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Article Features By Caleb Zimmerschied Valadez

Six decades of lessons from California’s longest-serving city clerk

Carolyn Steffan had to be talked into becoming Tehama’s city clerk. Today, Steffan is the longest-serving city clerk in state history — and maybe even the U.S.

Article Features By Jackie Krentzman

Hunger is on the rise. What can cities do?

More and more cities are trying to find local solutions to skyrocketing grocery bills, made worse by federal cuts and changes to CalFresh. Experts estimate that cuts to CalFresh alone will reduce or eliminate food support for 3 million California households.

Article Features By David M. Ross, PhD, ICMA-CM

Stop calling it efficiency: How budget cuts can miss the real issue

Efficiency is not about cutting for the sake of cutting, and financial sustainability is not about saying no to every investment. The goal instead should be to build an organization that provides reliable services, protects public resources, supports employees, manages risk, and adapts to changing conditions.

Article Features By Jackie Krentzman

‘Heat is going to be the great un-equalizer,’ warn experts and city officials in the Inland Empire

Extreme heat doesn’t just stress the human body. It puts a greater demand on the electrical grid, causing more frequent blackouts, buckles asphalt roads, and evaporates water supplies. But many of its most harmful impacts are cumulative and delayed.

Article Local Works By Caleb Zimmerschied Valadez

Ojai restoration project helps its most vulnerable residents

“It falls very much in the spirit of what most of our city tends towards — a combination of deep humanitarianism, ecology, and culture,” said Ojai Mayor Andy Gilman. “This whole space is becoming alive with purpose, and I feel really lucky to be a part of it.”