Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ICMA Executive Board held its September 12, 2020, board meeting virtually using the Zoom platform. The 2019-2020 board was joined by incoming board members Roxanne Murphy, Diane Stoddard, Victor Cardenas, Nathaniel Pagan, William Fraser, Chris MacPherson, and incoming President-elect Troy Brown.

Here is a rundown of the board’s most significant actions:

Update on ICMA’s Social Justice and Racial Equity Initiatives
ICMA Executive Director Marc Ott and Chief of Staff Ray Baray provided the board with an update on the initiatives undertaken by ICMA following the adoption of the board statement and associated action steps addressing systemic racism. A cross-departmental internal team has been formed to focus on implementing the six action steps endorsed by the board to develop webinar and content ideas, review feedback from members, look at possible funding and partnership opportunities, and consider new programs to address social justice, equity, and systemic racism.

Appointment of Representative to GASAC
The board approved the appointment of Kristine Brock, deputy city administrator/chief financial officer, Franklin, Tennessee, to serve as ICMA’s representative on the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Committee (GASAC). The GASAC is responsible for consulting with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board on technical issues on its agenda, which includes establishing accounting and financial reporting standards for U.S. state and local governments that follow generally accepted accounting principles.

Report on FY2020 Financial Results

ICMA Chief Financial Officer Sabina Agarunova provided the board with an update on the association’s FY2020 financial results, as well as current projections for FY2021.

The onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic and several programmatic decisions made in response to it led to a significant financial impact on ICMA. Decisions to cancel certain events and programs originally scheduled for spring 2020 (i.e., four regional conferences, in-person professional development events, and several revenue-generating online offerings, which were replaced with free content) resulted in a significant loss of revenue. The negative financial impact of the pandemic was mitigated by cost containment strategies implemented at the start of the crisis, as well as savings in direct costs associated with cancelled events. As a result of these events, total revenues for the year are at approximately $30.1 million, or $893,000 lower than budgeted. Total expenses for the year are approximately $29.5 million, or approximately $2.8 million lower than budgeted. The overall net contribution for FY2020 is estimated at approximately $1.4 million, despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ICMA began FY2020 with a net asset balance of approximately $11 million. With the FY2020 estimated net contribution of approximately $1.4 million, net assets are forecast to exceed $12.4 million by the end of the fiscal year.

Affiliate Agreement with CivicPRIDE

The board authorized the ICMA Executive Director to enter into a formal affiliation agreement with CivicPRIDE, the first nationally recognized LGBTQIA+ professional association for local government management.

Life Membership for Michael A. Conduff

The board approved granting ICMA Life membership to Michael A. Conduff in recognition of his contributions to ICMA and to the local government management profession. Conduff has previously served on the ICMA Executive Board and was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award in 2019.

Code of Ethics Review to Address Issues Related to Systemic Racism

To advance the board’s approved action plan, the Committee on Professional Conduct (CPC) outlined its plans to conduct a comprehensive review of the Code of Ethics to better integrate the association’s ethical commitment to racial justice and social equity into each of the 12 tenets. This process will be prioritized over the ongoing review of the Code.  The CPC outlined an approach that includes engaging a third-party expert to develop an objective assessment tool and/or process to review the Code with input from ICMA’s membership, and engaging affiliate organizations including NFBPA, LGHN, I-NAPA, and CivicPRIDE for feedback throughout the review process.

Update on Board Committee Workplans

The chairs of each of the board’s four standing committees (Audit, Finance, and Business Operations; Global Vision and Collaboration; Membership and External Outreach; and the Committee on Professional Conduct) provided reports to the board regarding their progress toward accomplishing the goals set forth in their 2019-2020 committee workplans.