{"id":333,"date":"2026-04-27T19:54:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.phonelive.io\/?p=333"},"modified":"2026-04-27T19:54:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:54:36","slug":"gfg_ep58","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/","title":{"rendered":"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this episode of Ground Floor Government, host Hugh Plappert interviews Kendal Francis, the City Manager of Muskogee. They discuss the dynamics of local government, the journey into city management, the challenges faced, and the importance of communication and leadership. Kendal shares insights on supporting staff, celebrating successes, and the impact of budget decisions on the community. He emphasizes the need for accessibility and transparency in local government and encourages aspiring public servants to find their passion and get involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Working in local government is fundamentally about people.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Kendal transitioned from a water treatment operator to city management.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The role of a city manager is akin to being a CEO.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Effective communication is crucial in local government.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Leaders should support their staff through challenges.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Celebrating team successes is essential for morale.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Finding your ‘why’ is important in public service.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Budget decisions directly impact community lives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Accessibility and transparency are vital in government operations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Local government offers significant opportunities for impact.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In this episode of Ground Floor Government, host Hugh Plappert interviews Kendal Francis, the City Manager of Muskogee. They discuss the dynamics of local government, the journey into city management, the challenges faced, and the importance of communication and leadership. Kendal shares insights on supporting staff, celebrating successes, and the impact of budget decisions on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technolgies","tag-audiopodcast"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58 | PhoneLive Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Host Hugh Plappert interviews Kendal Francis, the City Manager of Muskogee. They discuss the dynamics of local government, the journey into city management, the challenges faced, and the importance of communication and leadership. Kendal shares insights on supporting staff, celebrating successes, and the impact of budget decisions on the community. He emphasizes the need for accessibility and transparency in local government and encourages aspiring public servants to find their passion and get involved.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58 The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ep. 58\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Host Hugh Plappert interviews Kendal Francis, the City Manager of Muskogee. They discuss the dynamics of local government, the journey into city management, the challenges faced, and the importance of communication and leadership. Kendal shares insights on supporting staff, celebrating successes, and the impact of budget decisions on the community. He emphasizes the need for accessibility and transparency in local government and encourages aspiring public servants to find their passion and get involved.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PhoneLive Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PhoneLive.io\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T00:54:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T00:54:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/PL_Site.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hugh Plappert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PhoneLive_io\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PhoneLive_io\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hugh Plappert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hugh Plappert\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f45f58a0a738f6be4e4ef0519f99d117\"},\"headline\":\"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-28T00:54:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-28T00:54:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/\"},\"wordCount\":173,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Podcast\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Technologies\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/\",\"name\":\"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58 | PhoneLive Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-28T00:54:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-28T00:54:36+00:00\",\"description\":\"Host Hugh Plappert interviews Kendal Francis, the City Manager of Muskogee. They discuss the dynamics of local government, the journey into city management, the challenges faced, and the importance of communication and leadership. Kendal shares insights on supporting staff, celebrating successes, and the impact of budget decisions on the community. He emphasizes the need for accessibility and transparency in local government and encourages aspiring public servants to find their passion and get involved.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"PhoneLive.io Church Tech Blog\",\"description\":\"Turn your live stream into a phone call. Phone streaming for churches and local governments \u2014 reach seniors and offline members, no internet needed.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"PL - Church Tech Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"PhoneLive.io\",\"alternateName\":\"PL\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/New-Logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/New-Logo.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"PhoneLive.io\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PhoneLive.io\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/PhoneLive_io\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/72555498\/admin\/feed\/posts\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@PhoneLive\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f45f58a0a738f6be4e4ef0519f99d117\",\"name\":\"Hugh Plappert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32555a63035a9b779ebc61330c883b660034bf089be5a5d0cac05919ea27b117?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32555a63035a9b779ebc61330c883b660034bf089be5a5d0cac05919ea27b117?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hugh Plappert\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58 | PhoneLive Blog","description":"Host Hugh Plappert interviews Kendal Francis, the City Manager of Muskogee. They discuss the dynamics of local government, the journey into city management, the challenges faced, and the importance of communication and leadership. Kendal shares insights on supporting staff, celebrating successes, and the impact of budget decisions on the community. He emphasizes the need for accessibility and transparency in local government and encourages aspiring public servants to find their passion and get involved.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58 The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ep. 58","og_description":"Host Hugh Plappert interviews Kendal Francis, the City Manager of Muskogee. They discuss the dynamics of local government, the journey into city management, the challenges faced, and the importance of communication and leadership. Kendal shares insights on supporting staff, celebrating successes, and the impact of budget decisions on the community. He emphasizes the need for accessibility and transparency in local government and encourages aspiring public servants to find their passion and get involved.","og_url":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/","og_site_name":"PhoneLive Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PhoneLive.io","article_published_time":"2026-04-28T00:54:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-28T00:54:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/PL_Site.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Hugh Plappert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58","twitter_creator":"@PhoneLive_io","twitter_site":"@PhoneLive_io","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hugh Plappert","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/"},"author":{"name":"Hugh Plappert","@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f45f58a0a738f6be4e4ef0519f99d117"},"headline":"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58","datePublished":"2026-04-28T00:54:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-28T00:54:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/"},"wordCount":173,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Podcast"],"articleSection":["Technologies"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/","url":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/","name":"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58 | PhoneLive Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-04-28T00:54:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-28T00:54:36+00:00","description":"Host Hugh Plappert interviews Kendal Francis, the City Manager of Muskogee. They discuss the dynamics of local government, the journey into city management, the challenges faced, and the importance of communication and leadership. Kendal shares insights on supporting staff, celebrating successes, and the impact of budget decisions on the community. He emphasizes the need for accessibility and transparency in local government and encourages aspiring public servants to find their passion and get involved.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/gfg_ep58\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The People Behind Local Government (with Kendal Francis) | Ground Floor Government Ep. 58"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/","name":"PhoneLive.io Church Tech Blog","description":"Turn your live stream into a phone call. Phone streaming for churches and local governments \u2014 reach seniors and offline members, no internet needed.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#organization"},"alternateName":"PL - Church Tech Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#organization","name":"PhoneLive.io","alternateName":"PL","url":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/New-Logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/New-Logo.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"PhoneLive.io"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PhoneLive.io","https:\/\/x.com\/PhoneLive_io","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/72555498\/admin\/feed\/posts\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@PhoneLive"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f45f58a0a738f6be4e4ef0519f99d117","name":"Hugh Plappert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32555a63035a9b779ebc61330c883b660034bf089be5a5d0cac05919ea27b117?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32555a63035a9b779ebc61330c883b660034bf089be5a5d0cac05919ea27b117?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hugh Plappert"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phonelive.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}