Building Resilience in Local Government, with David Schmiedicke and William Jones

04/07/25 • 58 min

On this week's episode, we're live at the ICMA conference in Milwaukee, Wis., where we spoke to David Schmiedicke, Finance Director for the City of Madison, Wis.; and William Jones, City Administrator of Mequon, Wis. With a conference focus on reimagining local government, we wanted to get Dave and Will's thoughts on financial resilience, building community trust, what the future looks like for local governments, and so much more.

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Sewer Memes (Really!) and Communicating Effectively about Public Utilities, with John Gonzalez

What do James Earl Jones and free verse poetry have to do with a sewer district in Ohio? Sewage and stormwater fans might know we're talking about the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD). Their social media pages feature some next-level public utility memes, but perhaps there's a deeper purpose here? Join us as we talk to John Gonzalez, Senior Manager of Communications at NEORSD, about the importance of effective communication by public utility providers and the ways in which his team has connected with local communities.

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Climate Risk Assessment in the Muni Market, with Larry Lawrence and Phoebe Devries

When severe weather moves in, having accurate, real-time data is crucial. This extends to the muni market, where up-to-date analytics can help localities understand the exposure risks of their assets to extreme weather events. We sat down this week with Larry Lawrence, Head of ICE Climate, and Phoebe Devries, Senior Manager at ICE Climate, to better understand the methodology and technology behind monitoring and predicting the impact of severe weather on municipals, and how this helps localities conduct better risk management. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss a recent newsletter from our very own Liz Farmer (Long Story Short) that talks about the importance of communication in building trust in local government public finance.