February 2021 Focus on the Future

By Craig Meadows

Greetings from a cold and snowy Montgomery County!  I hope the winter weather has not created any significant challenges for you, and that you are looking forward to a productive week, and a good month.  We’re in full budget development mode here, which means lots of meetings … I hope your budget season is going well!

For this month’s article, I’d like to review with you the fifth strategic focus area for the VLGMA Strategic Plan – Professional Development.  Within this focus area, VLGMA leadership has identified two strategic goals.  The first goal is to improve the quality of our professional development programs.  VLGMA seeks to do this by utilizing training tracks to address diverse needs of the membership; encouraging continuation of Deputy, Assistant, and Others (“DAOs”) semi-annual meetings, ensuring that managers are aware of these meetings, and encouraging the appropriate next generation personnel to attend meetings; and by actively engaging VLGMA affiliate partners to expand and enrich professional development opportunities for VLGMA members at our events and conferences.

Our second strategic goal under Professional Development is to promote credentialing to underscore the professional expertise and resources that professional managers bring to their community and citizens.  Our organization supports this goal by conducting an annual session on the credentialing process, including offering a “how to” process for the assessment program, and also hosting a panel at one of the conferences on the “whys” of credentialing, highlighting what value is added to members and to the member’s governing body.  VLGMA also recognizes new and current credential managers at a general session during each VLGMA conference to promote participation in the credentialing program.

I hope that you are taking advantage of all the professional opportunities that are provided to you as part of your membership in VLGMA.  In addition to the two conferences each year, there are many resources available to you at www.icma.org/vlgma.  Also, if you have an idea for a conference session or training opportunity, please share that with VLGMA leadership – we are always looking for ways to provide quality training for our members!

Don’t forget that our winter conference is next Wednesday through Friday; if you haven’t registered yet, please contact Molly Harlow and get signed up – I look forward to “seeing” you next week!

Wishing you a great February –
All the best,
Craig