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By Ann Allen
allen@igs.cviog.uga.edu
Each year, hundreds of Georgia citizens take up a cause and run for local government office. Some of them get elected and arrive equipped with ideas about change and plenty of professional  experience. What they are not equipped with is knowledge about how local government works.
The Newly Elected Officials Institute is an eye-opening experience for participants. “I had no idea being an elected official could be this complicated” is a comment heard frequently during breaks at the two-day training program, which is coordinated by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government’s Governmental Training Division and co-sponsored by the Georgia Municipal Association and the Association County Commissioners of Georgia.
During February and March, more than 400 newly elected municipal officials came to the Georgia Center for Continuing Education for this year’s program. In 1990, the Georgia General Assembly passed a law requiring all newly elected local officials to attend training in the basic areas of their city or county government operations. The Newly Elected Officials Institute provides mayors, county commissioners and city council members with an orientation to local government and helps them prepare for situations they face upon taking office. Reference materials are provided to support these officials in making decisions and carrying out their responsibilities. The programs are conducted for city and county officials in alternating years, depending on local elections.
“People frequently run for public office because they want to see changes made,” says Gordon Maner, Vinson Institute faculty member and program coordinator for the newly elected officials training. “Once elected, they come in with certain expectations about what they want to do. The training program serves as a reality check for them. They learn what they can and cannot do and how to go about facilitating change within the proper framework.”
“The Newly Elected Officials Institute gives the participants an overall perspective of what they asked for by running for office,” notes Evelyn Turner, president of the Georgia Municipal Association and council member for the Columbus Consolidated Government. “It is an excellent introduction to local government operations.”
“I don’t know nearly as much as I thought I did” is a common remark that Jim Calvin, GMA executive director, says he hears from the training participants. “Attendees go home realizing they have much more to learn, and to me that’s the real value of the institute,” he says.
The agenda for each program includes instruction in a variety of topics and is planned to be responsive to current issues. The programs in February and March for new city officials included sessions on downtown revitalization and on the upcoming census and its relevance to local government. Most sessions are taught by professionals working in the area. For example, the session at the February institute on Georgia’s downtowns was led by Joe Burnett of Mainstreet Gainesville.
Why have a mix of practitioner instructors and Vinson Institute faculty for the sessions? “People listen to their peers because they are out working in those areas now,” Maner explains. “Our faculty, many of whom are former practitioners, contribute knowledge and expertise they have as experienced instructors.”
In addition to the census and downtown revitalization, topics at the February and March institutes included the role of elected officials in local government, ethics, legal issues, intergovernmental cooperation, working with staff, local government finances and teamwork. “We also provide the participants with information about different resources available to help them in their jobs,” Maner adds.
“These new officials generally bring sound ideas and outstanding business skills to their position, only to discover that government is not like private business,” notes Jerry Griffin, executive director of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia. “The newly elected officials training gives them an understanding of the laws dealing with local government so they can pursue their goals.”
Bringing the new city or county officials together in one place also provides them with an ideal setting for sharing their ideas and visions, comparing frustrations, and networking with each other and with the session instructors.
“The Newly Elected Officials Institute is an outstanding example of the land-grant university fulfilling its role in carrying its knowledge out into the state,” says Griffin.
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