Advice Column: Help from The Senior Advisors December 2025
”Seniors Moments” is an advice column where the innocent and the guilty shall remain nameless. Send your real or imagined, funny or tragic, but always educational problems to the Seniors team, composed of anonymous ICMA Senior Advisors (who shall also remain nameless to protect their reputations ).
Dear Seniors:
I have a five member governing body and three new members will be seated in January. The campaigns were heated and there are differing interests and priorities among the remaining/current members and those who are newly elected. The construction cost of a water/sewer extension project which is in process was a specific point of contention, among others. How do I build consensus? What efforts should I undertake either before January or when everyone is seated? Thank you for your capable guidance.
Dear "Uh-oh, I have a new majority!"
Getting newly elected officials to move from campaigning to governing is a big challenge. Honestly, most candidates for local elected office do not know what they are getting themselves into and the sooner you can help them understand Local Government 101 and begin a relationship the better. Ideally, we would recommend that the relationship building start the day after the election. We are concerned that you may have already lost a month but, don’t worry about that, reach out now. If you haven't already done so, contact each newly elected and schedule a face-to face, one-on-one meeting with each individual as soon as possible.
You should have an onboarding process in place and ready to go as soon as the election is over. Briefings by department heads and tours of public facilities can be a part of the process, however, understand that there may be challenges in getting them scheduled. Nevertheless, inundate the newly elected with information, including copies of the most important documents such as the budget and CIP, financial management policies, the latest annual financial report and the latest year-to date financial report, the governing body’s rules of procedure, the local code, comprehensive plan, etc. They may not read it all, but it will give you a clear conscience and maybe give them a sense of the complexity of governing. Always be ready and available to answer their questions.
An important part of the onboarding process is briefing the newly elected on active projects and issues to get them up to speed as quickly as possible. Be prepared for some tough questions and give honest answers about the reasons behind the projects and the potential consequences of cancellation or delay. Immediately include the newly elected in the distribution of agenda materials and copy them on correspondence to the governing body to help ease them into the flow of things. To the extent that you can, treat them as full members of the governing body team.
As early as possible in January (again, start working on this now) schedule a retreat or dedicated work session to do some team building, review active projects, discuss the major issues facing the locality, and help the governing body set priorities for the year or two ahead. There are facilitators out there who can help with this.
For many of you, the next election is only two years away. Get a head start next time. While it is too late for the 2025 election cycle, it is prudent to meet with candidates after they are certified to run. It can be just an introduction and a primer on the council-manager form of government as well as letting them know of your accessibility to answer any questions they may have about operations. Of course, remaining politically neutral is required. One of our favorite lessons from Jack Tuttle's (former city manager of Williamsburg) playbook is to make purple your favorite color. Let your current governing body know that you are meeting with any and all willing candidates for introductory and accessibility purposes.
Elections and their results always present opportunities and challenges for the local government manager. Don’t be passive; offer information and prepare a good onboarding/orientation process.
Good luck!
The Seniors
p.s. As always, if this response seems lacking or raises further questions, feel free to reach out and contact a Senior Advisor directly. We are here to assist you navigate your local government management career and enjoy paying back the support that helped us through our careers.The full list of Senior Advisors with contact information is available here.