Local government day LeadershIp of Modesto

For our third outing as the 40th Leadership Modesto Class, also known as, “The Best Class Ever”, we continued on our path to becoming better leaders and gaining a deeper understanding of our community by gathering at Modesto City Hall on April 7, 2023 for Local Government Day.

Ready and eager to learn, we started the day off with presentations from Patrick Cavanah and Scotty Douglass as they gave us the "Local Government 101". We learned that Modesto has over 215,000 residents and over 13,000 businesses, that is a lot of people for our elected officials to represent! Did you know there is an application called STAN CONNECT you can download on your phone that allows you to report things like potholes and graffiti to the county? The City and County are always working on better ways to serve the community and this is just one of the many examples. We also received some brief insight into State Government with our second vist from Juan Alanis, Assemblyman of District 22. He shared with us some of his successes and the struggles of his position, the importance of representing his district and the many steps that are involved in bills being passed. It is so important that we have passionate leaders represnting us at all levels of government.

It was now time to learn more about Modesto's budget with Stephan Christensen, City Budget Manager. He put a fun and lighthearted spin on the budgeting process by splitting us into groups and pitting our departments against each other in "Budget Wars", an activity where we used our lightsabers to slash department costs and "force" the budget to balance. Each department fought to keep our budgets in place as we made our cases to cut costs from the other departments. We had a lot of fun, but we quickly realized that cutting costs was not an easy process when you consider the impact and the allocation of resources within the City funds is extremely difficult. We don't envy his work!

During lunch we were joined by City Councilmembers Jeremiah Williams and Eric Alvarez. They shared some valuabule insights into the work they do, their history, and what led them to the positions they are in. Jeremiah urged us to be the best versions of ourselves, to consider how we can serve others and to be the best leaders we can be. When Eric was asked why he decided to run for City Council, he replied that he "wasn't looking to be a leader, but knew he had to be".

We left that lunch feeling inspired and considering what more we could be doing in our roles as leaders. We also learned that some members of our class are planning on running for office one day!

We then took a trip upstairs to the 6th floor, passing by the offices of many of our classmates that work for the City and the County as we made our way to the conference room. Joe Lopez, City Manager, and Patrice Dietrich, Assistant Executive Officer for Stanislaus County, shared with us the outstanding work they do on a daily basis and what the City and the County does to keep everything running behind the scenes. They also shared more about Stanislaus 2030, an amazing investment blueprint and action plan based on understanding market forces, demographic shifts and authentic community input. The vision of this plan is for economic success in our community focused on growth, prosperity and inclusion. We share their excitement as part of this community and look forward to what we will all accomplish!

Our final destination was the basement level in the Council & Board of Supervisors Chambers, where we put on a mock city council meeting. Seven of our classmates served as the mayor and council members as the staff presented the "Safe Park Program" proposal. The rest of us were split into two teams to come up with reasons for and against the proposal, and to make public comments. The council heard all comments and asked their own questions of staff to make sure they understood all details of the proposal and voted on whether it should pass. It turns out that this presentation was based on a real proposal that was presented to the council some months ago and our class came to the same conclusion! This was a fun exercise that gave us some insight into the types of decisions council members must deal with on a weekly basis - and also showed off our class members' acting skills!