Reimagining Local Government in the Wake of Recent Crises Will Build Public Trust

• Published date: 01 June 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0160323X221148121
• Author: Marc A. Ott
• Date: 01 June 2023
• Subject Matter: Perspective Essay

https://doi.org/10.1177/0160323X221148121

State and Local Government Review

2023, Vol. 55(2) 91 –95

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/0160323X221148121

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Perspective Essay

As an outcome of World War II, Winston

Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt worked with

50 other countries to form the United Nations

making certain that “a good crisis” didn’t go to

waste.1 It is up to us at the local government level

to apply that lesson to the most comprehensive

set of crises faced in a generation—the global

pandemic and its cascading social and economic

effects; social unrest; fundamental challenges to

democracy and civility; and the accelerated pace

of natural disasters due to global warming.

It might be tempting to declare victory when

incremental solutions are found in the face of

immediate challenges—vaccines are distributed,

wildfires are controlled, protests are quelled—

but we would lose the opportunity to see past

where we are today. We have been fundamentally

changed by these crises and we have the opportu-

nity to improve exponentially because of them.

Building on a Legacy

To leverage this moment of unprecedented change

into long-term improved outcomes for our

communities, we are building on the fundamen-

tals of the local government management profes-

sion which was founded more than 100 years ago.

In the early days, city managers were engineers

focusing on efficient operations.2 Today the

municipal and county managers can become cre-

dentialed. They bring a broad range of skills to the

position including 14 core leadership and man-

agement practices that have been vetted by local

government leaders in more than a dozen coun-

tries3 (see Figure 1). These practices are but-

tressed by leadership qualities that are most

effective in disruptive environments as identified

in The Effective Local Government Manager,4

including empathy and courage (see Figure 2).

1148121SLGXXX10.1177/0160323X221148121State and Local Government ReviewOtt

research-article2023

1International City/County Management Association,

Washington, DC, USA

Corresponding Author:

Marc A. Ott, International City/County Management

Association, 777 North Capitol Street, Washington, DC

20002-4201, USA.

Email: mott@icma.org

Reimagining Local Government

in the Wake of Recent Crises

Will Build Public Trust

Marc A. Ott1

Abstract

We have been fundamentally changed by the crises of the past several years from the pandemic

and its effects to the climate crisis and we have the opportunity to improve exponentially because

of them. It is our challenge to reimagine local government in a way that “builds back better” in

partnership with the private, non-profit, and state and federal government sectors and through

dedicated, effective public engagement.

Keywords

leadership, management, public trust, city management, ICMA, service delivery, resilence, equity