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December
21, 2010
At this
year’s ICMA Annual Conference in San José, President Dave Childs remarked
that he’s “never been more optimistic about our profession.” As we stand at
the brink of a new year, I share Dave’s optimism and hope that you do too.
While
the past several years have been a challenge, many of us have begun (as
managers and senior executives typically do) to view this “new normal” as
an opportunity to demonstrate the value of professional local government
management and the contribution our profession makes to our communities.
And we are finding good news in many places, both in the field and at ICMA
headquarters.
ICMA
Work in Afghanistan
While
the war in Afghanistan attracts news headlines, ICMA has been working
“under the radar” at the municipal level to build local capacity to improve the lives of Afghan
citizens. In four provincial capitals, with funding from USAID, ICMA
has helped local water supply departments adopt management practices that
enable them to provide safe, reliable water to households—while recovering
an increasing proportion of their costs. Although our successful
Afghanistan Municipal Strengthening Program (AMSP) ended in August, many of
its capacity-building activities are continuing under a new RAMP UP program. AMSP left in place dozens of small
infrastructure projects, significant improvements in solid waste
management, ongoing youth programs, and local officials and staff who are
trained and capable of continuing these improvements into the future.
Life,
Well Run Value of the Profession Campaign
In
October, we moved the Life, Well Run Campaign—which will promote the value
of professional management to elected officials, thought leaders, the
media, and the public—a bit closer to reality when we premiered a three-minute fundraising video before an enthusiastic
audience of San José annual conference attendees.
Before
we can convince potential corporate funders to help underwrite the $3 to $5
million required to execute the campaign over a two-year period, however,
we must demonstrate a strong financial commitment to the project among our
members. As of this writing, individuals and state associations have
contributed or pledged a total of $154,000, and we thank those of you who
helped us get this far. To meet our goal of $1 million in member
contributions, however, we need many more of you to donate. Help us tell
our story; visit the the
Life, Well Run website and then go to the Fund for Professional Management donation site and make
a donation to the Life, Well Run campaign before the end of the year.
Gates
Library Project
We
can also celebrate successful completion of the ICMA Public Library
Innovation Grants program to strengthen partnerships between local
government chief administrative officers and library directors. With the
support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ICMA distributed grants
to nine jurisdictions that used their public library in creative and
nontraditional ways to meet community needs. We’ll publish a compendium of
cases studies and a final report early next year.
The
success of this project has led to discussions around three potential
projects funded by the Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum and
Library Services and involving a partnership with the University of
Washington. Such discussions underscore the importance to ICMA of
developing these types of collaborations.
Sustainability
Activities
This
year we also established a new Center for Sustainable Communities, and
under that umbrella, ICMA and the U.S. Department of Energy, along with
several other organizations, will partner on a five-year, $4.8-million-dollar effort to provide
research, outreach, and technical assistance to local governments that want
to increase deployment of solar energy in their communities.
ICMA’s
Center for Sustainable Communities is continuing its longstanding
collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to produce the National
Brownfields Conference, the largest event focused on economic
redevelopment, land revitalization, and sustainability. Brownfields 2011
takes place in Philadelphia, April 3–5, 2011. Visit www.brownfields2011.org
to register for this outstanding free event.
Local
Government Knowledge Network
We
are particularly proud this year of the launch of a revamped
ICMA website and the new Local Government Knowledge Network. Since this online
local government community—created by ICMA, the Alliance for Innovation,
and Arizona State University—went live at the end of May, users have
created more than 7,500 new profiles on the site, and more than 500 local
government questions have been asked and answered.
Activity
within the community continues to grow. To enhance the Knowledge Network user
experience, we’ve increased the site’s processing speed and deployed new
system functionality and features. For example, you can now upload a
program description or sample document you’d like to share or provide
valuable feedback to other Knowledge Network users by commenting on and
rating documents. If you haven’t already experienced this unique online
community, I encourage you to visit icma.org/kn.
In
closing, I’d like to reiterate a few of the points that ICMA President Dave
Childs expressed so eloquently in his annual conference closing address.
Our profession is built upon acquiring and maintaining the outstanding
skills and strong values that enable us to improve the quality of life for
the people we serve. As local government leaders, we should take every
opportunity to build stronger community organizations and to tirelessly
advance the ideals of our profession. We also need to reignite and maintain
our passion.
Dave has
challenged us to mentor younger or less experienced members of our staffs,
as they are “our future and our legacy.” What, he asks, will others say
about us after we retire from public service? Each of us should ponder how
we should go about creating our legacy.
I’m
providing a link to my travel schedule through September 2011 and look
forward to seeing you at one or more of these events. Again this year, I
also encourage you to share your thoughts about the challenges that lie
ahead. Feel free to email me at roneill@icma.org.
Thank you
for all you do to improve our communities in these difficult times. Here’s
wishing you and yours a happy holiday season and a prosperous 2011!
Sincerely,
Bob
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