Dumfries mayor returns from Los Angeles conference focused on local government

DUMFRIES — Mayor Derrick Wood attended the National League of Cities Conference November 7 through 11 in Los Angeles.

“The NLC is a bipartisan organization focused on connecting officials to local government solutions,” said Wood.

This year’s event had officials from nearly all 50 states including Washington, D.C., Canada and Puerto Rico. Wood said this year’s event had over 3,800 elected officials and staff.

Wood said he enjoyed the event because it allowed him to do some “brain sharing” with other city mayors. Wood said he learned that “we all have similar problems no matter where we’re located.”

Wood said attending the event allows government officials to learn from each other and share ideas you can “utilize in your community so that your community can grow and thrive.”

Wood attended a roundtable session on how to engage the youth in your community.  He shared the importance of “slowing down to evaluate the quality of youth programs” and developing a vision for connecting with the youth in the community. Wood said the conference offered a variety of workshops ranging from economic & community development to race & equity.

Wood also shared one of the exhibits he visited during the conference on redlining. He said he learned about how policies shape our community.

“Policies impact the design of our community and how we can gentrify price and push people out of the community,” said Wood.

He said this was particularly important in Dumfries as they plan to undertake three to four development projects in the near future.

Wood said the council recently approved the Town Square project which will include the building of three apartment communities with over 200 units each. Wood said Councilwoman Selonia Miles asked about the affordable housing aspect of this project, which he thinks is a great point to consider moving forward.

Wood said he returned from this four-day conference with information to share with the council and implement in the town. Sessions that Wood said he attended that would be of great benefit to the town included:

• How to attract and retain a talented workforce
• Facebook for Local Government
• Transportation
• Infrastructure Services Committee meeting
• Advancing Local Efforts to Improve Outcomes for Boys and Men of Color
• Preparing to rebuild and reimagine local infrastructure
• How City Leaders can prepare for a New Economic Landscape
• What your City’s Budget says about your Local Priorities
• One of his key takeaways was simplifying their budget process and code enforcement.

Wood said his attendance at this conference “afforded our team access to top strategies and best practices that will help us reduce costs, increase efficiencies and build value in various areas for our community.”

Wood said he particularly learned a lot from a budget discussion led by Andrew Kleine, a nationally recognized leader in municipal finance and performance management. Wood said Kleine presented on how to take the town’s budget to one that is more outcome focused and long-term financial planning.

Wood said Kleine lives in Silver Spring, MD and is open to visiting Dumfries to share his presentation.

The mayor’s trip was covered in the Town’s training budget for Administration. The Town has a $16,000 training budget for Administration and a $10,000 training budget for the governing body. As the Mayor and Acting Town Manager, Woods education falls under the administration budget.

The cost of this trip was about $2,500, said Wood.