A DAO in the Life June 2021

By Amy Snider, Harrisonburg Assistant to the City Manager

Collecting Hats

When I started my first local government job in 2015, I was vaguely familiar with the television series Parks and Recreation. To be completely honest, I still have not made it past season 3. And yes, I know by publicly admitting this I may be disqualified from ever receiving an ELGL Traeger Award. Given my ignorance of the fictional city of Pawnee and its public servants, I was puzzled when family and friends asked me if my job in the city manager’s office was anything like it.

Six years later, I am more prepared for the inevitable Parks and Recreation question that follows when I tell people I work in a city manager’s office. However, if I had to choose, I would compare it to the children’s book Go, Dog. Go! In the story, two dogs meet over and over, each time with new and more impressive hats. By the end of the book, one dog is wearing an elaborate, gravity-defying hat. The hat is so large and precariously stacked with items that it could topple over at any moment.

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Illustration by P.D. Eastman

I cannot help but see our day-to-day work in the illustrations of dogs with ever-changing hats. I entered our profession understanding that the work is varied and requires life-long learning, which makes the work fun and challenging. This type of work is certainly not for everyone. We have been stretched and pushed and pulled out of our comfort zones so often that being prepared for surprises is our superpower. At any moment, we may need to don a new hat.

The unpredictability of local government service means that new hats are placed upon us out of necessity. Situations change quickly and our residents expect a rapid response. We need to be agile and sensible with taxpayer money. Our communities cannot afford for us to wait to respond until we add a new position or hire a consultant. There is no better example of this than our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the face of the largest health emergency in a century, local governments had to shift priorities and develop innovative solutions to problems for which there was no textbook or tutorial guide.  

I recognize that my hats are not quite like the ones worn by the dog at the end of the book, but I am awestruck by those of you who do. I admire the herculean responsibility required of local government leaders to balance your many hats and carry the weight of such trust with such nimbleness and grace. The next time our paths cross, I would love to learn about your hat collection. Until then, you will find me contently collecting hats here in Harrisonburg.

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