Last night was the last class of the semester for Strategic Management Collaborative Governance, the class at Seton Hall University I've been co-teaching with Professor Dr. Matt Hale. If you remember from the beginning of the semester, the idea of the class was to provide future public managers and leaders with both a conceptual and practical understanding of how government, especially local government, works, and how the institutions can be improved by approaching it with a different mindset, one with a heavy focus on accessibility, innovation and technology. The students performed brilliantly.
Below are a few tweets that I sent out as the students made their final presentations as they each were assigned a town and tried to get one local ordinance passed, many from The Citizens Campaign best practice model ordinances. The students brought some incredibly valuable lessons to the class, both from good and bad experiences trying to get something done in local government.
Our @SetonHall Master's students presenting trying to pass @CitizenCampaign ordinances this semester. @NJpoliticsprof pic.twitter.com/8aoiDyJurV
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Lots of students saying they were passed btw many departments/people trying to get their ordinances passed #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Students found individuals in local gov mostly responsive but the institutions themselves difficult to navigate #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Easier to work with local government than state/federal, where it's harder to "show up" at the office + ask q's #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Some students found NJ OPRA process to get more info for their ideas not particularly fruitful #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Def seeing the value of "onestop" 311 systems re: students trying to find info from unknown local gov depts #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Def seeing the value of "onestop" 311 systems re: students trying to find info from unknown local gov depts #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Students: Fall of TV, state-wide paper -> local reporting partially explain lack of local gov info/accessibility #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Student found out their city council publicly bashed their attempt for more info via OPRA requests. Incredible. #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Local connections and informal conversations apparently make a big difference in moving an idea fwd #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Students found many local officials active on social media during elections, but not as much once in office #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Public info being kept up to date on website (agendas, minutes, resolutions, etc) made a really big difference #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Students: Found local gov employees very kind but often told them "There's no way "the town" will get this done" #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Students: Liked using email but found phone and in-person meetings with local gov produced better results #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Students: Website functionality, access to public docs + up to date info more important than how "good" it looks #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Students: Staff turnover caused major delays in advancing ideas/conversations = Succession planning/HR matters! #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Students found a very wide range of accessibility among elected/local officials they contacted #MPALessons @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014
Biggest lesson: We have a lot to look fwd to in the rising generation of gov/public leaders #MPALessons Would you agree? @NJpoliticsprof
— Alex Torpey (@alextorpey) December 9, 2014