The ICMA Executive Board met in Portland, Maine, June 4 – 7, 2015, and took these actions:

• Selected Lee Feldman, city manager, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as ICMA’s 2015–2016 president-elect.  Feldman will be installed as ICMA President at the conclusion of the 2016 annual conference. He has served in local government for 30 years in Florida. He was an ICMA Regional Vice President, 2010–2013.
  
  Feldman will become a member of the ICMA Executive Board along with the incoming vice presidents at the Celebration of Service session on Wednesday at the 2015 annual conference. At that time, Pat Martel, city manager, Daly City, California, will be inducted as ICMA’s 102nd president.

• Adopted a breakeven FY2016 budget (July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2016) with $29,344,000 in revenues and expenses. In addition, the budget assumes a one-time use from reserves of $75K to fund expenses related to the ICMA Executive Director search. This will take net assets to approximately $5.3M. The ICMA 2016 budget is based on a continued philosophy of responding to changing factors in the environment, while positioning the organization for the future by investing in areas that will ensure the long-term strength of the association and making course corrections as needed.
  
  Even as the economy experienced a financial crisis, ICMA has enjoyed financial success over the past decade, which enabled the organization to build net assets with steadfast fiscal discipline. In the 10-year period from FY 2004 to FY 2013, ICMA contributed approximately $5M to net assets after funding such initiatives as the debit card program, investments to jump-start the Life, Well Run campaign, and other priorities. Net assets balance at the end of FY 2013 was $6.3M, exceeding the target of $5.3M by approximately $1M.
  
  From FY 2009 to FY 2012, ICMA had international funding in excess of $16M each year with FY 2012 having the highest levels of over $19M, primarily from funding in Afghanistan. It was expected that this trend would not last and we were preparing for a post-Afghanistan reality of reduced funding in the range of $15M by building reserves and focusing on increasing revenues from non-grants-and-contracts sources, which grew from less than $10M in FY 2004 to approximately $15M in FY 2015. However, the reductions in international programs came more quickly and drastically with an unanticipated termination of a project in Afghanistan in FY 2014. International program revenues fell to $15M in FY 2014 and are expected to be between $8M and $10M in FY 2015. The FY 2016 budget projects $10.5M in revenue from International programs with most of it already awarded.
  
  In light of these and other changes, ICMA approached FY 2014 and FY 2015 as transition years to organize for the future by rightsizing for the reduced levels of funding and discontinuing or revitalizing several business lines that were no longer sustainable in their current model. Internally ICMA reorganized to become more efficient and to focus on key priorities more effectively. At the same time, revenues from ICMA’s core services, which include membership dues, annual conference, other professional development offerings, JOB ads, and sponsorships have been on the rise.
  
  The additions to net assets made in FY 2003 – FY 2013 allow ICMA to make the necessary investments in FY 2014 and FY 2015, which in turn can position ICMA to return to profitability. It is anticipated that ICMA will return to a more steady state in FY 2016, with the goal of rebuilding net assets to $6M by the end of FY 2018.

• Debriefed on the third regional nominating committee process for the selection of nominees for ICMA Regional Vice Presidents. The board agreed that the Regional Nominating Committees again handled their interview and selection responsibilities well and selected a nominee for each region that appeared on the May 21, 2015, ballot, which was canvassed on June 26.
  
  In addition, the board reviewed the makeup of the 2015-2016 board, assuming the election of the nominees who are unopposed. The board’s nominations and elections schedule states that “the board will review the diversity in the makeup of the upcoming board at the June board meeting. The results of this review will then be shared with state and affiliate organizations, as well as with the membership.” The board will have members from communities in all population ranges (from under 10,000 to over 100,000), three members from counties, five women, one African-American, and four Hispanics.
  
  The board reemphasized its commitment to diversity and the need for ICMA and state and affiliate organizations to work together to identify diverse candidates. There are challenges for the selection process based on the lack of gender, race, and ethnic diversity in the membership. The board will continue its dialogue with state and affiliate leaders on working together to increase diversity in membership and leadership at both the state and national level. The board stressed that greater diversity in the membership is vital to the sustainability of the profession. 

• Approved new guidelines to Tenet 12 of the ICMA Code of Ethics. After a year-long dialogue with members on the tenet, including a survey in late July 2014 on draft revisions to the tenet and guidelines, members approved the following new language for Tenet 12 in April 2015: “Public office is a public trust. A member shall not leverage his or her position for personal gain or benefit.” Based on member feedback, the board approved new language for the guidelines on Gifts, Investments, Confidential Information, and Endorsements and retained the guidelines on Personal Relationships, Private Employment, and Representation. Members supported development of a guideline on social media, but the board concluded that it is best addressed under another tenet.
• Reviewed progress on membership recruitment and retention. Membership reports were delayed due to the continued implementation of new association management software, but dues revenue for FY 2015 continues to perform very strongly and is projected to exceed budget. The board complimented staff on a new partnership between ICMA and the U.S. Army’s Installation Management Command (IMCOM) on a pilot project fellowship program. This initiative is embedding five incoming military base commanders with communities led by ICMA members. The purpose of the program is to provide a week-long experience in a local government for each garrison commander to better prepare them for their upcoming assignment running a military complex. Many military bases function as small or even mid-sized cities with similar service delivery requirements. ICMA is also working with IMCOM to create affiliate membership opportunities for each of the Army’s 70+ garrison commanders.
• Approved a proposed work plan for implementing the recommendations of the Task Force on Leadership, which the board discussed and supported in November 2014. The report recommended making leadership development a fundamental pillar for ICMA along with ethics. The implementation plan lists items that are included in the FY 2016 budget and items that will require more time or resources to complete.  A future article will provide more information on the implementation plan.
• Approved proceeding with several recommendations from the Task Force on Women in the Profession. At the November 2014 meeting, the board discussed the six sets of recommendations from the task force and asked that a group of board and task force members develop actionable recommendations, noting those that apply more broadly to the goal of attracting talent to local government and those that apply particularly to women. The board emphasized the critical importance of attracting talent to local government and then developing that talent for senior level positions. The board also recognized that there are unique challenges for some individual segments, such as women, that need and deserve special attention and should be addressed over time. The board approved 12 recommendations, some with revised wording, for implementation starting in FY 2016. A future article will provide more information on the implementation plan.
• Selected Austin, Texas, as the site for ICMA’s 2023 annual conference and selected the Northeast region for the 2024 annual conference.
• Selected Patrick Callahan of Anamosa, Iowa, and Rickey Childers of Lancaster, Texas, as Distinguished Service Award recipients. The awards will be formally presented at the 2015 annual conference. 
• Selected Joan McCallen, former president and CEO, ICMA-RC, as a nominee for Honorary Member. The membership will be asked to approve this nomination at the Annual Business Meeting at the 2015 annual conference.
• Selected GovHR as the firm to assist the board with the recruitment and selection of the ICMA Executive Director to succeed Bob O’Neill in 2017.
• Confirmed the schedule and process for conducting the board’s and executive director’s evaluation at the September 2015 board meeting.
• Approved Council-Manager recognition for the manager/CAO position in Florida: Sumter County, Bradley Arnold (county administrator); and in Illinois: Dixon, David Nord (city manager).