Modern Gov Matters

Your engagement numbers are down and your comments are quieter, but Frances La Rue says that doesn't mean your community stopped paying attention; it means they're watching without raising their hands. She calls them the silent audience, and if you're grading yourself on likes and comments, you're missing most of what's actually happening. Frances spent four years as the City of Anna's first-ever communications manager, hired after a 2021 ice storm made it obvious the city had no one whose job it was to keep residents informed. Now she's the social media specialist at Julie Parker Communications, working with cities and public safety agencies across the country. In this episode she makes the case for what to measure instead of likes, why the loudest commenters are never the full picture, what's actually outperforming right now, where she lands on turning comments off, and why chasing engagement for its own sake is a goal that will never impress your city council.

• Frances La Rue on LinkedIn
• Julie Parker Communications

Modern Gov Matters is presented by CivAll, powered by Social News Desk.

In this episode of Modern Gov Matters, host Sarah Loyd talks with Jeff Hundley, who runs the Master Public Information Officer program at the University of Tennessee's Law Enforcement Innovation Center (LEIC). Jeff makes the case that great public safety communication isn't about the press release or the podium - it's about earning a community's trust long before a crisis hits. He shares how his program has grown to draw communicators from 31 states, why the network those cohorts build can be a lifeline when disaster strikes, and the honest challenges of the job today - from agencies disabling public comments to knowing when to trust your community over a metric. It's a heartfelt, practical look at the human side of government communications.

• Master PIO program: https://leic.tennessee.edu
• More episodes: https://moderngovmatters.com
• Presented by CivAll: https://www.civall.com

The Annual 3CMA Conference in Denver showcased the growth and success of the event, the excitement of returning to Denver, and the anticipation for next year's conference in New Orleans. We talked to attendees about their experiences and insights, highlighting the value of networking and learning from fellow government communicators that they're not alone.

Resources & Links:

• 3CMA Annual Conference
• Modern Gov Matters
• CivAll by Social News Desk

Aaron King runs Social News Desk and CivAll, and he joins Sarah to announce CivAll - a suite of modern software built for civic engagement. Before any of this, Aaron spent his career building for the public sector. He's also the kind of person who insisted on riding along in the patrol car to find out whether the software actually worked. In this conversation he walks through what CivAll is and how he hopes to effect positive change by building ways for communications teams to better engage their residents.

Resources:

• CivAll.com
• Aaron King on LinkedIn

In this episode, Sarah Loyd chats with Chris Shadrock, the visionary Communications Director of Boerne, Texas, about transforming chaos into clarity, community connection, and bold plans for the future. Whether navigating crises, modernizing websites, or shifting from town halls to organic engagement, Chris offers real-world insights that every public sector pro needs to hear.

Links:
City of Boerne on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BoerneCityHall/
City of Boerne Website - https://www.ci.boerne.tx.us/

Watch more episodes of Modern Gov Matters - https://www.moderngovmatters.com

What if the key to better community engagement isn't a new platform or campaign - it's your own employees? Renae Jackson, Equity and Engagement Director for the City of Decatur, Georgia, makes the case that internal engagement isn't a nice-to-have. It's the foundation everything else is built on.

Renae has been with the city since 2007, moving from a one-person communications shop to leading a division built around three pillars: communications, equity, and employee and community engagement. In this episode, she gets honest about what's working, what's still a challenge, and why she tells elected officials that "community" always means internal and external.

In this episode:

• Why employees are a city's most powerful ambassadors - and what breaks down when they're not engaged
• How Renae made the case to leadership for growing her team (hint: she showed her work)
• The ongoing challenge of internal communications - even in organizations that believe engagement is everyone's job
• What Decatur's re-energized volunteer engagement looks like post-COVID
• The FIFA World Cup watch party series proving that yes, government can be fun

Resources & Links:

• City of Decatur, Georgia
• Decatur 101 Citizen Academy
• CivAll
• Social News Desk

Modern Gov Matters is presented by CivAll, powered by Social News Desk.

For more episodes, visit Modern Gov Matters.

When Shea Haney stepped into the PIO role at the Adams County Sheriff's Office eight months ago, he came from patrol - not a newsroom. No communications background, just a career spent in the jail, detectives, an FBI task force, and the road. In this episode, Shea talks about what it's really like to learn government communications from scratch while leading a team, building trust with humble cops who don't want the spotlight, and yes - accidentally going viral.

Law enforcement communications carries a unique weight. Every post, every press release, every moment of silence is scrutinized. Shea shares how ACSO is navigating that pressure by breaking their own news, staying in their lane as communicators rather than influencers, and finding the occasional moment of levity that reminds the community there are humans behind the badge.

In this episode:

• How ACSO is telling its own story directly to the public - before the media does
• Why the traditional news release still has a place, even in a social-first world
• The Afroman video: how a team collaboration, a Colorado flag, and 30 seconds of humor turned a PR headache into a million-view moment
• The real challenge of reaching younger audiences without chasing trends or sacrificing credibility
• What it takes to earn trust from deputies who do good work quietly -and don't want the recognition
• Shea's advice for anyone just starting out: go slow, learn your agency's messaging, and support it

Resources & Links:

• Adams County Sheriff's Office
• CivAll
• Social News Desk

Modern Gov Matters is presented by CivAll, powered by Social News Desk.

For more episodes, visit Modern Gov Matters.

Will Hampton spent 24 years building one of the most award-winning municipal communications shops in Texas - earning resident satisfaction ratings nearly twice the national average - before walking away to help other local governments do the same. Now a consultant, speaker, and writer behind the Good Government Files newsletter, Will has reverse-engineered what actually made Round Rock work and turned it into a repeatable framework.

In this episode, Will walks through his 5 Elements of High Performance Communications, makes the case that trust is infrastructure (not a soft concept), and gets honest about what most cities are still getting wrong.

In this episode:

• Why Will argues you can only govern as well as you can persuade - and what that means for how cities should think about trust
• The 5 Elements of High Performance Communications: what they are, how they work together, and which one most organizations are missing
• Why listening - not just broadcasting - is the keystone of citizen engagement, and what intentional listening actually looks like
• How the communicator's seat at the table is really the citizen's seat at the table
• The shift toward in-person engagement and why real conversations don't happen at a city council meeting - they happen at HEB on a Saturday morning
• Why over-reacting to naysayers and trolls on social media is one of the most persistent mistakes in local government communications
• Learning to say no: what good prioritization looks like in a comms shop, and how data can give you the permission to do it

Resources & Links

• Good Government Files Newsletter
• Hampton Public
• Will Hampton on LinkedIn
• CivAll
• Social News Desk

Modern Gov Matters is presented by CivAll, powered by Social News Desk.

Bridget Saxton came into government communications through an unexpected door: nearly eight years as a 911 dispatcher. That instinct for triage, prioritization, and communicating clearly under pressure turned out to be exactly what she needed when she became Communications Director for the City of Melissa, Texas — one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.

When Bridget arrived in 2023, the department was brand new and the city had made six Facebook posts the entire previous year. Today, Melissa's page has nearly 15,000 followers and a highly engaged — self-described "feral" — audience. In this episode, she talks about what rapid growth actually feels like from inside the comms office, how she brought the community conversation onto the city's own platforms, and why transparency isn't always pretty but is always worth it.

• How nearly eight years as a 911 dispatcher shaped Bridget's approach to government communications
• What 64% population growth in three years actually feels like from inside the comms office
• Managing two very different audiences — longtime residents and brand-new ones — on the same platforms
• How Melissa grew its Facebook following from 5,400 to nearly 15,000 by leaning into transparency and two-way conversation
• Why one-way posting is a dead end, and what intentional content planning looks like instead
• What Bridget would build first if she could start the role over: strategy, crisis planning, and workflows before anything else
• Helping residents understand what their council can and can't actually control — and why that matters

• CivAll
• Social News Desk
• Bridget Saxton on LinkedIn
• City of Melissa on Facebook
• City of Melissa on Instagram

Modern Gov Matters is presented by CivAll, powered by Social News Desk.

LaToya Muse is the Creative Services Manager for the Town of Prescott Valley, Arizona — and the person responsible for turning local government's inner workings into content residents actually want to engage with. In this episode, LaToya talks about what it means to be a storyteller inside a government organization, how her team stays creative under pressure, and why authentic connection — with residents and within the community — is at the core of everything they do.

In this episode:

• LaToya shares her journey from Prescott Valley native to the town's chief storyteller
• How personal connection gives authenticity to government content
• Managing a small but mighty team across 14 departments
• Why breaking the "that's what we've always done" mold sparks innovation and saves taxpayer money
• The real impact behind the Hometown Hero Banner Program
• Why authentic visuals reign supreme over AI-generated content
• Building community trust through genuine resident interactions
• Practical advice for government communicators just getting started

• CivAll
• Social News Desk
• Town of Prescott Valley
• PV in Focus Podcast

• LinkedIn