Great question!
Just a few quick thoughts:
My perspective is that it's suppose to be what the Governor does for the town. It's meant to be service to the town's citizens. The biggest hindrance to this is that the Governors have no way of knowing, through game mechanics, who those citizens are. This issue has been brought up by many players and the developers have no plans at this time to change this. Those that do speak up get titles if they choose.
Why do I do it?
Moonglow was the place of my birth, my education, many deaths, many loves, many laughs, many tears and many stories. The people who have populated the city are a part of me as they have made me who I am since day one. I care about the place. It's in my heart.
The City is decorated for the Holidays. It's UO, it's people. While one person grumbles that a deco interfered with their recall spot many people say they enjoy it. If I can give some pleasure and make something nice ingame, I'm in. It's win win. I get pleasure from giving pleasure.
Trade buffs. Before the Blunder Beacons the only major way to add funds to the town coffers was to do trade runs. Lots of them are needed to meet the 2 million gold required to maintain the weekly cost of a trade buff. Through the help of dedicated citizens and myself Moonglow has over 7,500 trade runs. Most of these were done prior to the era of Blunder Beacons. As above.... the people who have populated the city are a part of me as they have made me who I am since day 1. They say which trade buff they want and they get it.
Governors Meeting - From my perspective, from what I see on Baja and it's probably similar on some other shards as well, it's an opportunity to have a few minutes of engaging in role play, something that has significantly disappeared from EM events as well as general player interactions. There are some of us that still want to sit by the fire, share a glass of scotch, listen to a story well told and admire that handsome bar tender behind the bar. The Governor's meeting is as close as we get to that these days.
I don't know if this will make sense. But if you're always looking to 'get' something..... you'll never 'get' it. But if you're looking to 'give' something..... you'll always 'get' it.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Kind regards.
AW