Throughout the month of March, the global health pandemic of COVID-19 has completely altered Californians’ way of life, and has created unprecedented challenges for cities. Despite these challenges, local leaders across the state continue to rise to the occasion, and are developing new, innovative ways to continue to provide residents with the vital services they need most, especially in this moment.
Dozens of city leaders participated in the first briefing of the Rural City Information Exchange on March 19. The webinar included a legislative update and briefing on recent COVID-19 response efforts from the League and presentations from the California Public Utilities on COVID-19 Broadband Information, Broadband grant opportunities, the Redundancy and Resiliency Proposal, and Universal Service Programs.
In response to the many changes workplaces are making in a short amount of time to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, the League has extended the deadline for accepting Annual Conference & Expo session proposals to April 13. Due to other conference deadlines, we do not anticipate being able to extend beyond this new date.
From First Amendment to Faithless Electors, states and local governments have a lot to look forward to in June 2020 as the Supreme Court issues most of its opinion of the term. Join the State and Local Legal Center for a webinar to discuss the most interesting cases the Supreme Court has agreed to hear. Topics include:
reproductive rights, governor authority to appoint judges, municipalities impounding vehicles, and much more!
Many local government employees are working remotely for the first time as safe at home orders have been placed across California during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cities are establishing telework and modified work environments so they can continue to serve their communities effectively and stay strong as we all weather through this health pandemic together.
Nearly 15 percent of all jobs in California are public sector jobs; more than 10 percent — 1.7 million — are in local government. Approximately 25 percent of these local agency workers are 55 or older with the opportunity to retire soon. This underscores a growing need for cities throughout California to focus on recruiting skilled employees and retaining existing staff to keep departments running efficiently, continue delivering innovative programs and services, and design and maintain the infrastructure that residents and local businesses rely on. Learn about innovative ways in which cities are tackling this challenge in “Filling the Workforce Pipeline: Targeted Solutions Address Critical Needs”— in this month’s Western City magazine.
A letter from major statewide groups like the League of California Cities is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom not to step in to postpone property tax payments because of the coronavirus.
Unlike San Diego, not all cities have budget reserves to turn to, said John Dunbar, president of the League of California Cities and mayor of Yountville in Northern California. “It has really created some very challenging dynamics,” he said. “We have certain deadlines that we have to hit, not just adopting our budgets, but other municipal deadlines. Some of those can be forgiven a little bit or postponed. But some of them we still need to achieve.”
