 41 Ibid. 42 Ibid. 43 Oliver, Ned (2014, December 16). The Experiment. Style Weekly. 44 Bass, Scott (2012, July 6). Jones 2.0. Style Weekly. 45 Ibid. 46 Burnell Evans, K. (2016, January 9). Former Richmond Official Says He Quit after Pressure to Give Job to Member of Mayor’s Church. Richmond Times Dispatch. 47 Ibid. 48 Ibid. 49 Oliver, Ned (2016, January 6). Report: Richmond Public Works Director Spent City Time Working on Mayor’s New Church. Richmond Times Dispatch. 50 Oliver, Ned, and Burnell Evans, K. (2016, March 20). Jones’ Lawyer: No Laws Broken, But Mayor May Have Acted Differently in Retrospect. Richmond Times Dispatch. 51 Chaney, Matt (2016, November 9). I Will Be a Voice for Everyone: Levar Stoney Wins Richmond Mayoral Election. ABC 8 News. 52 Robinson, Mark (2019, September 18). Stoney Fires Richmond’s Top Administrator after Scathing Inspector General Report Finds City Hired 5 of Her Relatives. Richmond Times Dispatch.

348  Tarron J. Richardson 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid. 55 Schlenker, Barry R., Britt, Thomas W., Pennington, John, Murphy, Rodolfo, and Doherty, Kevin (1994). The Triangle Model of Responsibility. Psychological Review, Vol. 101, No. 4: pp. 639–640.

References Anbinder, Tyler, 1995. ‘Boss’ Tweed: Nativist. Journal of the Early Republic, 15(1), 109. Anonymous, 2004. Bell, Calif. City Manager Gets 12 Years Prison for $6 Million Corruption Scheme. Daily News. April 16, 2004. Bass, Scott, 2012. Jones 2.0. Style Weekly. July 6, 2012. Bohy, Ric, 2011. How Kwame Kilpatrick’s Arrogance Spawned a Reign of Corruption in Detroit. Premiere Detroit’s Business Journal. May 23, 2011. Burnell Evans, K., 2016. Former Richmond Official Says He Quit after Pressure to Give Job to Member of Mayor’s Church. Richmond Times - Dispatch. January 9, 2016. Chaney, Matt, 2016. I Will Be a Voice for Everyone: Levar Stoney Wins Richmond Mayoral Election. Abc 8 News. November 9, 2016. Chapman, Richard A., 2000. Ethics in Public Service for the New Millennium. Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Ltd, Farnham, p. 1. Crocker, Robb, 2004. R-E-F-O-R-M. Richmond Times - Dispatch. November 17, 2004. Deigh, John, 2010. An Introduction to Ethics. New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 7. Gortner, Harold, 1991. Ethics for Public Managers. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, Westport Connecticut, pp. 10–11. Haney, Sarah, 2010. Wilder’s Last Crusade. Governing. August 17, 2010. Hayes, K., and Chang, S., 1990. The Relative Efficiency of City Manager and Mayor-Council Forms of Government. Southern Economic Journal, 57(1), 167–168. Hayter, Julian Maxwell, 2014. From Intent to Effect: Richmond, Virginia, and the Protracted Struggle for Voting Rights, 1965–1977. Journal of Policy History, 26(42), 534–567. Hillstrom, L. C., 2006. Muckruckers and the Progressive Era, Omnigraphics, Incorporated, Detroit Michigan, pp. 7–22. Kollatz, Harry, 2016. Shifting Leadership. Richmond Magazine. October 21, 2016. Koven, Steven, 2015. Public Sector Ethics. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, p. 195. Liazo, Arian, 2020. Returning the City, the Contested Origins of Urban Government 1890–1930. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 255–256. Oliver, Ned, 2014. The Experiment. Style Weekly. December 16, 2014. Oliver, Ned, 2016. Report: Richmond Public Works Director Spent City Time Working on Mayor’s New Church. Richmond Times - Dispatch. January 6, 2016. Oliver, Ned, and Burnell Evans, K., 2016. Jones’ Lawyer: No Laws Broken, but Mayor May Have Acted Differently in Retrospect. Richmond Times - Dispatch. March 20, 2016.

Accountability  349 Orser, Charles E., Jr., 2012. Why the Gilded Age…and Why Now? New York: Springer Science and Business Media, pp. 623–631. Phillips, Matthew, 2004. Wilder Wins. Richmond Times - Dispatch. November 4, 2004. Robinson, Mark, 2019. Stoney Fires Richmond’s Top Administrator after Scathing Inspector General Report Finds City Hired 5 of Her Relatives. Richmond Times - Dispatch. September 18, 2019. Schlenker, Barry R., Britt, Thomas W., Pennington, John, Murphy, Rodolfo, and Doherty, Kevin, 1994. The Triangle Model of Responsibility. Psychological Review, 101(4), 639–640. Twain, Mark, and Warner, Dudley, 1873. The Gilded Age; A Tale of Today. Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, pp. v–vi, 320–379.

20 Strategic Planning and Non-Routine Management Challenges Homeland Security and Emergency Management, e.g. COVID-19 Nicolas A. Valcik Introduction What does strategic planning mean for local government and how do you plan for non-routine management challenges, which are bound to occur? As of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that even with the best strategic planning, municipalities and local governments can be imperiled by factors and events out of their control. Should an organization formulate a strategy out to one year, three years, five years, ten years, or more than that? For most organizations, the answer will lie in how the organization budgets for known expenditures and estimated revenue stream. For some local government organizations, the strategic planning process will be straightforward with little variation and known variables that can be accounted for during the planning process. For other local government organizations, the strategic planning process can be extremely complex and volatile in terms of how the expenditures and revenue streams can change in a very short time. For municipalities and local governments, local government managers are not normally allowed to tap into reserves during a crisis. Therefore, a plan and process need to be put in place where monetary reserves are not able to be accessed in times of crisis. Upper-level administrators working for elected officials will need to keep elected officials informed and be prepared to reduce their budget significantly if they are not allowed to access any reserve funds. Now more than ever, a balanced budget will be essential for municipalities and local governments to maintain in order for an organization to survive fiscal difficulties in times of hardship. Municipalities and local governments have years of budget and expenditure data, which if analyzed properly, provides them with a large volume of data for use in operational decision-making. This large amount of data provides municipalities and local governments with the ability to make “surgical” cuts or restrictions to the budget in times of crisis or emergencies. With COVID-19, for example, municipalities and local governments have had their expenditures significantly impacted above the normal operating budget in addition to having their revenues take a significant amount of reduction due to residents who normally pay their bills being unable to DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-20

Strategic Planning and Non-Routine Management  351 pay due to having businesses closed or being laid off from their employer. In addition, municipalities and local governments have had businesses in the same position as their residents when those businesses have had a significant reduction in revenues or have closed altogether. Everything from franchise fees to taxes is impacted when businesses located inside the municipality or local government are forced to close or go on hiatus for any length of time. Therefore, municipalities and local governments need to plan on how to adjust their budgets accordingly for these types of crises when they occur. Unlike a fire, earthquake, hurricane, or industrial accident, a pandemic is not immediately felt and can last over a long period of time. For municipalities and local governmental entities such as utility companies, the department personnel can be further hampered by being unable to cut off utilities of residents who traditionally do not pay their utility bills if there is a statute in place barring cutting off utilities in times of crisis. If utilities are not cut off on residents who do not pay their utility bills, then the municipality or local government is still out expenditures for those utilities or for a collection agency to obtain payment for services that have not been paid for by the resident. In order for businesses to exist or citizens (e.g. fixed-income seniors, low socio-economic individuals, etc.) to be financially viable, municipalities or local governments may incur additional expenses in the form of loans or grants to buoy these entities through the crisis. This can be compounded with governmental organizations that provide additional time off for employees who may be impacted by disaster. In times of crisis, it is very unlikely that other revenue sources will appear or opportunities will exist to make up for any monetary gap that a municipality or local government may encounter. For those governmental entities responsible for medical care operations, there should be contingency plans for what operations will be “critical” compared to elective procedures. A very difficult decision may befall local governmental officials to define what is a critical medical procedure versus an elective procedure. When those decisions are made, which personnel are to be retained by the medical care operation is going to be crucial for the fiscal well-being of the organization.

What Factors Can Unexpectedly Impact a Strategic Plan? While organizations can forecast expenditures and revenue streams, factors may intervene to alter this paradigm dramatically. Factors that can potentially impact a local government entity could be caused by economic impacts (e.g. recession, depression, economic growth, etc.), an event (e.g. COVID-19, Hurricane Katrina), or a political change for the organization. Many of the factors will be a known quantity over a certain time period while other factors will not have a time period that will lend itself easily or accurately to a projection methodology. Discussed later in this chapter will be a few methods that can be used to determine revenue and expenditures for a local government entity.

352  Nicolas A. Valcik For many (if not most) local government management organizations, there are many factors that are fixed and will be projected as an expense unless drastic actions are taken. Factors that are considered mostly fixed in a strategic plan would be personnel costs, facility costs, contractual obligations, debt service/bonds, and standard operating costs which are services offered as a standard to the public customer being served. While some of the fixed costs can be reduced, they will not be eliminated unless a complete collapse of the local government entity has occurred. There are many excellent examples of non-routine management disasters, which greatly impacted local governments and municipalities. Examples such as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 clearly show that the issue of non-routine management issues for municipalities has been in existence in the United States since the birth of the nation (Valcik and Tracy, 2017). Other natural disasters such as the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the San Francisco Earthquake in 1906, the Natchez Tornado in Mississippi (1840), the eruption of Mount St. Helens (1980), and the Chicago Heat Wave in 1995 clearly show how municipalities are impacted both in terms of physical damage, loss of life, injuries, and financial implications on a wide scale (Valcik and Tracy, 2017). These were not planned events, and municipalities and local governments had to adjust their budgets and resources to recover from such events. While the focus is primarily on natural disasters or pandemics, there should also be a focus on man-made disasters as well, which can impact large and small organizations. The space shuttle disaster with the Columbia breaking up over a wide range of municipalities impacted first responders who not only had to contend with debris causing fires but also had to guard and collect pieces of the Columbia for the federal government (Valcik and Tracy, 2017). The Texas City Disaster of 1947 caused a wide range of death and destruction, impacting first responders directly with a high casualty rate among their members (Valcik and Tracy, 2017). Replacing that first responder personnel takes time and money to recruit, train, outfit, and integrate staff into the organization. Most organizations do not have that type of planning or reserve resources to recover from such an ordeal quickly. In the city of West, Texas, in 2013, a small city was devastated by a fertilizer plant explosion, which not only caused infrastructure damage but also damaged the community since the first responders who were killed were volunteers and part of their community as citizens (Valcik and Tracy, 2017). Non-routine management challenges can certainly impact the strategic planning process. So what is to be considered a non-routine management challenge where the definition dictates that funds should be in reserve for a contingency or planning to reduce funds should be in place? The COVID-19 pandemic in particular highlights the challenge of a situation that is a public health issue as well as an economic issue. In addition, local government is further challenged and constrained by rulings at

Strategic Planning and Non-Routine Management  353 the federal and state levels of government. The COVID-19 pandemic has also changed the manner in which local governments now have to operate. In the past, city council meetings and city management meetings would have been held at city hall or by face-to-face means for communication and transparency to the public. In the State of Michigan, for example, many municipalities are now meeting online through tools such as Zoom (Graham, 2020). This new method actually has a couple of unintended benefits. For those citizens who are not as mobile to attend meetings physically, this has increased their ability to “attend” those meetings virtually, potentially providing a greater representation of citizens in governmental affairs. This method also cuts costs for those cities since they no longer have to worry about providing security and utility costs for conducting such meetings (Graham, 2020). Essentially, COVID-19 has forced local governments to modernize, which has been an unintended benefit of the pandemic (Gilman, 2020). There are of course the consequences and negative impacts on local governments as well from the COVID-19 pandemic. Since a number of businesses have been closed or reduced in operation, the local economies have been harmed, which in turn negatively impacts the revenue (sales tax) that the local governments have to operate city services (Krafcik, 2020). Cities that impose an income tax may be negatively impacted at a higher rate if their residents are unemployed (Krafcik, 2020). Local government elected leaders and administrators will at some point have tough decisions to make in these types of events where city services will be reduced due to having reduced revenue to pay personnel. Services that may have been scheduled, such as road upgrades, will now be evaluated to see if they are considered essential or if they can be delayed until the economy improves.

Non-Routine Management Challenges There are many events that can be defined as non-routine management challenges. There are the extremes of these types of events, which would be something akin to a severe Homeland Security or emergency management event like an earthquake or a terrorist event like 9/11. Then there are issues that arise when unexpectedly contending with breakdowns in equipment or infrastructure. Breakdowns in equipment and infrastructure can occur unexpectedly during bad weather (e.g. broken water mains due to freezing temperatures), but those items will still require replacement components and at times work crews to work overtime to fix critical infrastructure components. While it may be a pipe that actually fails, the work to replace the pipe will still require digging, possible concrete removal, pipe relocation and replacement, and burial. This is a multiple-step process requiring materials and personnel to replace one piece of infrastructure to serve the public, which in all likelihood was not included in the local government’s strategic plan for standard upgrade and replacement. Therefore, emergency

354  Nicolas A. Valcik replacement of infrastructure may impact the strategic plan to replace other infrastructure where funds currently exist. Another non-routine management challenge occurs in the form of litigation. Litigation can occur due to human resource issues, a citizen that brings forth a lawsuit from a personal injury claim, or a property loss claim. While insurance and legal statute may help prevent some costs to the local government management, they will not necessarily cover all of the costs involved for such expenses as attorney fees. Attorney fees and court costs can end up being very high for a local government organization and can impact smaller organizations much more severely than a larger organization with the resources to absorb the cost. At times, a local government organization may choose to settle a lawsuit rather than challenge it to cut down on costs. However, settling a lawsuit may actually embolden others to litigate against the public organization, especially if the public believes that the local government will “give in” even if it has a valid defense case. Additionally, with some crises, new policies and procedures will need to be created to contend with unforeseen issues impacting local government employees. For the COVID-19 response, for example, new policies and procedures on how first responders have to deal with the public will impact the cost to local government. This impact can potentially be in the form of first responders who may be forced to be off work if the illness is contracted, personnel who may be put on furlough or laid off (e.g. dispatchers or firefighters), and the increased costs for training and personal protective equipment (PPE) (Retherford, 2020). Having a plan for these unforeseen incidents is extremely difficult when a disaster is on a global scale. When a new illness is identified, it presents new and unforeseen challenges with regard to what type of PPE is needed, what type of personnel are going to be required, what type of training will be needed by specific personnel, and what kind of policies and procedures will need to be created to contend with the issue. For example, Ebola is an absolutely devastating illness, which is highly contagious if a person comes into contact with a bloodborne pathogen and can be deadly for most victims that contract the virus (between 50% and 90%) (MDhealth​.co​m, 2020). The PPE for Ebola as well as the medical staff and public health personnel needed to contend with such an illness are specialized and costly. To have a strategic plan to contend with such a virus would be more likely for a local government that had a port of entry (e.g. airport or port) that would be susceptible to having a carrier of the virus enter their jurisdiction. This also goes to the point of having a mechanism to screen for health issues for anyone entering the jurisdiction of the local government responsible for egress into the area. How does a local government prepare and plan for all types of public health issues that can impact their jurisdiction? The bounded rational theory would indicate that this is not a likely possibility since there are limited resources and there are only so many choices elected officials and administrators have time to make to plan for these types of events. What is more

Strategic Planning and Non-Routine Management  355 likely to happen to a local government entity, Ebola or a tornado? A local government will be unable to plan for every single contingency, so there will be adjustments that will need to be made when new occurrences do impact a local government.

Expenditure Projection For a number of reasons, expenditures are easier to predict than revenue streams. Unlike revenue streams, expenditures can often be projected from depreciation costs of facilities, equipment, and other capital assets. Infrastructure costs can be calculated by the age of certain networks and from the materials they are constructed with such as concrete, iron, plastic, or steel. Expenditures for salaries are fairly straightforward in a public organization since salaries are often set on a strict pay scale for most positions. Positions that receive overtime (e.g. police) can increase the costs of salaries that are initially budgeted. Personnel who receive raises during the mid-year budget can also increase salary amounts over the initial projection. Other variables that can increase the costs are healthcare benefits, construction costs (unexpected increase in materials), and utility costs (increase in fuel costs). A regression analysis can be used to forecast salary expenses by utilizing the historical payroll data for the past several years. This kind of analysis can provide an accurate calculation in determining future payroll costs. Increases in expenditures can occur when infrastructure is expanded to accommodate new industries or an unexpected influx of new residents to the community. While economic development is frequently desired by local governments, there are costs associated with this activity in the form of new roads, expansion of the electrical grid, and so on.

Revenue Projection Depending upon the type of public organization (or non-profit organization, if applicable), revenue projection can be more complicated than calculating expenditures over a period of time. However, when the state or federal government orders the closure of non-essential businesses, this will obviously impact any forecast that a municipality was making for future income. For municipalities relying on property, payroll (or income), and sales tax for their base revenue, this revenue stream will be dependent upon the local, state, and possibly federal economy. Depending upon the location of the organization, these revenue streams may vary widely from year to year, making it difficult to accurately project future revenue. Using a regression technique, for example, the variation between the low threshold and high threshold of revenue could be too large to be useful for planning purposes. If there are only a few data points (years), there may not be enough data to accurately project revenue into the future to be useful for planning

356  Nicolas A. Valcik purposes. The revenue projection would also be highly dependent upon every variable remaining constant over a long period of time. The city of Dallas, for example, provided a briefing to the Dallas City Council on how the coronavirus was impacting the city financially as well as strategies and tactics used to address the financial impact (City of Dallas, 2020). In the briefing, important aspects were discussed such as using triage to determine what elements of the budget needed to be in place to at least stabilize the budget and progress it to sustainability (City of Dallas, 2020). The presentation provided an excellent visualization of the criticality of certain funds versus how long-term planning projects would need to be adjusted over time (City of Dallas, 2020). The presentation also made a distinction between the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) and the general fund and discussed in detail how the CRF could legally be used for the city of Dallas (City of Dallas, 2020). While it is difficult to have such planning for every type of non-routine management crisis, it is possible to cover certain aspects in broad terms for strategic planning. For example, what planning should be conducted if 30% of the city’s infrastructure is out of commission temporarily or destroyed? How will the city be impacted if certain businesses cannot open over a span of time for a specific reason? While these are general scenarios, it does force city administrators and elected officials to have strategic plans to contend with such issues when they arise. With COVID-19, for example, there has now been an intervention that will impact any previous forecast. This will be the same for areas that are impacted by hurricanes, fires, tornados, or floods. There is also the ability of a local government to act proactively to lessen the effect of certain types of disasters such as COVID-19 for communities that have few resources (e.g. Starr County) (Garcia, 2020). If a policy or economic factor changed, it could skew the revenue projection, rendering it inaccurate for any type of planning purpose. Any type of business fee or tax will also be subject to economic forces and therefore will be under the same constraints and pressures.

The Basics of Strategic Planning Even though it should be a foregone conclusion, a vision and a mission statement should be considered when constructing a strategic plan for an organization. A vision statement is an image of the organization, what it values, and its objectives toward achieving its values. While the vision provides the overall meaning and purpose of the organization, the mission statement provides a formal summary of goals that articulates how the organization will fulfill its vision. In the strategic planning process, the goals stated in the mission should be clearly stated, achievable, and measurable. Goals may include certain metrics that are relevant to the organization’s mission. Goals must be realistic, pragmatic, and attainable or the organization will risk setting itself up for failure, which will reflect poorly on the organization to internal and external stakeholders.

Strategic Planning and Non-Routine Management  357 The organization’s strategic plan should take multiple factors into account to ensure that proper planning is put into place to achieve the goals of the organization. Not only should the strategy consider the resources needed to achieve the goals, but it should also consider the political aspects with regard to internal and external stakeholders to be successful. Anticipating the political machinations of various stakeholders could take the majority of the planning time. Internal and external stakeholders should be involved during the planning process to ensure you have their buy-in to achieve the identified goals of the strategic plan. Technology has to be considered when goals are being formulated and the strategy to achieve those goals is being planned. As discussed earlier with COVID-19, technology has risen to the forefront of importance due to how reliant society is on it for communication and doing work remotely in the place of meeting with individuals face-to-face. Local government has been forced to embrace this change in order to be viable to their employees and to the community. Technology has increased the capacity of providing information for the decision-making process. How to attain the desired outcomes of the goals can depend on what technology is available and what information can be used to reach sound decision-making. Technological solutions come with a cost, however, and this should be considered during strategic planning to determine if funding is available to leverage technology (where applicable) toward strategy objectives, or if the organization already has sufficient technology to attain the desired outcomes. For smaller organizations, technological solutions may be out of reach due to the costs associated with hiring the skilled personnel required for utilizing the technology. For larger organizations, there are numerous options for using or obtaining technology to successfully achieve set goals, including outsourcing those needs to an outside vendor. For the strategic planning process, it is critical to assess the organization’s human capital and its ability to attain the goals set forth by the organization. If the organization does not have human capital of the quantity or quality necessary to achieve the goals, then the organization will need either to scale back its goals, hire additional permanent or temporary employees (contractors), or, if possible, leverage technology to mitigate the lack of human capital. An organization should consider hiring student workers from local higher education institutions who could address labor shortages or insufficient skill sets in the organization’s existing human capital.

Who Are the Stakeholders? What is a stakeholder? One would believe this question would have a straightforward answer that is simplistic in nature. However, the definition and how a stakeholder operates are actually more complex than one probably realizes. A simplistic description of a stakeholder is as follows: any person

358  Nicolas A. Valcik or entity that has an interest or ownership in an organizational p ­ rocess, policy, political power, or resource and can be impacted by the organization through the decision-making process is considered a stakeholder. There are two types of stakeholders: internal and external. Depending on the elements of the strategic plan, internal stakeholders for a municipality or county could be extensive and would be dictated largely by the size and complexity of the organization. The more services offered and the larger the organization, the more internal stakeholders should be sought for input and buy-in to any strategic plan. External stakeholders can be varied and will depend upon the interaction and services provided by the organization. The organization will also have external stakeholders who provide oversight and regulation of the organization if the organization receives public funds. For non-profit organizations, a board (either appointed or elected) provides oversight and input for compliance with the organization’s charter as well as with federal regulations governing the organization (e.g. rules governing a 501(c)(3)). Not all stakeholders are created equal, and a strategy must be formulated to contend with all stakeholders so that goal alignment and support can occur. Working with stakeholders can be the most time-consuming and political part of the strategic planning process.

The Strategic Planning Process The strategic planning process needs to be comprehensive and modular in its approach to creating a strategic plan that can be successfully implemented. Vision, mission, goals, strategy, technology, and human capital will all need to be present in the strategic plan. The vision should be a broadbased statement about what the organization aspires to be in the future. The mission needs to outline how the organization will accomplish the vision, who the organization wants to serve, what services the organization plans to offer to its constituents, what objectives should be formulated to achieve the mission, and what goals will determine success of the mission. While these may appear to be very basic statements, the complexity of what those mission statements reflect may require well-thought-out goals that can achieve measurable objectives in the mission statement. The vision and mission provide the framework for the strategic plan and enable the strategic plan to become a viable roadmap for the organization to follow. Revenues and expenditures have to be projected accurately for the organization to understand the constraints the strategic plan will have to operate under to achieve the goals that are set forth. Organizational leaders need to determine if the organization has the financial resources to address technology and human capital requirements in the strategic plan. These financial resources will assist in driving the strategy forward to achieve the stated goals. The political aspects of implementing the strategic plan will also need to be addressed. As discussed earlier, internal and external stakeholders

Strategic Planning and Non-Routine Management  359 must be included in the development of the strategic plan. As Downes has indicated in agency theory, everyone has their own agenda (Downs, 1967). The agendas of others might conflict with the strategic plan. Therefore, political interventions, compromise, and negotiation will need to take place to ensure the strategic plan is viable and has buy-in from the internal and external stakeholders. Outside political entities that are not officially affiliated with the organization can have significant influence over the stakeholders and the success of the strategic plan. These individuals may have an agenda that might benefit themselves at the expense of the local government and will exert their political power at the expense of the strategic plan. External stakeholders can use political pressures, media/social pressures, or financial pressures to affect the local government’s strategic plan.

Planning for Non-Routine Management Challenges No matter what the strategic plan consists of, there will always be unforeseen factors that can impact the plan. There can be positive factors influencing the strategic plan as well. For example, an unexpected economic development opportunity appears when a Fortune 500 company wants to relocate to a municipality. The company will bring additional revenue, jobs, and employees who need housing to the community. To make this occur, the municipality will need to find a location suitable for building the company’s facility, develop the property with the appropriate infrastructure, and plan for new housing to be constructed. The company will also need a highly trained workforce from the local community that might not exist. Therefore, the strategic plan will need to be re-adjusted to accommodate the new company along with training a workforce drawn from the community. Does the community need a higher education institution in the area or does it need a vocational school for the type of work being required by the new company? As always, there will also be unexpected expenses that can occur. For example, the community’s power plant is supplying a high level of energy to residential customers throughout the summer due to a heat wave. During a heat wave, the power plant has an issue and needs immediate repair. The repair was not planned, but it is critical that the power plant is brought back online quickly so people can have air conditioning during the heatwave. Modern issues can occur in the form of computer hacking, which can bring down an entire network of servers, cause identity theft, and inflict damage to the infrastructure. The cost to repair any security shortcomings can be very expensive to address. Bigger events such as 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina can obviously impact any organization’s strategic plan substantially. While there may be some known risks by communities who are located in a hurricane zone, a 9/11-level event is random and cannot be anticipated by the community.

360  Nicolas A. Valcik

Political Realities and Tensions Strategic planning can take into account a number of variables that are fairly constant. However, the variable of the political sphere is much more difficult for municipalities and local governments to account for since political factors can sway the public quickly to put pressure on governmental entities to take into account new social, or in the case of COVID-19, medical guidelines. For COVID-19, for example, public pressure and a variety of mandated executive orders from state governments have imposed new guidelines for social distancing, wearing masks, and closing certain types of businesses. The tension opposing those guidelines is citizenry who oppose governmental restrictions or are in danger of being financially vulnerable with their companies or employers. Additionally, there are no national executive orders to conform to certain medical guidelines or social distancing practices. Therefore, municipalities and local governments (not to mention the individual states) are left up to their own devices to determine not only what guidelines are to be imposed and followed, but what legally (or constitutionally) can be mandated to their citizenry. Governmental organizations are left with additional expenditures and costs in both the enforcement of those imposed guidelines as well as paying for any legal actions to defend (maintain) any guidelines challenged in court by the citizenry. For governmental organizations, it is problematic to have a strategic plan to contend with all of the nuances that will be the result of those imposed new guidelines. For example, if a new guideline is challenged in court, how much will it cost the governmental entity to defend its position? Attorney time is expensive and how long a court case will take to resolve will be impossible to determine based on how complex the court litigation could be to oppose. With the nation divided on so many issues currently (2020), this will make any type of strategic plan subject to change over time. With pandemics, in particular for municipalities and local governments, the question becomes, “How long with the public tolerate shelter-in-place or mask orders before the citizenry begins to ignore them completely?” Furthermore, once those guidelines begin to be ignored, how does a government attempt to enforce those guidelines if resistance becomes widespread? There are only so many resources a municipality or local government has to enforce guidelines on the citizenry. On a positive note, governmental organizations can use times of crisis to “adjust” fixed costs that under normal circumstances would be politically impossible to implement due to resistance from the citizenry. The lack of national direction on certain issues does allow for local governmental entities’ latitude on implementing certain guidelines, which could potentially be more palatable for the citizenry of their local community. In a free society guaranteed by the United States Constitution, it is difficult to restrict travel and impose confinement since the United States is not geared toward

Strategic Planning and Non-Routine Management  361 monitoring its citizens’ travel, and legal challenges to the constitutionality of an imposed mandate are possible. Freedom in essence will lead to tension and conflict between the national government, state governments, and local governments, whose citizenry all have different values and social norms as well as different perspectives on how to contend with an emergency or crisis. No strategic plan will be able to take in all of these factors and adjustments and will most certainly have to be made when a crisis occurs.

Conclusion Strategic planning is often used as a framework and talking point by public organizations. However, an effective and meaningful strategic plan takes time to construct and requires a number of manpower hours to develop, which includes a large amount of time interacting with both internal and external stakeholders. No strategic plan is perfect and no strategic plan will be executed exactly the way it was originally intended by the organization. However, a strategic plan does provide a blueprint for the organization to follow to align its resources and improve the delivery of services to its clients and stakeholders. That is not to say that the strategic plan will be the ultimate, final plan for the organization. The strategic plan will require buy-in from internal and external stakeholders if it has any chance of succeeding. This will require the champions of the strategic plan to “sell” the plan to the stakeholders from initial conception to implementation.

References City of Dallas, 2020. “Coronavirus impact on FY 2019–20 budget”, City Council Briefing. May 6, 2020. Downs, Anthony, 1967. Inside Bureaucracy. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 67–18259, Little Brown Publishing Company, Boston, MA. Garcia, Berenice, 2020. “In COVID-19 ravaged America, Starr County emerges as a curve-flattening standard”, The Monitor. May 3, 2020. Retrieved on May 4, 2020. https://www​.themonitor​.com​/2020​/05​/03​/covid​-19​-ravaged​-america​-starr​ -county​-emerges​-curve​-flattening​-standard/. Gilman, Hollie Russon, 2020. “From the COVID-19 crisis to rebuilding our public technology infrastructure in local government”, Next City. April 8, 2020. Retrieved on May 4, 2020. https://nextcity​.org​/daily​/entry​/from​-the​-covid​-19​ -crisis​-to​-rebuilding​-our​-public​-technology​-infrastructure. Graham, Karly, 2020. “‘Local government is where the rubber hits the road:’ How local governments are responding to COVID-19”, Spartan News Room. Michigan State University School of Journalism. April 25, 2020. Retrieved on May 4, 2020. https://news​.jrn​.msu​.edu​/2020​/04​/local​-government​-is​-where​-the​ -rubber​-hits​-the​-road​-how​-local​-governments​-are​-responding​-to​-covid​-19/. Krafcik, Michael, 2020. “Michigan cities seek emergency federal aid in response to COVID-19 pandemic”, News Channel 3. WWMT. April 9, 2020. Retrieved

362  Nicolas A. Valcik on May 4, 2020. https://wwmt​.com​/news​/coronavirus​/michigan​-cities​-seek​ -emergency​-federal​-aid​-in​-response​-to​-covid​-19​-pandemic. MDhealth​.com, 2020. “What is the death rate of Ebola?”, MDhealth​.com​. Retrieved on May 4, 2020. https://www​.md​-health​.com​/Ebola​-Death​-Rate​.html. Retherford, Chelsea, 2020. “COVID-19 presents new challengers for first responders”, The Moulton. April 23, 2020. Retrieved on May 4, 2020. https:// www ​ . moultonadvertiser ​ . com ​ / news ​ / local ​ / article ​ _ bf657182 ​ - 84ad ​ - 11ea ​ - 9ca1​ -8bcad1596dc6​.html. Valcik, N., and P. Tracy, 2017. Case Studies in Disaster Response and Emergency Management. Second Edition. American Society for Public Administration Series, Routledge/Taylor and Francis, New York.

21 Epilogue Trends and Current Issues Nicolas A. Valcik and Ted J. Benavides

There are a number of issues that administrators and local elected officials should be aware of so that they can perform their jobs effectively and efficiently. That being stated, it is clear from several of the topics discussed in this book that local government management cannot control the political or legal landscape that has been created in which they must operate. Local government management will also not be in control of large regional economic trends or pandemics. However, local government management can influence the impact of these larger issues by having a strategic plan and a budget that accommodates unexpected events. While having a strategic plan may not be all-encompassing, a plan does provide a framework in which the local government can operate and achieve positive results. Various topics have been introduced, discussed, and reviewed throughout this book. The early chapters broadly discuss the nature of local government management as defined by the profession as well as citizen engagement with local government management. Paul G. Grimes describes the broad overarching concerns and issues facing local government management. As he stated in Chapter 1: Local government, primarily in the forms of special-purpose school or utility districts or general-purpose municipal corporations, impacts us far more than the decisions made by distant federal or even state policymakers. The statement encapsulates citizens’ involvement with their local communities, such as running for office, and how they are governed as opposed to being involved in state or federal decision-making. The next few chapters of the book dealt with more specific functional areas of local government management such as budgeting, finance, human resources, and economic development. Further chapters of the book contend with broader issues of how local government management works with cyber economies, e-government, technologies, and business stakeholders and works with a sharing society. As stated by John Jacobs in Chapter 10: DOI: 10.4324/9780429001086-21

364  Nicolas A. Valcik and Ted J. Benavides One of the biggest differentiators between public and private executives is the love of, or alternatively distaste for, rules, codes, and even laws that cost the private operator time, money, or both. Certainly, there are rules, especially those that govern public safety, for which compliance is a must. Nevertheless, it still behooves public officials to deal empathetically with business owners and when possible, suggest time and/or money-saving alternatives. Jacobs stresses the importance of good relations between local businesses and local government and how a mutually beneficial relationship can benefit the entire community. The next few chapters of the book discuss how local government management interacts with larger issues such as public health, education, non-profit organizations, and intergovernmental relations. The last few chapters of the book look toward the future of urban planning, homelessness, immigration, the green movement, accountability, and strategic planning for local government management. As stated by Jesus Nava in Chapter 17: American mayors have emerged as champions of immigrant rights given that most immigrants live in cities … As elected local leaders, they understand the need to counteract incendiary rhetoric that causes division and instead welcome and integrate immigrants into their communities … Mayors cite the positive economic and social impacts of immigration while recognizing that undocumented immigrants live in constant fear of deportation. Immigration has always been a topic of conversation in the United States, but there has never been a compelling resolution to the issue since the founding of the nation. Elected officials and city administrators have long tried to address the issue of immigration with varying degrees of success or failure. In areas of the country where illegal immigration is more pronounced, the solutions are not evident, nor does the local government necessarily have the resources available to contend with the issue. In addition, without clear and consistent state and national policies on immigration, local governments frequently have no guidance on what they can or cannot do to contend with the issue. Environmental issues are another example of where local government has limited resources and little to no federal or state laws to guide them toward a solution. As stated by Jill Jordan in Chapter 18: Coming into a new city or department, one might assume that the city is already in compliance given that environmental laws and regulations have been in place for decades. Such an assumption, however, can be erroneous. Thus, a new city manager or department head should ask whether the city or department is currently under any consent decrees

Epilogue  365 for past violations or whether the city has been fined or is under ­investigation for permit violations. Department heads with environmental issues can be asked for a status report on the environmental issues facing their departments. These departmental officials, however, may not know that their operations are in violation: regulations change; new regulations are always being promulgated. What has been acceptable practices in the past may no longer be compliant. One cannot report issues without knowing that the issue exists. Effectively managing environmental issues and complying with increased state, federal, and local regulations is a challenging issue for local governments to understand and formulate a plan in order to better serve their community. Developing an effective strategic plan is probably one of the greatest challenges that can face city administrators and elected officials. As stated in Chapter 20 by Nicolas A. Valcik: The organization’s strategic plan should take multiple factors into account to ensure that proper planning is put into place to achieve the goals of the organization. Not only should the strategy consider the resources needed to achieve the goals, but it should also consider the political aspects with regard to internal and external stakeholders to be successful. Anticipating the political machinations of various stakeholders could take the majority of the planning time. Internal and external stakeholders should be involved during the planning process to ensure you have their buy-in to achieve the identified goals of the strategic plan. Lacking an effective strategic plan can expose a local government’s revenue and expenditures to severe disruption during a crisis. Planning for the unexpected, such as infrastructure failures due to natural disasters, criminal or terroristic activity, or even replacements or upgrades, is a critical strategic activity for local governments that cannot be overlooked. It is critical for students and practitioners alike to understand how the topics discussed in this book are integrated into local government management. The common threads of these issues form the basis for analysis and discussion within the profession. There are six significant challenges that local governments will face now and in the future: the economy, public health, affordable housing, infrastructure and city services, shared services and municipal relations, and pensions.

The Economy The economy is one of the top issues facing local government management. The economy’s impact on several areas of local government management is

366  Nicolas A. Valcik and Ted J. Benavides consistently apparent. Urban planning, strategic planning, cyber economy, technology, school districts, public health, decision-making, budgeting, and financial management are all areas that will be impacted by the economy both when the economy is expanding and when it is in peril. There are obviously areas that can impact the economy on a short-term basis (e.g. COVID-19), but the long-term impacts by industry, employment, technology, and political stability are more challenging factors. In locations bound to a particular industry, such as education or fossil fuels, the fortunes of local government management can rise or fall with the demand for those specific economic resources. For example, Odessa, Texas, was a booming oil town with soaring housing prices and low housing inventory. In 2019, the city was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic and a dramatic drop in oil production, leading to a steep drop in housing prices and a glut of housing inventory, which in turn reduced property tax revenues. These factors are cyclical due to political and economic factors as well as demand for a particular economic product. These economic cycles have happened before, yet Odessa, Texas, failed to diversify the industries that form its economic base to alleviate the city’s dependence on the oil and natural gas industry. The Odessa-Midland area has traditionally been a boom or bust economy. When oil is in demand, the area prospers with increases in property values. However, when the oil industry is in decline, housing and all other industries depreciate in value. Typically during oil slumps, the University of Texas of the Permian Basin experienced increases in enrollment as unemployed oil industry workers headed back to the classroom. However, enrollment decreased resulting in staff layoffs in 2019 and economic woes for the institution. During the 2017 oil bust, funded student enrollment declined compared to the past five years by 5% to only 5,283 students (UT-System, 2020). Declining enrollment and decreases in hiring result in diminishing the university as a driving economic force (2022). Other than the oil industry and the university, Midland-Odessa’s economy is not diversified. This will negatively affect the city’s infrastructure and services due to declining tax revenues. In Morgantown, West Virginia, the city has traditionally relied on three industries to drive its economy: the university hospital, West Virginia University (WVU), and Mylan Pharmaceuticals. Due to poor planning and administration at WVU, the university has suffered enrollment declines since 2014, which resulted in staff layoffs (Valcik, 2021; WVU 2019; WVU, 2021). As a result, two colleges were combined and 15 degree programs were discontinued (Slade, 2021). Mylan Pharmaceuticals closed in 2021, which resulted in 1,246 people losing their jobs in Morgantown (Sabatini, 2021). These actions have resulted in dramatic increases and decreases in property values over the past three years. With demand for coal in decline, income and revenue generated from this industry will continue to decline, resulting in less revenue for the municipality. Municipal planning and local government management for Morgantown, West Virginia, have become extremely

Epilogue  367 difficult due to wide fluctuations in the tax base resulting in unpredictable income for city services and infrastructure maintenance and upgrades.

Public Health Unlike many other community services, public health is often expanded during a crisis, not cut. The current COVID-19 pandemic has forced local governments to look at different methods to increase public health resources in the face of declining budgets, and, in San Antonio’s case, revise how public health is being handled (Marquez, 2021). How public health will be dealt with in the future remains to be seen. What is certain is that cities and communities will still be experimenting with how to deliver services to residents effectively and as inexpensively as possible. As stated in Chapter 11 by Kristi L. Valcik: The concept of the community paramedic grows out of the traditional career skills of emergency medical technicians. Most emergency medical technicians begin with a basic curriculum in emergency medicine and over the course of a career gain new skills and certifications through training … In the community paramedic model, the goal is to apply and expand the skills learned by paramedics into the domain of preventative, primary care medicine. Paramedicine certainly offers a pathway to achieve those goals since treatment is performed onsite at the residence and by an employee who is not a medical doctor and therefore more available for treating patients with less complicated illnesses.

Affordable Housing In certain major cities across the United States, homelessness and affordable housing continue to be an issue. In Seattle, Washington, for example, homelessness is at the top of the list of concerns for residents of the community (Kunkler, 2021). Almost six years ago in Seattle, homelessness was declared a crisis and yet the situation has not only failed to improve since then but has worsened (Kunkler, 2021). The number of homeless citizens rose from 10,047 in 2015 to 11,751 in 2020 in King County (Kunkler, 2021). While housing costs have slowed down from the latest increase, housing costs are still escalating, making affordable housing in certain areas of the country out of reach for a number of people (Kishan, 2021). The increase in homelessness has been accompanied by a surge in crime in the City of Seattle (Rantz, 2021). As stated by Rantz: Outside City Hall Park, attached to the King County Courthouse, a homeless man was stabbed to death on June 18. A homeless man was charged with second-degree murder, arrested with a knife in his hand. (Rantz, 2021)

368  Nicolas A. Valcik and Ted J. Benavides In California, a recall of the Governor of California put homelessness at the forefront of a public issue (Blood, 2021). In Chapter 16, Celeste Haiduk Cox and Alma Hernandez state: Historically, macro-level influences in the numbers of homeless persons usually include lack of affordable housing, the status of the economy, generational trends, etc. In recent times, researchers have been less willing to divide the two. According to Chattoo et al. (2021), homelessness is “broadly rooted in systemic structural conditions, despite past news coverage that has focused more on individual deficits and deviance.” Economics plays a heavy factor in affordable housing. It is difficult for citizens to find employment in an economically depressed community, much less be able to afford rent or buy a home.

Infrastructure and City Services All residents want full city services, but they do not want to pay for those services. This creates many issues for local governments, particularly those on fixed or declining budgets. Taxes are never popular with residents, but if citizens want upgrades to infrastructure or city services of a certain quality, then taxes will need to be raised. An example of this is the City of Morgantown, West Virginia, which instituted a payroll tax to pay for infrastructure upgrades. This tax was in addition to an existing property tax, state income tax, and sales tax. Residents are left to ask a very important question: why is an additional payroll tax being instituted when there are already so many taxes being levied? The taxes prior to the payroll tax certainly did not appear to be going to infrastructure upgrades when the roadways were full of potholes, costing drivers in the state an average of $1,201 per year in car damage (Hatcher, 2021). As seen in Figure 21.1, the roadways in Morgantown are deemed to be the worst in the state in spite of the new payroll tax (Gardner, 2017). However, the state of West Virginia appears to be paying $12,000 per person to encourage them to move to West Virginia while working remotely for out-of-area businesses when the area’s infrastructure cannot support the residents already living in the state (Schweitzer, 2021). As an example, see West Run Road in Morgantown, West Virginia, in Figure 21.2. As stated by Gardner: Students who commute on West Run Road are familiar with Morgantown’s rough roads. “Drivers have to serve into oncoming traffic to avoid a possible pothole that is essentially the size of a bathtub,” said Kaitlyn Corey a WVU Senior. “West Run [Road] is the only way in and out of some off-campus apartments, including West Run, The Lofts

Epilogue  369

Figure 21.1 Potholes in Disrepair in Morgantown, WV (Source: Tracy, 2017.)

Figure 21.2 Road Construction due to Disrepair in Morgantown, WV (Source: Conley, 2021.)

and Copper Beach.” Corey has replaced her front passenger-side rims twice, two years in a row. (Gardner, 2017) Morgantown is hardly a unique situation across the United States. This issue faces many municipalities with infrastructure that needs constant repair but without the budget to achieve this. The bridge collapse in Minneapolis is a good example of infrastructure in need of repair that ultimately cost lives (Schaper, 2017). As stated by Schaper: According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, 12 percent of the nation’s bridges were rated as structurally deficient in 2007, but only

370  Nicolas A. Valcik and Ted J. Benavides 9 percent are in that category today. Still ARTBA, the builder’s association, estimates it would take more than three decades to repair or replace all those more than 55,000 bridges that need it. (Schaper, 2017) The budget challenges for local government management will continue with mandates that dictate repairs to infrastructure that must be fulfilled despite a reduction of revenue, in essence making these unfunded mandates. The economy impacts city services as well. Anytime there is an economic downturn, there is the potential for a community to reduce how often city services are offered or to cut certain city services altogether. When economic times are good, the number and quality of city services can be increased. For cities with a diverse set of economic drivers, an economic downturn in one industry will not necessarily impact a municipality as much as a city dependent on one industry for its revenue. There are many cities defined by the quality of their city services and residential communities, which in turn attract businesses and residents who want those services and can afford to pay for them. While most municipalities provide basic services such as utilities, police patrols, firefighters, and so on, there are many additional services that enhance a community such as recycling, dog parks, ice rinks, and green space. These additional city services can be seen as attracting not only residents but also companies that are looking to relocate to a particular city. In 2001, Boeing was looking at Chicago or Dallas as the site for its new headquarters. Ultimately, Boeing selected Chicago since it had a vibrant downtown community while Dallas had minimal street activity, with most of its foot traffic confined to underground tunnels (Hunter, 2017). In 2017, Boeing selected the City of Plano as its new Division Headquarters. The City of Plano, a suburb of Dallas, is known for numerous, high-quality city services, which residents pay for with significant sales and property taxes.

Shared Services and Municipal Governmental Relations Working with a diverse group of governmental agencies may not be a new concept for municipalities, but there appears to be more focus on shared services and municipal relationships than in the past. Local governments are cooperating more frequently with federal, state, and, in some cases, international governmental agencies than in the past due to new technology and increased legal complexities. As Brett Wilkinson states in Chapter 12: Generally speaking, government relations serves as more of an organization-to-government type of communication in which regulatory issues are discussed, communications directed to governmental representatives take place, lobbying efforts directed at educating legislators are initiated, and so on … Conversely, public affairs generally focuses on an

Epilogue  371 organization’s interaction with the public, specific interest groups, or the media. With economic development projects, working with law enforcement, disaster response agencies, and legislators at the local, state, and federal level is more important than it has been in the past. With society becoming more complex legally, it is imperative that local government organizations participate in inter-governmental relations to prevent costly lawsuits.

Pensions A recent assessment by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College concluded that there is virtually no change in the funded ratios of local pension plans. Current projections showed that local pensions are sustainable on a cash flow basis, and only the very worst-funded plans face the risk of exhausting their assets (Aubry and Wandrei, 2020). Local governments continue to manage their pension obligations and risks. However, faced with declining federal funding and strained relations between many states and their local governments, there is not much hope for successfully addressing unexpected pension shortfalls. Local governments face the continuing pressure of limitations on involuntary annexations and revenue growth from property taxes. Therefore, local governments must keep a keen eye on their pension fund ratios and fiscal conditions to stay financially sound. Local government must also monitor all proposed benefit changes, investment performance, and employee demographics to carefully assess the ongoing financial stability of their pension funds. Economic Development: What Is the Return on Investment? Local governments need to participate in the economic development game because they are basically on their own. Each country, state, and locality is competing to attract new businesses, retain and expand existing businesses, increase its tax bases, and protect its current and future revenue streams to support its budgets. Many states have strained relations with their local jurisdictions because of state laws that limit the growth of local property tax revenue and curb involuntary annexations. Local governments are pursuing every possible avenue to create a sustainable economic development environment for their communities. The future will remain competitive and shocks such as the great recession and the COVID pandemic will continue to buffet the economy. Local governments will have to try to solve economic issues such as globalization, income inequality, the working poor, the creation of good jobs, spatial inequality, and artificial intelligence with their own resources. The local governments that are the most adaptive and resilient in their economic development planning and execution will be the winners in the future.

372  Nicolas A. Valcik and Ted J. Benavides Conclusion There are many factors in how local government management operates for the community and by the community. Local government management is a product of the environment and culture where it is located as well as the types of local politicians who are elected to serve in local government. The environment ultimately drives the economy as well as the ability to hire talent to work as full-time staff positions in local government at the municipal, county, and even regional areas. How successful local government management is will largely be determined by the types of politicians who are elected as well as the staff who are employed by the community.

References Aubry, Jean-Pierre and Wandrei, August 2020, The status of local government pension plans in the midst of COVID-19, center for retirement research at Boston College. Retireved on November 29, 2021, The Status of Local Government Pension Plans in the Midst of COVID-19 | Center for Retirement Research (bc​ .e​du). Blood, Michael R., 2021. “GOP’s Larry Elder looks for shock win in California recall”, The Seattle Times. August 30, 2021. Retrieved on August 31, 2021. https://www​.seattletimes​.com​/nation​-world​/nation​/gops​-larry​-elder​-looks​-for​ -shock​-win​-in​-california​-recall/. Conley, Ben, 2021. “West Run Road could reopen as early as Friday”, The Dominion Post. August 5, 2021. Retrieved on September 3, 2021. https:// www​.dominionpost​.com​/2021​/08​/05​/west​-run​-road​-could​-reopen​-as​-early​-as​ -friday/. Gardner, Jennifer, 2017. “Morgantown roads ranked worst in state”, The Daily Athenaeum. March 29, 2017. Retrieved on September 3, 2021. https://www​ .thedaonline​ . com ​ / news ​ / morgantown ​ - roads ​ - ranked​ - worst​ - in​ - state​ / article​ _1b12212a​-1476​-11e7​-9cdd​-d3f8cafbf02a​.html. Hatcher, Aleesia, 2021. “Damage from worn roads cost an average of $1,201 per year to drivers in Morgantown”, 12 WBOY. February 16, 2021. Retrieved on September 3, 2021. https://www​.wboy​.com​/news​/monongalia​/damage​-from​ -worn​-roads​-cost​-an​-average​-of​-1201​-per​-year​-to​-drivers​-in​-the​-morgantown​ -area/. Hunter, Glenn, 2017. “Sixteen years later, boeing picks North Texas for a division HQ”, D Magazine. April 5, 2017. Retrieved on August 31, 2021. https://www​ .dmagazine ​. com​ /commercial​ -real​ -estate​ /2017​ /04​/sixteen​-years ​-later ​-boeing​ -picks​-north​-texas​-for​-a​-division​-hq/. Kishan, Hari, 2021. “Runaway U.S. Home price rises to slow, but affordability to worsen”, Reuters. August 26, 2021. Retrieved on August 31, 2021. https://www​ .reuters​.com​/world​/us​/runaway​-us​-home​-price​-rises​-slow​-affordability​-worsen​ -2021​-08​-27/. Kunkler, Aaron, 2021. “Poll: Seattle voters want new mayor to address homelessness”, Washington State Wire. August 2, 2021. Retrieved on August 31, 2021. https://washingtonstatewire​.com​/poll​-seattle​-voters​-want​-new​-mayor​ -to​-address​-homelessness/.

Epilogue  373 Marquez, R. J., 2021. “San Antonio 2022 proposed city budget reaches record $3.1 billion with focus on restoring cuts, financial recovery”, KSAT. August 12, 2021. Retrieved on August 31, 2021. https://www​.ksat​.com​/news​/local​/2021​/08​/12​/ san​-antonio​-2022​-proposed​-city​-budget​-surpasses​-3​-billion​-for​-the​-first​-time​-in​ -history​-with​-focus​-on​-restoring​-cuts​-financial​-recovery/. Rantz, Jason, 2021. “Rantz: Seattle just saw its deadliest June in over a decade, up 125% over same month last year”, 770 KTTH. July 7, 2021. Retrieved on August 31, 2021. https://mynorthwest​.com​/3008779​/rantz​-seattle​-deadliest​-june​ -crime/. Sabatini, Patricia, 2021. “With time running out for a savior, vitris releases more details about Morgantown plant closure”, Pittsburgh Gazette. June 15, 2021. Retrieved on July 19, 2021. https://www​.post​-gazette​.com​/business​/ career​-workplace​/2021​/06​/15​/Viatris​-Mylan​-closing​-Morgantown​-plant​-West​ -Virginia​-Governor​-Jim​-Justice​-USW​/stories​/202106140098. Schaper, David, 2017. “10  years after bridge collapse, America is still crumbling”, NPR. August 1, 2017. Retrieved on September 3, 2021. https://www​.npr​.org​/2017​ /08​/01​/540669701​/10​-years​-after​-bridge​-collapse​-america​-is​-still​-crumbling. Schweitzer, Ally, 2021. “West Virginia is paying remote workers $12,000 to move there”, DCist. April 13, 2021. Retrieved on September 3, 2021. https://dcist​.com​ /story​/21​/04​/13​/west​-virginia​-is​-paying​-remote​-workers​-12000​-to​-move​-there/. Slade, Duncan, 2021. “WVU President Gordon Gee, Provost Marianne Reed to face no – Confidence vote”, The DA. December 1, 2021. Retrieved on December 2, 2021. https://www​.thedaonline​.com​/news​/university​/wvu​-faculty​-senate​-to​-hold​ -vote​-of​-no​-confidence​-on​-gee​-reed​-administration​/article​_354c2dd8​-52ec​-11ec​ -8519​-7bcbeed18447​.html. Tracy, Colin, 2017. “Morgantown roads ranked worst in state”, The Daily Athenaeum. March 29, 2017. Retrieved on September 3, 2021. https://www​ .thedaonline​ . com ​ / news ​ / morgantown ​ - roads ​ - ranked​ - worst​ - in​ - state​ / article​ _1b12212a​-1476​-11e7​-9cdd​-d3f8cafbf02a​.html. UT-System, 2020, “Smartbook”, April 2020. Retrieved on July 19, 2021. https:// www​.utrgv​.edu​/sair/​_files​/utsmartbook​-2020​.pdf Valcik, Nicolas A., 2021. “Former Director of Institutional Research, West Virginia University 2013–2017”. WVU, 2019. “Student enrollment - Fall”, Institutional Research. Retrieved on May 19, 2021. https://ins​titu​tion​alre​search​.wvu​.edu​/institutional​-research​/statistical​ -information​/student​-information​/student​-enrollment​-fall. WVU, 2021. “About WVU”, Institutional Research. Retrieved on May 19, 2021. https://www​.wvu​.edu​/about​-wvu​/wvu​-facts#:~​:text​=Fall​%202020​%20WVU​ %20System​%20enrollment​%20is​%2029​%2C107​%3A​%20Potomac​,counties​ %3B​%2052​%25​%20are​%20West​%20Virginia​%20residents.​%20Academic​ %20Excellence.

Index

#13Percent Movement 34 501(c)(3) organizations 235 abuse of power 65, 338–339, 345 accessory dwelling unit (ADU) 281 accountability 51, 53, 340–342, 344– 345; council-manager government 37, 38; political 10–11; for service delivery 236–237, 239; “strong mayor” government 11 ad valorem tax 85, 279 Adams, G. B. 305 Adams, R. 16 advertising: prescription drug 186; zero moment of truth (ZMOT) model 71–74 Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) 195 advocacy 238; lobbyists 202–204; municipal organization 205–206 affordability index 250 Affordable Care Act 103–104, 181, 192; see also health insurance affordable housing 28, 247, 250– 251, 256, 275, 276, 367–368; 5 immutable laws 251; accessory dwelling unit (ADU) 281; foreclosed property 282; grants 279–280; Habitat for Humanity 278, 283–284; and homelessness 267; incentives 279; inclusionary zoning 281–282; new 278; NIMBY mentality 280–281; shipping container homes 284–289; undersupply of 276–278; see also rental assistance agency theory 359 Airbnb 146, 151, 154–155, 159 Alcade and Fay 212

Alexander, J. 241 algorithm 138 All the Queen’s Horses 15 Allen, H. 160 ambulance service 183–184 American exceptionalism 305 American Revolution 304 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 120, 121 analytics: Facebook 79; Instagram 78; predictive 139; Real Trash Talk campaign 78; Twitter 79 applicant tracking system (ATM) 100 appointed officials 36, 46 artificial intelligence (AI) 133; algorithm 138; bias 139; data 139; machine learning (ML) 134, 138 Artiga, L. 17 Ashworth, J. 54 Associated Press 66 at-large mayor 339–341 Austin for All People coalition 49 authority, eroding 119; see also power automation 114; robotic process 138 Avent, R., The Wealth of Humans 248 balancing the budget 86–87 Banister, D. 162 Bank of North America 110–111 bank/s 111, 288–289; Federal Reserve 113 Banovetz, J. 82 Baumgarten, J. 131 Bay Wheels 157 Beck, C. 16 Bello, V. 17 Benavides, T. 167 benefits 102–104 Berman, D. 5–6 

376 Index Bernacke, B. 113 Berners-Lee, T. 130 Berwick, D. 187 bias 33, 34, 139 big data 133 Black Cab 160–161 Bliley, T. 340 Blitzer, J. 298 block grant 206; community development 279 Bolívar, M. 132 Bootstrap Program 280, 284, 289 bots 138 Bowling, C. 5 branding 80 Bratton, W. 139 Broadnax, T. C. 29–30 Brudney, J. L. 237, 240 Bruneau, M. 121 Buchanan, P. 297; State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America 305 budget 370; adjustment 350–351; balancing 86–87; compliance with property tax limitation 88–89; COVID-19 impacts 89–90; earmarks 207–208; expenditure projection 355; expenditure requests 86; general fund revenue 85–86; Richardson, Texas 90–92; themes 83–85; see also strategy and strategic plan building code 255, 277; shipping container 286 Burke, J. 14–15 business administration 3 business owners: building a positive relationship with local government 169–171; mindset 167–168; resolving public/private disagreements 171– 172; types of businesses 172–173; value of a positive local government relationship 168–169; see also publicprivate partnerships buy-in 99, 100; strategic plan 357–358 C40 Cities 316 Calatrava, S. 213–214 capital 125; depreciation 252–253; economic 4–5; human 357; social 3, 4, 7, 9 carbon emissions 316–317 case law, Richmond v. Croson 54 Castells, M. 64, 65, 79 categorical grant 206

Central Bank 112 certification: compensation personnel 101; ISO 14001 322 challenges: of council-manager government 20–22, 28; of mayorcouncil government 23 chamber of commerce 169–171 Chang, S. 337 Chapman, R. A. 338 charter 6, 16, 17, 48, 83, 337; banks 111; New Urbanism 115–116 chief administrative officer (CAO) 33 children, homeless 267 Childs, R. 337, 345 chronically homeless 267; Permanent Supportive Housing 274 Chui, M. 131 Cities for Action 299 city council 17–18, 26, 36; working relationship with city manager 39–41 city manager 35–36, 48, 52–54, 337; department management 41; education 55–56; ethics 333–334; goals 54; longevity 38; performance evaluation 41; responsiveness 53; skills 54–55; working relationships 39–41 City Managers of Tomorrow Committee 55 city planning 255–256 City Resiliency Framework 122 CitySquare 273 civic engagement 62 Civil War 112, 336 Clark-Ginsberg, A. 132 climate action plan 329–330 climate change 309, 332, 333; carbon emissions 316–317 coaching 107 Coan, R., A History of American State and Local Economic Development: As Two Ships Pass in the Night 110 code of ethics 10; ICMA 48–50 Coffé, H. 3 collaboration 233; benefits 239; disaster response and recovery 242–244; between local government and nonprofits 236–240 collaborative consumption 147, 149– 150; see also sharing economy (SE) and sharing economy organizations (SEOs) collections 43

Index  377 Collins, J. 24–25; Good to Great and the Social Sectors 13–14; Great by Choice 13 commission government 46–47 communication 39, 42–43, 50, 62; digital channels 63–64; Know Ebola campaign 66; local government 80; mapping your network 69, 70; messaging 63, 79; network theory 64–65; as public good 65; self64–65; two-way 64; “uncomfortable conversation” 105–106; see also government relations; organizational communication networks Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) 279 Community Health Program (CHP) 188–189 community paramedicine 182–183, 187, 192; history 183–184; MedStar 188–189; pandemic justification for 189–190; role of local government 190–191 Community Project Funding 208; see also earmarks compensation 100–101 compliance: environmental 317–318, 320–322; grant 207–208; see also regulation compromise 53 Compstat 139 Constitution of the United States 5 consumer: -centered care 185–187; trust 148, 163 container homes 285–289 Continuum of Care (CoC) Program 270–271 contracts, charter 6 contributive economic activities 4–5 CORE district, Richardson 178–179 core services 2 corruption 336–340, 344–346; see also accountability; ethics council-manager government 11, 33, 47–50, 337; accountability 37, 38; audiences 39; Banning, California 27–29; bicycle metaphor 18; challenges 20–22, 28; city council 17–18, 36; city manager 17–20, 35–36, 48, 52–54; communication 39, 42–43; Dallas, Texas 29–30; decision-making 36; department management 41; elected officials 34; Fort Worth 18–19; future

of 17–18; goals 54; leadership 18, 23, 27; Plano, Texas 25–26; policy 37–39; political economy 21–22; political parties 52; politics 50–53; professional staff 36–38; professionalism 52–53; responsiveness 21; senior staff 18–20; servant leadership 24–25; skills 26; social media 20–21; value proposition 11; working relationships 39–41; see also city manager COVID-19 pandemic 23, 28, 43–44, 62, 83, 86, 138, 222, 242–244, 350–354, 356; affordable housing and 276–277; budget impacts 89–90; Delta variant 190; paramedicine 189–190; pragmatic response 87; and the sharing economy 148; vaccine 190 Cox, C. 368 credentials, ICMA 10 cross-sector collaboration 239–240; see also collaboration; public-private partnerships crowdsourcing 148; see also sharing economy (SE) and sharing economy organizations (SEOs) Crundwell, R. 14–15 Crusius, P. 297 Cuffee-Glenn, S. 344 Cuomo, A. 161 Dallas 124; Arts District 210; Bishop Arts District 257; Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) 356; Cottages at Hickory Crossing 273; earmarks 208; environmental management system (EMS) 320–322; gentrification 256–257, 259; government relations 197–198; grants 206; initiatives 93; Jack Evans Police Headquarters 210; Klyde Warren Park 209–210; Know Ebola campaign 66; legislative agenda 201–202; local government recruitment 99; M Streets 257; Neighborhood Plus Plan 227–230; nonprofit partnerships 330–332; Office of Government Affairs 196; P25 microwave project 222; publicprivate partnerships 209; Real Trash Talk 73; revenue projection 356; risk terrain modeling (RTM) 139; school district and local government coordination 222; Trinity Groves

378 Index 257; Trinity River Corridor Project 210–215; Uptown 257 Daniels, R. 296, 301; Coming to America 295 data-driven decision-making 139 de Blasio, B. 152, 161 decision-making 27, 28, 140; budget 350–351; city manager 35; councilmanager government 36; datadriven 139; erosion of authority in 119; evaluate the effectiveness 327; identify alternative actions 324, 325; perceive the problems and opportunities 324; select and alternative and take action 327–328; understanding the background 323, 324 Deep-Water Commission 47 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) 296 Deigh, J. 338 democracy 18 demographics, homeless 265–266 descriptive analytics 139 desirable development 123–125 development: affordable housing 251; desirable 123–125; mixed-use 116; NIMBY mentality 280–281; permits 168; re- 177–179; residential 276– 280; re-zoning 221, 230; shipping container 284–289; suburban 254 diagnostic analytics 139 digital engagement 62; analytics 78–79; Real Trash Talk 73, 74; zero moment of truth (ZMOT) model 71–73 Dillon Rule 6 diplomacy 7, 55 directives 37 disaster response and recovery 242–244; see also strategy and strategic plan discipline 105 discourse 65 discrimination 34, 249, 297–299, 340; housing 275; racial 150–151, 302; in the sharing economy 149, 151 disintermediation 186 disparity study 57, 58 distrust: in government 134–136; see also trust diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives 34 documentation: best practices 319; employee 105; sustainability 328 Duani, A. 115

Dubois, W.E.B., The Souls of Black Folk 302 Dudley, W. 162 Dumas, L. 4 earmarks 207–208 Ebola 66, 87, 222, 354 economic capital 4–5 economic development 109; City of Morgantown 259–261; equity 123; history 110–111; income inequality 248–249; performance-based incentives 122–123; resilience 121; return on investment 371; re-zoning 221, 230; schools and 222–223; see also growth policy economy 370; diversification 366; political 2 education 55–56, 119; Know Ebola campaign 66 efficiency tools 319 e-government 131 Eisinger, P. 110, 126 elections and elected officials 18, 46, 50, 53; at-large mayor 339–341; city council 36; council-manager government 34; directives 37; ethics 333–334; mayor-council government 34–35; political parties 52, 116; VUCA skills 23–24 emergency medical services (EMS) 184, 188 Emergency Medical Services: At the Crossroads 188 emergency medical technician (EMT) 181, 183–184, 191 emergency room (ER) use 182–183 emergency shelters 272 Emergency Solutions Grant 271 eminent domain 220 employee relations 104–106 engagement 62; digital channels 63–64; zero moment of truth (ZMOT) model 71–74 enterprise resource planning (ERP) 136 entitlement process 118, 123 environmental management system (EMS) 318; City of Dallas 320–322; Plan, Do, Check and Act model 319–320 Envision™ system 332–333 equity 123 ethics 53, 65, 333–334, 338, 344–346; code of 10

Index  379 Ewing, R. 253 exclusion 65 expenditure/s 350; local government 1–2; projection 355; requests 86; Richardson, Texas 91–92; smart city 134 expertise 53; lobbyists 203–204; nonprofit organizations 236 external motivation 150 external stakeholders 358 Facebook 65; analytics 78, 79; see also social media Federal Reserve 113 federalism 234; diplomacy 7; home rule 5–6, 199–200; state-local relationship 6–7 Feldman, M. 125 filtering 253 fines 86 First Bank of the United States 111 fiscal stabilization 43–44 fixed costs 352 foreclosed property 282 Fort Worth 18–19 Foucault, M. 64, 65 franchise fees 85–86, 201 Franklin, B. 296–297 Fuchs, C. 79 funding: grants 206; nonprofit organizations 237–238; revenue sharing 207; Trinity River Corridor Project 212–214 Galatyn Park 174–176 Gardner, S. 251, 368 Gates, H. L.: The African Americans, Many Rivers to Cross 301 Gazley, B. 237, 240; on public-private partnerships 239 general fund budget 82, 85–86 generational theory 22 gentrification 251–254; Dallas 256– 257, 259 Geofeedia 135 George II, King 301 Geys, B. 3 gig economy 148, 153; see also sharing economy (SE) and sharing economy organizations (SEOs) Gilded Age 345 goals: city manager 54; good faith 57–58; organizational 98 good faith goals 57–58

Google: Analytics 78; zero moment of truth (ZMOT) model 71–73 Gottlieb, J. 16 governance: collaborative 160; by provision 157, 158; self- 158–159; sharing economy (SE) and sharing economy organizations (SEOs) 152–160; smart city 134 government affairs 196–197 government relations 195, 370–371; internal politics 205; lobbyists 202–204; need for 197–198; and public affairs 196; public-private partnerships 208–209; team, knowledge of issues 202; team, structure and size 198; Trinity River Corridor Project 214–215; see also legislative agenda Grant, J., “Advocacy: Authority versus Power” 50 grant/s 285–286, 327, 351; block 206; categorical 206; compliance 207–208; Emergency Solutions 271; Farm Labor 271; housing 279–280; writing 207 Great Depression 113 Great Recession 22, 113 greenfield development 251 greenhouse gases (GHGs) 329–330 Grimes, P. G. 363 Grow Gothenburg 157 growth policy 109–110, 113; costbenefit analysis 118; eroding local authority 119; history 110–114; market dynamics 114–116; market influence mode 124; market initiation mode 124–125; market response mode 124; political polarization 116–119; public improvement district (PID) 125–126; resilience 120–122, 125; tools for local governments 122–126 Habermas, J. 64, 65 Habitat for Humanity 278, 283; “right of first refusal” 284; shipping container development 285–289 Hamari, J. 149–151 Hamilton, A. 111 Hancock, M. 299 Harvard Joing Center for Housing Studies (HJCHS) 275 Hayes, K. 337

380 Index health insurance 102–104, 192; Medicaid 181; reimbursement policies 188 healthcare: access 185, 187–188; community 187; consumer-centered 186–187; disintermediation 186; emergency 184, 192; outsourcing 185; patient-centered 187–189; United States 191–192; US, market structure 184–185; see also paramedicine Hernandez, A. 368 Hernandez, O. 16 Higgins, T. 19 history: growth policy 110–114; paramedicine 183–184 Holden, M. 7 Holt, C. 339 home rule 5–6; protecting 199–200 homelessness 289; and affordable housing 267; children 267; chronic 267; demographics 265–266; HEARTH Act 270–271; Housing First program 272–273; macrolevel causes 266; point-in-time (PIT) count 264–265; public opinion and attitudes toward 267–268; state and community-based assistance 271–275; see also housing; rental assistance Hoover, H. 255 housing 115; accessory dwelling unit (ADU) 281; affordable 28, 247, 250–251; Bootstrap Program 280, 284, 289; development 276–278; discrimination 275; emergency shelters 272; grants 279–280; neighborhood revitalization 278; new affordable 278; nonprofit organizations 278; public 269; Safe Haven shelters 274; shipping container 284–289; supportive 270, 272, 274; tiny homes 273; transitional 272; trust funds 279–280; workforce 280–281; see also affordable housing Housing Choice Voucher (HVC) 268–269 Housing First 272–273 Howe, N. 22 HSC Health Tracking Physician Survey 181 Hughes, J. 250

human resources (HR): benefits division 102–104; compensation division 100–101; documentation 105; employee relations 104–106; key performance indicators (KPIs) 98; leadership 96–97; recruitment 98–100; skills 96, 101; strategy 97–98; team 97 hybrid companies 173 i-government 132–133 immigrants and immigration 295, 306–310, 364; Americans’ attitude toward 296–299, 309; discrimination 299; economic impact 299; racism 308; in the United States 300–303 inclusionary zoning 281–282 inclusiveness 34, 65 income inequality 247; technology and 248–249 industrial revolution 110 industrialization 112, 336; automation 114 inequality 33; income 247–249; in the sharing economy 150–151 infill development 251 inflation 250 information and communication technology (ICT) 130, 134, 144; e-government 131–132; sharing economy (SE) 146–147; steering committees 137 infrastructure 84, 368–370; resilience policy 120–122, 332; smart city 133–134; sustainability 333 initiatives: Dallas, Texas 93; e-government 131, 132; Housing First 272–273; pro-immigrant 298– 299; smart city 132–133; strategic 98; sustainability 322–323 innovation 131, 132, 136; safety and 153; sharing economy (SE) 146, 147; smart cities 133; see also sharing economy (SE) and sharing economy organizations (SEOs) Innovation Quarter (IQ) 177–178 Instagram 65; analytics 78; see also social media Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) 333 insurance: health 102–104, 181, 192; stop-loss 103

Index  381 intergovernmental relations 195; see also government relations internal motivation 150 internal politics 205 internal stakeholders 358 International City-County Management Association (ICMA) 9–10, 26, 33, 34; Code of Ethics 48–50 International Data Corporation (IDC) 134 International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 319 internet, privacy and 130, 134–136 Introducing Infrastructure Resilience 121 Jack Evans Police Headquarters 210 Jacobo, T. 17 Jacobs, J. 363–364 Jefferson, T. 111 Johnson, B. 162 Johnson, D. 174–175 Jones, D. 342–343 Jordan, J. 364–365 junior accessory dwelling unit (JADU) 281 Kaiser, C. 135 Keffler, B. 179 key performance indicators (KPIs), HR 98 Kilpatrick, K. 338 Kim, M. J. 90 Klyde Warren Park 209–210 Knickerbocker Crisis 112 Know Ebola campaign 66 Koven, S. 339 labor: immigration and 299; supply and demand 249 Laffey, S. 12 Lake, R., Real Estate Tax Delinquency 254 land use 114, 118, 119, 256; national survey 277; see also zoning large companies 172–173 Lazarus, E. 310 leadership 12, 27, 171; advocacy organizations 206; coaching 107; council-manager government 18; employee relations 104–106; HR department 96–97; Level 5 13, 24– 25; local government 8–10, 106–107;

servant 9, 10, 24–25, 49–50; in the social sector 13–14; traits 13; VUCA skills 23; women 23 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) 330–331 League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) 307 legislation: compliance 317–320; earmarks 207–208 legislative affairs 196–197 legislative agenda 198–199, 205; focus areas 200–202; protecting home rule 199–200 legitimacy, local government 79, 237 lending 111, 113, 116, 250, 351; Bootstrap Program 280, 284, 289; mortgage 288–289 Leroy, G. 125 Level 5 leadership 13, 24–25 Liazo, A. 337 Liccardo, S. 298 Limbaugh, R. 297 LinkedIn 78; see also social media listening 26, 54 lobbyists 196, 202–204; Alcade and Fay 212; expertise 203–204; “taxpayer funded” 202–204 local government 2, 233–234; advocacy organizations 205–206; benefits 102–104; building a positive business relationship 169–171; charter 48; climate action plan 329–330; collaboration with nonprofits 236–240; commission 46–47; compensation 100–101; compliance with environmental laws and regulations 317–318; coordination with school district 218–224, 227–231; corruption 338–339; council-manager 11; dangers of a toxic environment 173; Dillon Rule 6; distrust in 135–136; entitlement process 118; environmental management system (EMS) 318– 320; erosion of authority 119; expenditures 1–2; future challenges 7, 8; future of communication 80; government relations, need for 197–198; government relations, structure and size 198; health insurance 102–104; home rule 5–6, 199–200; human resources (HR)

382 Index 98; internal politics 205; leadership 8–10, 13–14, 106–107; legislative agenda 198–202; lobbyists 202– 204; mindset 167–168; office of immigration affairs 298; performance 3; performance-based incentives 122–123; political economy 21–22; political polarization 117–118; politics 51–52; professional standards 9–10; recruitment 98–100; reform program 12–13; resolving public/ private disagreements 171–172; role with paramedicine 190–191; servant leadership 24–25; social capital 3; social media 64; special purpose districts 234; strong mayor 10–11; sustainability initiatives 322–323; sustainability plan 328– 330; value of a positive business community relationship 168–169; weak mayor 47; see also councilmanager government; mayor-council government London, ridesharing, regulation 160–163 Lucy, W. 250 machine learning (ML) 134, 138 Madison, J. 111 Manifest Destiny 304 man-made disasters, strategic planning 352 mapping your network 69, 70 market dynamics: automation 114; growth policy and 114–116; New Urbanism 115–116; shopping malls 114 market initiation 124–125 Marquet, D. 106 Marx, K. 2 mayor-council government 10–11, 33, 35, 47, 337–338; appointments 36; audiences 39; challenges 23; chief administrative officer (CAO) 33; elected officials 34–35 media, press conferences 70, 71; see also news agencies; social media Medicaid 181, 192; community paramedicine 182–183 MedStar 188–189 meetings, Zoom 353 Meijer, A. 132 messaging 79

metrics: HR 98; Neighborhood Plus Plan 229; resilience 123 m-government 132–133 Microsoft Excel 101 migration 295 Miller, S. 145, 298; “First Principles for Regulating the Sharing Economy” 154–157 minorities 54 minority, women-owned, and disadvantaged business enterprise (MWDBE) 57, 58 Mirabel, G. 17 mission statement 356, 358 Missouri, home rule 6 mixed-use development 116 mobile devices, e-government 131 Mondschein, J. 132 Monroe Doctrine 304 Mont, O. 144, 157, 160 Moore, M. 139 Morgan, J. 180 Morgantown, West Virginia 259–261, 366–370 motivation 150 movements: Austin for All People 49; Black Lives Matter 64–65 Muehlenbeck, T. 25–26 MuniRent 154 Nalbandian, J. 18 Nank, R. 241 National Longitudinal Land Use Survey (NLLUS) 277 National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) 276; Housing Trust Fund 280 National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) coalition 243 nativism 297 natural disasters, strategic planning 352 Nava, J. 364 neighborhood: gentrification 251–254; improvement programs 221; revitalization 278 Neighborhood Plus Plan 227; advisory committee 229–230; purposes 228; strategic goals 228–230 Neighborhood Stabilization Overlay 259 nepotism 12

Index  383 network/s: city government 66; communication 64–65, 80; disparities 79; mapping 69, 70; sharing economy (SE) 147 new affordable housing 278 new public administration 56 New Public Management (NPM) 236, 237 New Urbanism 115–116 New York City, ridesharing, regulation 160–163 news agencies: power 66; press conferences 70, 71; Texas Municipal League (TML) 87 Nextdoor 117 Nirenberg, R. 298 non in my backyard (NIMBY) 251 non-contributive economic activities 4–5 nonprofit organizations 233, 234, 327; 501(c)(3) 235; disaster response and recovery 242–244; funding 237–238; Habitat for Humanity 283–284; housing 278; local government collaboration 236–240; provision of public services 241–242; publicprivate partnerships 239–240, 330 non-routine management challenges 353; litigation 354; planning for 359; public health issues 354–355 Nortel 175 not in my backyard (NIMBY) mentality 280–281 Obama, B. 296 on-demand services 148; see also sharing economy (SE) and sharing economy organizations (SEOs) organizational communication networks 65, 80; mapping your network 69, 70 organizational culture 100 outsourcing, healthcare 185 P25 microwave project 222 pandemic 189; see also COVID-19 pandemic Panic of 1907 112–113 paramedicine 182–183, 187, 192, 367; history 183–184; MedStar 188–189; pandemic justification for 189–190; role of local government 190–191 Paris Climate Accord 316 patient-centered care 187–189

patronage 12 peer-to-peer platforms 145 pensions 102–103, 371 Perez-Luna, E. 298 performance: -based incentives 122– 123; evaluation 41; local government 3; management 105; metrics 98 Permanent Supportive Housing 274 permitting process 168, 276 personal protective equipment (PPE) 354 Physician Responder Program 184 Pickerill, M. 5 Plan, Do, Check and Act model 319–320 planned development 114; New Urbanism 115–116 police chief, termination 58, 59 policing 307–308; predictive 139 policy 28, 35–39, 50, 79; collection 43; financial 84; growth 109–110; see also growth policy; health insurance 188; HR 105; immigration 295–303, 305–306, 309; see also immigrants and immigration; inclusionary zoning 281–282; making 51; progressive 337; resilience 120–122 political economy 2; local government and 21–22 political parties 52 politics 28, 51–53, 55, 323; ICMA Code of Ethics 50; internal 205; polarization 116–119; social media and 117–118; strategic planning and 360–361 Pope, K. R. 15–16 poverty 227, 228; and homelessness 267 power 35–36; abuse of 65, 338–339, 345; communication network 64–65; constituent 51; news agency 66 predictive analytics 139 prescriptive analytics 139 press conferences 70, 71 Price, B. 18–19 privacy 130, 131; technology and 134–136 problem-solving 54 professional staff, council-manager government 36–38 professional standards 9–10 professionalism, council-manager government 52–53 Progressive Era 337, 345

384 Index projects 121; City of Dallas Trinity River Corridor 210–215; CityLine 176–177; cost-benefit analysis 118– 119; earmarks 207–208; entitlement process 118, 123; equity 123; Galatyn Park 174–176; gentrification 251–254; Klyde Warren Park 209–210; P25 microwave system 222; permits 168; shipping container development 285–289; technology 137–138; see also economic development; growth policy property tax 82, 84, 86, 119, 277; compliance with limitation 87–89; reform 200; school districts and 220–221 provision, governance by 157, 158 public administration 2–3 public affairs 196 public good, communication 65 public health 367; community paramedicine 183–184, 188–191, 367; COVID-19 pandemic 87, 89–90, 189–190; disaster response and recovery 242–244; Ebola 66, 87, 222, 354; see also COVID-19 pandemic public housing 269 public improvement district (PID) 125–126 public opinion about homelessness 267–268 public service campaigns: Real Trash Talk 73, 74; zero moment of truth (ZMOT) model 71–73 public-private partnerships 122, 125, 167, 240, 327, 330; building a positive relationship 169–171; City of Dallas Trinity River Corridor project 210–215; Dallas Arts District 210; disaster response and recovery 242–244; effective 240–242; Gazley on 239; government relations 208– 209; Jack Evans Police Headquarters 210; Klyde Warren Park 209–210; resolving disagreements 171–172; Richardson Economic Development Partnership 170–171; trust 241, 242; value of a positive relationship 168–169 Putnam, R. 3 Quintero, A. 296, 303 quotas 54

racism 150–151, 297, 298, 301–302, 305, 308 Ranchordas, S. 146, 153 Rantz, J. 367 rapid rehousing 274–275 rating system, SEO 149 Real Trash Talk 73; analytics 78 recognition: Economic Development Growth and Expansion (EDGE) Awards 171; employee 106 Reconstruction 336–337 recruitment 98–100 Red Cross 243 redevelopment: CORE district 178–179; Innovation Quarter (IQ) 177–178 reform 12–13, 17, 112, 119, 236; Austin for All People 49; Progressive Era 337; property tax 200; Richmond, Virginia 341–342 regression analysis 355–356 regulation: and affordable housing 251, 277; collaborative 159; compliance 317–320; local mediation 162; ridesharing 153, 160–163; sharing economy (SE) 144–146, 152, 154– 156; short-term rental (STR) market 153; state intervention 162–163; see also governance Reinhorn, A. 121 reinvestment zones 125 Renn, A. 253 rent functions 254 rental assistance: Emergency Solutions Grant 271; HEARTH Act 270–271; Housing Choice Voucher (HVC) 268–269; public housing 269; rapid rehousing 274–275; Section 8 269– 270; Section 202 270; Section 811 270; USDA Rural Rental Housing Program 271 resilience 124, 125; infrastructure 120–122, 332–333; metrics 123; policy 120–122 retail 114, 172 retirement 102–103 revenue: caps 200; collections 43; general fund 85–86; projection 355– 356; property tax 82; sharing 207 re-zoning 221, 230 Ricardo, D. 2 Richardson: CityLine 176–177; CORE district 178–179; Corporate Recreation Director 170; Economic

Index  385 Development Growth and Expansion (EDGE) Awards 171; Economic Development Partnership 170–171; Galatyn Park 174–176; Innovation Quarter (IQ) 177–178; Mayor’s Lunch Program 170–171 ridesharing 147, 151–152, 159; regulation 153, 160–163; Uber 160–163 rights of way 201 risk terrain modeling (RTM) 139 Rizzo, R. 16, 338–339 robotic process automation (RPA) 138 Rogan, K. 133 Roosevelt, T. 304, 337 rural communities 25; rental assistance 271 Rural Health Information Hub 190–191 Safe Haven shelters 274 sales tax 85 Samaritan Inn 283 Schaper, D. 369–370 Schneier, B. 135 school board 11; erosion of authority 119 schools and school districts 217, 234; community-oriented 225; coordination with local government 218–224, 227–231; developing a shared vision and plan 224–225; as focal point of neighborhood revitalization 226; joint use 225– 226; neighborhood improvement programs 221; P25 microwave project 222; planning 223–224; property needs 219; property tax and 220–221; utilization of existing facilities and infrastructure 225–226; zoning and 220 Schuetz, J. 251 Schulze, D. 27–29 Section 8 308; Project-Based assistance 269–270; public housing 269 Section 202 270 Section 811 270 self-communication 64–65 self-determination theory 150 self-governing 158–159 separation of powers 5 servant leadership 9, 10, 24–25, 49–50 Shang, S. 286 Share a Meal 159

shared services 370–371 Sharetribe 150 sharing economy (SE) and sharing economy organizations (SEOs) 144; benefits 147, 151–152; collaborative consumption 147, 149–150; COVID-19 pandemic 148; discrimination 149, 151; disruptions 151–152; drivers of growth 146–147; emergency services 154; governance 152–160; inequality 150–151; innovation 146; limited liability 145; peer-to-peer relationships 145, 147; rating system 149; regulation 145–146, 152, 154–156, 160–163; ridesharing 146, 147, 151–152; selfgoverning 158–159; Sharetribe 150; social implications 148–151; startups 160; sustainability 150; transferable sharing rights (TSR) 145, 156–157; trust 148–150; Uber 146, 152, 160–163; users, motivation 150 shipping container homes 285–289 shopping malls 114 short-term rental (STR) market, regulation 153–156 Sjöklint, M. 149–151 skills 249; city management 29; city manager 54–55; community paramedicine 182; decision-making 27; HR 96; Microsoft Excel 101; professional city management 26; soft 54–56; VUCA 23; see also leadership slave trade 111–112, 301–302 small business 172 smart city 132–134 Smith, A. 2 Snowden, E. 135 social capital 3, 4, 7, 9 social justice 298 social media 20–21, 38, 62–64; analytics 78–79; politics 117–118; press conferences 70, 71; privacy and 135–136 social sciences 2–3 Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) 98 soft skills, city manager 54–56 software, risk terrain modeling (RTM) 139 Sowell, T. 249 Spaccia, A. 16 Spanish flu 189, 190

386 Index special purpose districts 234 staffing 100; see also human resources (HR); recruitment stakeholders: identifying 357–358; Innovation Quarter (IQ) 178 state: intervention 162–163; legislative sessions 205; -local relationship 6–7 Staub, T. 145, 153, 154 steering committees, information technology 138 Sternlieb, G. 250 Stoney, L. 343–344 stop-loss insurance 103 strategy and strategic plan 2, 350, 363, 365; buy-in 357–358; COVID-19 pandemic 352–353; expenditure projection 355; fixed costs 352; HR 97–98; human capital 357; identifying stakeholders 357–358; man-made disasters 352; mission statement 356; natural disasters 352; Neighborhood Plus Plan 228–230; non-routine management challenges 353–355; planning for non-routine management challenges 359; political aspects 358–361; process 358–359; revenue projection 355–356; technology 357; vision statement 356; see also non-routine management challenges strong mayor government 47, 50–51; limitations 11–12; reform program 12–13; value proposition 10–11; veto power 51 suburban development 254 Sulkakoski, S. 144, 157, 160 supervision 35, 41 supportive housing 270, 272, 274 surgical residencies 186 surveillance 135–136 sustainability 150, 317, 322; infrastructure 332–333; plan 328– 330; sharing economy (SE) 147 Swanson, K. 15 Tammany Hall 336 TaskRabbit 148 tax 114, 168; ad valorem 85, 279; -exempt entities 235; increment financing zone 231; -payer funded lobbyists 202–204; property 82, 84, 86–89, 119, 200, 220, 277; sales 85 Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) 160, 161

taxi service, Uber 160–163; see also ridesharing Taylor, F. 112 technology 63; artificial intelligence (AI) 138–139; communication networks 64–65; companies 173; and decisionmaking 357; e-government 131–132; enterprise resource planning (ERP) 136; government adoption 137–138; HR 100; income inequality and 248– 249; information 130; innovation 131, 132, 136–139; P25 microwave project 222; privacy and 134–136; robotic process automation (RPA) 138; smart cities 132–134; steering committees 138; see also internet Telecom Corridor 174 Texas 119, 151; Bootstrap Program 280, 284, 289; city budget, themes 83–85, 90–92; compliance with property tax limitation 88–89; House Bill 2048 86; legislative agenda 198–199; oil industry 366; pragmatic response to COVID-19 87–89; property appraisal 284; protecting home rule 199–200; Senate Bill 2 82, 87, 199–200; shipping container development 285–289; tax-payer funded lobbyists 202–204; see also Dallas; Richardson Texas City Management Association (TCMA) 55 Texas Instruments 174 Texas Municipal League (TML) 83, 87 Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) 102 Texas Public Policy Foundation, on taxpayer funded lobbyists 204 TikTok 78; see also social media tiny homes 273 training 53, 55, 105; EMS 319; EMT 191; Physician Responder Program 184; surgical residencies 186 transferable sharing rights (TSR) 145, 156–157 transitional housing programs 272; Samaritan Inn 283 transparency 53; see also accountability Transport for London (TfL) 160, 162 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 304 Treaty of Utrecht 301 triage 184 triangle model of responsibility 344–345

Index  387 Trinity River Corridor Project 211– 212; Calatrava bridges 213–214; funding 212–214; state and federal agency cooperation 214–215 Triple Bottom Line Cost Benefit Analysis (TBL-CBA) 333 Trump, D. 134–135, 296–298, 303 trust 3–4, 9, 10, 29, 54–55, 104, 106, 107, 134, 224, 227, 237; betrayal of 14–17; consumer 148, 163; in government, strengthening 136; public 50; public-private partnerships and 241, 242; SEO rating system 149 Tsai, J. 268 Twain, M., Gilded Age: A Tale of Today 336–337 Tweed, W. 336 Twitter 65; analytics 79; see also social media two-way communication 64 Uber 146–148, 152, 160–163 Ukkonen, A. 149–151 “uncomfortable conversation” 105–106 United Nations, E-Government Survey 131–132 United States: Affordable Care Act 103–104, 192; American exceptionalism 305; American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) 84; American Revolution 304; Bracero Program 303; Chinese Exclusion Act 297; Civil War 112, 336; colonial 303–304; Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) 296; Disaster Assistance Supplemental Appropriations Ac 213; Federal Reserve 113; Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 135; Gilded Age 336–337, 345; Great Depression 113; Health Services Act 184; healthcare 102, 184–185, 191–192; Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act 270–271; homelessness 264–265; see also homelessness; immigration policy 296–303, 305–306, 309; see also immigrants and immigration; Manifest Destiny 304; Mental Health Administration Act 184; Monroe Doctrine 304; National Highway Traffic Safety Act 183; National Security Administration 135; Naturalization Act 302;

Reconstruction 336–337; slave trade 111–112, 301–302; State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act 207; Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 212–213 universities 55–56 University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) 55 urban communities 25 urban planning 255–256; New Urbanism 115–116 urban renewal 253 US Census 234, 265–266, 277, 279, 288, 302, 305 US Department of Agriculture, Rural Rental Assistance Program (RRAP) 271 US Department of Housing and Urban Development: 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report 264; Continuum of Care (CoC) Program 270–271; Housing First 272–273; point-in-time (PIT) count 264–265 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 321–322 utilities, disconnection 43–44, 351 vaccine, COVID-19 190 Valcik, N. 365 Venntel 135 vertical mixed-use development 116 veto power, strong mayor government 51 Vision Internet 63 vision statement 356, 358 Vives, R. 16 volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), leadership and 23 Voytenko Palgan, Y. 144, 157, 160 Warner, D., Gilded Age: A Tale of Today 336–337 weak mayor government 47 Weber, M. 3 website/s 63; analytics 78; ICMA 10; Know Ebola 66 white supremacy 305 Wi-Fi, free 134–135 Wilder, D. 340–342 Wilkinson, B. 370–371 Willbern, Y. 333–334 Wilson, P. 96 Wilson, W. 304

388 Index women 33, 57; #13Percent movement 34; leadership 23 workforce housing 280–281 World Bank 22, 309 World Health Organization (WHO) 22 xenophobia 297 zero moment of truth (ZMOT) model 71, 72; Real Trash Talk

campaign 73, 74; see also digital engagement Zimmerman, B. 20 zoning 114–115, 123, 201, 220, 247, 255–256, 277; inclusionary 281–282; re- 221, 230 Zoom meetings 353 Zwick, A. 148