Anniversaries allow us to celebrate and reflect upon the journey through which we reached a particular milestone. For the past year, we as ICMA members have collectively done that. The founders who established our profession (and organization) envisioned that local government would be responsive to all members of the community and deliver services through the most professional and ethical individuals possible. The celebration of our first 100 years is a testament to the success of our journey to date.

As the last piece of the confetti is being swept up, our attention turns to the future. How will our profession change? And how will our professional organization help us best navigate the ever-changing sea of resident expectations? I have been asked to offer my thoughts in my capacity as the first president selected to serve in the second century of ICMA.

Our roots are deeply vested in the underlying principle that all members of our communities should have equal access to the services that their local government provides. At the time of ICMA’s formation, corruption and the “good-ole-boy” system of nepotism and favoritism that was prevalent among many U.S. municipalities determined who benefited from local government services. Thanks to the development of professional management, much of that corruption and favoritism has virtually disappeared. Yet, despite the reforms that have taken place within our local governments, we still grapple with the challenge of ensuring that all community residents have equal access to the services our local governments provide, that is, social equity. 

Admittedly biased by my U.S.-centric worldview, I feel that we’ve seen dramatic changes during the last decade in the way our federal and state leadership have sought to resolve the issues that concern citizens most, i.e., the environment, jobs, safety, education, healthcare, and infrastructure. Even the most optimistic among us must agree that our federal and state leaders have abdicated many of these primary responsibilities. As a result, these issues now land on the doorsteps of our city/town halls and county offices. But these are complex issues that cannot be solved by a single community or county, and when they go unresolved, our neighbors look to their local leadership for help.

At the same time, the economic divide between the extremely well-to-do and those struggling every day to survive has grown at an unprecedented rate. Among some demographic groups, those differences are even more extreme in comparison to society as a whole. One catalyst behind the civil unrest and protests recently taking place within many of our communities is that not everyone believes he or she has the same access to local services. And globally, we are all aware of the human cruelties that are inflicted daily upon individuals because of their race, ethnicity, or religious beliefs.

For some of us, these observations may provide a palette of dark and gloomy paints with which to create the next masterpiece at the local level. Others of us see these challenges as an opportunity to help address the issues that mean the most to the members of our community. Doing so will be no easier than the challenges faced by the reformers who took on the corrupt city political machines 100 years ago. 

To be successful, we must build on the great principles that have guided our profession for the last 100 years. Ethical, professional, and exceptionally competent administrators will remain a key component to successful local communities. Yet we must develop the core leadership skills (facilitation, negotiation, engaging different groups, emotional intelligence) required to meet the challenges of the next century. Leadership based on position, power, and authority will be much less relevant in a world where no one person or group of people will be in control of all the moving parts. 

Community building, which creates a universal sense of hometown pride, requires social equity. It will require dealing at the local level with issues that cannot be solved by one municipality on its own. To be successful, we must translate complex issues for our elected officials. Limited experience or interest, fear, or polarization may paralyze our elected bodies. Our leadership skill set must complement those of the people whom we serve, and we must be politically astute without becoming politically aligned. The members of the ICMA Task Force on Leadership expressed it well when they said; “We [municipal managers] must be able to connect with a wide range of people, including diverse cultures, to effectively frame and facilitate public discussions for productive dialogue.” 

From this seat in this very small city of Presque Isle, Maine, I see a profession that will require a very different set of leadership skills than those required by the individuals who came before us. I also would suggest that in the future, our profession and the staffs that we lead will be asked to become more involved in community building. Our elected leaders will be asked to address issues that seldom (if ever) appeared on their agendas in the past. For them to be successful, we will need not only the technical and functional knowledge of those that have walked city halls for the last 100 years, but we will need the new and very different leadership skills discussed above, all while maintaining the ethical behaviors that have become the cornerstone of our profession. 

Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts with you. I look forward to working with you and the ICMA Executive Board in the coming months.

Jim