
The U.S. Conference of Mayors' winter meeting is underway in Washington D.C., where a handful of mayors from Minnesota are participating.
Among them is longtime Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth Kautz, who says they're collaborating on everything from mental health issues to infrastructure.
“There's a lot that we discuss, and we engage with and we talk with one another,” Kautz says. “And who's doing what. What are the best practices? How can we help one another?”
Kautz is a Past President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. She says they're also working on policy positions that collectively represent the views of the nation’s mayors, which are then shared with the President and United States Congress.
Kautz says their input to federal officials on things like mental health, infrastructure, and environmental concerns are taken seriously.
“They all understand that we are cities of different sizes, but we all have the same issues. It's only in different degrees.”
The United States Conference of Mayors is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are over 1,400 such cities in the country today.
The group will gather again in June at the Conference’s Annual Meeting.