President’s Report

STEVE ALLENDER

Greetings to all of you who have survived winter! (So far…)

Over the past couple of weeks, I completed a tour of our great state to attend a number of Municipal League district meetings. It was good seeing some of you there.

The Municipal League provides the muchneeded social and supportive structure to enable cities to connect, communicate, and conquer major issues within our communities. I’ve said before, city government may be the only government worth serving in due to the common challenges, the closeness to constituents and the ability to make changes in the interest of the community at large.

We are experiencing some troubling times. The war in Ukraine serves as a fl ashback to those of us who grew up during the Cold War. We felt a constant looming threat of Russia taking over the world and our children or grandchildren speaking Russian as a fi rst language. There are decades of stories - and frankly, a culture that goes along with Cold War concerns. Here we are in 2022 and we are, in fact, in the new Cold War.

As if managing community issues was not challenging enough, the new items on the table are infl ation, housing shortages, and now availability or cost of gasoline. The Biden administration has been quite transparent regarding the issue of fossil fuels and energy sustainability. Whether you see this as a typical political agenda or as a real issue, the result is the same. Fossil fuels are our primary energy source in this country, and especially in the rural parts of this country. To choose this particular time to wean America off fossil fuels is very unfortunate and will create many challenges. Those challenges will likely create a new fi nancial burden for all.

Your duty as the leaders in South Dakota cities and towns will be to mitigate the indirect consequences of all this. Transportation is a crucial issue in rural America. Public transportation is not available in most parts of our state and even if it were, it could not solve all of our problems. Not everyone can afford an electric car, especially when the electric car infrastructure does not extend into sparsely-populated areas of a rural state.

These issues will be diffi cult enough without the complicating and polarizing effect of the partisan divide. My hope is that we will work to keep our communities together. Our constituents are counting on us.

On the bright side, the legislative session is over and we are working our way through the 325 days until the next one begins! Here’s to a happy and healthy April! ■

State of the Union 2022: 5 Takeaways

IRMA ESPARZA DIGGS, NATIONAL LEAUGE OF CITIES SENIOR EXECUTIVE AND DIRECTOR OF FEDERAL ADVOCACY

Reprinted from National League of Cities, www.nlc.org.

Last month, President Biden gave his State of the Union address. His speech addressed a broad range of topics including infrastructure, COVID relief funds, public safety, and other priorities for local leaders. Here are five takeaways local leaders should know from the 2022 State of the Union.

1

REBUILDING OUR NATION’S INFRASTRUCTURE

Cities, towns and villages are ready to rebuild with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). In his State of the Union, President Biden shared our enthusiasm to strengthen and rebuild the infrastructure that keeps Americans and our economy moving. The BIL includes historic investments for communities across the country for transportation, water, and broadband projects. We look forward to continuing to work with President Biden and the administration to continue to build on federal-local partnerships for the benefi t of all residents.

2

STRENGTHENING THE ECONOMY

Economic recovery starts at home. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the BIL are being put to work in every community to

Want to learn more about what opportunities are available in the BIL for your community?

Find resources at NLC.org: • Review the White House’s

BIL Guidebook and complementary tool to fi nd

BIL programs. • Find informative articles, webinars, recorded videos, and more at our Ready to

Rebuild hub.

recover from COVID and strengthen our economic recovery. Through these critical federal investments, communities across the country are beating the COVID pandemic, supporting vulnerable communities, and increasing public safety.

NLC, Brookings Metro and the National Association of Counties (NACo) recently launched the Local Government ARPA Investment Tracker, an online resource that compiles information from local governments to offer a detailed picture of how large cities and counties are deploying State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) dollars. The tool tracks more than $18 billion in SLFRF investments across 152 local governments.

An essential component to this economic recovery is ensuring we have the skilled workers needed to build our roads, bridges, water and broadband systems. While ARPA investments are critical to meeting today’s workforce needs, they’re not enough. Congress must invest at least $40 billion in workforce development so that cities can get to work.

Get involved: Urge your member of Congress to support additional workforce investments and give cities more fl exibility when using ARPA recovery funds using our email template.

3

SUPPORTING PUBLIC SAFETY

Thanks to the unprecedented $65 billion in direct ARPA funding available to every municipal government, cities across the country like Baltimore, MD, Newark, NJ, Los Angeles, CA, Houston, TX, Charlotte, NC are making significant investments in violence prevention programs, including violence interrupters, crises intervention programs, and alternative response programs for behavioral health, substance use, and homelessness incidents. NLC looks forward to working with the Biden Administration to help cities address these challenges.

Last year NLC launched the Reimaging Public Safety Task Force, chaired by Mayor Ras J. Baraka of Newark, NJ and Mayor David Holt of Oklahoma City, OK, to provide actionable steps for municipal leaders to take on challenges. Learn more about the task force on NLC. org.

4

ADDRESSING MENTAL HEALTH & SUBSTANCE USE

Local leaders understand the need to go above partisanship to get the job done for their communities. Biden laid out a list of bipartisan policies he hopes to accomplish, including addressing the substance abuse and mental health crisis that has worsened due to the pandemic.

Cities are on the front lines of substance use and mental health crisis, leading the way on emergency response and crisis stabilization. We’re ready to work closely with the federal government to battle this epidemic together and support Americans across the country struggling with mental health and substance abuse.

5

STANDING WITH UKRAINE

Cities, towns and villages understand the importance of strengthening the federal-local partnership – and this partnership extends to our commitment to democracy. As President Biden said, we stand with the Ukrainian people. And we stand behind the President as he gathers our allies around the world against Russia’s aggression and attacks on democracy. ■