by Mark Ryan, City Manager, City of Indian Harbour Beach and Chairman, Legislative Subcommittee
Under the leadership of Chair John Titkanich, Vice Chair Jamie Titcomb, Executive Director, Casey Cook, and I have undertaken an initiative to develop a template letter (link below) that can be utilized by FCCMA members to congratulate newly elected or re-elected members of the Florida Senate or Florida House of Representatives and begin the dialogue to build relationships and an understanding of the complex issues that local governments face each and every day.
Local government managers and their team of professionals are subject matter experts that our legislators can rely upon as they deliberate thousands of bills, covering a myriad of issues, during their legislative career. This template can be utilized to reinforce the resources available to them, as well as our ability as professional managers to provide insight into issues from a local perspective that may not be included in the legislative staff analysis.
This template also introduces these legislators to the FCCMA and offers, as an additional resource, hundreds of professional members of our organization from around the state. Additionally, this letter extends an invitation to legislators to come to the community and participate in a briefing about our local government, similar to the briefing provided to newly elected city and county representatives.
This template can be modified to meet the needs of your local community and is presented to our members as a resource as we strive to work with the Florida Legislature for the betterment of our communities and the state of Florida.
Click here to access the letter to congratulate legislators and invite them to participate in a briefing.
Click here to access the Local Government Sample Program for Legislators.
