As a nine-year-old boy living in a refugee camp, Sokhary Chau did not aspire to be the first Cambodian American mayor elected in the United States. He was merely looking for a place to call home. Over 25 years later … Continue reading →
When Clarence Fields was elected to the Pineville, La., City Council in 1998, he had no interest in becoming a full-time public servant. He had a good job with the Central Louisiana Electric Company, or CLEC, and enjoyed a well-earned … Continue reading →
There’s power in numbers. That’s the idea behind the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, a coalition of 95 mayors from 124 mayor-led cities on the Mississippi River. A vast majority of mayors are in the association, and the mayor … Continue reading →
Not that long ago, Jeff Collins of Augusta, Arkansas, was the last person one would want to run their city or town. As the one-time owner of a trucking business, he began to use methamphetamines as a means to … Continue reading →
We reached out to mayors and city managers across the U.S. to see how they fared in 2018 and asked them to peek into their crystal balls to see what challenges they expect to tackle in 2019 as well as … Continue reading →
Closed for over 10 years, Pleasant Hill, Iowa’s, White Water University is an anomaly. The water park’s colorful, vacant slides and empty cement swimming pools should be a symbol of local urban decay. Yet, the small town is thriving. And … Continue reading →
While Amanda Edmonds might be mayor of Ypsilanti, Mich., she is also the full-time executive director of the nonprofit Growing Hope, which came out of her work on beginning an educational garden at Ypsi’s Perry Child Development Center in 1999. … Continue reading →
A council-manager form of local government can yield great rewards, according to one Iowa mayor. Within this type of framework, the city administrator, or manager, is the chief administrative officer and appoints all officers other than the attorney and municipal … Continue reading →
Since 2014, Paxton J. Branch has been the mayor of Tallulah, La., located in the northeastern part of the state just across the Mississippi River from Vicksburg, Miss. It was once a booming town, but the introduction of Interstate 20 … Continue reading →
We are living in the age of instantaneous information. Perhaps nowhere has this become more evident than in the proliferation and delivery of news. Everyone, everywhere, is racing to be the elite, the first. Sometimes that race can be compromised … Continue reading →
If you want to talk to the mayor of Carroll, Iowa, on a random weekday, don’t call city hall. He won’t be there. If he’s not out in the community or traveling on official business, Adam Schweers, 35, can usually … Continue reading →
