CitySpeak Podcast
13 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsCitySpeak is where we talk about everything relevant to stakeholders at City Hall and municipal government organizations. CitySpeak podcast has a unique focus on community and directing interest to an exciting career in municipal government. Thank you for joining us on our maiden voyage as we recount decades of municipal government experiences, community initiatives, and managerial solutions!
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Episodes
What City Hall Needs From Its New Finance Director - Part II
December 11, 2020 23:48 - 34 minutes - 28.3 MBIn addition to these 10 goals the new Finance Director must achieve as discussed in this podcast, there will also be many projects the City Manager will “delegate” to the new Finance Director. You must learn how to say “no” sometimes. Or you can say “yes" if you provide me the resources”. The point is that you will have 12 to 18 months to meet "What City Hall Needs from its New Finance Director". You CAN achieve the "10 Goals" in addition to your regular duties as Finance Dire...
What City Hall Needs From Its New Finance Director
December 04, 2020 03:31 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBWhether you are looking to transition from the private sector or you’re an “up and comer” in municipal government, you may be interested in listening in on this 3-part series of the CitySpeak blog and podcast as follows: Part 1 – Character traits and skills the municipal finance officer (Director) must have. Part 2 – 10 most important goals to achieve as the “new” Finance Director at your City. Part 3 – Keep the 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) in mind to keep your job at City Hall....
What City Hall Needs From Its New Finance Director - Part I
December 04, 2020 03:31 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBWhether you are looking to transition from the private sector or you’re an “up and comer” in municipal government, you may be interested in listening in on this 3-part series of the CitySpeak blog and podcast as follows: Part 1 – Character traits and skills the municipal finance officer (Director) must have. Part 2 – 10 most important goals to achieve as the “new” Finance Director at your City. Part 3 – Keep the 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) in mind to keep your job at City Hall....
Help City Manager On-Board New Council Members
November 19, 2020 14:36 - 31 minutes - 19.3 MBIn today’s CitySpeak, we discuss six points that all municipal employees can think about to on-board new Council members next month: 1. Support the City Manager even if he’s a “lame duck” leader who may be fired by the new City Council. 2. City Managers, you can survive the new City Council if you're willing to do whatever it takes to keep your job. 3. Good communication from the City Manager is key to maintaining staff morale. 4. Adhere to professional public management prot...
Work From Home: New Norm for Municipal Workers
November 12, 2020 15:13 - 20 minutes - 17.5 MBThere are 6 main points highlighted about allowing municipal employees to work from home, and the constraints municipal managers will have to overcome to maximize the benefits of WFH initiatives. John also addresses the risks and disadvantages of municipal employees working from home, with suggestions for mitigating these risks through systems and internal controls. Listen in on today’s episode for ideas and suggestions you may find of value.
What Does an Economic Recession Feel Like at City Hall?
November 05, 2020 13:00 - 37 minutes - 26.6 MBDo you want to learn more about why the stock market is doing so well on Wall Street when the jobs picture is poor on Main Street? Do you want to learn about interest rates and why it is a very risky monetary policy of the Federal Reserve Bank to keep printing money and going into debt? Do you want to learn what personal financial decisions you should be taking to weather the economic recovery from this 2020 recession? Tune in and listen to this half-hour presentation of how the ...
Think Long-Term, Rewards Are Greater
October 29, 2020 12:00 - 29 minutes - 20.8 MBHere’s the point of this CitySpeak episode: Think long-term, the rewards are great! In today’s CitySpeak podcast, I present three (3) important benefits we can all enjoy from “thinking long-term”… about our careers, our relationships, and our life in general. Here they are as follows: 1. Long-term thinking… allows us to weather economic recessions like any planned event. 2. Long-term thinking… is smart, short-term thinking is not smart. 3. Long-term thinking… gives us greate...
Millennials Reinventing Government
October 22, 2020 17:29 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MBLocal governments welcomed the year 2020 with a clear vision of optimism, with a focus successful achievement of our fiscal and organizational goals. Today we’re facing a world of massive uncertainty. Our optimism dropped instantly when the Coronavirus threat was finally announced in March. Before the end of the first quarter, our Cities were shut down, unemployment spiked from 3.8% in February to 13% in May. TIME TO REINVENT GOVERNMENT With these tough economic times we're ...
Why Choose a Career in Municipal Government
October 15, 2020 12:00 - 35 minutes - 25 MBIn this episode, John shares his story on why he chose a career in municipal government. When still in college, he took a career assessment called SIGI, a comprehensive, interactive, computer-assisted career guidance program designed to assist students in making career choices. SIGI suggested to John that he would make a good City Manager. This opened up the world of municipal government to John. This CitySpeak podcast seeks to open up the world of municipal government to its...
Municipal Employees: Stay Out of Politics
October 08, 2020 13:00 - 37 minutes - 27.2 MBJohn has been involved in the municipal industry for 30+ years and through his experience, he knows certain conversations you should indulge in, and certain conversations you should not indulge in. Local government politics that belong in the realm of elected officials, this tends to cause problems in the workplace if the municipal employee “take that bait”. It is imperative to be very careful about your approach when talking to someone who has power over your career. As a muni...
Systemize Your Department to Do More with Less
October 01, 2020 13:00 - 46 minutes - 32.5 MBJohn's passion in this episode will encourage any municipal executive, City Manager, and/or Director that right now is the time to be a leader. Customer satisfaction is an important part of keeping a business open, municipal organizations are no different. To keep your customers happy, you have to identify who your customer is and know what makes them happy. Even though we are facing a COVID-19 recession, now is the time to be creative by implementing new systems that will create...
Municipal Employees: Survive and Thrive During the Crisis
September 23, 2020 20:34 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MBMunicipal employees get nervous, anxious, and stressed about their jobs during times of fiscal crisis. This episode of CitySpeak reminds you that this economic recession is "not our first rodeo". We've been here before, we got through the last one, and we'll get through this COVID-19 recession too! By approaching the existing recession as a challenge to be overcome with creative solutions, we can take the "bad stress" that hurts us and turn it into "good stress" that energizes...
Introducing CitySpeak the Podcast with John Herrera
September 17, 2020 01:34 - 29 minutes - 25.3 MBThis is the first-ever CitySpeak podcast, with John Herrera, who is the founder, President, and CEO of MuniTemps. In this episode, we will spend the first 20 minutes getting to know John Herrera, as we hope this will help our listeners get a better perspective on where we are coming from in all future CitySpeak episodes.