I am pleased to announce that the MLGMA Board of Directors has recently approved a contract with Phire Consulting Group to embark upon a comprehensive communication branding strategy for our profession. The goal is to develop materials to be disseminated to the public-at-large, elected officials, and college students that will clearly show the benefits of the council-manager plan, what city managers do and don’t do, and the important roles of the elected officials, municipal leaders, and city, village, county and township managers. In many cases, there is clearly a misunderstanding of the roles and responsibilities of local government managers and this is starting to affect our profession and our ability to recruit college students to consider local government management as a career path.
This is a large task that cannot be done alone. That is why we are asking for your input. No one knows the state of municipal government leadership better than you do. We will begin the process by sending out a survey where you can give us your highs, lows, and how you think the profession needs to be branded to meet the challenges of tomorrow. By participating, you will play a vital role in helping us to paint a clearer picture of where the management profession stands today. I have assigned this project to the Advocacy Committee under the steady leadership of co-chairs Pat McGinnis and Scott Adkins, with oversight by the MLGMA Board of Directors.
Another important piece of this project is a series of in-person interviews with diverse stakeholders, including veteran managers with years of experience, managers who are new to the profession, elected officials representing our various forms of government, and members of the communities they represent. We want this to be a collaborative effort and we will work hard to listen to all of the voices every step of the way. Our goal is to get to the honest core of what drives people to dedicate their lives to leading local units of government and, perhaps more importantly, to gauge the perception of our profession by the community-at-large, local elected officials, university students, and faculty staff. In short, we have a very important story to tell, but we need to write the story first. We will work throughout the course of this association year to develop these materials with an eye toward making a major presentation as part of the 2016 Winter Institute.
This will be the first major initiative of MLGMA in the last 10 years to work to improve the public perception of municipal leaders across the state. We need everyone to participate to make this campaign a huge success. Please be on the lookout for an email from Scott Adkins that will include the survey form we would like the membership to complete. Should you have any additional information you might want to share regarding this effort, please reach out to members of the Advocacy Committee, the MLGMA Board of Directors, or myself.
Thank you to the MLGMA Board of Directors for their leadership. I am very excited to embark upon this important project with you.
Michael F. Young, City Manager
Rockford
Michael’s public service work began in 1990 as an intern in Spring Lake and progressed to the role of assistant city manager in Greenville before he assumed the position of Rockford city manager in 1995. Throughout his career, he has been actively involved with MLGMA, serving on a variety of committees as well as on the Board. In January 2015, Michael was selected by his peers as president of MLGMA.