The Ides of March. Does this remind you of the harbinger of doom made famous in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar? Indeed, the Ides of March harken back to the times of the Roman Empire, but did you know…

The “Ides” refer to a calendar of sorts consisting of Kalends, Ides and Nones, which followed the phases of the moon. The middle of the month for approximately seven days, the Ides meant it was time for settling debt.

Instead of looking at the Ides of March as a negative, let’s think about it in terms of a transition period between the start of a journey and its conclusion.

Unique for the depth of educational instruction on the roles and responsibilities of elected officials, the Newly Elected Officials Course is a fact-based, non-partisan program consisting of 50 hours of instruction. Kicking off on a cold, crisp day last December, the Class of 2022 are nearing the end of their educational journey and will celebrate with a graduation ceremony at the end of March.

New this year was a focus on municipal resilience and disaster preparedness that exposed the significant crisis facing emergency service responders. In February, Catherine Sapp, Penn Hills Council and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Local Government Academy, facilitated a compelling panel discussion with Thomas Cook, Acting Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner, who shared concerning trends related to volunteer recruitment that were echoed by Kevin E. Boozel, Butler County Commissioner, County Commissioners Association of PA and EMS Task Force Co-Chair, and Clyde Wilhelm, Swissvale Borough Fire Chief.

By introducing the concept of municipal resilience and preparedness, we hope to strengthen local government commitment to the training of municipal employees. With this goal, we were excited to pilot a partnership with the Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission (MPOETC) to provide updates on new legislation and available resources for training and certifying police officers. Additional opportunities to achieve municipal efficiencies through intergovernmental partnerships were explained during a panel discussion with the Northern Regional Police Department and the Pitcairn Police Department.

While the graduation on March 30^th will conclude this iteration of the Newly Elected Officials Course, Local Government Academy remains committed to delivering affordable and accessible non-partisan education designed specifically to address matters related to local governments.

Stay tuned for announcements for new programming and if you have questions or have suggestions for new training and educational programs, please contact me.

– Joy