Small town corruption -- Any case studies on towns which have broken free ?

I now live in area which saw an influx of NYCers after 9/11. It tipped the local balance to the point where a NYer won the mayor's race 5 years ago only to have the victory overturned by corrupt local officials who found more votes after the real ones were counted. That really killed hope that things here would change. The people who moved here in the last 10 years pay much higher property taxes than those who have lived here for decades. And they are locked out of the decision making that keeps pushing those taxes higher.

The city council is all Democrats who just rubber stamp whatever the PTB want. One council member spoke up against the corruption and the head of the local police union has asked for him to resign now. He says he was so offended by this guy's comments that he can't work with him anymore and has asked for him to be removed from his elected position.

People who grieve their property taxes are told that it "is none of your business how much your neighbors pay" in property taxes. And the city outsourced the assessor's responsibilities to a private firm which is simply multiplying the earlier discrepancies.

Legitimate businesses that compete with businesses owned by in-circle locals are pushed out and the result is that the town is classified as a 'food desert' by the USDA in spite of the fact that we are in the middle of a very productive agricultural county. And there are many other solvable issues.

I am looking for towns that broke free of multi-generation corruption to use as case studies for how it might happen here. Has any DUer seen or been part of un-doing the corruption that plagues a small town government?