City Manager Unfiltered

Taylour Tedder's groundbreaking contract in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware was the talk of the city management community last week. His contract features a $750,000 home loan that is completely forgivable after 7 years of service.

Bradley Ford, the city manager for Waco, Texas, sat down with me to review and critique this amazing contract. Ford, the foremost expert when it comes to public sector executive compensation, recently formed hi...

Change my mind: Troy Body has the toughest city manager job in the country!

The Hopkinsville, Kentucky manager also has one of the most unique backgrounds in the profession.

Oh! By the way -- he is the only black manager in the state.

You are going to enjoy this interview as we learn more about why he transitioned into local government and his thoughts on accountability and delivering results at the local level.

SHOW NOTES:

Troy Bo...

Going to battle against your public safety deparment heads can be extremely perilous for a city manager, especially when you have a politically connected and entrenched police chief.

City Manager Theo Melancon was tasked with doing an operational assessment of the police departmenty by his council.

In Part 2 of my interview series, Theo outlines the process and approach he took to carryout the wishes of his governing body while als...

City manager Theo Melancon was arrested on a domestic violence charge in January 2022. Unfortunately for him, his predecessor also made controversial headlines surrounding a domestic incident.

In this powerful episode, Melancon gives us a play-by-play recounting of the events that upended his life and nearly ended his career.

We talk about his communication with his elected officials, handling the social media firestorm, and examin...

This is the first installment in my upcoming series of interviews with public sector executive recruiters and recruitment firms.

In this interview with Michael Boese of Clear Carer Professionals, we discuss his firm's "candidate focus" approach that emphasizes consistent and timely communication with prospective candidates.

Near the end of the interview, Boese answers a question posed by a city manager about the importance of ICMA-...

Public Works Administrator Kevin Richardson messaged me about a year ago seeking career advice. This inquiry was the genesis of a new friendship and eventual "title change" designed to better reflect the role and responsibilities assigned to him at the City of Rock Hill in South Carolina.

In this episode, we illustrate the benefits of self-advocacy and discuss the importance of mentorship, especially in the context of promoting min...

The typical cover letter sucks. It literally hurts to read them they are so bad.

But, don't fall for the "fried ice cream" peddled by the private sector recruiters who argue that cover letters are no longer necessary. That is not true.

Every public sector executive competing for a position needs to have a cover letter and this is one of the easiest places elite candidates can differentiate themselves from their competition. 

Write ...

On multiple occasions, Charlotte Colley has been the "first female" and trailblazed her away across a 20 year career in the public sector. Being the first female manager can be incredibly challenging and she has experienced some tough days.

In this episode we talk about her public sector executive journey and how her faith in Jesus Christ has given her the strength to endure and persevere. And we talk about how her career has detou...

Consultant and resident expert Tim Nowak argues that there is an impending collapse of fire/EMS services in America and that there must be a paradigm shift in our thinking with respect to how these vital services are funded.

In this episode, we talk about the causes of the crisis, what it is going to take to fix it, and engage in other general subject matter related topics that have gnawed at me over the years.

For example, do we r...

SHOUT OUT SATURDAY (SOS): San Angelo resident John Bariou wants to recall the entire city council because they have violated the charter and undermined the council-manager form of government. The central Texas community of 100,000 people will get an opportunity to "vote the bums out" in just a few short months if Bariou gets his way.

He believes the mayor has violated the charter, run roughshod over the city manager, and injected h...

It is easy to send a custom resume that is specifically tailored to the job you are applying for if you follow my simple hack. Don't sell yourself short and send the same resume to every job.

Differentiate yourself and demonstrate how you are the solution to their problem by using my system. 

When you build a results oriented, custom resume that illustrates how you are the perfect fit for the job, you are going to get more offers a...

Jordan Cook didn't even get an interview the first time he tried to land a city administrator gig in Nevada, Iowa. But, on the second go around he not only got an interview -- he got the job.

In this episode we discuss perseverance, mental toughness, and talk about the state of public sector executive recruiting. We also extoll the virtues of the Midwest and talk about how aspiring city managers can turbocharge their career traject...

The Aransas Pass police department recently removed two public speakers from council chambers after they hurled numerous vulgarities and profane language at members of the governing body and city staff. 

Did they violate the First Amendment rights of these individuals and expose the taxpayers to a lawsuit?

One of the men booted from the meeting is a civil rights attorney who claims the city did violate his rights and the rights of ...

City manager Stanley Hawthorne was wrongfully fired with cause by just two members of his governing body. It was amateur night in Georgia on January 16, 2024 when Councilman Joe Carn rushed through this vote over the objections of Mayor Bianca Motley Broom. 

In this episode, I breakdown the tape and show how these unprofessional councilmembers voted to silence Hawthorne and prevent him from speaking during his termination. I also r...

A disgruntled ICMA spouse is submitting public information requests across the country and ICMA executive board members are stonewalling and blocking these requests. Why?

In this episode we talk about the increasing levels of scrutiny the ICMA is facing as a result of my podcast and LinkedIn posting. And we also highight various executive board members across the country who are refusing the respond to these FOIA requests or requir...

A disgruntled spouse of an ICMA member emailed me in December to express their frustration with staff salaries and the luxurious international travel junkets enjoyed by organizational executives and the executive board members. 

A city manager vents to me about the crappy salary listed in a job recruitment brochure.

And I take a look back at my LinkedIn and podcast stats for 2023 and compare my performance against that of the ICMA ...

Former Fort Meade City Manager Jan Bagnall declined to be interviewed for the second part of our interview series after receiving multiple threats since our first interview aired on December 13th, or Episode 29.

On New Year's Day, I received an email from a stranger named Greg King. I would later learn that he was the campaign manager for Jaret Williams, who one his Fort Meade commission race in November. 

I was unsure how to proce...

Nick Kittle is a nationally recognized leader in the field of public sector innovation and author of the book, Sustainovation. At the age of 35, Nick suffered a major health scare and it would become a catalytic moment in his quest to find personal purpose and fulfillment. He would go on to ask himself the following question: "What pays my soul?"

We explore a wide array of topics in this deeply personal and introspective conversati...

Former Hallandale Beach city manager Daniel Rosemond checks-in to update us on his wrongful termination lawsuit. The author of the "Death of the Public Servant" won a massive multi-million dollar judgment and we discussed his story from termination to jury awarded verdict to the appeal filed by the Florida beach community.

Rosemond recently received news from the court that the city's appeal hearing date has been set. 

We talk abou...