Citizens Academy in Greenfield teaches residents about the ins and outs of municipal government

GREENFIELD — The new Citizens Academy looks to peel back the curtain of municipal government for interested residents.

Over six months, a cohort of 15 students will travel to the John Zon Community Center, the Department of Public Works yard, the Health Department offices, the Greenfield Public Library, the Fire Station and the Police Station to hear from employees that help keep the city running behind the scenes.

“I realized that a lot of people really don’t know what their municipality does, what the city does,” said Greenfield’s Chief of Staff Erin Anhalt, who spearheaded the creation of a Citizens Academy in Greenfield after attending similar classes while living in Maryland. “When we can have more citizens who understand what we do, it can just make the government more transparent and easier to access for people.”

Anhalt said Citizens Academy programs help create more community-building with municipal workers, who are often excited to inform students about their roles.

“I’m excited to share with people who live here what good, strong, smart people they have working on their behalf,” Anhalt said.

For the first class on Oct. 14, longtime Greenfield residents, city councilors and candidates, Greenfield business employees, and a former municipal and federal worker gathered in the City Hall meeting room to “focus on the big picture,” as Anhalt described.

Mayor Ginny Desorgher kicked off the presentations, introducing her background as a former emergency room nurse, a member of the Greenfield Commission on Disability Access and a city councilor.

“Being an emergency room nurse I would say probably best prepared me for being a mayor, but nothing quite prepared me for that,” Desorgher said.

She told the class that she not only navigates the city’s budget, broad issues like housing and plans for the city’s future, but she also addresses residents’ concerns like sidewalk access and road issues.

“With learning about all the other big things, we have to make sure we pay attention to the little things,” Desorgher said. “It’s the attention to detail that’s important to us and the citizens.”

The mayor also stressed Greenfield’s “strong relationship” with state legislators.

“They advocate for us on many budgetary things. As soon as they know we have a need for something, they go to bat for us frequently,” Desorgher said. “We’re like ‘The Little Engine That Could’ throughout the state. Because we are farther out, we have to squawk louder, but we do that.”

Attendees then heard from Finance Director Stephen Nembirkow, who said his role may not sound as exciting as the job of a police officer or a firefighter, but “it’s kind of what puts the wheels on the wagon.”

Nembirkow walked students through the city’s population statistics, revenue sources, debt, tax levy limits and budgets for the schools, health insurance and operating expenses before answering questions focused on the population, property taxes and health insurance rates.

Communications Director Jonathon Weber then outlined the complexities behind managing the city’s messages to the media and public, from posting on social media about municipal committees and ensuring the Transfer Station’s hours on Google are accurate, to ensuring the city’s website is accessible to all viewers through specific color contrast ratios.

“There’s always a lot more to everything,” Weber said. “You pick up a stone and you find out there are five things under it that you didn’t expect to have to deal with.”

Anhalt closed the first class by explaining her roles as chief of staff, a position that involves many responsibilities, including fielding questions from the public, supporting staff across all city departments and answering public records requests.

“I think chief of staff is one of those jobs where you end up doing a little bit of everything sometimes, because you have to,” Anhalt said.

After the class, Florence MacGregor said she decided to join to learn more about the people behind the city she moved to 10 years ago.

“I really love living here, but I don’t know a lot about what makes the magic happen,” MacGregor said, adding that she looks forward to learning about the Community and Economic Development Department at the next class.

“Already, a lot of the issues we’ve been hearing about even in our first session stem from economic development issues,” MacGregor added.

A member of the Americorps VISTA program while working at Greenfield Community College, Casey Aubrey of Montague signed up to learn about volunteer opportunities in local and municipal organizations to create a “civic and community engagement passport program.” The passport would include opportunities for GCC students to volunteer and connect with their community.

“I’m really just trying to learn as much as I can about the city and how it functions as a whole, and also trying to figure out … what does our city itself need for volunteers,” Aubrey said. “How can we get students to understand what all these councils are?”

Aubrey also hopes to inspire students to fill open positions on municipal boards and committees, and spark collaboration across multiple generations.

Referring to Generation Z, Aubrey said, “We’ve gotten the opportunity of having the technology alongside us as we’ve developed. I think we have a lot of really rich knowledge that, if we could all collaborate and share it on a generational level, we’d be a lot more productive.”

Anhalt hopes to continue the Citizens Academy after its first cohort, setting her sights on two cohorts each year. For her, the Citizens Academy aligns with the city’s values. After moving from town to town when her husband served in the Navy for about 22 years, Anhalt said, “Greenfield is so naturally bent toward connection and is a very community-minded area. … It’s really a place where people want to come together and cooperate, and you just don’t see that everywhere, so this seems like such a perfect fit for this community.”