On Thursday, September 25, 2025, PSD Citywide and WithersRavenel hosted a live webinar, Bridging the Gap: Improving Communication Between Technical Teams and Elected Officials. The session featured insights from Israr Ahmad, Director of Asset Management Solutions at PSD Citywide, and Harold Weinbrecht, Mayor of Cary, NC and WithersRavenel consultant. Together, they explored how local governments can strengthen the link between technical expertise and political decision-making.
Key Themes
The discussion focused on the dual roles that shape infrastructure asset management. Staff are responsible for planning, managing, and sustaining public assets, while elected officials set direction, establish service levels, and approve funding. Both Ahmad and Weinbrecht emphasized that communication between these two groups is critical—and often the point where processes break down.
Staff, Ahmad explained, must move beyond data-heavy reports and spreadsheets and instead convey information in ways that are clear, credible, and directly tied to community priorities. Weinbrecht, speaking from the perspective of an elected leader, underscored the importance of receiving information that not only highlights risks and priorities but also resonates with constituents and supports confident decision-making.
What Attendees Learned
Attendees left with practical strategies to improve conversations between staff and elected officials, including:
- How to determine just enough data, what to collect and why.
- Ways to transform technical information into a clear and compelling narrative.
- Techniques to communicate risks, trade-offs, and priorities effectively.
Watch the Recording
If you missed the live session or would like to revisit the discussion, you can access the full recording below.