With committed elected officials and staff, local governments can effectively serve their communities.

However, some municipalities struggle to fill open seats or find support for proper governance, resulting in dysfunction. When township or borough officials cannot successfully lead, residents are left in a difficult place with little recourse.

Spotlight PA held a free panel discussion on the challenges local governments face in attracting and retaining people to serve, and explore what recourse residents have when something is going wrong with their municipal government.

Our panelists included:

Min Xian, local accountability reporter, Spotlight PA State College
John Brenner, executive director, Pennsylvania Municipal League
Bryce Taylor, Milesburg Borough resident and community activist
Dan Murphy, former member, State College Borough Council
Tim Kearney, state senator, Delaware County

» Spotlight PA’s events operate on a “pay-what-you-can” honor system. If you value this public-service event, pay it forward and contribute any amount to Spotlight PA now so we can keep our programming free for everyone: spotlightpa.org/donate.