Municipal Equation Podcast

Like in other fast-growing states or regions, housing affordability can be a difficult, sometimes persistent, issue for North Carolina communities. Wilmington, in the southeast, is no exception, but it's among cities working on the issue with priority and results that are expanding local options. On this episode, we ask Mayor Bill Saffo, chairman of the NC Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, about the nature of the issue in his area and how local efforts and partnerships have made a difference.

The League's Municipal Equation podcast closes out 2025 with a through-line on the year, with takeaways from monthly episodes and their common feature of people working as one to advance all. Since its inception, Municipal Equation has been about idea-sharing and exploration of local government's many interesting stories. We'd like to thank all of our expert guests and you for being such a supportive and responsive audience with great feedback and ideas for future content. Together, we released our 100th episode this year! Municipal Equation is available through your preferred podcast service.

We've had many great occasions on this podcast to highlight different ways local governments maintain warmth and trust with the community. For our 100th episode, coinciding with Thanksgiving week, we chat with the Town of Davidson about its Shop With A Cop program underway right now, in which local police officers give children from economically disadvantaged families an unforgettable holiday experience. Other towns have similiar initiatives; Davidson walks us through how theirs works, how its supported, and the community ripple effects that show it's more than just a holiday feelgood concept.

This historic, fascinating and expansive world of municipal clerks is the focus our latest episode. Folks who believe clerks mostly just serve to prepare agenda packets and record council vote outcomes might be surprised by how far and wide the job goes. It’s one of the most public-facing roles in town hall; generally, the clerk is the one employee that law requires municipal governments to have. Municipal Equation traveled to Cherokee recently for the annual conference and 50th anniversary of the NC Association of Municipal Clerks to record perspectives, wisdom and nuance that people might not realize about the profession. Learn more about the NC Association of Municipal Clerks: https://www.ncamc.com/

Cary Town Manager Sean Stegall is on the podcast discussing his new book, "." From the book's promotional materials: "Instilling a 'people first' philosophy, Stegall and the elected Cary Town Council are reshaping local government through collaboration, experimentation, innovation, and adaptation. Cary remains an exceptional place to call home, an inspiring destination for visitors, and a compelling case study for helping keep cities strong."

We're joined by Stephanie McGarrah of the NC Department of Commerce for a discussion of resources to rebuild homes that Hurricane Helene damaged or destroyed in the North Carolina mountains exactly one year ago. We cover the Renew NC initiative, its Single-Family Housing Program (https://renewnc.org/), and other relief, including free assistance that NCLM offers, for the people of western NC.

As with other episodes of Municipal Equation, this one originated from a casual, hallway conversation with a local government official. In this instance, podcast host Ben Brown was chatting at a League event with Mayor TJ Cawley of Morrisville, who'd noted the progress there in a major project to essentially build a downtown from scratch, as Morrisville up to this point hasn't had one. The idea is to create that convergence of residence, business variety, fun and identity that can bring locals together and give outsiders a new destination. Several years ago, we'd looked at how Kannapolis re-energized from hard times in part by remaking its downtown district, and so we brought Morrisville leaders onto Municipal Equation to ask how they imagined their project (a public-private pursuit called Morrisville Town Center), how they've involved the public, and how they intend to fill it with a distinctly local vibe.

Are electric vehicles, or EVs, right for your municipal fleet? They've surged in everyday popularity over the past 20 years and now are available from most of the mainstream automakers. Increasingly, governments and agencies are bringing on EVs, and peers are researching the merits. But EVs have evolved a lot, and it's easy to talk about them in general conversation with outdated info. So, we reached out to an expert to better understand today's context and possibilities with municipal government use. On this episode, guest John Bonitz of the NCSU Clean Energy Technology Center helps us out with questions about EVs, market points, costs, infrastructure needs and more. Notes:

Public leaders often find themselves in situations of disagreement -- and that's not inherently bad. "Effective leadership isn't about avoiding disagreement," says Matt Lehrman, a civic facilitator and past CityVision keynote speaker. He adds: "Disagreement isn't just natural; it's necessary." On this half-hour episode, Lehrman of Social Prosperity Partners circles back with Municipal Equation to go over the overarching importance of a shared sense of purpose and effective communication points so leaders can discuss disagreements and other intersections productively and fulfill the reality that our communities' people depend on it.

One of Municipal Equation’s favorite topics to cover is the kind of partnership and idea-sharing that can make success easier for everyone. When the City of Marion learned about a commerce-boosting concept that seemed to work for other cities, they tried it, and it worked for them. When the City of Sanford learned about it from Marion, they tried it, and it worked for them, too. In this instance, it was two cities in separate parts of the state with the initiative to directly trade know-how, and it went so well that Sanford circled back and helped Marion with resources. We’re joined on this episode by leaders from both cities to hear about the GEM program in Marion and the RISE program in Sanford, helping entrepreneurs open and grow businesses locally.

Emergencies happen, and sometimes at scales that surprise us. We can shrug, or we can invest that sensitivity. That goes for all of us, and our shared stakes in the kind of local governance that can keep vital functions going for communities amid disruptive wildcards like hurricanes or other natural disasters. More than a basic conversation for our cities and towns, it's filled with varying nuance, science and new technologies for better outcomes. Deeply familiar with the subject is Bill Hollingsed, the former Waynesville police chief and current executive director of the , who joins us on this episode to talk through the points. They include what we've learned about our sense of readiness since the fall 2024 devastation from Hurricane Helene, very much on our minds as 2025's hurricane season is soon to begin. Visit the NC League of Municipalities and learn about all it has to offer at https://www.nclm.org/.

With any profession, hobby, cause or life experience, there's community. The NC League of Municipalities itself is an expression of that, and so are the many affiliate groups and friend organizations that seek to advance focus on nuanced issues as specifically understood by, for example, municipal clerks, or local government attorneys, or budget officers, or women serving in public office, or the many other groups that represent distinct communities or expertise. These groups create important opportunities for profession-boosting, idea-sharing and individual input that can enhance group perspective. On this episode, we speak with a North Carolina mayor who was one of just a few mayors from around the world selected for a special peer group and leadership initiative. That mayor, Leonardo Williams of Durham, joins us on this episode to talk about his experience interacting with counterparts from different continents, with different forms of government and different dynamics on the ground, to see what they might have found in common and why it was worth the time. The NC League of Municipalities is a member-driven organization founded in 1908. .

In mid February, the League and its longtime friends at the N.C. Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) and western North Carolina region Councils of Governments held a second, large convening of governments -- local, state and federal -- in storm-hit Asheville to go over the latest in the post-Helene recovery work for western North Carolina, demonstrating again the power of same-page communication in a shared comeback that ultimately involves the entire state. The multimedia teams from the League and NCACC captured the full day's speakers and panels on video (). The League assembled highlights for a digestible Municipal Equation episode here.

It's nice to have a car, for all the practical reasons. But cars can be a bummer, too. They cost a lot up front, need regular maintenance, require insurance, lose on resale value, might have varying degrees of reliability along the way and bring other kinds of risks and exposures. What if that kind of stress went away for everyday folks? What if your town grew to be car-optional? Greensboro is one U.S. city looking at that possibility -- not as some kind of thought experiment, but as a reality. Two transportation officials with the City of Greensboro join us on this episode of Municipal Equation for a conversation about how the idea formed and how other cities and towns might think about it.

There’s always something new with cybercrime – what it looks like, how it’s carried out, what the trends are, who the targets are, and on and on. It’s a full-on industry, and it evolves as such. There is, however, a constant: the fact that letting our guard down online can have enormous costs. Most of us exercise basic internet security smarts, but, with the landscape always changing, how do we keep informed enough to stay ahead of the bad guys? On this episode, we talk with cybersecurity expert Erik Wells from the N.C. League of Municipalities about today’s internet crime scene, how it affects municipal governments, and how we can stay cyber-safe.

Aerial views of Hurricane Helene's devastation in western North Carolina are hard enough to process, but imagine being in charge of the actual recovery. On this episode, we're going to hear directly from the leaders of these hard-hit communities about what they've witnessed and what they need right now to position for a comeback -- one that everyone expects will take a long time. But they're on it. Just recently, members of the NC League of Municipalities and the NC Association of County Commissioners grouped with state and federal partners for a daylong discussion, physically in the same room, to get everybody on one page in a real discussion of what's ahead. Municipal Equation was on site to gather the points. Municipal Equation is a production of the N.C. League of Municipalities, https://www.nclm.org. Contact host/producer Ben Brown at bbrown@nclm.org.

We called it once-a-generation legislation when Congress passed it in 2021. The American Rescue Plan Act provided $1.9 trillion across the nation to restrengthen from the global pandemic that hurt so many communities. For their part, the cities and towns of North Carolina got about $1.3 billion -- and there's an important deadline coming up with it, which you can learn more about at arp.nclm.org. We're joined on this episode by NCLM's Stephanie Hughes, who has traveled to various municipalities across the state to see how they've put ARP resources to great use, and advises us on the reporting deadline ahead. Municipal Equation is a production of the N.C. League of Municipalities, https://www.nclm.org. Contact host/producer Ben Brown at .

While disagreement is a fact of life, and indeed it happens in the government space, there's a lot of potential in resolution. On this episode, we look at how local governing boards across North Carolina can tap into that together. Commit to Civility is a certification course from the N.C. League of Municipalities that explores the dynamics of discussion and disagreement and provides local leaders with the tools to navigate tense or emotionally charged situations with composure and respect. NCLM's Vickie Miller explains the context in and around the program and how local boards can sign on. That's right after a chat with Civic Credit Union on the how and why of its new campaign, "I Love NC Local Government." Municipal Equation is a production of the N.C. League of Municipalities, https://www.nclm.org. Contact host/producer Ben Brown at .

At a recent gathering of North Carolina municipal leaders, discussion briefly fell on a viral form of accountability activism from the public: “First Amendment audits," performed by citizen "auditors," with whom many local governments have had unforgettable experiences. Styles and practices of auditing vary, but generally in this context it’s the term for when private citizens, equipped with recording devices, occupy public spaces and engage with government officials (police officers, mostly) to test or evaluate their conduct. It can get tense. YouTube is bursting with videos uploaded by auditors that appear to show police and other government employees failing their test -- for example, an auditor might use provocative language to get a reaction from the police officer, who is expected to be cool and respectful of the auditor's free speech and other constitutional rights throughout. There are several cases of auditors successfully suing towns or police agencies over how their officers handled encounters, and it's a subject the N.C. League of Municipalities has followed for many years, even offering a course (called “Dangerous Crossroads”) meant to help with awareness of and readiness for peaceful outcomes with auditors, should they come around. On this episode, we talk with expert Scott MacLatchie about the subject and how the course, which he teaches, can help local agencies of any size.

Municipal Equation over the years has covered the challenges and successes of local law enforcement in a variety of ways. Today, we hear from the League of Municipalities’ in-house Shield Services experts – Tom Anderson and Joe Graziano, both of whom help agencies through the times, able to cite their own experience on the clock as sworn officers – about what it’s looking like out there today for law enforcement and public safety. Analysis of risks and liabilities; work toward innovations and solutions – it all makes for a thick conversation, evolving always, and it’s important that agencies participate together to understand and move the common needle, they say. “We’re only as strong as our networking,” Graziano told Municipal Equation. “Nobody can do this job alone.” Enjoy a full episode of interesting facts and candid perspective from League representatives who know the story closely.