The City of Kissimmee, a growing, evolving, and rapidly moving city is one of two incorporated cities in Osceola County. It’s diversity, and overall complexity can make it a challenge for citizens to understand the role that the City of Kissimmee Government plays, which includes providing quality customer service to the community through all their departments.

On Thursday night the City of Kissimmee opened its doors to the public for the first of nine classes for the City of Kissimmee’s School of Government that is intended to enlighten its citizens in how its local government functions. Over the course of the classes, participants will have a first-hand look into some of those departments the City of Kissimmee operates.

“Our mindset when starting the program was to get residents more engaged with what’s going on. As a result of the program, we’ve actually seen a lot of the participants willing to volunteer to be on boards and then ultimately we will have those people running for City Commission. That’s really the goal,” says Mike Steigerwald, City Manager of Kissimmee.

This week’s class ran from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM, at Kissimmee City Hall with Steigerwald explaining his role as City Manager, which includes providing administrative support to the City and providing assistance to the City Commission by establishing the policies, programs, and service to the community. The City Manager also handles the following duties:

  • Implements interdepartmental programs for strategic planning, emergency preparedness, and special projects.
  • Provides direction to the departments that administer the programs and services.
  • Fosters intergovernmental relations, lobbying, economic development, and public affairs efforts.

During the second portion of the class, Linda Hansell, City Clerk of Kissimmee spoke about her position and participants were able to break into groups for a hands-on exercise, where they learned about the correct number of years certain documents were kept and when they were discarded. The City Clerk position is responsible for keeping a public record of all proceedings of the Commission and is the official custodian of the City seal, along with any other papers, documents, or records pertaining to the City. Class members were also able to see one of the oldest record books located at City Hall and learn how items that are dated should be handled and cared for.

Kudos to the City of Kissimmee for its transparency and desire to educate the citizens of Kissimmee. It was apparent that making this opportunity available to the community was well received as there were over 30 people who will be attending the classes over the next remaining 8 weeks. Check back next week as we explore City of Kissimmee’s Parks and Recreations Department.

Positively Osceola is excited for the opportunity to learn more about how the City of Kissimmee Government functions and how it makes a Positive Difference in Osceola County!