Avoiding the Headlines: How to Evaluate your Municipality’s Compliance, Ethics and Transparency

Instructor:  Greg Primm

Greg  Primm is the City Manager for the City of Lower Burrell, bringing 36 years of hands-on leadership in local government across diverse communities, including townships, boroughs, and a third‑class city. His career spans full-spectrum municipal operations, policy implementation, infrastructure delivery, and council–manager relations. Greg has also spent more than 25 years as a trusted instructor and course developer, shaping the next generation of local government professionals through municipal training programs.

To support meaningful interaction, this session will not be recorded. Your instructor will ask you to turn your camera on and participate in the conversation. Plan to be seen and heard!

Course Description

Understanding Where Municipal Decisions Can Go Wrong—and How to Fix Them

Municipal decisions often go wrong not because of poor intent, but because legal requirements, ethical standards, or transparency rules are misunderstood or overlooked in practice. This course helps participants identify where those breakdowns commonly occur and provides practical strategies to correct issues early reducing risk, improving decision‑making, and strengthening public trust.

This intermediate course is designed for municipal staff and officials who are prepared to evaluate and assess municipal practices beyond a foundational level. The course focuses on critical review of municipal government responsibilities, including governance authority, ethics, transparency, public accountability, meeting requirements, and records management.

Participants will examine real‑world municipal scenarios to assess compliance with the Sunshine Act, Right‑to‑Know Law, ethics standards, and accessibility requirements. Emphasis is placed on evaluating policies, procedures, and decision‑making for legal sufficiency, risk management, and effective public service. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped to identify compliance issues, assess existing practices, and support informed decisions that strengthen governance and public trust.

Key Topics

• Advanced Governance Authority and Responsibility
• Ethics, Transparency, and Public Accountability
• Sunshine Act Compliance and Public Meetings
• Right-to-Know Law and Records Management
• Policy, Procedure, and Risk Assessment
• Accessibility and Inclusive Public Service

Who Should Attend

This course is best suited for individuals who already understand basic municipal operations and are prepared to critically review practices, identify compliance risks, and support sound governance decisions.

• Municipal staff
• Elected officials
• Municipal administrators and managers
• Department heads and supervisors
• Board and commission members
• Experienced municipal employees

By the end of this course, participants can expect to be able to:

1. Evaluate municipal governance actions for compliance with statutory authority, ethical standards, and transparency requirements.
2. Assess municipal practices for adherence to the Sunshine Act, including meeting notice, agenda, and executive session requirements.
3. Analyze records management and response procedures for compliance with the Right-to-Know Law.
4. Identify ethical risks, conflicts of interest, and accountability concerns in real-world municipal scenarios.
5. Apply legal and procedural standards to assess the sufficiency of municipal policies and decision-making processes.
6. Assess accessibility practices related to public meetings, records, and services for compliance and inclusivity.
7. Recognize potential legal, operational, and reputational risks arising from non-compliant municipal practices.
8. Recommend improvements to policies, procedures, or practices that strengthen governance, compliance, and public trust.

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This course is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. Participants should consult their municipal solicitor or other qualified legal counsel regarding specific legal, personnel, compliance, ethics, transparency, records management, accessibility, governance, or other matters that may affect their municipality or organization.

The Pennsylvania Municipal League and the League Learning Academy make no representations or warranties regarding the applicability of course content to any particular situation and assume no liability for decisions made or actions taken based on information presented in this course. Responsibility for compliance with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and procedures remains with each participant and their municipality or organization.

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Registration

• Send a message to lla@pml.org for group rates for 10 or more registrants
• By registering for this course, you are authorizing the League Learning Academy to forward information to you at your email address related to educational offerings.
• Once your registration is completed, you should receive a confirmation email from The PA Municipal League. It contains the zoom link to the course. If you do not receive an email, check your spam folder.
• Participants must attend the entire 3-hour session to earn a course certificate.

Cancellation & No‑Show Policy

• Cancellations must be submitted in writing at least 72 hours before the class to receive a full refund.
• Cancellations after 72 hours may receive a partial refund, minus a processing fee.
• No‑shows or failure to cancel will forfeit the full registration fee