Bryan Montgomery, city manager of Oakley, California, was named a Volunteer Service Award Honoree by VEGA (Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance) earlier this month for his more than 15 years of pro-bono assistance to ICMA's Mexico office. An ICMA Credentialed Manager, Bryan has been an ICMA member for 22 years.

Bryan has dedicated personal time to review documents and reports, conducted field visits to provide direct technical assistance to multiple municipalities, and participated in workshops and other events to promote professional local government management over the years.

Earlier this year, he visited San Luis Potosi, Mexico, to talk about professional management as part of a seminar about municipal administrators. The seminar was organized by the state government to explore the possibility of adopting the figure of municipal administrator. In Mexico, all municipal governments are strong mayor forms of government, where the mayor is the CEO of the municipality.

As a result of this assignment, a bill was introduced in the State of San Luis Potosi Congress to authorize the creation of the figure of the municipal administrator. Additionally, a conference was organized in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon, where during this year's election campaign, candidates presented the need to explore the possibility of the creation of the municipal administrator role in local government. This type of open debate about professional local government management has not been seen before in Mexico.

To quote from the nomination submission: "Mr. Montgomery has been dedicated to promoting the idea of how local government can and does affect the life of all residents and has been an inspiration to local leaders, enabling them to see the difference that they can make in the quality of life and well-being of their citizens." Read more about his work.

About VEGA

VEGA’s 36 programs are located in 28 countries. Its overall focus for all programs is to build sustainable enterprises that contribute to prosperous economies. As a member of VEGA, ICMA relies on this spirit of service to conduct its international development programs, especially its C2C CityLinks program and Fellows exchange programs/host communities.