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To that end, a digital tool launched by CivicPulse in collaboration with Engaging Local Government Leaders and the Government Finance Officers Association, called the Local Government Diversity Dashboard, is a step toward resolving the issue. Report: There's gender parity in public financing, but general administration has a ways to go Over the last few decades, local government finance administrators have made a concerted effort to increase diversity and gender parity within their organizations. [Extracted from the article]

The foundation of America's robust economy is upheld by its metropolitan centers. In a visual representation of just how strong the nation's economy is, the report compares the economic output of American metro centers with nations - 37 U.S. metropolitan centers ranked among the world's largest economies. As communities emerge from the pandemic and confront the possibility of a near-future recession, city economies are well positioned to guide the nation through whatever comes next. [Extracted from the article]

Ten other mayors and projects were likewise honored for their sustainability work, including five in the large cities category: Vi Lyles, mayor of Charlotte, N.C.; Mayor Michael B. Hancock of Denver; Jerry Dyer, mayor of Fresno, Calif.; Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville, Ky.; and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. B Climate awards b Earlier this week, the conference recognized mayors working to promote clean energy with its 2022 Mayors' Climate Protection Awards. [Extracted from the article]

The initiative, which will create Multi-Disciplinary Response Teams, brings together civilian medical professionals and public safety officers for a unified holistic response. When it comes to fielding mental health calls, "Historically, society has relied on officers", said Doug Balli, chief of police in Galveston, Texas, during a roundtable discussion Thursday about a multi-agency mental health crisis response initiative being launched in the city later this year. [Extracted from the article]

Last week, America endured what has sadly become a familiar tragedy - on Wednesday, a deranged shooter murdered nineteen young students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tx. Uvalde's administrators intend to tear down Robb Elementary School, and Mayor Don McLaughlin has requested an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into the response by law enforcement. [Extracted from the article]

The list includes communities like Grand Lake, Colo., which is home to the state's deepest natural lake, and Bigfork, Mt., situated along Flathead Lake. From Vermont's Lake Champlain to the famous Lake of the Ozarks, the United States has the third mostlakes of any country in the world - a new list from Boatline, an online boating marketplace, ranks America's best lakeside cities and towns. 10 of America's most idyllic lakeside communities. [Extracted from the article]

Ahead of Surfside condo collapse anniversary, Florida's legislature approves statewide inspection standards "Forty percent of Florida jurisdictions have no property maintenance code in place or have adopted a property maintenance code developed in the late 1970s. Based on an analysis by the code council, roughly 20 percent of Florida jurisdictions have adopted the property maintenance code, which is updated every three years to stay current with building science, best practices and lessons learned. [Extracted from the article]

More than 75 percent of the roughly 100 public sector respondents said they use social media the most often - among all other methods like a dedicated community liaison and online message boards - to maintain regular and open communication with their constituents. In today's frenetic social media-driven environment, engaging with constituents can be a balancing act - too much interaction and they might tune you out or unsubscribe; too little civic engagement might cause them to disengage with messaging. American City & County survey highlights civic engagement priorities in public sector. [Extracted from the article]

Ahead of the historic investment in American infrastructure, government organizations are facing an unprecedented employment and retention squeeze. Those looking to make an impact on their world would do well in public service - an "intangible" trait, according to Kellar - even if they don't yet have the specialty skill set that's needed for a specific job. But while the employment challenges might be difficult for organizations to overcome, Kellar said she anticipates things will settle in the next five years or so. [Extracted from the article]

Beyond engagement, the public expected a transactional interaction with government websites - they wanted to easily pay their excise tax, update local voting and register their new pandemic-puppy. Now two years on, government websites have become an integral part of public business - and their focus has evolved into more of a service mindset. Government websites became portals for an emerging interface of public administration, which experts expect will be increasingly digital. [Extracted from the article]

A description on the app's website describes that, if a user calls 911, the Smart911 system recognizes the phone number "and automatically displays your profile on the screen of the call taker who receives your call. Since the first full time fire department was established in Cincinnati in 1853, emergency responders have raced into unknown scenarios with limited advance information when the firehouse bell rings - until now. [Extracted from the article]

What workers, particularly younger workers, want has also changed", reads a new report from Deloitte, "Government can win the talent race - Here's how." Constrained by inflexible budgets, local government employers can't compete with the lucrative salaries offered in the private sector. [Extracted from the article]

The portal will be created and overseen by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, NLC and Results for America, a national organization that aims to aid all levels of government by leveraging data and evidence-based practices. A joint venture announced Tuesday by a group of philanthropic organizations - in collaboration with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities (NLC) and Results for America - seeks to help small and mid-sized communities secure their piece of the $550 billion in funding available for local governments navigating federal bureaucracy. [Extracted from the article]

Report: Nearly 95 percent of America's mayors face harassment, threats and violence Women mayors and mayors of color face more frequent and acute incidents of harassment and violence, according to new research from the advocacy organizations Equity Agenda and the Mayors Innovation Project. In today's divided socioeconomic landscape - one that's rife with political angst - harassment of mayors has become commonplace, especially against minority leaders. [Extracted from the article]

In their first ten years of retirement, researchers found that 48 percent of plan participants didn't take any partial disbursements and 72 percent didn't take any full disbursements. Once retired, nearly half of public sector employees aren't taking any action with their defined contribution retirement plan funds for at least a decade, according to research from Mission Square Research Institute, which included the analysis of more than 100,000 public service data records. Report: Almost half of public sector retirees don't touch their retirement plans for a decade. [Extracted from the article]

"We all know there is no amount of money in the world that can possibly compensate for some of the loss we've heard about in this case", said Judge Michael Hanzman, who was presiding over the hearing at Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Nearly $1 billion - that's how much victims of last year's Surfside, Fla. condo collapse will receive, lawyers representing victims in a class action lawsuit announced unexpectedly Wednesday in a courtroom hearing. [Extracted from the article]

Beyond these already-installed features, the architects and city administrators anticipated future needs and a changing climate, building adaptability into the design from the get go. City and county administrators contemplating green energy and building design "should be considering not only their upfront costs, but their long term operational costs", Bulman said. From solar solutions to rainwater reclamation, of the many advancements in green energy that've been made over the past few decades, city and county administrators should take particular note of those made in the building construction sector. [Extracted from the article]

For one, the rise of social media and all things free-internet has shifted consumer expectations, and with it, the business model traditionally relied on by newspapers and local press has all but crumbled; online advertisement sales aren't comparable to legacy print-ad revenue because digital ads rely on a ton of clicks and engagements. A report from the nonprofit American Economic Liberties Project outlines the extent of this control: 86 percent of online ad revenue today is bought and sold in a "stock market-like "advertising exchange" controlled by these tech giants." The remaining 14 percent of online ad revenue is split between the estimated 6,800 publications still publishing in the United States - of those, three are national publications and around 160 are regional. [Extracted from the article]

"By contrast, municipal bond issuers normally take two to three times longer - 140 to 160 days - to complete their audits." In comparison with corporate bond issuers, municipal bonds "typically take two-to-three times longer", notes a report from the University of Illinois Chicago, citing research from Merritt Research Services and the university's Government Finance Research Center. [Extracted from the article]

This shift is hardening the digital defenses of organizations across all sectors, including local government, because they must invest more in their cyber defenses in qualify for cyber insurance coverage. In the last decade, the threat of ransomware and other cyberactivity has increased dramatically - more than ever, targeted organizations are paying the criminal perpetrators to have their information restored. [Extracted from the article]

Janitors and office workers, single parents and childcare professionals, immigrants and locals - people of all ethnicities, religions and perspectives move through urban landscapes via the same public transportation systems. There's also gender disparity within the industry, and that reveals itself in policies and processes that "don't consider barriers such as work schedules outside 9-to-5 hours, or child- and home-care responsibilities.". [Extracted from the article]

The funding will go "to organize, focus and expand the safety and violence reduction strategies of municipal agencies and their community partners", said Clarence Anthony, NLC's executive director and CEO. Unfortunately, shootings and violence and American cities have become a daily occurrence - they occur so frequently that many fail to make headlines. [Extracted from the article]

"Land uses underpin a local government's revenue system because the property tax (and sometimes the sales tax) is an important source of local revenue. If the land within a government's boundaries is not productive at generating revenues, then local government will find it difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with the costs of providing services and maintaining infrastructure". [Extracted from the article]

The city is using a tree-tracking technology called iTree to maintain a census of all trees on public land or rights-of-way. "We lost 80 percent of our trees", said Greg Brudnicki, mayor of Panama City, a municipality of around 30,000 people on Florida's panhandle. It's been nearly four years since Hurricane Michael ripped through Florida's panhandle, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake that's still being felt. [Extracted from the article]

HydroPoint helps nearly 30 cities including Los Angeles and New York City manage their water systems via automated smart technology, saving cities about 85 billion gallons so far. In this internet-of-things era, municipal infrastructure is becoming increasingly smart - from electrical grids to bridges and city water systems, which can keep public administrators connected and reduce chronic water waste. [Extracted from the article]

Inflation could disrupt economy's "soft landing", but cities and counties are prepared After enduring a wild ride through the last two years marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, local and county governments are staring down an unpredictable economic future - with one certainty: inflation. In Arizona, for example, Matt Gress, the state's budget director, said inflation in the Phoenix metro area has climbed over the last year to 10.9 percent, which is three percentage points higher than the national average. [Extracted from the article]

Over the last decade, harrowing videos of residents fleeing down smokey roadways, hedged on either side by flames, have captivated the national spotlight. Speaking from personal experience, Arndt said she's seen a glimpse of what future climate-related migration might look like. [Extracted from the article]

In light of the recent historic infrastructure investments and various national funding initiatives, Rice said the federal government has an obligation and a responsibility to work with rural communities and ensure everyone gets what's been set aside for them. Tom Vilsack and White House Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice as part of the Biden-Harris administration's Building a Better America Rural Infrastructure Tour. [Extracted from the article]

More than ever before, today's public sector workforce crisis is stressed out - and struggling with burnout. Beyond surveys, researchers Barboza-Wilkes, Gonzalez and master's student Stephanie Wong began fielding interviews and documenting diary notes "to understand the emotional toll of COVID-19.". [Extracted from the article]

Report: Governments stand to benefit from "metaverse" and its associated technologies Ever since Facebook became Meta, the "metaverse" - a term coined in the early 1990s referring to a network of virtual three-dimensional worlds - has been a hot topic of conversation online, at home and in many town halls. "We've seen governments use everything from augmented reality, virtual reality, blockchain and cryptocurrency, which we see as the building blocks of a wider metaverse", Garrity said. [Extracted from the article]

"One idea that comes from private research is "job crafting" - giving employees greater employ over the work they do." A March 2022 report from ZipRecruiter found that while the private sector has recovered more than 90 percent of jobs lost over the past two years, the public sector has only recovered 53 percent. Generally, those who enter public service do so out of a desire to help their community, and because of that, they're committed to their work, Perry explained. [Extracted from the article]

"The Golden State dominated our sustainability leaderboard this year", the statement says. A statement about the findings notes that California and New York led the way, with three California cities in the top 10, followed by New York, which also had three. Ahead of Earth Day, which annually falls on April 22, LawnStarter has published a list of nearly 200 sustainable American cities. [Extracted from the article]

Todd Perdieu, director of North American channel partners at L3Harris, talks about new technology being launched this year - most notably, MCPTT in all converged devices - at IWCE 2022, which was held last month in Las Vegas, Nev. [Extracted from the article]

"In a simple way, you can describe this technology almost like how humans perceive any kind of danger", in that each system houses three sensors monitoring key environmental aspects - an infrared sensor, another for smoke and particle, and a third tracking gas and chemical changes. Among technologies that are under development, N5 Sensors has developed a multi-modal sensor system that can detect wildfire before smoke becomes obvious, giving first responders a much-needed edge. [Extracted from the article]

"More than half of America's public health workers report at least one symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic", reads a statement about the report, Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey, which fielded responses from 40,000 government health care workers. The nation's public health workforce is staring down a serious retention crisis. [Extracted from the article]

"The vehicle has to be connected to the road", he said, noting there are technologies available that allow cars and smart roadways to communicate. Pedestrian fatalities have been on the rise for the last decade, with a sharp spike over the last few years coming as an unfortunate byproduct of the pandemic. [Extracted from the article]

Instead of seeing them as "cost centers" - with the largest expense factor being labor and a mission of getting through as many calls as possible, quickly - "If the purpose of a contact center is to create a great customer experience, in some cases it might make sense to spend extensive time talking with a customer to resolve a difficult issue", the report notes. Future centers can be categorized into three components: A customer experience hub that delivers services through several channels; a tech-powered "cockpit" where admins can run things behind the scenes; and a cloud-based foundation that can support emerging tools. In the contact center of the future, as envisioned by the report, improved customer experience will be achieved "through a tech-supported workforce.". [Extracted from the article]

A decade ago, the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) was authorized under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 as an interoperable broadband network designed exclusively around the needs of public safety organizations. There's been "massive adoption - 3 million users; 20,000 agencies", said Scott Agnew, assistant vice president of FirstNet Solutions at AT&T during a keynote address at the 2022 International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) last month. [Extracted from the article]

The flexibility is important, Anthony said, because it gives local governments "expanded authority to use a portion of their ARPA recovery funds for transportation, CDBG-eligible activities, and disaster response. City and county organizations are lauding the Senate's approval of a bipartisan initiative that codifies into law the U.S. Treasury's final rule allowing communities the flexibility to allocate up to $10 million in American Rescue Plan funding toward general government services. [Extracted from the article]

While a formal assessment and analysis may be expensive, moving forward with an adaptive reuse project without adequately assessing the building can lead to excessive hidden costs during construction. Every community has its share of underutilized buildings - empty warehouses, shuttered schools, abandoned grocery stores and retail strip malls, and aging postal facilities - that have reached the end of their useful lives. Municipal and law enforcement budgets often receive a lot of scrutiny, and reduced construction costs can be returned to municipal coffers to pay for additional staff, training, or community programs. [Extracted from the article]

Continuing a trend started with the American Rescue Plan and solidifying with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the Biden Administration is boosting investments in local government in its proposed $5.8 trillion Fiscal Year 2023 Budget. If Biden's budget is approved as-is, the allotment would be used to construct new houses and "to address existing market gaps and stabilize housing prices in the long-term", NLC's statement says. [Extracted from the article]

It's risen "to the top of government leaders' agendas.... More and more government agencies, even those not directly linked to the environment, are making climate a top priority", the report notes about its top trend: climate-resilient government. Government trends report highlights the pandemic's profound impact on public service The pandemic's societal impact on local government can't be overstated; two years on and it's clear there's no going back to a pre-COVID-19 normal - as signified by a number of emerging government trends. [Extracted from the article]

Municipal broadband: Using today's technology to support your community's future Recent surveys by the National Federation of Independent Business and Google found that around 8 percent - about 2-3 million - of U.S. small businesses do not have access to broadband internet. And of those that do, the FCC's current broadband benchmark speeds may be too slow to meet their internet speed needs, according to a 2021 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. [Extracted from the article]

America's racial wealth gap is well documented. Other topics covered in the survey - the findings of which have already been released - include "Building Back Better" and "Mayors and America's Homelessness Crisis." Elsewhere, "U.S.-born Blacks in the Boston metropolitan statistical area had a median wealth of merely $8 in 2014, compared to white households' median wealth of $256,500", continues the report, which was compiled via the organization's 2021 Menino Survey of Mayors. [Extracted from the article]

A few decades ago, government security managers were tasked with overseeing physical features like fencing, CCTV cameras, doors and locks. We all protect our phones more than we protect 9-1-1, and it should not be that way", said Paul Hill, a cybersecurity expert from Motorola speaking on a panel about the subject moderated by Dick Tenny, of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. In New York City, Harch described his organization's journey to its current comprehensive approach to digitization and cybersecurity, citing a decision in 2014 to distribute a cellphone "to every uniformed police officer. [Extracted from the article]