An ICMA member since 2002, and an ICMA Credentialed Manager, Matt Magley began his local government career in 1990 as town clerk of Lochbuie, Colorado, then served as interim manager for a short period before he moved on to Superior, Colorado, in 2000. Magley has been manager of Superior since 2011, and he also served as management intern, community services analyst, administrative analyst, director of administrative services, and assistant town manager.

Magley received a bachelor of science in criminal justice from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master’s in public administration with a concentration in local government from the University of Colorado-Denver. He serves on the Colorado Municipal League Policy Committee and the Boulder County Consortium of Cities Energy Strategy Task Force.

Managing a small town does not exempt Magley from dealing with three things that impact almost every local government official. “It’s important to try to keep a balance between personal demands and professional demands, which is hard to do at times. That’s why I think it’s important to find healthy activities to escape from the daily stress,” says Magley. “Another issue is the overall instability of the position, especially with term limits and a potentially new elected body every two years. This can be very difficult for families and dealing with the transition to a new job and city. It’s great to have a resource like ICMA to help managers who transition.” The final last issue is “the increasing demand for services, limited resources, and local revenue available to local governments to meet the demands. Local government officials must continually work to provide services and meet the expectations of the community, while ensuring the long-term financial stability of the community, which can be very difficult at times.”

“ICMA is a great resource for information and to see what other communities are doing regarding issues that may be affecting my community. I always enjoy going to the ICMA conference, not only for the learning seminars, but also to talk to other managers and find out what they are doing in their communities and the issues they are facing,” according to Magley.