Municipal Leaders: Develop Faster, Lead Stronger, Build Better
Every week, you’ll get insights and actionable steps to help you navigate personal growth and professional success.
Take a look at your calendar from this week. How many meetings involved department heads bringing you problems to solve? How many decisions crossed your desk that someone else in your organization probably understood better than you?
If you’re like most local government leaders, the honest answer might be uncomfortable.
What do Amazon, Chick-fil-A, and your local public works department have in common?
Ideally—more than you think.
Leadership in local government carries a weight that few outside the role ever fully grasp. It’s not just the pressure to solve problems, manage crises, or balance competing priorities. It’s the quiet burden of being the person everyone looks to, even when you’re unsure yourself. It’s the weight of the title.
What does it mean to lead in local government today?
If your answer is “deliver services efficiently,” you’re not wrong—but you might be settling for too little.
In a sector that often rewards caution, Bret Prebula is choosing courage. And not just in words, but in action, innovation, and the way he leads his city.
In Episode 182 of The HaltingWinter Podcast, Bret—City Manager of Suisun City, California—shares his powerful journey: from leading golf retail stores to managing multimillion-dollar investments in Napa County to now reshaping the culture, speed, and strategic direction of a city in urgent need of reinvention.
Oh, and he’s doing all of it while legally blind.
We often celebrate municipal leaders for their toughness—their ability to carry pressure, manage conflict, and keep showing up no matter the storm. But what if the greatest strength in leadership isn’t grit?
What if it’s grace?
If you’ve ever sat in your office as a city/county manager, department director, or public sector leader and thought:
You’re not alone.
And you’re not broken.
You’re likely navigating what we’re calling the confidence gap and this week inside the Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC), we’re tackling it head-on.
As National Public Works Week continues, we’re honored to highlight the often-unseen heroes who keep our cities, counties, and communities moving—not just with heavy equipment, but with deep purpose.
In Episode 179 of The HaltingWinter Podcast, we sit down with Kevin Richardson, Water and Wastewater Engineering Project Manager for the City of Rock Hill, South Carolina, and a 16-year U.S. Marine Corps veteran, who found a new mission in local government.
This week is National Public Works Week, and we’re celebrating by turning up the volume on one of the most essential and least understood arms of local government.
In Episode 178 of The HaltingWinter Podcast, we sit down with Ryan Blancke, Assistant Public Works Director for York County, South Carolina, to explore what it takes to lead one of the most complex, dynamic, and mission-driven departments in local government.
If you’ve been in public sector leadership for more than a minute, you know this truth:
It’s not the theory that gets you.
It’s the reality.
The pressure.
The politics.
The public scrutiny.
The impossible expectations.
The loneliness of sitting in a seat where no one fully understands what you carry.
