Brooks Williams, City Manager of Ferris, Texas, joins hostSteve Vancore to share one of the more remarkable turnaround stories in recent local government memory. When Brooks arrived, Ferris had cycled through 12 citymanagers in 10 years, council members had come to blows, and a widely read article had dubbed it "the town where everyone hates each other." Despite sitting alongside a major Texas interstate, the city was not growing.

Brooks walks through the approach he took to change theculture, including getting out of the office and into the community to build relationships, using plain language to rebuild public trust, breaking down organizational silos, and requiring every public employee to complete a basic public administration course. He reflects on the importance of having people willing to stand with you when difficult, unpopular decisions must be made, and what it takes to transform division into momentum.