Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL)
500 episodes listed below
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GovLove is a podcast about the people, policies and profession of local government. From Mayors and City Managers to interns and everyone in between, we interview the people making a difference in their communities to learn about the great work being done at the local level. GovLove is brought to you by Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL).
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · June 2026
GovLove gives local government listeners practical, insider level conversations about city operations, planning, workforce policy, and public administration.
GovLove works best as a practical window into local government, not as a broad politics show. Its interviews treat public service as a job with procedures, constraints, negotiations, and compromises.
You want city hall with the meetings left in, not sanded into slogans.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A measured look at parks work, public space, and civic care in Raleigh.
Mitchell Silver's conversation on GovLove is at its best when it connects a Raleigh city-council role to a parks-centered public-service background and shows how that experience shapes real decisions about parks, access, and care.
A focused look at behavioral science, ethics, and the soft-paternalism line between nudges and mandates.
GovLove uses this conversation with Joseph Sherlock to examine where behavioral science fits inside government and why the ethical questions matter there.
A thoughtful look at city management, loneliness, and the poems that grew from both.
GovLove takes a reflective turn as Jim Schutz traces how local government poetry grew out of a long career transition. The conversation follows that shift from a magazine article that felt too narrow to poems meant to hold the emotion of leaving government work, then onward from…
Listen first, assess carefully, then make the changes that matter.
GovLove centers on Durango city manager Jose Madrigal and his approach to management and organizational culture. He describes arriving with a 100-day plan, using that time to meet directors, staff, and community partners, and asking what was working, what could improve, and what…
A clear case for representation as local government infrastructure.
This episode treats representation in local government as practical work: making civic careers visible, lowering barriers, and giving people a path into the field.
Community engagement works better when it is hands-on, human, and tied to how cities actually function.
GovLove frames community engagement as something built, not just scheduled, and that gives this episode its shape. John Camp and Leah Fisher talk through Dream, Play, Build, moving from John Camp’s path through public-space thinking to the practical side of making civic…
A steady conversation about city leadership transition, trust, and the timing of a move.
This is a practical look at Kelly McAdoo's move from Hayward to Santa Barbara, with the conversation grounded in city management and the realities of a career change.
A practical, case-by-case tour of planning law with real municipal stakes.
GovLove spends this episode on planning law and the federal and state court decisions that shaped the year, with Reed Asselby, Craig Notte, and Scott Hazelton walking through the Planning and Law Division's Case Law Digest alongside Dan Bolin.
Galen Druk and the FiveThirtyEight team parse Harris-Trump polling data debate by debate.
Former CIA acting director Michael Morell interviews intelligence veterans on Iran, China, and Ukraine.
Rebecca Smith-Aldrich, founder and board member of the Sustainable Libraries Initiative, says the group started 10 years ago on a train ride from Philadelphia to New York with Matthew Ballerman of Hop Hog Public Library.
GovLove speaks with Mitchell Silver about his work in local government, including parks leadership and service on Raleigh City Council in North Carolina.
GovLove sits down with Valerie Lemme for a conversation about democracy and public administration.
GovLove records live from the 2025 ICMA conference in Tampa.
GovLove host Tony Thompson interviews Chyanne Eyde, Deputy Chief of School Planning at District of Columbia Public Schools, about engagement failures with historically marginalized communities and how those lessons shaped her work in Washington, D.C.
GovLove talks with Joseph Sherlock, an assistant professor at King's College London and a behavioral scientist in a public policy school.
GovLove brings on Pennie’s director of external affairs, Chachi Angelo, and uses Pennsylvania’s health insurance marketplace to show why local governments matter for healthcare access.
GovLove’s East Hartford episode centers on Jessica Carrero, the Town of East Hartford project manager, and how she keeps local government steady through abrupt mayoral transitions in a town of about 52,000 residents.
GovLove’s Reno County, Kansas episode centers on the consolidation of eight rural fire districts into Reno County Fire District One, a change that took roughly 10 years to move from study to implementation.
GovLove opens from Jacksonville with its familiar local-government conversational tone before settling into city management and career transitions.
Meredith Reynolds opens at the ICMA conference in Tampa, Florida.
GovLove opens with a welcome from Jacksonville and a conversation about changing a city's form of government.
Lauren Palmer talks with John Camp and Leah Fisher about Dream, Play, Build and hands-on community engagement in Clackamas County, Oregon.
GovLove marks its 10-year anniversary by asking listeners to imagine what local government might look like in another decade.
GovLove keeps the conversation centered on management and organizational culture.
GovLove talks with Jim about local government poetry.
The year closes with the Gubby Lovies.
Leslie Milton joins GovLove to walk through the career path that brought her to St.
Emma Falkenstein of Highland Planning explains how a walk audit on Monroe Avenue in Rochester, New York became a two-mile asset inventory with 11 categories and more than 1,000 data points.
Corey Zarek, Vice President for North America at Apolitical and former Deputy Administrator of the U.S.
GovLove brings back former host Alyssa Denberg, now Director of Strategic Federal Funding Coordination for the State of Colorado, for a conversation about her path from the Cookingham Knoll Fellowship in Kansas City to Boulder, Clear Creek County, and the governor’s office.
GovLove records live at the 2025 APA Illinois State Conference and joins Only Planners in the Building for a conversation about Downers Grove, Illinois.
Aran Zavala, assistant to the city manager in Pleasanton, California, says his work sits at the intersection of emergency management, equity, and innovation, and he points to a 2025 California survey showing only 5% of city managers are in their 30s.
Award season comes to planning law.
Live from Tampa, GovLove stays practical.
Yossi brings a canal idea to council.
Episode: Podcast Episode
This episode interviews two local government graduate students and interns about their career paths and experiences in public administration.
Host Ben Kittleson introduces an episode celebrating 10 years of GovLove, featuring interviews with government finance leaders and discussing innovation in local government.
An interview with a deputy public information officer about leadership and communications in local government.
Interview with a city manager about career path, professional development, and capital projects in local government.
This episode discusses onboarding best practices for local government employees, featuring an interview with an instructional designer.
Interview with Josh Edwards, first-time county manager of York County, South Carolina, discussing his career path and local government trends.
An interview with a local government management analyst about her career and impact in city management.
Interview with Orange County's Sustainability Programs Manager about climate action and her career in local government.
Host Rafael Baptista interviews culture transformation expert Diane Kalin-Sukra about toxic culture in local government and how to improve it.
An interview with the Uvalde city manager about the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School and its impact on local government response.