Scott Neal, Eden Prairie’s City Manager whose blog we mentioned in this space a few days ago, was kind enough to grant us a short email interview about his blog, local government blogs, and a few other topics. As we mentioned in the original post, local government is one place (among many) where the "blog" format has a lot to offer. While we could do with less "campaign-blogging" from politicians, blogs by other local officials like Scott have definite promise.
The Interview after the jump (click below)
The Interview
BTM: Scott, thanks again for taking the time to do this. Let’s start with just a couple of biographical questions.
Scott Neal: Ok.
BTM: What is your professional background (generally speaking), and how did you end up in City Government?
Scott Neal: "I have a B.S. degree in Economics and a Master of Public Administration, both from Iowa State University. I’ve always wanted to be a City Manager. I started in Norris, Tennessee in 1998; moved on to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa in 1990; moved on to Northfield, MN in 1996; and finally ended up in Eden Prairie in 2002. It’s a great job and I like it a lot."
BTM: For those not familiar (including your interviewer) what, in a nutshell, is the City Manager’s job description? Can you give us a sense of what some of the day-to-day duties and challenges of the position are?
Scott Neal: The City Manager works for the City Council to implement their policies in city government. I am the CEO of city government. All City department heads report to me. The areas of city government I command include Police, Fire, Planning, Zoning, Parks, Recreation, Water, Streets, historic preservation, etc.
BTM: You’ve had a blog since early 2003, long before most folks had ever even heard the term "blog." What got you interested in blogging? Do you have a writing or technical background?
Scott Neal: Griff Wigley is the President of Wigley & Associates in Northfield. He was way ahead of the curve in blogging. He talked me into it. I took his advice. The rest is history. I have no technical writing experience, but I’ve written thousands of articles during my 15 years in city management.
BTM(ed) note: Wigley and associates, come to find out, specializes in helping business owners and organization leaders use weblogs and forums as communication tools. We’ll scour their site and harvest some good links at the end of this post…stay tuned.
BTM: Local government blogs are pretty rare – yours is the only one I know of in the Twin Cities Metro area. What do you see as the "purpose" of your blog? In other words, what about your position and its challenges lends itself to blogging?
Scott Neal: I use my blog to accomplish a couple of important goals. First, I want to try and build a greater understanding of city government among my citizens by building a greater level of empathy among them. If they can empathize more with city government, perhaps they will be more supportive of what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. Second, I use it as a way to publicly praise my employees and the work they’re doing on a daily basis. Finally, I do it because I want to bring positive attention to the good things the City is doing. My position is perfect for blogging. I sit at the fulcrum between bureaucracy and politics. It’s a great venue to explain how government works.
BTM: Though yours isn’t, many blogs are pretty politically charged, was this a concern at all for you? Have you had any backlash since you started?
Scott Neal: I’ve encountered no backlash. I’ve had some negative comments about the blog, but they are outnumbered 20 to 1 by the positive comments. Sometimes the negative comments have been valuable to me. They have encouraged to look take another look at what I’ve written and 9 times out of 10, to make it better.
BTM: Do you read other blogs? What are some of your favorites?
Scott Neal: Honestly, I don’t read many blogs, except the one written by the Eden Prairie Chief of Police Dan Carlson.
BTM: Since this is a a real estate blog, what do you see ahead for the City of Eden Prairie when it comes to residential real estate? Any particular challenges in that arena for Eden Prairie right now?
Scott Neal: The boom time is ending in Eden Prairie. The real estate opportunities, however, are not. We are seeing a great deal of private, non-government subsidized redevelopment going on in Eden Prairie. Retailers want to chase our disposable incomes. They are beating down the door to build their stores here.
BTM: Do you think we might see more blogs from local government officials like yourself?
Scott Neal: I think so, but it will be slow. Government moves slow. Sorry about that.
BTM: No apologies necessary Scott – Thanks very much for your time.
As you can see, Scott has some great insights into blogging and what it can do for local government and the communities they serve. Below are a few more local government blogs and related links – so read around, and see what they have to say about the community you live in. You might be surprised at the personalities behind the positions.
Related Links
The Blog From City Hall [Scott Neal's Blog]
Wigley and Associates [Blog Consulting Firm]
A Chief’s Weblog [Eden Prairie Police Chief Dan Carlson]
Other Local Government and Elected Official Blogs
Betsey Buckheit [Northfield, MN planning Commission Chair]
Chief Blogger [Northfield Chief of Police Gary Smith]
Ray’s Blog [State Representative Ray Cox (R)]
Jessica Peterson [Rice County Commissioner]
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