The New Future of Government Operations

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of facilitating the Government Operations installment in the SEMCOG and MAC New Future of Southeast Michigan Community Conversations series. This Community Conversation focused on how – throughout the pandemic – local governments have continuously adapted to efficiently and effectively deliver services to their communities. It’s an important time to reflect on lessons learned and to assess which operational changes will remain after the threat of the pandemic subsides. As always, it was truly impressive to hear from local government leaders on what they’ve done to enhance their operations to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic.

At this Community Conversation, we welcomed two guest presenters. Kicking things off was Taiwo Jaiyeoba, Assistant City Manager and Director of Planning, Design and Development, at the City of Charlotte, North Carolina. In his presentation, Taiwo covered the myriad of ways that Charlotte’s government operations and services have changed during the pandemic.

Next up was a presentation from Phil Bertolini, Co-Executive Director at the Center for Digital Government. Phil is a familiar face to SEMCOG and MAC, having served on boards and task forces from both organizations in his past role as Oakland County Deputy Executive and CIO.

These presentations set a foundation for a robust conversation on how government operations are evolving. The following were some key takeaways from the conversation:

• Increased digitization of government services, particularly public meetings, has been essential to effective government operations during the pandemic;
• Citizen engagement at virtual meetings has been significantly higher during the pandemic, and many communities are seeking options to indefinitely accommodate remote citizen engagement;
• Existing staffing challenges were exacerbated by the pandemic, but many local government administrators have shifted their focus toward managing staff output – rather than total hours worked – to measure success;
• The flexibility of offering remote and hybrid work options is allowing local governments to attract and retain talent, as is a continual reevaluation of salary and benefits to remain competitive with the private sector and other communities;
• A variety of technology and cybersecurity issues emerged during the pandemic, and local governments are looking for ways to ensure security as internal processes and service delivery are digitized; and
• Communities are evaluating their internal personnel/HR practices to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion are prioritized.

Do these issues match the experience of your community?

This conversation was a great start, but we still want to hear from you! Understanding local priorities and perspectives can help SEMCOG develop resources to support your work and advocate on your behalf from a regional platform. How has your community evolved service delivery and operations on these topic areas during the pandemic? Which of these changes are likely to remain? Are you focused on other issues around these topics? Please visit the New Future of Government Operations page on SEMCOG’s website to learn more, and respond to this survey to continue the conversation. Findings from this survey and other conversations in the New Future of Southeast Michigan series will be shared at SEMCOG’s October 14 General Assembly meeting.