headshot of marc ott, icma executive director and ceo

Dear Colleagues:

Hope you all are well and enjoying the summer.  Following are updates on some current ICMA activities.


Baltimore Conference Update
ICMA’s Annual Conference online registration and hotel reservation systems opened on June 6. As of the July 12 early-bird registration deadline, there were 1,848 paid main registrants, plus 245 partners and 18 children, for a total of 2,111 registrants, and two hotels have been already added to the block to meet demand. The second deadline for registration discounts is Thursday, August 23.

New this year: Conference registrants will receive bar codes with their registration confirmations to scan when they arrive onsite in Baltimore to receive their badges and tickets.

We’ve developed a fast-paced promotional video to generate excitement around the Baltimore conference and help us reach local government management professionals of all career stages. We encourage you to use your own social media accounts to promote the conference and this video. For more promotional content to share, including a video featuring members of the 2018 Host Committee, visit this page.


Expanding Member Eligibility Requirements for Voting and Board Service
In response to the board’s May-June meeting directive, staff are developing proposals for consideration by the board Subcommittee on Diversity to define categories of voting members, confirm what constitutes a local government, create new membership types, and address implementation issues. We are also reviewing the schedule and process for regional nominating committees to identify improvements and are developing a communications plan and timeline for the June 2019 ballot. We anticipate having a meeting with the subcommittee in mid-July.


Membership Survey
The results of the 2017 ICMA Membership Survey have been tabulated, and they are positive. Following are a few highlights:

  • The percentage of members that valued their membership as “good” or “excellent” increased more than five percent since 2016.
  • Overall, 93 percent rated ICMA’s customer service as “good” or “excellent.” That’s up 10 points from 2016.
  • Only one percent of respondents indicated that they would not recommend ICMA membership to others, and another 1.8 percent indicated that they would not retain their membership.
  • The highest-scoring benefits were ethics advice and support, advocacy for the profession, and information resources.
  • The top three topics of importance to members were leadership, career development, and ethics.
  • The majority of respondents identified “chief administrative officer” as their ultimate career goal.

Look for an article and infographic related to the survey results in an upcoming issue of Leadership Matters.


Ongoing Smart Cities Work
For a second year, Siemens will support ICMA research and content on smart cities and communities. One of the expected outputs will be a new publication tentatively titled Putting Smart Community Strategies to Work in Small and Mid-Sized Cities and Counties.  We expect to have a finalized publication in time for the ICMA Annual Conference in Baltimore. 

The IBM Business of Government Foundation requested that ICMA provide an outline of ideas about core leadership competencies for the “Smart Community Manager of 2040.”  Our ideas were accepted, and the chapter written by Marc Ott, Lee Feldman, and Tad McGalliard will be published in a new book to be offered by the foundation later this year. 


Personal Outreach to Communities Affected by Disasters
We continue to send personalized emails to members (and in a few cases, nonmembers) in communities affected by various disasters. In response to a communication to Canadians in the wake of the horrific Toronto van attack in April, for example, Bryan Brown, chief administrative officer, South Glengarry, Ontario said “...together, we will continue to work towards making Canadian and American communities preferred places to live, work, and visit. America Strong, Canada Strong.”

These messages have been well received and we remain committed to our ongoing engagement efforts.

Longtime Staff Member Retirement
After working for ICMA in a variety of positions for the past 27 years, Rita Ossolinski, director of relationship management, resigned her position effective June 30 to pursue other opportunities. We thank Rita for her many contributions to ICMA and the profession and wish her the greatest success as she embarks on the next phase of her career.

I hope you found this update useful. As always, feel free to contact me at mott@icma.org or 202-962-3698 if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Marc  

 

 

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