Pat’s PIECE November 2023

During the ICMA conference this year, Tim Fitzgerald and I had the privilege to participate in a dialogue session on The Manager’s Role in Leading Change particularly in relation to community leadership.  This group included 55 representatives from 46 different state local government associations.  Our task was to discuss the various factors that are impacting city and county managers in our roles as community leaders and how the ICMA Declaration of Ideals might be a way to help discuss these important issues. 

The ICMA Declaration of Ideas can be found here. I encourage you to take a look at the document.  It leads with the statement that we should dedicate ourselves to the faithful stewardship of the public trust and embrace a shared ideal of management excellence.  This with the Athenian Oath concept that we will leave our communities greater and more beautiful than they were given to us are true foundational pillars for our public service.

The real “ah-ha” moment in our group discussions was the lack of knowledge among this group of dedicated local government leaders concerning the existence and content of the Declaration of Ideals.  The declaration contains a plethora of values that I believe we all hold and generally promote in our organizations.  Integrity, democracy, efficiency, effectiveness, trust, equity, justice, dignity, stewardship and excellence are all values stressed in this document.  It was recommended that we look to include this Declaration of Ideals as a document that we share and use publicly, just like we have been encouraged to do with the Code of Ethics.

Given that the Code of Ethics has been a recent hot topic among ICMA blogs and articles, I want to highlight ideal statement number ten in the Declaration of Ideals.  It reads, “Demonstrate commitment to professional ethics and ideals and support colleagues in the maintenance of these standards.”  I don’t know anymore than most of you the particulars of the ICMA case that is under debate and discussion but I trust that the appropriate processes will be followed and lessoned learned will be discussed. 

As VLGMA, I hope we will continue to emphasize not only our commitment to ethics but just as importantly our support to each other in upholding these standards.  Our role in community leadership is hard enough as it is.  We all will make mistakes but the key to our professional integrity is how we respond to and support each other after those mistakes.  Helping each other should be the hallmark of what it means to be a VLGMA member.    

In closing out the session, the organizers identified a key takeaway from these discussions as there is much work to be done in supporting managers as we attempt to support our communities in dealing with the many difficult issues that we face.  I would also note that a key takeaway from the discussions at my table was the need for the local government management profession to support our colleagues and the communities we serve as we each take on the unique leadership challenges that we face.  We were encouraged to bring this conversation back to our state associations and I hope this will be a conversation, either formally or informally, at the upcoming VLGMA conferences.  Below are two pictures of the written notes from the discussions.

This month my “Pat-on-the-Back” goes to Charles Hartgrove for organizing the Virginia Reception at the ICMA conference in Austin.  It takes some effort to find an appropriate location and get the logistics prepared in a city that you likely do not frequent and is not familiar.  I went to several receptions while I was at the conference and the Virginia Reception was the best!  Not only did we get to recognize ICMA Distinguished Service Award recipients, Robert J. O’Neill Jr. and Kimball Payne III, we were able to accommodate a large turnout with good food, good conversations and at a good location.  Great job Charles! 

Join me this month in welcoming the following new VLGMA members:  

Sara Crawford, Town Manager, Town of Charlotte Court House

Beth Simms, County Administrator, County of Patrick

Please reach out to these individuals, particularly when you see them at local or regional events, to reaffirm what we already know about the great collegial relationships that we have as an organization.