Understand How Your Local Government Works
Do you know who runs your city or town? Like, the people who actually make decisions about your property taxes, public safety, or schools? If you don’t, it’s OK, you’re not alone. When I was knee-deep in raising my young family while also growing my career, I could not tell you the name of the mayor in the city where we lived. But the truth is that decisions in local government affect my life (and yours) every single day. And it’s easy to get informed and engaged. Let me show you how.
First, find out how your local government is set up. If you live in a city, you probably have a city council or aldermen, which is similar, and a mayor. (I’ll dig into the difference between a mayor-council versus a manager-council in another article) In a smaller town, you might have a town council, a select-board, or even a village board. If you’re in a rural area, you might be part of a county government, led by a board of supervisors or county commissioners. The easiest way to figure this out is to go to your town, city, or county website. It’s all there.
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Next, get to know who represents you. These are your elected leaders- the people making decisions that affect everything from your tax bill to your schools. Again, this information will be on your town or city’s website. Find out their names. Learn their roles. And keep track of how to contact them. Knowing who they are makes it much easier to reach out when something comes up that you really care about.
Once you’ve got the basics, it’s time to start paying attention. There’s a few ways you can do this.
You can watch public meetings- they’re usually streamed online live, or available after the fact, or both.
You can scan meeting agendas and minutes to see what’s coming up or what was discussed.
And you can sign up for local government updates. Lots of cities send email newsletters, alerts, texts, or post to social media. If yours doesn’t, ask for this. It’s a very basic citizen request.
Finally, once you learn how your town is run, who is making decisions, and what issues typically get the most attention, you can get involved! You can email your representatives, review meeting agendas, show up at meetings, or even speak during public comment. These are your leaders. They’re there to represent you, so go ahead and make your voice heard! And if nothing else, outperform 90% of your neighbors and vote in local elections. So many people skip these, but they impact your life, in many ways, more than national ones.
So, let’s recap:
Learn how your local government works. ⁉️
Find out who’s in charge. 👱🏽👱🏼♂️
Pay attention. 🔎🔍
And get involved! 👋🏻👋🏿
Being engaged doesn’t have to be hard or time-consuming. It begins with knowing how things are done and who is making decisions. Take that first step, and the next time something comes up that you really care about, that will affect you or your loved ones, you’ll be ready to help shape the future right where you live.
