Palin's Tenure as Wasilla Mayor

Sarah Palin had some help keeping up with the demands of running the municipal government for approximately 6,500 citizens in the mid-90’s. According to the local Frontiersman newspaper, she ran for Mayor saying the job wasn’t complex, but:

We still don’t understand how someone can be
claiming to keep her campaign promises when she
pooh-poohed the complexities of city government,
then hired a deputy city administrator to help her.

Frontiersman editorial, 3/7/97

During the bloodbath of department head firings that followed Palin’s election as Mayor of Wasilla, she moved quickly to quell public rumblings from employees:

Two weeks after becoming mayor, Palin instituted
a gag order on talking to the media for the city’s
top employees. Palin denied it was a gag order
saying “The department heads appreciated not
having to talk to the media.

Frontiersman, 10/25/96, 10/30/96

After a year in office, Palin had either fired or seen retirements from most department heads in Wasilla. Four of six department heads had been replaced.

source: Frontiersman, 6/11/97

h/t to Mudflats