City Council 101

<p>Local government can be fascinatingly intriguing significant and captivating. This book grew out of years of determination while I was a Mayor Councilmember and Planning Commissioner to make local government and public meetings approachable friendly customer-oriented accessible accountable and understood. It is a process that needs work on all sides of the dais - by the public by staff and by elected representatives. </p><p>As the first directly elected female Mayor of my town I achieved all of the goals I set for my two years in office except one: I wanted to set up a course for new Councilmembers to teach them their roles and responsibilities as directors on the many Boards on which they sit. This book is my fulfillment of that goal. Boardsmanship is an art a science and a learned skill that isn't taught but which would enhance the service we provide to those who elect us if we understood how to do it well. </p><p>The problem is that there is no playbook no job description no education for newly elected representatives or for the public that explains what is expected of us and what our jobs are. It's all happenstance. The electeds get thrown in at the deep end and their constituents often don't even get to the pool or they check in with their representatives in a haphazard way. </p><p>I became familiar with local government practice and process by osmosis over the course of thirteen years. You can do that too but you will be much more effective and waste much less time if you learn how it works before you take up your role. <em>City Council 101</em> will shorten your learning curve so you can hit the ground running. </p><p><br></p>