During the 1-hour interviews NWCCOG performed in early 2023 of 31 managers across the region, I was curious if they had noticed an increase in incivility in their day-to-day operations. They were asked 1) if Incivility is an issue in the public realm, meaning meetings and events, 2) if their staff has had an increase in threats or harassment and 3) if their organization had taken steps to address building safety or staff training to deal with these issues. First, yes/no answers were used for the numeric data, and then most expanded upon those answers.
“Every November we have to remind the community that it will snow, so don’t yell at your Public Works team for leaving a windrow at the end of your driveway.” –Michelle Metteer, Town of Minturn Manager
“We are much more aware of our surroundings, staff. We get yelled at a lot more than we ever have. We have people climbing on our equipment to yell at our operators, it is dangerous; its about plowing mostly. We had someone pull in front of an operator to stop them.” –Sherry Cure, Town of Walden Clerk
“…residents who feel emboldened. There is no longer a conversation, it is passive-aggressive and bullying. Constant complaints over anything… constant nitpick, constant badgering; there is no longer a filter. Just being there in Blue River we don’t know when someone is going to flip (installed cameras and key card access).” –Michelle Eddy, Town of Blue River Manager
“We did have an experience, one new person in town engaged to someone who has been here longer (testified and didn’t like a board decision)—she went out and screamed ‘I’m going to kick your dogs,” we suspect that she let air out of the tire of a board member’s vehicle – put a pebble in the stem. It was kind of emotional.” –Leslie Davis, Town of Montezuma Mayor
Managers across the region generally answered in short that No, neither incivility nor staff harassment had increased or were a major issue. That said, most then shared stories or incidents that could qualify to many as either harassment or threatening behavior. The quotes are evidence of that. At least 4 managers answered that incivility was or had recently been an issue within their board itself. In my observation, that is a trend that preceded the recent spike in incivility toward public official during the cycle of COVID public health orders, election denial, and George Floyd/Black Lives Matter movement cycle that perhaps reached a peak of incivility with the January 6th insurrection. Managers noted that citizens, staff and board members in local government couldn’t help but be influenced by the divisive rhetoric at a national level. The line between national issues, personal issues and local issues has blurred.
In expanded comments, questions arose such as what constituted an ‘increase’ in incivility which is how the question was put forth. Many observed that being a public official at any level has always been challenging, if most of the acute confrontations were limited usually to police and a few other departments. What level of harassment/incivility is just baseline for public work? Most acknowledged that they understood some level of this when they began their careers.
No matter the other answers, many shared that staff across their organizations were increasingly concerned about personal safety. They shared anecdotes about situations. The incidents had a magnified impact on staff. Many reported that once-common interactions with citizens had a sharper edge. Nearly all jurisdictions had taken steps or had budgeted to tighten security for their buildings and for their staff. Five or more who will not be mentioned said they had recently installed bullet-proof glass in key locations to protect staff. Nearly all were installing live-monitored camera systems inside and outside if they didn’t have them already.
On Incivility:
“We have some people who feel very strongly about Council decisions, and they are not polite. When they show up and do the stuff they do, it’s not every meeting. They criticize but not in a productive way. They are passionate. They tell Council what they think of them.” –Steve Boyd, City of Glenwood Springs, COO
“With STRs we saw more of a lack of civility than ever. Outright hostility. We were going where everyone else was going and you would think it was the end of the world up here. We sent it to the electorate. Council did a good job; took bold actions.” –Gary Suiter, City of Steamboat Springs Manager
““It is almost expected today that people come in with mal intent instead of assuming good intent that staff is doing their very best as public employees. Land use hearings are just about a complete disaster, no matter the project or where it is…and now it has become personal attacks against staff based on how they define the parameters. Not all, but a high percentage that we hear from are wealthy, entitled people with a lot of time on their hands. Most land use across the country is based only on their input and not a majority who cannot take the time to attend hearings. It is so short sighted. It is based on anger, and I got mine and it is my job to make sure you don’t get yours.” –Jeff Shroll, Eagle County Manager (excerpts)
“There is a real ethic in Frisco about being civil amongst staff and the Council. Council members talk about it openly. To be prepared, our police chief attends all meetings and is ready to step in to de-escalate tense, uncivil activity at public meetings. This is the first place I’ve had that level of awareness.” –Tom Fisher, Town of Frisco Manager
On Harassment:
“I get feedback from staff regarding hostile encounters with people during their routine service delivery. The memorable ones are with people who come out with guns blazing, and an attempt to convey why something is being done a certain way can quickly become hostile. The staff does a great job of listening and that can help to calm the situation. –Ryan Mahoney, Town of Basalt Manager
“People are spicy. I am so much better equipped than when I started. Often people came in and I wasn’t prepared. I know I am more physically at risk than I would be in another job. I think I minimize that in how I communicate and treat people. But I have no illusions that someone is stewing now.” –Jeremy Reitman, Town of Gypsum Manager
“…we’ve had quite a few (threats). Nothing has been followed through on. Threats based on decisions and outcomes, Human Services, the Attorney… less than 5 recently.” –A Grand County Area Manager
“We ring people into the building. When I started here I didn’t like that. I love it now.” –John Crone, Town of Grand Lake Manager.
Jurisdictions reporting visits or sharing that they are actively addressing First Amendment Auditors included Winter Park, Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne, Basalt, Glenwood Springs and Snowmass Village. Many of those entities have signage on any door that isn’t the Council Chambers or public lobby that says, “Not a Public Area,” and have coached staff on how to respond and how not to respond to such intrusions. As Ryan Mahoney of Basalt says that having “entry signs post ‘not a public area,’ just has the effect that citizens can’t just wander into people’s offices. Visitors can stay in the lobby and film the receptionist.”
Managers reported that social media means that incidents get rehashed for years which can be exhausting for staff dealing with incidents again months or years after they had been through the emotional cycle of dealing with it when it first happened.
On First Amendment Auditors and social media:
“…that’s difficult to answer for Granby given some of the history here. We get a number of phone calls or emails each month. These are sometimes turned over to the police or they are just ignored.” –Ted Cherry, Granby Town Manager
“We had an experience a few years ago where local Post Office employees didn’t follow their USPS policy of allowing filming, and they called our PD to trespass an individual from the Post Office. We didn’t trespass the individual, but the interaction with PD ended up on YouTube, and to this day we still have trolls on social media, or calling us, about the video.” –Ryan Hyland, Town of Silverthorne Manager
To put the data another way, 1 in 3 which is 30 % of the top Administrators in each community believe today that civility had declined in public interactions. In other words incivility has risen 30% from some recent baseline. This is significant! They report that harassment or threats to staff increased that much also. To prove the threats are real, most are spending money to protect their staff from uncivil encounters. This is evidenced by 68% who have acted to heighten building security, and train staff on how to handle conflict. Few shared the total amount of money invested. Some had very extensive changes to public spaces which they tried to make subtle and unobtrusive to those doing regular business. There are resources available to train staff, though much less than one might imagine. This may be a result of awareness and the actual danger to public officials and staff occurring so rapidly and drastically. Active measures require an increased focus from experts in conflict reduction advising public entities. Colorado’s primary insurer of municipalities, CIRSA recently published information on “Handling Interactions with Angry Citizens.”
While it is not new that citizens have ‘feedback’ about how their town is managed—the public realm exists to engage with citizens and translate feedback to policy. There are realms where this is standardized. Then there is feedback about operations– down to how the roads are plowed, and choice of flowers. Where is the boundary between engagement and harassment? Managers’ report that citizens have become more brazen in what they say, like the Clerk from Walden who reported that people will block a plow driver, and climb up on their equipment to yell. Other Managers reported citizens speaking heatedly about how their driveway was plowed in, what street was plowed first or wasn’t plowed soon enough. Snow management is personal in Colorado, evidently. Coaching for front facing administrative staff, public health or public works employees may have been common after an incident in the past. Now it is reluctantly becoming a priority.
Moving from coaching tips, like the manager who recommends staff they don’t need to defend town policy themselves out in the field, to more formal training is becoming common. Managers have reported utilizing police staff for de-escalation training. Some make police available to train others in the resort community. Resort towns have always bridged this community policing to enforcement challenge with visitors, though it wasn’t until recently something that was required to deal with supposedly sober citizens in expected situations. Silverthorne has officers who do community training for de-escalation, a two-hour version of the kind of training that has become standard for most law enforcement.
On Building Safety:
“We are limited to a historic building (town hall). There are not many options for safety improvements. When staff was surveyed they don’t like being in town hall by themselves. We lock up more.” –Michael Brack, Fraser Town Manager
“We have a risk assessment team. When we built a building recently, it was interesting…we had a team that included the Sheriff and different department heads, at the time our IT director had come from Aurora and the recent shootings, the Sheriff was on the side of ‘Aspen is Aspen- we don’t need to fortify,” so we compromised, our building was put together with thoughtfulness to incidents.” –Rich Englehart, Pitkin County Deputy Manager
“If I listened to half the staff (about building security) we wouldn’t let anybody in at all. The other half don’t care. We were SWATTED with a possible school shooting nearby like a lot of districts across the state. It really hit people.” –A Roaring Fork Area Manager
“We are approaching building safety differently not because of our incidents, but because of what we see. We’ve given front desk access to the feed (entrance camera) so they can see people coming in, and we have a locked back entrance for staff only.” –Shannon Haynes, Town of Breckenridge, Assistant Manager
This is the first year NWCCOG has tracked perceptions about incivility. As Executive Director, I’ve written about its manifestations at a national level in our monthly newsletters for some time, linking the tone of conversations about national issues with how it trickles down to local governments. This is the first time we have gathered data on the phenomenon. It is clear from input that our members are impacted by incivility nationally and the reporting of it, as are our citizens. I have reported in the past that I believe that local governments, being closest to the people, delivering concrete, visible services on a daily basis, often involving personal interactions between citizens and “their government” by their neighbors who work in public sector are a salve to the problem. I strongly believe that still.
Though it was asked in a different set of questions. There is some liberal bias in the media reporting on clearly visible incivility from the” blue collar males of a certain age without college degrees” while there is also a less reported trend as a flood of people from other places often much wealthier people than those here before or those working to earn their livings in resort and support towns. The nuvea rich incivility that arises from a sense of entitlement is just as caustic and equally present in our resort communities. In listening to managers, the incivility issue is ”non-discriminatory” that is to say it crosses all demographics, personality types, different size towns, political persuasions. It is an issue for our time and ALL public workers are first responders and front line in addressing it.
