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NLC celebrates its centennial at the Congressional City Conference

Local government leaders from cities, towns and villages across the nation gathered for the 59th National League of Cities Congressional City Conference, held March 11-13 at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C.
  • While the cherry blossoms weren’t quite ready to bloom, it was still a lovely few days in March for local officials from across the nation to meet in Washington, D.C., for the 2024 National League of Cities Congressional City Conference.

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Local government leaders from cities, towns and villages across the nation gathered for the 59th National League of Cities Congressional City Conference, held March 11-13 at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C. According to the NLC, more than 3,000 local leaders were in attendance to hear from President Joe Biden and members of his administration, congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle, NLC’s leadership, and their fellow municipal officials, who discussed issues essential to cities, including infrastructure, workforce development and the opioid crisis. The conference also gave local officials the opportunity to meet with their congressional delegations to discuss the issues facing their constituents at home.

President Joe Biden addressed the conference during the opening general session on Monday, March 11. Biden’s political career began in local government, as a county council member in New Castle, Delaware, before being elected at age 29 to the U.S. Senate. “That’s where I learned early on that if you want to get something done locally, send it directly to the local officials.” He touted the success of the American Rescue Plan Act. “It delivered $350 billion to state and local governments for you to decide how it should be spent.” The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 also provides historic levels of funding for projects across the nation, he said. Biden acknowledged the nationwide affordable housing crisis and listed several federal initiatives intended to address it, including tax credits for first-time buyers and access to funding for builders, as well as funding to cities witnessing a historic rise in homelessness. “The bottom line, folks, is build, build, build,” he said. “That’s how we bring housing costs down for good.”

The National League of Cities is celebrating its centennial as an organization this year, and NLC President David Sander, mayor of Rancho Cordova, California, reflected on the progress and growth his hometown has experienced over the past 100 years. He credited the visionary leadership of devoted public officials over the years, and he encouraged today’s municipal leaders to keep that in mind as they plan for the future. “It is absolutely essential that that each one of us leads with vision, a vision of what we want our future cities to look like. So dreaming of what our cities could be at their very best, that should inform every council vote that we pass, every policy decision we consider, every action we take.” He also urged local leaders to not get lost in the “hot button, divisive national issues” to great applause. “You’ve heard this a million times and it’s true: The potholes in our roads, they aren’t red and blue, they just need fixing.”

Originally named the American Municipal Association, the National League of Cities was created in 1924 when 10 state league directors gathered on the campus of the University of Kansas to form an organization that would share information and best practices and advocate for the needs of the nation’s cities, towns and villages in Washington, D.C. “Today, the National League of Cities continues to deliver on those goals, because we relentlessly advocate for cities and protect the interests of cities, towns and villages in America,” said NLC Executive Director and CEO Clarence Anthony. “We’re never going to change that as our mission.” He reflected on some of the NLC’s achievements over the past century, including directly influencing the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, supporting the Civil Rights and fair housing movements, and fighting for the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, Anthony said. More recently, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NLC helped ensure cities received direct funding through ARPA, the CARES Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. “We launched our ‘Cities are Essential’ campaign, which brought direct federal relief to every city, village and town in America. You did that.” The NLC will be celebrating its centennial throughout 2024. Visit www.nlc100.org to learn more.

The opioid crisis has impacted every community in the country, and Arkansas Municipal League Executive Director Mark Hayes participated in a panel discussion on March 11, where he provided an update on our unique city-county-state partnership that resulted in successful litigation to hold the pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors accountable. The Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership (ARORP) continues that collaboration to distribute the settlement money where it is most needed. “It’s been very successful,” Hayes said. “We hit the ground running and we’re already putting money out. All 75 counties—either in the cities that are there or in the county itself—have recovery programs now, and I’m happy to tell you that some of them have as many as five to 10 grants that we’ve approved.” ARORP has distributed more than $23 million to date for prevention and recovery programming. The crisis is a personal one for Hayes. In 2020 he and his wife Alison lost their son Wells to a fentanyl overdose. The goal is to help prevent more tragedies like the one his family has endured, he said. “The upside is we now have monies from those bad actors to begin to attack this problem. I’ll leave you with this: When my wife and I sat down with the lawyers that were representing the cities and counties, she said, ‘Please get this right. There shouldn’t be any more mamas that have to suffer what I suffered.’”

The NLC invited presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and speaker Doris Kearns Goodwin, left, to share her unique perspective on our nation’s political leaders past and present. In conversation with NLC First Vice President and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, Kearns offered local government officials advice on providing leadership during these tumultuous times. “I think transforming change in America has come precisely from what you all are doing usually, from the ground up. When Lincoln was called an emancipator, he said don’t call me that—it was the anti-slavery movement in the cities and states that did it all, and the Union soldiers that came from all over the country.” All of the great movements for human progress “bubble up” rather than come from the top down, she said. “All of these movements come from the ground up, so you are doing the work that is making history in the future. But I think the most important thing is it’s not simply what people do that leads to their legacy, it’s who they are as people.”

Arkansas was well represented at the Congressional City Conference, with 25 city and town officials, League staff and family members in attendance, many of whom were able to meet with members of the state’s congressional delegation on the afternoon of Monday, March 11 in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center. From left, West Memphis Mayor Marco McClendon, Texarkana City Director Laney Harris, West Memphis Chief of Staff Steven Jones, Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse, Bentonville Director of Administration Debbie Griffin, Fort Smith City Director Christina Catsavis, League Executive Director Mark Hayes, Eudora Mayor Tomeka Butler, Fort Smith City Administrator Carl Geffken, Cave City Mayor Jonas Anderson, Texarkana City Manager Robert Thompson, Batesville Mayor Rick Elumbaugh, West Memphis Director of Emergency Management DeWayne Rose, Gentry Mayor Kevin Johnston and Huntsville Mayor Travis Dotson.

As Congress works through the appropriations process, Sen. John Boozman assured local officials that although the state’s delegates in Washington, D.C., may not always agree on national issues, they work well together when it comes to Arkansas. That’s historically been the case, he said. “I’ve had the opportunity to be here for more than 20 years, and even when I was the only Republican in the delegation, we all worked together seamlessly. It’s not about Democrats and Republicans, it’s about moving Arkansas forward.”

Several Arkansas city leaders expressed frustration with being turned down, sometimes multiple times, for U.S. Department of Transportation Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grants. Rep. Bruce Westerman, who is on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said he too was sometimes baffled by the agency’s selection process. “I can’t seem to find a rhyme or reason why they accept and reject certain grants.” He suggested that cities that have been rejected keep applying. 

Adding to Boozman’s thoughts on how well the delegation works together for their home state, Rep. Steve Womack said that because of the seniority they have gained, they are in a unique position to secure funding for more projects in Arkansas through Community Project Financing, or what was once referred to as the earmark program. “And I’m an appropriator. So naturally, you can expect that I’m going to be doing my fair share for my 3rd District. So if you’re [Mayor] Kurt Maddox over at Gravette, you’re celebrating the passage of that tranche of bills last week because in there was $7.2 million to run his sewer from city property out to that new interchange, which is going to help that area develop.”

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