ICMA Life Member Thomas Muehlenbeck has been an ICMA member since 1964 and served local government for almost as long. He recently wrapped up a two-year assignment as interim city manager of McKinney, Texas. We spoke with Tom in 2014 at the ICMA conference in Charlotte, where he received ICMA’s Distinguished Service Award.

Why did you choose a career in professional local government management?

I’ve always had a passion and interest in service starting from when I was a Boy Scout (which sounds kind of corny, I know). When I was in college, I belonged to the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity, a national service fraternity. My government professor was our sponsor; he took me under his wing and said, “Thomas, I really think you've got a future in public administration.” I said to him, “Dr. Dawson, that is just wonderful! Help me understand what will be expected of me in public administration.” Aside from the great course that I took from him, he went over a lot of information with me. He suggested I consider graduate studies at the University of Kansas and wrote a letter of reference for me. It’s kind of history from that point! I went to graduate school, which I really enjoyed, and immediately started my local government service. Over my career, I’ve served as a manager in Kansas, Georgia, Virginia, and Texas.

During your career as a manager, what has been your biggest challenge?

Well, everyone always talks about revenues and expenditures, and those types of things. I think the real challenges are continuing to reflect the importance of the council-manager form of government. And I’m not necessarily talking about the manager side of it, but I am talking about the city council. As managers, we always like to say that we're helping to educate our elected officials, but I look at it just about the opposite way; I think the council is always educating me. I need to be alert to the information coming my way, which helps me formulate recommendations and know about timing and the various idiosyncrasies of getting decisions made. Getting the decisions made (and made right) is probably the most important thing to me, and where I spend much of my time.

How about your biggest accomplishments?

I can honestly say I’ve had no big accomplishment. I've had a lot a little successes, but those successes very honestly have not been Tom Muehlenbeck’s successes. I’ve had the chance to work with some excellent, excellent people during my entire career. I am amazed all the time about the great people that gravitate to local government. These people have a solid commitment to doing the right thing at the right time; I never think they get enough attention and thanks for that. So if I’ve had any accomplishments, it's really been through them and through the great job they've done over my long career in local government management.

How has local government changed over time?

I think there’s been a lot more desire for participation. A number of years ago, it was more if someone’s ox is getting gored, they would participate. Now it seems like people want to participate just to participate. They want to provide another side to the issue, give you additional information that you may not have, or challenge you to set that bar higher, which allows us as managers to give better recommendations and better outcomes. I think that's very healthy. I think it frustrates some people. But I have always been so engaged in trying to find out what the community wants, trying to use different techniques to draw that out.

A public hearing on a rezoning issue doesn't really, in my opinion, reflect participation. It’s when you have a budget issue that touches a particular nonprofit in the community. Or another budget issue that maybe some group in that community has very much of an interest in, and how they relate to that and how you're able to hopefully open up a pathway for them to not only to participate but possibly be able to fund some of the time.

Is that a skillset that you’ve been developing over the years, so in terms of maybe in the beginning, your job was to get something done, and now it’s to incorporate all these things?

Yes, and I can’t say it happened suddenly. It has evolved over time, and I've knocked off some rough edges on that, too, because in the beginning I was very uncomfortable with that. But then I learned to try to put myself in the role of the citizen. What is it they want; how would I react to that?

What advice do or would you give a young manager just starting out in the profession?

I think the young people today are so eager. They're sponges; they want to absorb so much information, and I try to channel some of that.

I have the privilege of mentoring three people right now. I constantly share with them, don't get bogged down in one area, don’t get siloed. Try to learn as much as you can about everything related to budget, finance, human resources, public works, and so on. I’ll never forget in graduate school I had one of the greatest courses I've ever had in my career in public administration, a civil engineering course for non-engineers. It was amazing! It brought a whole new perspective on the job of the city manager and some of the opportunities we were going to have once we got out and started practicing.

Move around the very best that you can. I think more and more of the internships for young people are providing an opportunity to move from department to department, to give them a very broad brushstroke of the profession.

What have been the biggest changes you’ve seen within ICMA?

When I joined ICMA, it was a mainly male-dominated profession and there wasn’t much comfort with that fact. I have been very happy to see not only the racial and ethnic diversity improve within the organization but also an increase in women members.

This has opened so many other avenues of discussion, ways of looking at and solving problems, that really we wouldn't have thought about 30 or 40 years ago. This change – this improvement – has helped us do things a little bit differently, for the better.

What has ICMA meant to you?

ICMA has always been my professional linchpin. It has been the group that I would turn to.

The tenets of the Code of Ethics are just phenomenal and so important to us. I share the Code not only with the council I work for, but also with the young people coming along in the profession. When I have a question about ethics, I call [ICMA ethics director] Martha Perego. And she says, “Tom if you're calling me about it, you probably already know the answer,” and I say, “Yes, ma’am, you’re exactly right…”  But ICMA has provided that.

ICMA also provides vital training and information to help us keep raising that bar all the time. Bob O’Neill has done such a tremendous job in that area; I'm one of his biggest fans, that’s all there is to it. I enjoyed my service on the board where I had the chance to see Bob in action. He is such a wonderful leader and ICMA has been blessed to have his service.