According to 2015 Harris Poll data, less than half of the adults in the United States understand the role of a city, town, or county manager/chief administrative officer. That's one of the reasons behind Life, Well Run--to demonstrate through success stories, video profiles, social media, and other resources how professional managers and their teams improve the communities where we live, work, and play. Another objective is to use those same resources to attract students and young professionals to local government, demonstrating how much of an impact they can have. 

The Life, Well Run Success Story Map features over 100 examples of great community projects that not only address a community challenge, but also highlight the value of professional local government management from all over the United States. A recent success story focused on one of best signposts of a healthy community--resident engagement. 

Latest Success Story Comes From Marana, Arizona

ICMA Credentialed Manager Gilbert Davidson, Marana, Arizona, town manager, and recipient of the John J. DeBolske Professional Excellence award from the Arizona City Managers’ Association, worked with his staff to come up with a new model for citizen engagement. The Marana Citizens’ Forum boosted the number of residents who participate in the local government’s planning and implementation processes. The forum is composed of up to 32 delegates from throughout the community, including regional partner representatives from the Marana Health Center, Marana Chamber of Commerce, Northwest Fire District, and the Marana Unified School District, as well as at-large citizen delegates and town-council-appointed delegates, all of whom bring their unique viewpoints and expertise to the discussion to help develop recommendations for broad town-wide issues.

What's Your Story? 

We're always looking for new stories to post and share. In addition to citizen engagement, topics that showcase the work of professional managers and their teams include public/private partnerships, budget preparation and management, managing human resources, new approaches to service delivery, planning strategically for community development, using performance metrics systems to drive continuous improvement, committing to high ethical standards, team building, and leadership. 

Help us spread the word about how having a professional manager/administrator in place made a difference in your community by sending an e-mail to lifewellrun@icma.org.

And don't forget to link to Life, Well Run via social media. Our Facebook and Twitter communities are growing. Questions, comments, or ideas are welcome by e-mailing lifewellrun@icma.org.