City Manager Unfiltered
City Manager Unfiltered is a podcast by a city manager for city managers. I am your host, Joe Turner, and I’m on a mission to build a community for ambitious city managers. I want to provide you with the career tools and resources to help make you a better executive so you can rack up victories, polish your resume, dominate interviews, land your dream job, and win your contract negotiations. If you are a city manager looking to level up, check out my podcast, City Manager Unfiltered. Hit that subscribe button today so you don’t miss an episode.
Episodes
In October, Mike Mortell was caught flat-footed when he learned that his fate was sealed and that he would be fired a couple of weeks later. The city manager for Stuart, Florida didn't take it lying down or run off with his tail between his legs.
After enduring months of "social media slander" and the machinations of an elected official who orchestrated his ouster, Mortell had to sit through hours of a cou...
On this special episode of the podcast, Katie Bogenschutz, my criminal defense attorney joins me to discuss the case and break down my two felony charges. I provide a bit more context about my time in Walton County, Florida, and how we got to this point. Additionally, we talk about the terms of the pre-trial diversion offer extended to me by the prosecutor and the discussion we had as to whether I should accept it.
Mitch Hammes has a built a national reputation as "That Code Enforcement Guy" having worked himself up front the frontlines as a code enforcement officer all the way to the top as a city administrator.
In this episode, we avoid getting into the weeds and examine code enforcement related topics at the 30,000 foot level in a manner that his hopefully more relevant to city managers and executives. In essence, I wanted to give a voice ...
This is the second installment in our new "Black City Manager" series featuring Troy Body, the city manager for Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
"I can't love your neighborhood more than you love it," Troy explains as we navigate his philosophical approach to city management. He uses the "pick up the can" metaphor to explain how he believe residents must taker ownership for the condition of their own neighborhoods ...
Are your elected officials overreacting to negative comments and criticism on social media? Tired of watching them get spun up by a handful of keyboard warriors living in their mother's basement?
Then you need to enroll your elected officials in Sam Toles' new social media training course for elected officials. He is the social media master and a former council member.
Lean on his experience and expertise to show your governing bo...
In this episode, I call out what I believe to be unethical and deceitful practices by the the city of Valley Center, Kansas in their current search for a new city administrator.
The have posted on LinkedIn that the salary range for their next administrator is $115,000 to $200,000. However, their original job postings that are still visible on various job boards listed a salary of range of $105,000 to $145,...
Beloit City Manager Halley Roberson is one of my favorite interviews of all-time and I am pretty sure that most of you will enjoy it, too. She is absolutely hilarious and I am glad I drove the two plus hours to meet her.
In this episode, we discuss our mutual love for small town city management, especially in Kansas, and the opportunities it presents for aspiring public sector executives. We also talk abou...
Chris Mann's journey to the city manager's chair was a circuitous, non-traditional one. The California city manager started his journey as a city councilman in his early 20s and would later go on to start his own public relations firm which heavily focused on local government issues and land development. He would then launch a a successful political action committee that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars each ele...
For many months, I have been trying to coax and cajole Troy Body into starting his own podcast or at the very least becoming a regular, recurring guest on my podcast. I have wanted to provide a platform for the Hopkinsville, Kentucky city manager and give him a voice.
He has interesting perspectives and opinions you will not find anywhere else regarding local government and city management and he often sha...
For nearly 20 years, Blaine Oborn had an unblemished record as a city manager serving in multiple states. That all changed when he became the city administrator in Oak Harbor, Washington.
He assumed his duties as the city was at the very tail end of a wastewater plant project that had tripled in costs from $50 million to $150 million under the leadership of Cathy Rosen, the public works director.
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Joe Dessenberger grew up with a father who worked seven days a week until he died rather suddenly after a brief battle with cancer at the age of 62. His father had a vision of what his life would be like in retirement, but never got to enjoy it.
In this emotionally charged episode, we discuss the indelible influence of his father's journey through life and how that has shaped his mindset. Additionally, we ...
San Leandro Public Information Officer Paul Sanftner has a fantastic public safety idea that would help local government agencies during emergencies and save lives.
But he needs your help!
He is trying to persuade YouTube to add an emergency alert feature to their platform so that authorities can communicate important life-saving messages during natural disasters, civil disturbances, and other...
Rehoboth Beach Commissioner Suzanne Goode dropped 10 voicemail messages on her city manager in the span of 24 hours demanding that he edit or unpublish an official public meeting from their YouTube account.
Why?
Because another commissioner publicly shamed her for being toxic and abusive toward fellow commissioners and staff at a subcommittee meeting to discuss a Civility in the Workplace poli...
In this powerful episode, Jeff Fiegenschuh talks about his approach to community engagement, connecting with staff, and building relationships with his elected officials as the city manager for Rochelle, Illinois.
What prompted my desire to interview Jeff was the fact that he contributes a monthly column to his local paper and I believe most executives fail to take advantage of this effective technique to connect with residents, sh...
In a couple of months, the American Association of Municipal Executives will be launching an online directory that will allow candidates to rate and review executive recruiters and recruitment firms. Under the current system, there is no mechanism or vehicle in place to give candidates a voice or to allow their concerns to be raised or addressed.
By creating this directory, the AAME will be able to communicate the concerns of its m...
Perry City Manager Nathan Read wanted to make it easier for residents to decipher the legalese of city ordinances and codes. So with the help of his best friend and business partner, they built CityOrdinanceAI and are now offering it up as a product for other city managers and local governments to purchase.
In this episode, we talk about his journey from Utah to Oklahoma to accept his first gig as a city manager, the role housing c...
On Friday, Baker Tilly Executive Recruitment announced they were going out of business. It was the culmination of two years worth of work highlighting their poor treatment of candidates and mediocre work product. It all started in July 2023 when I published my first podcast episode about the Canfield, Ohio search. Just a few months earlier, Baker Tilly had purchased Management Partners out of Ohio and were seemingly expanding thei...
Some shocking details concerning La Marque Councilman Joseph Lowry surfaced this week. Hayley Winkelmann is leading the effort to recall the controversial official and she shared some court records with the podcast.
On July 24th, Lowry's ex-wife obtained a Protection From Abuse (PFA) order in the State of Washington. The court found her claims credible and they are horrific. Additionally, Winkelmann located official documents indic...
Authorities arrested the former city manager for La Marque, Texas on Saturday. A warrant for the arrest of J.B. Pritchett had been issued about a week prior on charges related to felony arson and tampering with evidence and misdemeanor charges related to allegedly lying about his education and military service on his job applications and resume.
In this episode, i45Now reporter T.J. Aulds discusses what he has found during his inve...
This week a warrant was issued for the arrest of former La Marque city manager, J.B. Pritchett. He is facing five charges, of which two are felonies.
How in the hell did we get here?
To an outsider, the small Texas town of La Marque seems like a chaotic, toxic mess. Many people point their fingers at a councilman by the name of Joseph Lowry who has a brash, combative, and in your face style that rubs many the wrong way. Originally ...
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