At the August 8, 2025, virtual ICMA Executive Board meeting, the board approved placing a set of governance changes that required amendments to ICMA’s Constitution on a Special Election Ballot presented to ICMA’s voting membership for approval.

The special election ran November 4 through December 3, 2025. Ballots were completed by 1,974 voting members, and the election results were canvassed by a Canvassing Committee of three Corporate/Voting members on December 10, 2025. Canvassing Committee members included Mike Grebosz, assistant city manager, Deland, Florida; Melissa Mundt-Sieben, director of municipal services and operations, Lawrence, Kansas; and Andy Cirioli, assistant town manager, Plainville, Connecticut.

The ballot measures, with the percent of voters who approved each measure, are detailed below.

• Proposal #1: A measure seeking membership approval to change the term “Corporate member” to “Voting member” and directing staff to revise all Constitutional language (and language in other ICMA documents) to reflect this change, if the measure is approved. 
  
  This measure passed with approval by 98% of voters who cast ballots in the special election, with 1,931 votes to approve and 21 votes to reject the proposal; 2 voters abstained from voting on this measure.
   
• Proposal #2: A measure seeking membership approval to eliminate the designated non-CAO seat in each U.S. region and, if approved, directing staff to revise Constitutional language to indicate that all voting-eligible members are eligible to compete for their state’s open seat in their region’s rotation.
  
  This measure passed with approval by 89% of voters who cast ballots in the special election, with 1,755 votes to approve and 210 votes to reject the proposal; 9 voters abstained from voting on this measure.
   
• Proposal #3: A measure seeking membership approval to change the language in Article IV, Section 1, regarding the board’s responsibility to conduct regional realignment to state: “The Executive Board shall, at least once every ten years, review the composition of the Board to ensure that the overall governance structure facilitates a Board that is representative of the voting membership.”
  
  This measure passed with approval by 95% of voters who cast ballots in the special election, with 1,875 votes to approve and 95 votes to reject the proposal; 4 voters abstained from voting on this measure.
   
• Proposal #4: A measure seeking membership approval on a set of tracked changes language updates to the Constitution that will remove reference to specific numbers of regions/seats within a region to allow for greater flexibility to adapt the governance structure over time.
  
  This measure passed with approval by 96% of voters who cast ballots in the special election, with 1,899 votes to approve and 70 votes to reject the proposal; 5 voters abstained from voting on this measure.
   
• Proposal #5: A measure seeking membership approval of clarification regarding the handling of unexpired terms and eligibility to serve as president-elect.
  
  This measure passed with approval by 84% of voters who cast ballots in the special election, with 1,656 votes to approve and 313 votes to reject the proposal; 5 voters abstained from voting on this measure.
   

• Proposal #6: A measure seeking membership approval for “Constitutional cleanup,” which included a set of tracked changes to update and modify language to reflect current practice.

  This measure passed with approval by 94.5% of voters who cast ballots in the special election, with 1,865 votes to approve and 107 votes to reject the proposal; 2 voters abstained from voting on this measure.

ICMA staff will work to update the language of the Constitution and membership marketing materials to reflect the approved changes over the next 30 days. Regional directors will begin working with the states in the newly realigned regions to negotiate new regional nominating agreements that reflect the elimination of the non-CAO seat in each U.S. region and the new composition of states. These new regional nominating agreements must be approved by July 2026, to be implemented with the launch of the 2026-2027 Nominations and Elections process.