James Earp, assistant city manager for the city of Kyle, Texas, joins us to talk emergency response, continuity of government, and keeping your staff healthy so they can serve the public in the midst of COVID-19.

• James Earp at the City of Kyle
• What is “Flatten the Curve”?

Brittney Huff, director of operations for the City of Hudson Oaks, joins us to talk about some things you don't learn in grad school. Also introducing a new segment: I Literally Can't Even.

- What's missing from the academic discussions of economic development? 
- Wearing multiple hats as an assistant-to-the-city-manager in a small town. 
- Learning how to make decisions. 
- How do you handle managing in a field where you don't have a great deal of technical expertise?

Plus a discussion of things about which we literally can't even.

• Bikeshedding (aka, the law of triviality)
• That's not how you use that: shooting video in portrait mode

In this episode, Chad and Patrick talk about attending the Safe-D conference in Galveston, technological miscues at the Iowa Caucus, the end of Internet Explorer, and why Chad's least favorite Disney princess.

• Safe-D
• How the Iowa Caucuses Became an Epic Fiasco for Democrats
• Meet the people behind Shadow, Inc
• The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser
• Parkinson's Law of Triviality

In this episode of ZacCast, we talk about the future of ZacTax and our company, Eight20 Consulting. We also talk about software spying and why we wanted to remove third-party tracking software from ZacTax. And we wrap up with a discussion about the ever controversial "zipper merge."

Links

• ZacTax
• Avast is tracking you
• Ring is tracking you
• Zipper merging is awesome

In this episode of ZacCast, from fresh prince to urban development patterns, it's things that make you reevaluate your entire existence. We dig in to some of the more controversial elements of the Strong Towns movement, including its prescriptions for where we spend the public's money, and how we organize our teams to make the biggest impact.

Links

• Strong Towns is an international movement that’s dedicated to making communities across the United States and Canada financially strong and resilient. You can learn more at their website: www.strongtowns.org.
• Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity by Chuck Marohn

In this episode of ZacCast, Patrick and Chad discuss the impact of the Single Local Tax Rate on December's sales tax collections; wade into some controversy about alleged rule changes being proposed by the Comptroller; and even make time for some Christmas conspiracy theories.

Links

• ZacTax Blog
  • Who are the single local rate taxpayers?
  • Texas Comptroller provides insight into how the Single Local Tax rule will be reported
  • Deep-Diving the Texas Comptroller's Single Local Tax Proposal
  • Explaining the proposed Texas single local tax rule
• Elf on the Shelf
• Home Alone
  • Uncle Frank set his brother up
  • Peter McAllister is a Criminal

In this episode of ZacCast, Abilene, Texas, city manager Robert Hanna joins us to talk about his city's downtown hotel/convention center project. We discuss the difficulties inherent in complicated projects, steering large organizations toward a common goal, and gaining community buy-in for potentially controversial projects.

Audit week can be one of the most stressful times of the year for city management. In this episode, Doug Martella from GoVirtual CFO returns to talk about his experience auditing cities, and what aspiring city managers should know about the audit process. We'll even sneak in a secret your auditors probably don't want you to know.

Links

• GoVirtual CFO

In October 2019, the State of Texas implemented its new Single Local Tax Rate for online and out-of-state sellers. On this episode, we talk to Doug Martella of GoVirtual CFO about the new program and how it will impact sales tax collections in Texas.

Links

• GoVirtual CFO
• Texas Tax Responsibilities and Resources for Sellers After Wayfair (Texas Comptroller)
• ZacTax Blog
  • Explaining the proposed Texas single local tax rule
  • Deep-diving the Comptroller's single local tax proposal
  • Texas Comptroller provides insight into how the Single Local Tax rule will be reported

Patrick and Chad shoot the bull on a variety of topics, including our upcoming talk at the UMANT One-Day Conference, the ethical implications of cities continuing to invest in social media, and we geek out a bit on Christmas decorations.

Links

• Urban Management Assistants of North Texas
• UMANT One-Day Conference
• xLights
• Twinkly