Three years ago, our Public Information Officer for Spanish Fork approached the Mayor and Council with a proposal to start what he called Spanish Fork University 101. The objective was to provide a way for citizens to “peek behind the curtain” of their local government by attending a weekly class for 10 consecutive weeks.

This involved not only meeting each of the city’s department directors of the city but spending hours with them at sites throughout the city. This allowed them to see, touch and feel the things that city employees do, and to ask questions about each department and their respective operations.

This was different than just approaching politicians at a public event, this was engagement with the boots on the ground people who day in and day out — among many other things — make sure the lights turn on, the garbage is picked up, water goes somewhere when the toilets flush and thousands of people are kept safe.

The result? We are now approaching a hundred residents who have attended the class. They no longer have to depend on hearsay or speculation, so prevalent in our world today, to understand how Spanish Fork City works. They have an intimate, factual understanding of how our city works.

After residents have completed all of the courses, we hold a graduation. We thank the class of 20+ residents with dinner and a certificate that I joke is more valuable than any kind of college degree. The graduates get a chance to talk about their experiences and, without fail, every person has come away with a more clear and positive perception of Spanish Fork as a whole. A direct result has been less contention, more desire to be involved (16 people just interviewed for our council seat vacated by now county commissioner Brandon Gordon) and an overall acuity of how and why things work.

If you’re not a citizen of Spanish Fork & would like your city to start their own Municipal University 101, reach out to our Public Information Officer, Nick Porter. If you are a citizen of the Home of Pride and Progress, watch for an invitation in the spring for our next course offering. Although it will take some of your weeknights for a couple months, your appreciation for where you call home will grow, and that is good for everyone.