This article is shared with LebTown by content partner Spotlight PA.
By Min Xian of Spotlight PA State College
STATE COLLEGE โ Local governments of all sizes require committed leaders and staff to keep their communities running smoothly, but problems can arise when they donโt have the right people to do the job.
When city, township, or borough elected officials cannot effectively serve, residents are left with few options.
Spotlight PA Local Accountability Reporter Min Xian spoke with a panel of experts about the challenges local governments face in finding and retaining dedicated elected officials and the impacts those people have on residentsโ lives.
Here are five key takeaways from the discussion, which can be viewed in full here.
Voice of the average citizen
Each government unit on the local level is run by a governing board in Pennsylvania. Varying numbers of members โ generally between three and seven โ make decisions regarding essential public services like fire and police, water, sewer, and parks.
The โamateur status of most elective officialsโ means that ordinary citizens can bring expertise from all walks of life into government operation, according to the Citizenโs Guide to Pennsylvania Local Government published by the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
The fragmented and hyperlocal structure of municipal government gives the average person a voice, โand their voice counts,โ John Brenner, executive director of the Pennsylvania Municipal League, said during the panel.
Training not required
Dan Murphy, a former State College Borough Council member, said he considered himself an atypical municipal government candidate when he ran for office in 2017. Murphy was a single, young professional who rented rather than owned a home and became the boroughโs first openly gay council member. He said he wanted to represent those perspectives in his community.
He learned on the job to make up for his lack of experience holding elected office. Resources provided by professional associations like the Pennsylvania Municipal League, the knowledge of borough staff, and connections with other municipal leaders helped him mount the learning curve.
Even seasoned officials have to keep up with increasingly complex responsibilities due to changing technologies and ever-evolving regulations and mandates, Brenner said. While training and ongoing education opportunities are plentiful, they are not required for elected officials in the commonwealth.
Brenner said he would like to see state lawmakers make some essential training a requirement. โSomeday weโre going to convince enough legislators that there should be a baseline training program.โ
Increasingly vacant seats
Pennsylvaniaโs more than 2,500 municipalities require about 12,000 elected officials. A 2021 survey of nearly 900 of them found that about half ran unopposed in both the primary and general elections. It is also common for officials to vacate their positions before the end of their terms.
Tim Kearney served two terms as mayor of Swarthmore Borough before being elected to the state Senate, where he is minority chair of the Local Government Committee.
People donโt run for office for a variety of reasons, the Delaware County Democrat said, including the demands of their jobs, lack of recognition of the significance of local government, or fear of sacrificing their privacy.
โTheyโre things that we need to solve, and things that we havenโt come up with a solution yet,โ Kearney said.
Municipalities of all sizes have trouble finding enough people to run them, said Brenner, who was a two-term mayor for the City of York. That brings into question whether having so many governing boards is the most efficient way to serve Pennsylvania communities.
Kearney said there have been legislative changes that allow lowering the number of members on borough councils.
โFailure of decorumโ
Milesburg Borough resident Bryce Taylor said he witnessed โkind of a worst-case scenarioโ in the governance of his communityโs borough council because of high turnover and hostility among elected leaders.
โWe had a pretty robust failure of decorum, and nobody wants to sit through that,โ Taylor said.
His attempts to raise concerns within the borough and with outside agencies did not lead to any resolution. He said he was left with no other option but to take the borough to court himself over alleged violations of the stateโs Borough Code and its open meetings law.
Personality conflicts and vitriol can easily derail a municipal government, Brenner said. In some places, developing a code of conduct or civility pledge can help guard against those behaviors.
Ideas to improve local governance
Citing personal experience researching Pennsylvania’s laws, Taylor said enforcement of regulations meant to oversee local governance is lacking. He discussed the possibility of a third party that could provide a neutral viewpoint, raise red flags, and enforce corrective actions in municipalities.
Laws addressing higher pay for municipal officials were enacted this year, Kearney said. This will allow public servants to be better paid for the time commitment required of their positions. More people from different backgrounds might be better able to participate in local office because of this change.
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