What does a city councilor actually do? What’s the difference between a town and a city? And why does a TV show about a small-town mayor have a board of selectmen? In this debut episode of Public Speak, Felicia, an Easthampton, MA City Councilor and your new favorite civics explainer, takes the lead.
Felicia shares how she went from “local elections aren’t really on my radar” to being elected to city council, detours into the surprisingly fascinating history of Easthampton, and then lays out everything we were never taught in school. She talks about the difference between towns and cities, what select boards vs. city councils actually do, how precincts and wards work, what ends up on a councilor’s plate, and how much they get paid.
Rachel pops in throughout with questions you’d probably want to ask yourself. Together they make local government feel less like a board meeting and more like a conversation you actually want to participate in.
Chapter List
0:08 Welcome to Public Speak!
2:08 Felicia’s Origin Story: From “I Don’t Vote Locally” to City Councilor
3:59 Easthampton, MA: Little City, Big Heart (and a Lot of History)
25:28 Pop Quiz! Spotting a Civics Error in Widow’s Bay (Rachel fails spectacularly lol)
29:35 Select Boards vs. City Councils
35:51 What City Councilors Actually Do
57:36 Let’s Talk Money: How Much Do City Councilors Get Paid?
68:44 How Felicia Got Appointed (and Then Elected) to Council
83:55 Point of Order: Why Is This Podcast Called “Public Speak”?
