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Product Description Congratulations, youve been elected to a local government office in your community - city council, board of supervisors, school board or special district. Your euphoria lasts about as long as your first meeting. During the election campaign you distinguished yourself from others by upstaging opponents, making promises about increasing services and lowering taxes, and even attacking the existing governing body and its policies. Confrontation and rhetoric worked well. As soon as you take your new seat, you are thrust into a world that requires a different set of skills and understandings. Within days, you discover that virtually every tactic that brought you success during the election campaign backfires in your quest to become an effective governing board member. While you are givensome slack, you are soon ostracized if you continue to rely upon campaign rhetoric. The confrontational mode is counterproductive and turns colleagues off. Prepare for Meetings Ask Penetrating Questions Clarify Expectations with the Chief Administrator Manage Difficult Meetings Avoid Common Chairperson Mistakes Evaluate the Meeting Agenda Evaluate Written Staff Reports Identify Meeting Ploys Work as a Productive Team Member The Elected Officials Little Handbook is a compact, 71/4 by 41/2, loose leaf reference guide that is presented in outline form, making it easy to read and easily fits in a purse or brief case. This is the third book in the Little Handbook series. Review Elected officials often enter the political arena with spirit and enthusiasm, a pocketful of ideas, and a little training in the day-to-day processes they must work through to get things done. Many have other full-time jobs that demand their attention, and yet the minute they are sworn in, they have reams of paper to read, a new set of people to deal with, skills to be learned, and new roles to