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“Council manager communities are less corrupt, are more successful,

have better bond ratings. All of those kinds of things that help to support and

sustain the argument of why it's important that the council manager forum be

preserved.”

Welcome to Voices in Local Government, an ICMA podcast. This is where thought

leaders, practitioners, experts, and changemakers share real -world stories, strategies,

and lessons that shape stronger communities. I'm Joe Supervielle, here with my co

-host, Angelica Wedell. Today's episode answers the critical question at the heart of

our profession. Why council manager government matters now more than ever? We're

living in a time when public trust in institutions is fragile, and the daily

challenges of governing are growing more complex. Even so, ICMA has seen time and

time again that the Council Manager form of government remains one of the most

reliable ways to deliver stability, transparency, and professional excellence to our

communities. But in many places across the U .S., That trusted model in the future

of local government may be on the line. Yeah, that's why we wanted to discuss this

topic today. ICMA has guided the profession for well over a hundred years. You're

passionate about supporting and advocating for what works in local government? This is

not just a theory, it's about real community, livability, and best practices of

governance. Exactly! So to bring us all greater insight on this important topic, Joe

spoke to two of the four most thought leaders in the field. Phil Kiraly is the

village manager of Glencoe, Illinois, and he has over 23 years of experience in

municipal management overall. Here's an interesting fact. In 1914, Glencoe was the

first Illinois community to adopt the council manager form of government. And Phil is

well known for being a champion for transparent government and community engagement.

And then Julia Novak became the CEO and executive director of ICMA in this past

February of 2025. And that was after 20 years as being a consultant,

helping local governments elevate their strategic planning. And before that, Julia

served in city management herself. Julia has also authored many articles,

and she speaks professionally at trainings and events globally. So I think there are

really no two better thought leaders to speak on today's topic. In the interview,

Phil and Julie discussed the current state of the City County Management form of

government, as well as ICMA's future professional management fund. The fund supports

the work that helps communities keep or adopt the council manager model. In short,

the fund is an opportunity to advocate for the council manager form of government

and the profession as a whole. Yes, and you'll also hear what Phil and Julia are

looking forward to at this year's ICMA annual conference. That's October 25th through

the 29th in Tampa, Florida. As listeners, we hope you'll join us there, and we'll

continue this conversation to learn and to re -inspire that sense of dedication to

our profession. So with all of that said, why don't we get right into it? Here's

Joe with the exclusive interview.

With us today are Phil Kirally, Villager Manager of Glencoe, Illinois, past president

of ILCMA, and co -host of the AuthenticityFM podcast.

Phil was also featured in PM's recent August edition, making big strides in

advocating for council manager government. There's Julia with the issue right there.

Our cover boy right here. Linked wherever you're listening and part of the Genesis

for this episode. And as you already heard, Julia Novak, CEO and executive director

of ICMA, big star power on this episode. Thanks for joining. Thanks for having us.

Thank you, Joe. It's a pleasure to be here. So Today we are going to talk about

form of government and ICMA's advocacy for the council manager form through the

future of professional management fund. Julia, to kick us off, are there any opening

remarks on highlights or priorities over your first six months plus at ICMA?

Oh, there have been so many priorities. I talk about my list and I go like this.

It's like a scroll that all it's very long. But it's been fun to work on that.

My husband says I don't use the word fun correctly, but what does he know? So, but

it's really been a joy to engage with members and to listen to the things they

care about and what they're looking for from their professional association. And when

I talk about ICMA and what's important to me, I say we're first and foremost a

membership organization, we're here to support our members and the form of government

that they've dedicated their careers to. And so that is all about the fund and why

we're here today. So certainly at a high priority, something we've worked on the

organizational structure around and have prioritized internally the advocacy work that

we will be doing and do using the fund. Yeah. And Phil had great success in

Illinois already, which we're going to get to. So the future of professional

management fund or we're going to just call it the fund to make it a little

easier. For those who don't know already, Julie, can you define what it is and what

the stated goal is? Well, the purpose of the fund is to support professional local

government in kind of two paths. One is just general advocacy. Why is council

manager form of government, something that works in the United States in our local

communities, how it provides stability in a political context and creates efficient

government for people at the local levels. So kind of generally promoting that form

of government. But very specifically the fund also supports local communities When

they are going through either a challenge to the form, let's say they already have

council manager government and there are people saying we need a strong mayor who's

accountable directly to the people and we can come in and when invited support

advocacy for the council manager form of government. Sometimes we do it in newly

forming communities or when they're transitioning the other way, going from a

political executive to a professional executive who has hired on the basis of

qualifications and experience. So that's when we come in and provide support to

campaigns, provide information, provide handy little brochures to support the

professional local government. - Okay, so Phil, you just went through some of this.

When someone who doesn't know that much about a resident who doesn't know that much

about the topic asks you What what's your answer to why? Council manager for I've

thought a lot about that because in my world and in our worlds. It's so Central to

what we do that you almost don't think about how to define it, right? It's it's of

course it works because we see it in action every day But for those people who

don't see it in action. I really try to underscore the fact that it comes down to

a marriage of the elected officials and caring for their vision that they are

hearing from their neighbors, that they are hearing from the people who they perhaps

have grown up with in the community and have elected them to represent their

interests and tying that back to professionals who know how to put that into action,

right? The people who have the ability to phonate from that perhaps somewhat vague

policy direction, successful outcomes. And I think when you tie it as simply as we

take the voices of the people and we put successful professionals behind advocating

for that you see success. And maybe that's an oversimplification, but I think

sometimes when you're talking about these things, the simplest path toward this is

the best one. And what underpins the whole of it is trust, right? This comes down

to the community has to trust their elected officials that they're advocating for

them, that they're holding the staff that's responsible to them accountable, and that

the results speak for themselves and they that kind of just builds the cycle of

trust and so I think it's been so important as we have been seeing these challenges

to to Council Manager in Illinois but also seeing the the interest in advocating for

the the profession and for the form of government really starting to take root in

some places that it's been interesting to be able to communicate it that way.

What was your experience with the fund during your work in Illinois recently or

really over the past year plus? How did it go from in theory or here's the idea

behind it to everyday practice and the tangible outcome? I'll be perfectly honest

with you Joe at probably leading into my year as president of ILCMA,

which started in June of 2024, I had interacted with the fund very little.

There had been, I had made donations to the fund over the years. In Illinois,

we have a tradition that when any member of our state association retires, we make

a donation in their name to the fund. Gently, I had known it existed and my my

experience with it was much more on kind of the promoting the profession side of

the of the coin and going back to life. Well run and the taglines of the you know

the late 2000s that really kind of stuck in my brain, but I never really saw it

in action and it was Really when we started to see and I became very directly

involved in some of the work to sustain the council manager forum in a few

communities that I started to really get a sense of the depth and breadth of the

work that ICMA does in its advocacy role. And I think that's one of the best kept

secrets in the profession is how many resources can be thrown at a need when it

comes up and the importance of making sure that at the local level we're advising

ICMA when we need them and we're reaching out and we're pulling those resources,

those local awareness and those international resources that can help to support

arguments for and against however you're talking it and to actually see things move

forward in a positive way. So I think that was the real epiphany for me over the

last 18 or so months. Julian, you used the phrase when we're invited earlier and it

kind of does go both directions and when we were setting this up Phil used the

phrase team sport. So can both of you just chime in a little bit? How do you

envision that kind of joint effort, both from the ICMA side and then obviously on

the ground efforts, whether it's a state or a specific town. You know, we enter the

conversation and support the efforts in local communities when they're looking for

that, when they want someone to come in and provide context, when they're looking

for a speaker, when they're looking for resources to support any local campaign.

I campaigns. Sometimes there's a committee that's supporting the form of government or

advocating for a change to professional local government or advocating to have some

element of professionalism inserted in their charter. We don't,

however, you know, have a big eye in the sky looking at where these conversations

are happening and just insert ourselves where we aren't invited. And so we really do

rely on local communities to invite us in for our members to let us know when

forms of government are being threatened. And they do, we hear, you know, hey, you

know, a long time manager is about to retire, people are starting to whisper about

whether we should have a strong mayor instead. And we pay attention and then we

have connections in those local communities. But we really do rely on our members,

because again, we're here to support them. And so we want to, we want to come in

when asked. We want to be a partner, not the initiator and initial advocate.

And I think to kind of add on to where, how that has to happen at the state and

local level is a big reason why writing this article was important to me,

because I think it's an aspect where a lot of people assume ICMA just knows

everything that's going on, right? To use your words, Julia, the eye in the sky.

Well, you're not. It's a big place and there's a lot of stories going on and a

lot of conversations taking place, many of which you may find out about too late.

What we have a benefit of at the state level and in Illinois particularly, I got

to say So much of this would not be possible without the just amazing senior

advisors that we have We have seven of them two of them are retiring at the end

of the year and it's it's very sad for me because these folks have been Both

advocates for us as individuals, but advocates for the profession I get a regular

email from the senior advisors Spotlighting articles that they are searching for

throughout the state that highlight when there may be a chink in the arm, when

there may be an opportunity for a new council manager form discussion to take place.

And they are monitoring these things and an alerting state leadership, myself as I

was the president, our executive director, Don Peters, and saying,

"Hey, we should think about what to do here." And in many cases, they're the first

line of communication to ICMA. They're reaching out to the regional director, they're

reaching out to staff at ICMA and saying, "Hey,

just so you know this is going on, "we don't have a lot of information yet, "but

we want to keep you advised "and we'll keep you in And I think, you know, as I

think back on a specific example of that, when the threat to council manager became

known in Bensonville, Illinois, that was right around Thanksgiving.

And they had a longtime manager who was let go, caught a lot of us by surprise.

And there were kind of comments made as that was happening that made us all think

something else was really going on. And the timeline for putting a referendum forward

for the April municipal elections was very close. The deadline was in the month of

December and suddenly there was a special board meeting to place a referendum

question to change from council manager to strong mayor. And immediately,

the senior advisors were all over it. And I got a, I got an email, I don't know,

you know, the day after that board meeting that said, Hey, we've got to do

something about this. Is there anybody who knows anybody in the community who we can

talk to and, and begin to understand kind of whether there's whether this has legs,

right? Is this Is this real? Is this something that is just kind of a bluster?

It turned out to be real. And there was no community advocacy group at that point,

but there were a few very strong advocates who spoke up at the board meeting,

who reached out to ILCMA, and we were able to connect those individuals with our

senior advisors. And as that discussion continued, connect those individuals with staff

at ICMA to at least have a conversation. And that was before any formal involvement

from ICMA. And as that group kind of formalized and they became a formal group

called Vote Yes, Bensonville. That was when ICMA's resources kicked in and staff came

out and made presentations to public forum meetings, I think at least two of them,

with lengthy discussions about database analysis of how council manager communities are

less corrupt, are more successful, have better bond ratings. All of those kinds of

things that help to support and sustain the argument of why it's important that that

the council manager form be preserved. And the community came out and the community

participated and they listened and they heard. ILCMA drafted a letter that was signed

by both myself and our executive director that walked through a whole series of

benefits, not the least of which is ICMA Code of Ethics and how that helps to

guide village and city managers throughout the country and beyond,

but particularly how that applies in their own community. And so we got to April 1,

which was Municipal Election Day, and the referendum failed. 66 % of the community

voted in favor of maintaining the council manager form of government. It was a

really great success story, but I don't know that it would have been successful

without all of those parties being participants in it. It really did require the

senior advisors and local leaders and the resources staff and information that ICMA

had readily available that it could apply in that circumstance. It really speaks to

the importance of this whole infrastructure that we have at ICMA to know what's

going on and to get information. And it starts with, you know, our senior advisors.

Those are basically retired local government professionals who remain in service to

their colleagues. So they're boots on the ground, people who still want to be

involved. They still want to support local managers. They do everything from in

ravine when there's former It questions letting us know when they're happening to,

you know, being kind of a sounding board for managers who are struggling with issues

in their community, whether they're internal or with their elected officials or with

the community, but they are such an important part of how ICMA maintains

relationships to support our members. And we do that with senior advisor program in

partnership with state associations. So that's a really important piece of the

infrastructure. The regional directors that Phil mentions, we have five regional

directors, one in each of the US domestic regions of the country. And they're all

part -time people. They'll also all tell you that they're part -time pay and full

-time heart in the work. They too are mostly retired local government professionals.

Some of them have been on our board before, so very engaged members who are,

again, terrific resources. They attend all the state association meetings. They

coordinate regular meetings with our senior advisors and kind of support this game of

telephone of what's happening on the ground, how do they get that information to me

and to my colleagues at ICMA so we know what's on the minds of our members, what

are the issues that they're dealing with so the infrastructure is is there but the

connectivity is all because our members engage with us and invite us into those

conversations so once we know something's out there we have staff who can help

support the efforts as as Phil mentioned but we're also a resource you know it's

not always somebody from DC coming into a local community and saying "Hey, you know,

we're here to tell you what the best form of government is." Sometimes it's a

university professor who's respected in the region or respected in the context of

professional local government. Sometimes it's one of these senior advisors, I mean,

they frequently get engaged in these discussions and just talk about the value of

professionalism. They exhibit the stability that I think the form of government really

tried to create when it was first initiated was how do you match up political

acceptability, you know, what people want to get done in their community, as you

were talking about, with the administrative capacity to do that. And constant churn

and turnover of organizations doesn't always contribute to the ability to efficiently

and effectively accomplish results. So That's what professional local government exists

to do for our society and again I see mays here to support it in a lot of

different ways But we need that partnership with our members with our senior advisors

and our regional directors connected us all back together The only thing I was gonna

add and I think that's an amazing summary Julia is That it's also the the it's not

just the storytelling, it's the listening. When I've had conversations with our senior

advisors about, when they go out to these communities and whether they're holding a

information session at the local library or they're doing something at the Rotary

Club or whatever, so much of what they are seeking to do is to understand.

They're seeking to understand what is the undertone in the community that is driving

toward or away from Council Manager and how can they help to gather information that

helps to, just helps people to come to terms with what it is they see as the

future for their community. At the end of the day, we all see Council Manager as

the best path forward. And it's really up to the voters who are in some cases

making these decisions on a referendum question or otherwise. And the best sometimes

that we can do, even if we don't prevail in maintaining or bringing council manager

in, is to continue to educate, is to continue to bring an understanding of the

value and importance of it, of the form of government. And I will say,

even in the communities in Illinois where we haven't seen success the first time, we

often see success the second or the third, since in some cases the fourth time. It

is a long game, right? It is not something that is a one and done. It requires

cultivation even after the referendum process. Because just because you win a

referendum or lose a referendum doesn't mean suddenly the form is safe and secure.

It requires cultivation and it requires that I'm going in deep connection with the

manager who's there and with the community at large. So it's,

you know, the senior advisors are great at that. The regional directors are too. And

I think it's also incumbent on us, those of us who are in service around those

communities, to model why this is the best form of government,

and to also be supportive to our colleagues who are struggling with it. It is not

just somebody else's problem, it's all of our responsibilities. - Yeah, Phil, I'm glad

you used the word education too, 'cause I because ICMA it's what we do as you said

earlier our members live in this world of manager council but it's important to

educate the public and that even the data points you brought up earlier there's

there's evidence for this it's not just because we said so or because it's helpful

to our membership that's important to remember and Julie I'm glad you explained kind

of you walked people through the senior advisors and the RDS because a lot of ICMA

members have been around they Not only know these people, they're probably in their

phones, they're texting with some of the RDS already, but they're very accessible. So

I would encourage new CAOs, new to the sea, or just ICMA members that are kind of

up and coming who might not have those existing relationships to reach out directly

to RDS to your state senior advisors and your state associations, because there's

just a great support system at all levels. And every interaction I've had, And

they're just so accommodating and so willing to talk about the stuff that they they

do day in and day out

Julia as ICMA continues to evolve members matter as you as you said earlier That's

kind of been the starting point for everything we do So Phil Phil's touched on

this, but why does the fund and he kind of just said it? It's for everyone not

necessarily just the towns who have this on the ballot coming up But why why does

the fund matter to the average member who might just be learning about this today

or oh I kind of heard of it but I don't really know what it is now they're

learning about it but why do you think it's important to them? You know this is

one of the things that Phil mentioned was Life Well Run. Life Well Run was a

campaign that ICMA ran in the teens to kind of support much more generally the

value that professional local government provides to our society and that's that to

me is it's timeless and yet it's time for us to update like this is a we're

working on a new campaign now that just gives us permission to talk about why this

form of government holds an important place in our society and in our democratic

infrastructure. People will hear me say you know Once upon a time, professional local

government was a novel concept. We are born from a period of reform politics in the

early 1900s, but today people just expect local government to operate professionally,

and they don't understand or appreciate that getting to the point we are today is a

journey that we've been on as a society to create stability so that local government

can efficiently deliver services to the people. So remembering that is a piece of

remembering who we were is an important piece of who we are and not taking for

granted that professionalism is just a baseline expectation 'cause it doesn't have to

be that way. It wasn't always this way. But for people who are, you know, in their

30s, they've always had this perhaps and we need to remember where we came from and

learn from that. And so we can continue that journey. So our commitment at ICMA is

to promote more generally professionalism, professional local government. That is

important to our members. It is what they have dedicated their careers to and it's

why we exist as an organization. So kind of Remembering that, to me, we've been

through a lot of change at ICMA, a lot of it imposed by changes in funding

structures and elimination of federal grant programs, but at our core, who we are,

is this membership organization that supports something very specific and very special

in the United States and abroad, and that is professional local government. I had an

opportunity just recently to participate in a global exchange, and it was absolutely

fascinating to be in South Africa where they're very interested in professionalizing

local government and what does that look like and how do they ensure across a broad

spectrum of professions that there is integrity and ethics which is of course

foundational to who we are as an organization and who our members are but how do

they create that expectation in a society that hasn't always had that you know in

recent memory. They're just turning towards professionalism as an ideal. And so what

we take for granted is a beacon and a revolution in other contexts. And I want us

to remember that.

So earlier, actually, when we were first talking about the topic, you also used the

phrase everyday advocates, which really struck me. Can you elaborate on that a little

bit? What does it mean? And how can How can ICMA further help just, again,

everyday members advocating for this? Well, it's the cycle of membership and

association and association and membership, right? So it is all one thing. It's not

the other, it's not the, it's not some amorphous thing that's out there.

And I've had that conversation with colleagues of mine who have said, you know, I

don't really see why I need to be a part of ILCMA. I don't really see why I need

to be a part of ICMA. And I said, well, you do because it's you, right? You are

the association. It's not something else. And I think it's important to contemplate

that as we concentrate our resources and thought around how to support the

profession, right? Supporting the profession requires not just going to work every day

and doing the best you can do, it also requires finding ways to support your

colleagues and finding ways to do that both in an indirect and direct way.

Indirectly, it's about good storytelling. It's about sharing the successes that council

manager communities have seen where they have married that policy vision that's

derived from excellent community outreach and support and tying that into the

professionalism of a manager who can, along with their team,

really see that success take place. That's a story worth telling. And frequently,

it's a story we don't tell because we don't want to pat ourselves or we don't we

don't have time, right? You're running from one thing to the next. But I really see

that as a as a responsibility of each and every member of our state and

international association to kind of say, look, these are the reasons why this is

important. This is the tangible result of hard work on both sides of this.

This is the result of trust being built and continuing to be underscored with our

communities so that we can say that Council Manager communities are the ones that

you want to live in or the ones that you want to start your business in or move

your business to. There is so many things that are interconnected when you start

talking about how to advocate for this profession. And it's not just showing up to

a forum, talking about the value of moving to or away from the council manager,

former government, not by a long shot. Because when those stories get out there and

when that good storytelling is done, people hear it elsewhere, right? They hear it,

it plants a seed. It brings the conversation forward in a way that maybe it never

would have otherwise. And I just think that that's a big part of our everyday

advocacy as active in the professionals who are doing the work,

telling people why we do it and bring in our elected officials along, right?

And saying these are the folks who sit with us and work through these difficult

community issues, and together we are seeing success. It's council manager.

There's a real marriage of those two things. It isn't just me or them and, you

know, tying it back to team sport. It is a team sport and as best as we can.

Obviously, there are circumstances and situations where the environment has gotten less

comfortable and much more difficult. It's even more And in those times to find those

glimmers where this really is the form of government that makes the most sense and

does the most good and seeks the best outcome for everybody. And I think that's our

job as everyday advocates in this work. Yeah. Phil said something that kind of

triggers a little soapbox that I get on every once in a while and I don't want to

sound like a broken record but just this this idea of of of telling our colleagues

why it's important to be a member of ILCMA or ICMA if I if I mention again this

idea that we take for granted professional local government when we began in you

know the early 1900s we created a profession the first group of individuals who

gathered in Springfield Ohio in 1914 to talk about what it meant to be the city

manager, they were creating a profession. They mostly came from engineering to do

this job of effectively administering local government services.

We created from that a profession. And Phil, I think you and I might be a little

bit similar. We kind of have this traditional Brown, you know, I went to got my

NPA, I did an internship, I was an assistant to I was a deputy, I was a manager,

and I went to the dark side. But, you know, it's kind of that's the path, right?

That's the profession. I am trained for this job. And one of the things that I

think we're seeing is local communities also turning to people from other disciplines

who are like, Well, I, I might, you know, I've been a planner for a long time and

the community knows me, I've been the police chief. I've been the whatever put fill

in the blank. They can lead the organization if organization effectively.

What I want them to know is that they have now joined a profession that exists for

a reason that does great work for our democracy. It is bigger than the job they

are in in their local community. And we'll talk about this year at annual

conference. But it's something that's very important to me that people understand and

appreciate about who we are, those people who are the CAOs of cities,

counties, towns, and villages all across the country in the world. Yeah, well said

Julie. Well said both of you and I think again just from the average resident point

of view, politics and elected officials drive the vision but the professional to

execute it and do it effectively and Efficiently, I think just about everyone can

agree with regardless of the other stuff And that's that is why it's so important.

So icma .org /donate is the website and Julia brought up conference it just so

happens you can meet Julia and fill at conference Julia is leading a workshop called

Leading through disruption with a great panel there October 28th, and we'll also host

an afternoon with ICMA, including her Mount Rushmore, which I always like those kind

of four four person lists. So I'm excited for that one. That is also October 28th.

And Phil, I saw that on Instagram how building a robust social media presence builds

community trust and engagement also with Scott Andrews and Michael Pallas. I know

those two people. So that's another interesting one. I'll bookmark conference .icma .org

is the website Registration is open hotels are going quick. So get on there right

now pause or finish up this episode And I encourage you to go register now real

quick aside from the networking and catching up with people in person Which is so

important in today's digital workspace Can you each give us one little little nugget

or what's your kind of random or smaller thing a Conference that you just look

forward to every year just kind of really gets you excited to be there other than

the networking and just meeting people you've known forever. To me it's home right?

I've been a member of ICMA since the 1980s as a student when I first joined and

I've been to almost every conference since 1986 and so to me it's a chance to

remember why we do this work to get recharged But it is also the connection,

to me it's not even as much networking, it's truly connecting with people. I get to

see them once a year for sure at ICMA, and I can't wait for that every year. So

that's really what I look forward to. Great keynotes, which we're going to have this

year. I'm so excited about the keynote speakers, and really remembering why we do

what we do and that it's important. All of that wrapped up makes ICMA so special.

When people say ICMA, they often are just talking about conference. It's the

organization is ICMA, but ICMA is also that annual conference, so see you in Tampa.

It is by far my favorite thing to do every year, and the people and all of the

pieces of it are amazing. I leave that conference both completely Recharged and

completely exhausted because it is a lot, right? It's it's the you know It's a non

-stop opportunity to learn and to see and to hear and to engage and it's just such

a joy I've been I've really enjoyed being on the on the committee the last few

years I would tell you though my favorite thing of all of the things which is

maybe you know the thing that gives me the drive to keep going is when we

celebrate those long careers of our colleagues. You know,

seeing somebody walk across the stage who's been doing this for 50 years and you

say to yourself, okay, well, I'm halfway there.

I can still do it, right? It

gives me somewhat hope and also just kind of the excitement around the fact that

they still want to show up every day for their communities. They are still doing

this work. It is not easy. It takes a lot from you, but it's so, so fulfilling as

well. And I just, I bet it's one of my favorite things. I just, my heart burst

with pride when I see those folks walk across that stage. Yeah, conference is great.

I'm looking forward to meeting some members again and meeting some new ones and

quick shout out to the ICMA staff that does all the background work to make it

happen. It is amazing. Julia, Phil, thanks for your time today and your contributions

to ICMA, but as we discussed today, not just ICMA, but professional public management

as a whole, it's important you two are shining examples. Thanks for your time today.

Thank you, Joe.

Thank you for listening to Voices in Local Government and being part of the greater

conversation on what it takes to lead thriving, successful communities. This is an

ICMA podcast produced by Angelica Wedell and Joe Supervielle. We'll see you next

time..

 

 

 

In this episode of Voices in Local Government, Phil Kiraly and Julia D. Novak, ICMA-CM answer the critical question at the heart of our profession: why council-manager government matters now more than ever. They discuss how ICMA's Future of Professional Management Fund supports advocacy and how to educate residents when defending and adopting council-manager government comes up on the ballot.
 

Key Takeaways:

• Why council-manager form of government is effective and how to best educate residents
• What is ICMA's Future of Professional Management Fund, what it's used for, and why it matters for members
• How a "team sport" approach of advocacy led to success defending council-manager government in Illinois
• Excitement to continue the conversation on form of government and more at ICMA Annual Conference
   

Featured Guests:

Phil Kiraly - ICMA-CM - village manager of Glencoe, Illinois

Julia D. Novak - ICMA-CM – CEO and executive director of ICMA
 

Voices in Local Government Podcast Hosts

Joe Supervielle and Angelica Wedell

Resources

ICMA's Future of Professional Management Fund

PM Magazine: Making Big Strides in Advocating for Council-Manager Government

ICMA Annual Conference, October 25-29 in Tampa.