It’s a year of milestones for ICMA: 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the Code of Ethics, the 100th anniversary of becoming an international association, and the 50th anniversary of the Senior Advisor Program.

Looking back on my own 50-plus years in ICMA—including serving in local government in four states, participating in the ICMA International Management Exchange Program, serving as the ICMA Western U.S. director, my time as ICMA president and an ICMA Executive Board member, and now nearing 10 years as an ICMA senior advisor for Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho—I have come to understand that the milestones we’re celebrating this year represent the hallmarks of this association and set it apart from any other organization:

• The formal and intentional process of enforcing and upholding the Code of Ethics.
• The tremendous value of learning from our international peers.
• The opportunity to be guided and counseled by knowledgeable retired local government managers.

This article focuses on the latter of those benefits—the ICMA Senior Advisor Program (originally known as the Range Rider Program). During my time as the ICMA Western U.S. director, I worked to promote the program in the 14 western states from North and South Dakota, Colorado, and New Mexico west to the Pacific Coast and up to Alaska. 

We had success in establishing the Senior Advisor Program in some states, but I was always puzzled as to why it wasn’t a program that every state association wanted to establish. (To this day, I am still a bit puzzled about that.) 

But one good thing I saw was that each state association had their own way of organizing their senior advisors; some programs were more formal than others, but each program was designed to meet their association’s individual needs. The one that sticks out in my mind is the Senior Advisor Program in Oregon.

Not long after the ICMA Range Rider Program was established, Charlie Henry, retired city manager of Eugene, Oregon, set out to establish the program for Oregon managers. When I met Charlie in the early 2000s, the Oregon range riders had been going strong for well over two decades. What set the Oregon program apart was the immense level of activity and personal effort that every one of their five range riders gave to their role.

Some of our younger members will not be familiar with this, but years ago there was a TV commercial for Maytag washers and dryers that claimed their appliances were so reliable that a Maytag repairman was a tremendously lonely guy who just waited around for a repair call that seldom came. Some of the Senior Advisor programs were a bit like that. The retired manager was introduced to the members in the state as a senior advisor, and then waited around for a manager to call with a problem or issue. 

But it is important to note that the process of coaching, mentoring, and supporting our peers is much more about having a “relationship” with someone who you know and trust and can call on a confidential basis. Charlie Henry and his fellow Oregon range riders clearly recognized the need to proactively establish and nurture these strong relationships.

The Oregon range riders were different. They divided Oregon into assigned areas, and rather than being like Maytag repairmen,” they regularly went to city halls and met individually with the managers/administrators in their assigned area. They did this month after month, year after year, putting in endless miles “riding their range.” They took photos and wrote detailed reports about what was happening in each of their assigned towns, and this was compiled into a gorgeous quarterly newsletter that went out to all of the members of the Oregon City Manager’s Association (now known as OCCMA). 

Confidential conversations were kept confidential, but not only were the Oregon senior advisors relied upon as trusted counselors and coaches, they were (and are) a key information source for all ICMA members in the state. And that is the power of “relationships” within this program.

So, what does all this have to do with Gandalf and Yoda, who were mentioned in the title of this article? Well, my view of Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings is that he is the “wizard on the stallion” who rides in to rally the troops and use his special powers to save the day. That is a bit like what the Range Rider Program looked like in the beginning. Understand that back then city managers were tremendously tough-minded individuals who were dealing with unbelievably hardball politics. Thus, the “wizard on the white horse” or the “gunslinger” metaphor was certainly more appropriate back then. (For context and to understand how tough these managers needed to be, I invite you to read Without Fear or Favor: Odyssey of a City Manager by Leroy F. Harlow.)

Today, by contrast, the issues faced by local government managers, in my view, are more complex and nuanced, and the predictability of “hardball politics” has been supplanted by something much more mean-spirited and unpredictable. Today’s managers need a much different skillset, and accordingly, a different senior advisor approach is also appropriate.

Maybe today’s senior advisors need to be more like Yoda (the Jedi master from Star Wars). We see Yoda as a great listener who has an enormous store of knowledge, historical perspective, and hard-earned wisdom. Yoda is there to help the young Jedi grow and find themselves. And, if swinging a light saber is necessary, Yoda can be surprisingly agile.

Today’s senior advisors are an amazing resource for our members, and perhaps the term “senior advisor” (Yoda) is more appropriate today than the title of “range rider” (Gandalf). And maybe the Oregon Senior Advisor Program model still works because it is more about being a Yoda than a Gandalf.

So, I suggest that you let your own senior advisor be your Yoda. And if they haven’t reached out to you to establish a relationship, maybe you need to reach out to them to get things started. Because we all know that you can’t rush a relationship when you need one; you need to do the work beforehand. 

So, reach out to your Yoda. Help you, they will.

DAVE CHILDS, ICMA-CM (Retired) is an ICMA senior advisor to Eastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle.