City Manager Unfiltered

Brian Daily was the first person I ever hired as a city manager and it was one of the most impactful decisions I have ever made in my professional career. He is an amazing, inquisitive public servant who continually seeks to provide value to taxpayers. He is insanely curious and truly embodies the ethos of a "working executive" who is not afraid to roll his sleeves up and do the heavy lifting required of a small town executive. 

In...

Picture this scenario. Staff have worked for a year to bring a project or initiative to the finish line. There have been public meetings and notices, multiple discussions at council meetings, and even some news articles published in the local paper. 

Out of the blue, a handful of vocal social media commenters start lighting up the city's social media page and local news groups are atwitter as these critics misrepresent the facts of...

What is the purpose of social media and why does your organization have a social media presence?

In this episode, Sam Toles of CiviSocial and I discuss this issue at length and make a powerful case for why every city and county manager should make sure their organization is doing social media correctly. Not only are there personal and professional benefits, but it can help improve employee morale and job satisfaction, retention, an...

Recent comments attributed to executive recruiters handling the Sacramento, California and Palm Coast, Florida recruitments must be addressed.

A Sacramento Bee article alleged that CPS HR recruiter Pamela Derby has "suggested modifying certain incentives in a potential contract, including supplemental leave and severance, to ensure the new hire does not make as much."

In Florida, Strategic Government Resources (SGR) recruiter Doug ...

This is the third and final installment of my three part interview series with Fire/EMS consultant Tim Nowak. The primary purpose of this series is to create an introductory primer and give local elected officials and taxpayers a 30,000 foot level overview of the major issues that must be considered when evaluating fire/EMS service in your communities.

My hope is that city and county managers, fire chiefs, and other public sector e...

This is the second installment of my three part interview series with Fire/EMS consultant Tim Nowak. The primary purpose of this series is to create an introductory primer and give local elected officials and taxpayers a 30,000 foot level overview of the major issues that must be considered when evaluating fire/EMS service in your communities.

My hope is that city and county managers, fire chiefs, and other public sector executives...

This is the first installment of my three part interview series with Fire/EMS consultant Tim Nowak. The primary purpose of this series is to create an introductory primer and give local elected officials and taxpayers a 30,000 foot level overview of the major issues that must be considered when evaluating fire/EMS service in your communities.

My hope is that city and county managers, fire chiefs, and other public sector executives ...

Richard "Rick" Reinhard is one of the leading experts when it comes to analyzing and repurposing church real estate in America. 

In this episode, Rick talks about the great emptying of churches and how this negatively impacts communities. In one of the undergraduate courses he teaches, he has referred to this epidemic as "spiritual brownfields."

We talk about what can be done to convert and repurpose these decaying vacant or soon t...

In this two part series, I interview Mike Grabianowski who has many years of experience monitoring and auditing construction projects. As an employee of Georgia Pacific, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, Mike was tasked with ensuring his company was not overbilled whenever it hired contractors to complete projects.

These projects, which could exceed $100 million, were put under a microscope by Mike and his team and he's learned many...

In this two part series, I interview Mike Grabianowski who has many years of experience monitoring and auditing construction projects. As an employee of Georgia Pacific, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, Mike was tasked with ensuring his company was not overbilled whenever it hired contractors to complete projects.

These projects, which could exceed $100 million, were put under a microscope by Mike and his team and he's learned many...

In the previous episode, I discussed the circumstances surrounding my arrest related to the performance of my duties as an assistant county administrator in Florida

In this episode, I discuss my night in a Walton County jail.

AAME JOB BOARD:

The American Association of Municipal Executives has a free job board exclusively focused on executive and senior level local government recruitments. To post a job, go to: https://jobs.aame.or...

Two weeks ago, I drove across the country to turn myself in on an arrest warrant out of Walton County, Florida. I am facing two third degree felony charges related to carrying out my duties as the assistant county administrator.

Though I am innocent until proven guilty and I am confident that I will prevail in court -- I also recognize that in the court of public opinion one is often seen as guilty until proven innocent.

As someone...

After a lengthy and successful career in law enforcement where he served as the police chief for the fastest growing community in Kansas, Matt Jensby had a desire to become a city manager and serve the public in a different way. In this episode, Matt talks about this transition and becoming the city manager for Kechi, a small community north of Wichita.

He explains the significant differences between being a department head versus ...

Caldwell County Manager Donald Duncan and his team were about as prepared as one could be for a natural disaster the size and scope of Hurricane Helene. But even still -- there were lessons to be learned and shared in the aftermath of this storm.

In Part 2 of this series, Donald talks about the personal toll this disaster had on him and his staff. We talked about survivors' guilt and how total destruction of the landscape and physi...

Caldwell County Manager Donald Duncan and his team were about as prepared as one could be for a natural disaster the size and scope of Hurricane Helene. But even still -- there were lessons to be learned and shared in the aftermath of this storm.

In this riveting  interview series, Donald gives us a rundown of the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to disaster response and preparedness. He has also provided us with a checkli...

In Illinois, Freeport City Manager Rob Boyer recently faced down a citizen's petition to move away from the council-manager form of government and revert back to the strong mayor form.

Reeling from mismanagement and economic decline, Freeport abandoned the strong mayor form of government about a decade ago. Since that time, Rob and his two predecessors have done great work to turn the community around. In this episode, we discuss m...

City managers deserve to have a professional association that will fight for them and help communicate their narrative in an environment where the deck is usually stacked against them. 

In this week's episode I wanted to unpack some various advocacy efforts the American Association of Municipal Executives is currently engaged in on behalf of city managers. Not only are we engaged in direct advocacy on behalf of individuals, but we ...

Last September after mounting pressure, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) finally capitulated and settled the James Freed lawsuit a month before it was scheduled to go to trial. In this episode, we catch up with the Port Huron, Michigan city manager and see what life is like after his huge victory.

Hint: Lots of vacations with the wife. ROTFLMAO!

We also discuss the failures of his state association, the M...

When Jeff Cantrell uprooted his family and relocated for a city manager job in central Kansas, he never dreamed it would all come to an end two short years later. He was leaving Chanute (pop. 10,000), a Southeast Kansas town, for Hutchinson (pop. of 40,000) and replacing a well-respected manager who was retiring after holding the seat for 17 years. 

It seemed like a no-brainer next step in the progression of Jeff's career.

In this ...