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Historical perspectives and future horizons of local government managers and the International City /County Management Association

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Historical perspectives and future horizons of local government managers and the International City /County Management Association

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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES AND FUTURE HORIZONS OF
LOCAL GOVERNMENT MANAGERS AND THE
INTERNATIONAL CITY/COUNTY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
by
Edwin C. Daley
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF POLICY, PLANNING,
AND DEVELOPMENT
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
May 2002
Copyright 2002 Edwin C. Daley
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UMI Number: 3073767
Copyright 2002 by
Daley, Edwin Charles
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
SCHOOL OF POLICY. PLANNING. AND DEVELOPMENT
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS ANGELES. CALIFORNIA 90089
This dissertation, written by
EDWIN CHARLES DALEY
under the direction o f h.i s . . . Dissertation
Committee, and approved by all its
members, has been presented to and
accepted by the Faculty o f the School o f
Policy, Planning, and Development, in
partial fulfillment o f requirements fo r the
degree o f
DOCTOR OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Dean
Dcue.3r.l2l.oj
DISSEI COMMITTEE
Chairperson
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Edwin C. Daley Chester A. Newland, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES AND FUTURE HORIZONS OF LOCAL
GOVERNMENT MANAGERS AND THE INTERNATIONAL
CITY/COUNTY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
This research probes three interrelated aspects of professional local
government management theories and practices: (I) developments from the
Progressive Era's "one-best-way" vision of civic community and "The Council-
Manager Plan" to present-day paradoxical realities of diversity and interdependence
within and among communities and their governments; (2) shifting managerial roles,
growing complexities and variations among them, and factors that facilitate
connectedness among local government professionals; and (3) historical, current, and
expected future roles of the International City/County Management Association
(ICMA).
Methodologies of historical analysis are combined with interpretive and
critical research approaches of public administration. Also, methods of futures
studies are applied.
This analysis draws heavily on ICMA's archival resources and publications,
especially those from the first comprehensive self-analysis in 1969 through the
Association’s work in 2000-2001. It focuses especially on the deliberations and
publications of ICMA's Future Horizons Committee of 1978-1980 and its projections
for developments to 2000 and beyond. It also examines the subsequent work of the
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Association's Future Visions Project of 1988-1990 and of the 2000 Strategic Plan
Committee. Additionally, it analyzes publications by such academic authorities as H.
George Frederickson, John Nalbandian, Richard J. Stillman, Q, and James Svara.
Key findings of this historical research and analysis include: (I) Through past
decades of changes and in this current era of diverse communities and managerial
roles, the ICMA Code of Ethics has served as the sustained hallmark of professional
local government management. It is this shared devotion to professional integrity,
not a single structural plan, that now most defines the practice of local government
management among cities, counties, and other local authorities in the United States
and elsewhere. (2) Increasingly, a shared culture of diversity and multiculturalism
both distinguishes and connects varied communities in both situationally different
and collaborative efforts to deal with challenges and to embrace opportunities for
accomplishments. (3) During the years since the late 1970s, the ICMA has become a
foremost International Non-Govemmental Organization (INGO), facilitating the
spread of professional local government management in many regions of the world.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research integrates materials available from academic sources with
materials obtained from the International City/County Management Association
(ICMA). ICMA staff members Michele Frisby, Felicia Logan, Barbara Moore.
Martha Perego, and Betsy Sherman contributed immensely by answering numerous
inquiries and providing records and reports. The internal history of ICMA prepared
by David S. Arnold, who edited the Municipal Management Series, was particularly
beneficial. Former Executive Director Mark Keane and Deputy Director Elizabeth
Kellar reviewed the draft and clarified several issues.
Dr. George Frederickson and Dr. John Nalbandian provided unpublished
research manuscripts.
I would also like to thank Dr. Elizabeth Guiliano and Ms. Anne Lewis who
proofread the manuscript
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................. ii
Chapter
I.* INTRODUCTION................................................................................. 1
The New Rules—Where's the Playbook? .................................... 1
Why Study Local Government Management?............................. 4
The Origins and Early Years of Council-Manager
Government............................................................................. 10
The Founding of IC M A ................................................................ 18
Council-Manager Government in the Post-World War E ra 20
The Move to Washington.............................................................. 22
Strategic Planning at ICMA and the Future Horizons Project . . . 24
The Future Visions Project............................................................ 27
ICMA's 2000 Strategic P lan.......................................................... 28
Manager Roles and Responsibilities ............................................ 29
Community Building and Social Capital ............................. 29
Karl Bosworth's Classifications of M anagers....................... 32
Changes in City Government Structure ............................... 35
The Type IE C ity..................................................................... 37
New Horizons City M anagement.......................................... 38
New Roles for Managers at the Turn of the Century ........... 39
n. ORIGINS OF THE COUNCIL-MANAGER FORM OF
GOVERNMENT................................................................................... 50
Colonial Origins of American Government.................................. 51
Urban Development and Political Machines ............................... 53
The Early Reform Movement........................................................ 56
The National Municipal League and the Strong M ayor............... 59
The Commission Plan .................................................................. 61
The Council-Manager Plan .......................................................... 63
Origins in Staunton................................................................ 63
Richard Childs Spreads the W ord.......................................... 66
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Pioneer Managers Form the Association ............................. 68
The League Endorses the Council-Manager P la n ................. 70
Working with the Chamber of Commerce and O th ers 73
A Growing Profession in the 1920s ...................................... 78
The 1930s and World War II.................................................. 84
ffl. FROM WORLD WAR 0 TO FUTURE HORIZONS ....................... 93
The 1940s....................................................................................... 95
Manager Roles and Responsibilities ............................................ 98
Karl Bosworth's Identification of Managerial Roles ................... 100
The 1960s—A Time of Turbulence.............................................. 104
ICMA’ s First Goals Study...................................................... 107
A New Executive Director and the Move to
Washington ......................................................................... 109
Federal Government Support for the Strong M ayor............. 112
ICMA's Interest in General Managers.................................... 113
More Turbulence in the Late 1960s.............................................. 115
IV. FUTURE HORIZONS—THE ESSENTIAL COMMUNITY 122
Events that Helped To Set the Stage ............................................ 123
The Future Horizons Com m ittee.................................................. 127
Key Values Recognized by the Committee........................... 130
Continued Local Government Powerlessness....................... 131
Local Governments to “Get by Modestly” ........................... 132
The “Complete City” Versus “Back to Basics” ................... 133
Alternative Scenarios for Local Government............................... 135
The “Doubt Town” Scenario.................................................. 135
The “Hope County” Scenario ................................................ 136
The “Delight Community” Scenario...................................... 138
The “Careful Village” Scenario ............................................ 141
The “Caution City” Scenario................................. 142
Looking at the Scenarios Together........................................ 144
Managerial Roles and Responsibilities ........................................ 145
Managerial Leadership................................................................... 149
The Profession............................................................................... 151
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V. FROM FUTURE HORIZONS INTO THE TWENTY-FIRST
CENTURY ........................................................................................... 157
Varied Roles of Managers in an Era of Increased Citizen
Participation and Com plexity................................................ 162
ICMA's 1985 Strategic Plan . . . ’ . .................................................. 166
Citizen Roles in Governance at the Local Level ......................... 170
The ICMA Future Visions Project................................................ 172
Overarching Themes in 1990 ........................................................ 174
Working with C itizens.................................................................. 175
The County Administrator Form of Government......................... 178
Management Skills for the Future ............................................... 186
VI. FUTURE HORIZONS THEN AND NO W ......................................... 190
Changes in the Local Government Environment......................... 192
Changes in Managers' Roles.......................................................... 197
New Hybrid Forms and Variations among Governments . . . 198
The Misunderstood Dichotomy.............................................. 202
Community Building and Varied Communities........................... 207
The Reform Movement T oday...................................................... 209
Changes at ICM A ........................................................................... 213
v n . BEYOND FUTURE HORIZONS—2020 ........................................... 218
Varied Local Government Environments in the Future............... 221
Changes Identified by Robert J. O'Neill, Jr............................ 221
Continued Feeling of Powerlessness..................................... 225
Continuing and Increased Economic Development
Efforts................................................................................... 226
Population Diversity and Shared Multiculturalism............... 229
Managerial Qualities and Attributes............................................. 230
A New Model of Governance................................................ 231
Emotional Intelligence and Social Skills ............................. 233
Learning and Communicating in Different W ays................. 237
Collaboration and Dispute Resolution ................................. 238
ICMA—Moving Towards 2020 .................................................... 239
The 2000 Strategic P la n ................................................................ 242
A Voluntary Credentiaiing Program ..................................... 243
Promoting Public Awareness and Professional
Management........................................................................ 245
Public Policy Advocacy A ctivities....................................... 246
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Member Support..................................................................... 246
Assistants and Emerging Professionals................................. 247
Research and Development—Sharing the R esults............... 248
Expanded Technical Assistance Abroad and At Home .... 250
A New Model City Charter .......................................................... 252
A New Executive Director............................................................ 256
Conclusions: Shared Professionalism To Serve Varied
Communities........................................................................... 258
Early Visions of Community and "The Plan” and Today’s
Realities of Diversity Within and Among Communities .. 258
Sustained Professional Connectedness Amid Growing
Complexities and Variations in Managers' Roles ............. 259
ICMA's Roles: Facilitating Professional Continuity,
Proactive Changes, and Essential Connectedness in
Service of Diverse Communities........................................ 261
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................... 264
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The New Rules—Where's the Play book?
“All the rules have changed. We need a new playbook." That is how James
A. Bennett, Administrative Assistant to the Mayor, Westbrook, Massachusetts,
explained the situation. Approximately 40 members of the International City/County
Management Association (ICMA) had gathered in Philadelphia, November 16-18,
2001. to plan the Association's 85th Annual Conference scheduled for September
2002 in Philadelphia.
The Association's last conference had been held in Salt Lake City a week
after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The program the committee had
carefully planned 10 months earlier suddenly seemed irrelevant, as staff worked
feverishly to add special sessions dealing with terrorism and security. Other
members of the committee agreed with Bennett's comment and suggested that the
next conference should deal with terrorism and homeland security.
Bennett responded that it might be appropriate to include sessions dealing
with these issues, but that was not what he really meant. He said the issues
surrounding terrorism and emergency preparedness were important, and cities and
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counties would need to do things differently in order to better prepare for new types
of terrorism that may occur in the future.
He did, however, mean much by his statement. He referred to changed roles
and explained: “I've been a manager for almost 20 years, and suddenly I'm not sure
what to do. The job is changing”(statement, November 17,2001). He was talking
about the changes taking place in city managers’ roles and responsibilities as local
government environments change. Bennett was talking about the changes city
managers and county administrators have been wondering about since the late 1970s,
when the Future Horizons Committee first recognized the changes that were
occurring in the local government management profession in response to changes in
local government and elected leaders.
He was also referring to new technologies that would drive the services local
governments provide and how those services are provided. New technologies are
changing how cities and counties provide services to citizens and how they
communicate about those services to the citizens and the public employees. The new
communication and information technologies are also changing how local elected
officials and citizens obtain information about local government operations.
Additionally, he was thinking about how the new economic development
recruitment game should be played in the emerging global economy and how
American local governments could best share program and service delivery
experiences with counterparts in other countries. While local communities compete
internationally for new commercial and industrial facility locations, city and county
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government managers often share information about local government organization
and public service programs with managers from other countries. These efforts to
transfer municipal organization and service delivery information to other local
governments are often focused on emerging democracies throughout the world.
He was also wondering how local governments would continue expanding
services as proposed by some citizens while others lobbied for lower taxes. How
would they survive the effects of the whipsaw created by service demands and tax
cuts described by the Future Horizons Committee in 1978-1980? Would local
government leaders continue to feel powerless as Federal and state mandates forced
them to provide services without funding assistance? Would court decisions
continue to force adjustments in local service priorities?
Other members of the committee responded to Bennett by suggesting that city
managers' jobs are indeed changing. Instead of giving direction to subordinates,
managers are working with different types of political leaders, some of whom seek
greater involvement in administrative issues as the structures of council-manager and
mayor-council cities are altered to the degree that many fit what H. George
Frederickson has labeled a hybrid form or Type HI city. They recognized that elected
leaders in 2002 will require managers to develop new understandings of emotional
intelligence and the ways people leam and communicate. They thought about the
different skills a local government manager will need in 2002, such as facilitative
leadership and the ability to build communities and develop social capital. Managers
would need to function as coordinators rather than in a manner similar to their
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predecessors. Managers now serve as the Future Horizons Committee had
anticipated more than two decades earlier.
In addition, they talked about recent changes at ICMA, which will employ its
sixth Executive Director in 2002. They expect the new director to bring change to
the Association. The Association will continue a series of new initiatives developed
as part of ICMA’s 2000 Strategic Plan that are intended to:
• increase public awareness of the importance of professional local
government management;
• improve the professional abilities of ICMA members; and
• increase the personal support ICMA provides its members.
Why Study Local Government Management?
At the approach of the 100-year anniversary of the council-manager (C-M)
form of local government, it is appropriate to review its foundations and their
relevance for today and the future. It is particularly useful to compare the changes in
society and technology that occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries with changes that have occurred in recent years. Most of the changes in the
structure of local government in the United States have gradually reflected increased
population growth, diversity, and urban density since 1800. The Progressive Era
reform period, however, was an era of dramatic transformation as many cities
transferred from the mayor-council system with power divided between elected
executive and legislative branches to the commission form with all powers vested in
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legislators, who also served as executives, to the council-manager form; wherein, all
power was granted to the elected legislative body, which, in turn, appointed an
executive to manage the implementation of their policies.
This research examines the changes that have occurred in the local
government environment in the twentieth century. The century began with local
government in disarray and often considered corrupt and inept. Basic services, such
as street and water line construction and sanitation collection, were not handled in an
efficient manner. One hundred years later, citizens do not remember the corruption
and inefficiencies of the pre-reform era. and they take these services for granted,
assuming they will be available as needed.
The concept of professional management did not exist in local government in
1900. This study traces local government management from its origins in Staunton.
Virginia, in 1908, through several periods of United States history to the early part of
the twenty-first century. The study also reviews the founding of the International
City/County Management Association (ICMA) in 1914, and reports how the
Association has become the premier source of research and information for
professional managers and local government.
The study examines the work of Richard J. Stillman, Q, who provided a
comprehensive review of the city manager and ICMA from 1900 to the early 1970s
in his book The Rise o f the City Manager: A Professional in Local Government, and
updates it with the later work of Dr. H. George Frederickson, Dr. John Nalbandian,
Dr. Robert Putnam, Dr. James Svara and others.
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Robert Putnam and others have suggested that a decline in social capital in
recent years is similar to the situation of a century ago when the civic reform
movement resulted in changes in local government. Putnam observes the
revolutionary changes in technology and in the size of corporate America and their
impact on society in the second half of the nineteenth century and identifies similar
trends today. When new immigrants arrived in America, many were greeted by
challenging social and economic problems. The close-knit society that impressed
Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1830s was gone. Citizens had become much more
isolated from each other and more independent of each other as a result of diverse
immigration, urbanization, and crime. Immigrants and lower class urbanites turned
to political parties, which provided housing and employment assistance in exchange
for support at the ballot box.
Putnam (2000) suggests that the decline of community organizations since the
1960s has led to a similar feeling of isolation among many Americans today (368-
382). The views of other authors, who suggest that the council-manager form of
government has contributed to a similar feeling of isolation from government by
citizens, are discussed in this paper.
A review of the environment of local government management is also timely
for several other reasons. Recent changes in the roles of managers, highlighted by
the emergence of professional management in county government, and by
modifications to the structure of council-manager government in cities, have been
documented by H. George Frederickson, John Nalbandian, James Svara and many
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others. Many of these changes have taken place since The Essential Community was
published by the ICMA in 1980. The book, and a report. New Worlds o f Service,
were the result o f ICMA’s Future Horizons Committee, which met with leading
scientists in 1978 and 1979 to study emerging trends in local government and to
predict scenarios concerning what the local government environment, the roles and
responsibilities of the urban manager, and ICMA would be like in 2000. We can
now look to see if those predictions have come true and what the future may hold for
local government, the local government manager, and ICMA.
Dramatic shifts in technology in the 1990s have both allowed and forced local
governments to change how they provide services, how managers relate to the
governing body and staff members, and how local governments interact with citizens.
Demographic changes in the population have required local governments to alter the
nature of services they provide and how they provide them. Changes in the
environment of local government are forcing managers to prepare to deal with
different types of emergency situations. In 1980, a hazardous materials event or a
terrorist act such as the Oklahoma City bombing or the events of September 11,
2001, would not have been anticipated. Today, managers must prepare for
emergencies of this and other sorts.
This is also a time of significant change at ICMA. The Association’s
Executive Board is scheduled to hire a new Executive Director to replace William
Hansell who became Executive Director in 1983. While his predecessor, Mark E.
Keane, laid the groundwork for many Association initiatives in response to the
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Future Horizons Committee’s recommendation, Hansell served the Association
through most of the time period addressed in that study. He guided the Association
for 19 years and worked to improve upon ICMA’s reputation as the premier source
of technical information and support to local governments. The Association also
moved to the forefront of efforts to promote democratic principles and technical
efficiency among local governments throughout the world.
In 1998, Hansell asked Association members if it was '‘ time to reform the
reform.” Later that year, the Association initiated a new Strategic Planning
Committee. That Committee issued a final report in September 2000, which formed
the basis of a new work program adopted by the ICMA Executive Board the
following year. Of particular relevance to this analysis were initiatives in the areas
of: professional advocacy, voluntary professional credentialing, and outreach to
Association members. These priorities and the others established in the report were
similar to those established after ICMA’s first strategic planning effort in 1969.
Many roles and responsibilities of managers have changed, and the work of ICMA
has also, but many of die core principles and values identified by early Association
leaders have remained intact, in particular the initiative of the Code of Ethics as the
professional hallmark of local government managers.
A decade after the 1969 assessment, the relevance of council-manager
government and the work of local government managers was addressed in greater
depth and breadth by ICMA when it undertook the Future Horizons Project. That
1978-1980 study was the most comprehensive strategic planning effort ever
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completed by ICMA. The results of that effort and its relevance today form the basis
of this analysis. That study addressed three topics:
• the expected local government environment of 2000;
• the roles and responsibilities of future managers; and
• the changing programs and priorities of the Association.
Members of the Future Horizons Committee and the 1998-2000 Strategic
Planning Committee have been contacted to identify common themes in these three
areas with a particular focus on differences in perceptions of manager roles and
responsibilities. Former ICMA Executive Director Mark Keane and Deputy Director
Lawrence Rutter provided their insights and perspectives. Current ICMA Executive
Board members, Executive Director Hansell and senior ICMA staff members also
contributed their thoughts, as did many Association members who took time to
discuss the project with the author. Their comments have also helped identify some
of the issues important to local government and the roles and responsibilities of
ICMA in the future. Competencies that are likely to be needed by managers in the
future are identified and discussed.
This research is intended to serve observers of public administration, city and
county managers, academic institutions that train them, and those who seek to
become local government administrators by providing a greater understanding of the
three issues identified. Political leadership, administrative executives, and citizens
interface constantly at the local level. Those interested in how politics and
administration interact can observe their interactions first-hand at city hall. As H.
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George Frederickson (2000) has observed, city managers “represent much of what is
ordinarily associated with the progressive and reform origins of public
administration” (9). Some of the principles identified by Frederickson include:
• “professional management;
• merit civil service;
• public service distributions without favoritism;
• uncorrupt relations with vendors and contractors;
• efficiency;
• economy; and, above all,
• a firewall between city politics and city administration” (9).
Today's city managers function in an environment that is very different from
the situations of their predecessors of the 1908-1950 period. While many changes
have been made in the manager’s roles and responsibilities since Staunton, Virginia,
hired Charles Ashbumer as the country’s first city manager in 1908, the most
dramatic changes have occurred in the years since 1980. How managers are
adjusting to these recent changes in roles and responsibilities and how ICMA and
academic institutions can better prepare managers for anticipated changes are the
focus of this research.
The Origins and Early Years of Council-Manager Government
Alexis de Tocqueville’s study of American communities in the 1830s
identified popular sovereignty, the tendency to join associations, and local self-
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government as foundations of local government in the United States. Hansell (1996)
has suggested that, by the time de Tocqueville visited America,
. . . the public had become an even more direct player in the
process of governance. An example of democracy, such as the
New England town meeting, offered citizens an opportunity to
combine deliberation with action. The notion of community
flourished and provided citizens with a constant, daily schooling
in rough democracy. (6).
What de Tocqueville found to praise in democracy, he found lacking in
administration, which he considered almost non-existent (31 -42). Almost 60 years
after de Tocqueville’s visit, government had expanded in scope and size.
Woodrow Wilson’s call for the study of government administration in the
1880s was based on an interest in economy and efficiency—an underlying principle
of the reform movement and the council-manager form of government. But Wilson
emphasized democratic government with control over a more efficient administration
(68-81). Democratic government and efficient administration became part of the
early foundation of council-manager government, which featured a publicly elected
legislative body that gave direction to an appointed manager.
The reform movement was a campaign against corruption at all levels of
government, but especially at the national and municipal levels. States and counties
bad fewer functions and responsibilities in the early twentieth century than they do in
the twenty-first. Federal and municipal traditions of patronage in employment and
purchasing were major targets of the reformers. Private sector leaders, such as
Frederick W. Taylor, demonstrated how industrial operations could be made more
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efficient by improving procedures. Government reform advocates, such as Richard
S. Childs, wanted to see these methods adopted by government. Childs and his
associates wanted the city manager to organize an efficient government.
Stillman (1974) identifies the growth of urbanization, the desire to apply
business and corporate ideals to government, the Progressive reform movement, and
the popularity of the scientific management and public administration movements as
predecessors to the council-manager movement (6-15). The council-manager form
represented the third attempt to reform local government structure. Earlier, in 1898,
the National Municipal League advocated the strong mayor form of government to
restrict the power of political machines and to centralize executive authority.
Business interests promoted the commission form (the Galveston Plan) in the 1900s
as a means of unifying power in a small board of commissioners.
Early highlights of the civic reform movement included passage of the
Pendleton Act in 1883 and Woodrow Wilson’s 1887 presentation on the need to
separate public policy from the administration. Opposition to political corruption
and employment patronage provided impetus for the Pendleton Act in 1883. Wilson
presented his paper calling for the establishment of the academic study of
government administration four years later. He advocated the study and adoption of
the administrative procedures of European monarchies. In an effort to demonstrate
that this could be done without changing democratic government practices in the
United States, he emphasized the separation of policy-making responsibilities of
elected officials from the implementation activities of staff members. This
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separation, commonly referred to as the politics-administration dichotomy, became a
principle of the council-manager form of government (Mosher 66-71). One of the
underlying issues surrounding contemporary discussions of the city manager’s role
and responsibilities is the possibility that this dichotomy may have been
misinterpreted. This question will be addressed in a later section of this paper.
Dwight Waldo reported that Frederick Taylor’s scientific management
principles, developed from Taylor’s studies of steel production plants, were being
introduced into some branches of public administration about 1910 (55-56). Taylor
sought the ''one best way” of production and used time studies to identify uniform
procedures that should be reduced to standardized policies and rules. He advocated
the division of work based on specialization, the selection of the best workmen, and
the use of scientific knowledge. Taylor emphasized the importance of cooperation
between labor and management and called on management to address worker
concerns and recommendations (66-79). Taylor’s work is comparable to that of W.
Edwards Deming, who provided the foundations for the Total Quality Management
(TQM) movement in the 1980s and 1990s. TQM techniques have been adopted by
many cities and counties in an effort to duplicate private sector efficiencies in the
late twentieth century and a manner very similar to efforts by early reformers and
managers to install methods similar to Taylor’s in city halls in the early decades of
the century.
The C-M plan grew out of the Reform Movement in the first decade of the
previous century. Reformers fought corruption and inefficiency at all levels of
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government The sentiment was that government should be run in a business-like
manner. Reform efforts at the national government level resulted in changes in
employee selection and promotion, vendor selection, and anti-trust regulation. State
governments adopted similar civil service and purchasing legislation and reduced the
number of elected positions, but the most significant results of the reform movement
came at the local government level.
Based on proposals put forth by Richard Childs and others, the C-M plan
followed concepts set forth by Woodrow Wilson in his 1887 paper, “The Study of
Administration.” Childs was disappointed in the workings of the Commission Plan
in Des Moines, Iowa, and Galveston, Texas, and looked favorably at the City of
Staunton, which had hired a “general manager” two years earlier. He and other
reformers sought to eliminate political machines that were based on patronage
employment and vendor kickbacks. They initially supported giving additional
powers and responsibilities to the elected mayor but were disappointed in the
organizational skills of the individuals elected to the office. The reformers
considered the commission form wherein members of an elected governing body
were also designated as heads of different line departments, but the reformers quickly
became concerned about the need for centralized executive authority.
Local government reformers sought to install a business orientation in city
hall. They proposed replacing the many elected positions with a five-man council
elected by the citizens at-large on a non-partisan basis. Although not specified by the
reformers, the council they envisioned would have to be composed of men, since
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women had not yet obtained the right to vote. The council envisioned by Childs and
other reformers was to be composed of local business leaders with a strong sense of
community service. These officials would provide policy direction, but they would
not have time to become involved in administrative details.
To handle the details of city government, Childs recommended the hiring of a
professional expert—a city manager. The manager would be responsible for the
city’s daily activities. He would provide policy recommendations to the council as
requested and would then implement the council policies. He would be trained in
business techniques and would bring a sense of economy and efficiency to city hall.
Employment positions would be created only as necessary and filled with the most
qualified applicants. A procurement process would be initiated to ensure that the city
paid minimum price for the best product. The manager would direct the accounting
process to ensure that all payments were made in accordance with the council
approved city budget. Political ties would, therefore, no longer be a factor in
municipal employment and purchasing.
Waldo suggested: “Democracy means an intelligent and informed citizenry
organized into groups, preferably as few as possible” (58). He added that local
governments would have a short ballot, a merit system, a budget system, and a
reporting system (58). Traditional reform meant:
• the adoption of these changes identified by Waldo;
• non-partisan elections;
• at-large rather than ward- or district-based elections;
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• election of the mayor by the council, from its members, rather than by the
voters; and
• adoption of the council-manager plan.
Childs founded the Short Ballot Organization to promote the reduction of the
number of elected positions in state and local government. Disappointment with
results in Galveston led Childs and his supporters to advocate the addition of a
professional manager appointed by the elected council to the earlier plan (Protasel,
1989a 26).
Advocates of the council-manager plan thought that politics and
administration could be separated by the election of a governing council, which
would appoint a politically neutral manager to carry out policies (Childs 3). The
lines of distinction between the council’s policy responsibilities and the managers
administrative roles were to be clear. Most individuals hired as managers in the
1908-1930 period, possessed backgrounds in engineering and business. This
represented a fusion of the reform movement’s goals for open, professional
government and the scientific management goals of economy and efficiency.
Childs emphasized the unification of authority and the short ballot instead of
emphasizing the manager’s public leadership role. The manager was intended to
remain insulated from the political side of government. The development of a
community leadership role for the manager was unanticipated (Protasel, 1989a 28-
29), although Childs stated in 1917 that “the great managers of tomorrow will be
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those whose ideals stopped at no line of dogma or tradition but pushed beyond the
old horizons and discovered new worlds of service” (Svara, 1989 71).
City managers were considered technical advisors to the city council who
could be relied on for impartial and efficient administration of municipal affairs.
Childs reported in his 1965 review of the history of the C-M form of government that
the new plan broadened participation in governing bodies by encouraging business
and civic leaders to accept elected office on a part-time basis rather than restricting
these positions to individuals willing to serve on a full-time basis. He added that this
led to improved administration by trained professionals instead of elected leaders,
and it also reduced the ballot to five offices, thereby allowing voters to become more
familiar with candidates. The concept of hiring a professional administrator for local
government was comparable to the local school system, which had started hiring
professional superintendents in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1828 (Childs 7-8).
Early managers were not trained in municipal affairs. Many came from the
private sector with engineering or accounting backgrounds. They understood the
need to follow the rule of law. State law and council ordinances governed their
activities. Many had previous municipal service as a city clerk or engineer, while
others had no prior government experience. The new managers also had no place to
get the needed experience and information. The need to share program information
and experience became obvious.
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The Founding of ICMA
By 1914, Ashbumer had left the City of Staunton and was serving as City
Manager of Springfield, Ohio. He and Henry Waite, City Manager, Dayton, Ohio,
sensed a need for a professional association o f city managers. They wanted to know
other managers so they would be able to share information and knowledge about
municipal programs. They also sought to create an identity for their new profession
that would be recognized by elected officials and the public. They invited other
managers to meet and discuss the feasibility of forming a professional association.
Eight managers came together that year in Springfield, Ohio, to discuss the need for a
professional association. A year later, the group met in Dayton to establish an
organization intended to promote the efficiency of city managers and local
government in general. This was the initial purpose of “The City Managers'
Association.” Today, ICMA shares a similar mission that has been expanded on
several occasions.
The managers who met in 1914 and annually thereafter focused on the need
to economize and bring efficiency to local government. They were strong advocates
of the dichotomy between politics and administration introduced by Woodrow
Wilson in 1887. They believed in a partnership with the council, which would
approve policy initiatives recommended by the manager but would not become
involved in daily activities. Early managers also recognized the need to inform
citizens about the activities o f their governments. Citizens needed to be informed
about city activities and could express their views to the council members. A paper
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on this subject was presented at the group’s annual meeting in 1915, but most
interaction was between the manager and the council, and between the manager and
the employees (Arnold 10).
Ethics was another key concern of early managers. They adopted a Code of
Ethics at their 1 Ith annual meeting in 1924. Although the Code and the Constitution
of ICMA have been amended on several occasions since initial adoption, they
continue to contain the guiding ethical principles established by the original
managers in those early years.
The city management profession continued to expand as more communities
adopted the council-manager form of government and as government administration
became more complex. Managers hired assistants to help with municipal
management activities. The assistants were added to the membership roles of ICMA
beginning in 1924. President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs included grants that
were administered by local governments. State budgeting and reporting requirements
increased. Because of these new responsibilities, ICMA increased its efforts to
provide educational materials for managers. The Association’s first “Green Book, ”
The Techniques o f Municipal Administration, was published in 1940 to augment the
newsletter and monthly magazine. These early efforts by ICMA and individual
managers helped demonstrate the importance of professional management to the
local governance process.
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Council-Mansger Government in the Post-World War Era
The post-World War II suburbanization of many central cities created new
communities with problems managing growth and providing infrastructure services,
such as roads and utilities. The new communities hired managers, and the profession
subsequently expanded to accommodate new entrants.
Many of the new managers were more extensively educated than their
predecessors. It was much more common for a manager in the 1950s to have
graduated from college than his early counterparts. By this time, universities such as
Syracuse, Kansas, and Southern California had established programs for future
public administrators. Benefits for World War II veterans made higher education
available for more citizens, including those interested in public administration and
city management.
Research and observation of city managers and their interactions with
council, city staff members, and the public allowed others to learn how they
functioned. Although ICMA always emphasized city manager neutrality, in 1958,
Karl Bosworth illuminated the reality of the manager’s political roles. These roles
became more evident in the 1960s when civil unrest swept the country. After he first
intensely questioned the managers changing roles, Bosworth recognized the
manager’s involvement in community affairs and policy issues.
This involvement represented a change from the traditional
policy/administration dichotomy. As managers became more involved in policy
issues, council members became more concerned with administrative details in a
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similar manner. Managers, who crossed the politics/administration line of
demarcation, suddenly realized that elected leaders could do the same thing. The
clear line separating these two spheres became clouded as both parties moved back
and forth. That line became cloudier as professional management began expanding
into county government on a broad basis by the 1970s. Since then, every year,
additional counties have adopted a county administrator form of organization. This
form and variations of the council-manager plan are now common among counties.
During the same period, many cities modified the structure of their government under
both the council-manager and mayor-council plans.
Television brought civil rights confrontations and reports of anti-Vietnam-
War activists into people’s living rooms in the 1960s. New domestic programs
funded non-profit agencies but failed to eliminate poverty in America. The results
contributed to citizen disillusionment with government at till levels and the Federal
government in particular. A symposium of articles, edited by Claremont, California,
City Manager Keith Mulrooney. in the January/February 1971 issue of Public
Administration Review, highlighted these issues as writers questioned whether or not
the council-manager system and managers themselves were capable of dealing with
the urban discontent of the period.
The 1968 election of President Richard Nixon facilitated a dramatic shift in
the focus of Federal domestic programs. Categorical programs that funded private
agencies were replaced with block grants to states and localities. Many grants,
particularly those with an urban focus, went directly to cities and counties, thereby
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bypassing state capitals. These new programs provided program opportunities but
also created many new requirements for local governments.
Local governments throughout the country in the 1970s sought professional
managers to guide them through the maze of grant requirements, including open
public budgeting requirements. The new managers, and those who served
communities which adopted the council-manager form decades earlier, also had to
contend with expanded citizen participation started under former President Lyndon
Johnson's Great Society program. Many of these managers worked in communities
that had not adopted the traditional council-manager form of government. ICMA,
therefore, had to decide how it would respond to managers who worked in different
roles—some as city managers in traditional C-M plan communities, others as city
administrators or similarly titled positions, and still others as county managers or
administrators. These expansions in the number of positions available to
professional local government managers helped create a profession that was much
more diverse than the one known to Richard Childs and the early managers known to
Charles Ashbumer and Henry Waite.
The Move to Washington
Recognizing the Federal interest in local communities, ICMA and several
other professional associations moved their central offices from Chicago to
Washington, DC. The ICMA moved in 1967. In that same year, ICMA initiated a
goals study that resulted in amendments to the Association’s constitution and by
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laws to change the name of the Association from the International City Managers
Association to the International City Management Association and to create a
category of full membership for those managers who were professionally trained and
who had accepted the ICMA Code of Ethics, but worked in communities that had
variations of the council-manager form of government (Arnold 38-39). This was an
important step for the Association, which had to recognize individuals serving in a
variety of local government management positions, if it wanted to maintain a strong,
growing membership base.
The 1969 revisions to the Code of Ethics reflected these changes and dropped
reference to allegiance to the C-M form of government, instead requiring members to
remain dedicated “to the concepts of effective and democratic government’’
(Stillman, 1974 66-67). These changes reflected the original purpose of the
association in 1915: “to promote the efficiency of city managers and municipal work
in general” (Arnold 2). The changes were also acknowledgements that many
managers worked as professional managers in communities that had a different form
of government. The Association would no longer represent only those who worked
in council-manager cities.
Changes at ICMA in the 1960s went beyond the move to Washington. The
most important change of the period was the selection of Mark Keane as Executive
Director in 1967 to replace Orin Nolting, who retired. Nolting had served as
Assistant Executive Director under Clarence Ridley from 1928 to 1956, and as
Executive Director from 1956 to 1967. The two executive directors were products of
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the early years of city management and had represented ICMA from the Depression
Era through World War II and into the Space Age. In contrast, Keane represented
urban management of the new era, having served as City Manager of Tucson,
Arizona, as well as other communities. He had served as president and vice-
president of the Association during his city management career. Keane was serving
as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development at the time of his appointment. He would broaden the Association's
services and programs in many areas of urban management and technology. His
efforts would help the Association grow in membership and in recognition by other
individuals and associations as a premier source of information and innovation in
local government (Arnold 38-40; Stillman, 1974 66-68).
Strategic Planning at ICMA and the Future Horizons Project
Reflecting Association member concerns of the period, the ICMA Executive
Board adopted a four-point strategic planning program, in the early 1960s.
concentrating on:
• public information activities;
• research into urban problems;
• support of professional education; and
• maintenance of ethical standards.
Later in the decade, a group of past Association presidents assisted the board
with the development of five goals, which were adopted in 1969. These goals were:
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1. to strengthen urban government through professional management;
2. to promote ICMA as the association of all professionally-trained local
government managers;
3. to improve the competence and capabilities of members;
4. "to contribute to the understanding and resolution of urban government
issues” (Arnold 44); and
5. to research and analyze data for managers in an effort to develop new
methods and concepts of management (44-45).
Although ICMA had established priorities in the past, this was the
Association's most formal strategic effort to date. ICMA formed committees and
task forces of members in 1978-1980,1988-1991, and 1998-2000 as subsequent
strategic efforts to plan for the future and to prepare local government managers for
it The first of these was the most comprehensive effort, but the others were
significant and should not be overlooked.
Termed the ICMA Future Horizon’s Committee, the 1978-80 effort resulted
in a New Worlds o f Service report to the membership and a book. The Essential
Community, authored by Laurence Rutter, who served as the project’s staff director.
The latter text became part of the Association’s Practical Management Series. The
text and the report provided Association members with the committee’s expectations
for local communities and their managers by the year 2000.
The effects of numerous changes in technology, the United States’ economy
and society, and the roles of elected officials and citizens in their local governments
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during the subsequent decades cannot be overstated. Governments at ail levels have
altered some programs dramatically, while other programs have experienced minor
changes, and still other programs have been initiated or discontinued during the
period. Many local governments changed their organizational structures, while
others simply informally changed the roles and responsibilities of elected and
appointed leaders.
These changes can be identified through the following uses of ICMA
materials:
1. analysis of the 1978-1980 study reports from today’s perspective;
2. analysis of the changes in the ICMA Code of Ethics since 1924;
3. a review of books and periodicals that are available;
4. a review of the managers roles and responsibilities as identified in the
Model City Charters and found in principal city management texts
produced by the association: The Techniques o f Municipal
Administration, Managing the Modem City, and 77ie Effective Local
Government Manager; and
5. a comparison of ICMA’s strategic plans since the 1969 goals were
established.
The Future Horizons project was initiated during the ICMA presidency of
Robert Kipp, City Manager of Kansas City, Missouri, who asked Regional Vice-
President George Schrader, City Manager of Dallas, to head the committee. Schrader
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was elected Association President two years later. The reports contain future
expectations that can be placed in four categories:
1. political trends and expectations concerning the local government
environment;
2. local government strategies for dealing with those future expectations;
3. manager roles, leadership requirements and skills needed; and
4. expectations, goals, and strategies for ICMA to meet the changing needs
of members.
The Committee also developed five alternative scenarios that were used to
identify and refine the possible local government environment in 2000. These
scenarios included a range of possible futures from very optimistic to pessimistic.
When considering the scenarios, the Committee reviewed and compared them based
on five broad areas of interest. The scenarios are described in Chapter 4 (Rutter 141-
151).
The Future Visions Project
The 1988-1990 Future Visions project differed significantly from the earlier
Future Horizons project. The initial session was a week-long seminar sponsored by
the Brookings Institution. The Committee then broke into regions and met to
identify pressing issues. A year later, the group reconvened and divided into seven
subcommittees:
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1. information and technology;
2. economics and finance;
3. governance;
4. human resources;
5. service delivery;
6. external process or community strategic planning; and
7. internal process or manager roles and skills (Griesemer, “Introduction” in
Paul, 1991 1-2).
The Committee sponsored a report to the ICMA membership—Future
Challenges, Future Opportunities—and a Practical Management Series
book—Managing fo r Tomorrow: Global Change and Local Futures, edited by Amy
Cohen Paul, who directed the project.
ICMA’s 2000 Strategic Plan
The 1998-2000 Strategic Planning Committee presented its final report to the
membership at the 2000 Annual Conference in Cincinnati. This was a block away
from the location of the 1978 Annual Conference where ICMA members learned
about the work of the Future Horizons Committee, which discussed city management
and ICMA, 2000. The 2000 Committee developed a plan with five broad areas:
1. advocacy o f the value of professional management and council-manager
government;
2. increase in professional development opportunities for members;
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3. extension of efforts to build and sustain the Association’s membership;
4. continuation of ICMA as the authority on professional local government
management; and
5. maintenance of a fiscally sound and responsive Association (ICMA. Plan
2000 A10-A11).
The five goals are remarkably similar to those adopted by the Association in
1969. They also reflect the vision of Henry Waite, Charles Ashbumer, and
others when they met in Springfield in 1914. The constancy of purpose of
professional local government managers and ICMA is commendable.
Manager Roles and Responsibilities
These reports reflect ICMA’s efforts to identify changes affecting the
manager’s roles in local government and to prepare managers for changes. A
comparison of the manager roles identified should parallel changes in ICMA’s
educational efforts, academic research and observations regarding changes in the
roles of local government managers.
Community Building and Social Capital
A key role for today’s manager, as identified by John Nalbandian (1999), is to
be a community builder. He defines community building from a public official’s
perspective as: "building political capacity—the capacity to make collective
decisions amidst diverse and conflicting interests. A crucial component of this
capacity is developing a sense o f responsibility among citizens to participate in and
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obligate themselves to collective decisions” (189). He adds that citizens must
conclude: “Certain tasks require collective and public action rather than private,
individual decisions” and expect their government officials to “respect the values of
representation, individual rights, and social equity” (189).
Nalbandian described what Robert Putnam and others have labeled “social
capital.” It is Putnam’s (2000) contention that Americans have become disconnected
from each other and their communities. He suggests:
Trustworthiness lubricates social life. Frequent interaction among
a diverse set of people tends to produce a norm of generalized
reciprocity. Civic engagement and social capital entail mutual
obligation and responsibility for action.. . . Social networks and
norms of reciprocity can facilitate cooperation for mutual benefit.
(21)
Putnam (1993) found that “the correlation between civic engagement and effective
government is virtually perfect” in a study of democracy in modem Italy (103). He
stated that a significant erosion of social capital has occurred in recent decades in
America and that people must rebuild social networks to revitalize democracies (106-
107).
Putnam (2000) found many common themes in American society 100 years
ago and today. “America, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century suffered from
classic symptoms of a social capital deficit—crime waves, degradation in the cities,
inadequate education, a widening gap between rich and poor, and corruption” (368).
He added that society needs
— an era of civic inventiveness to create a renewed set of
institutions and channels for reinvigorated civic life that will fit
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the way we have come to live We need to be as ready to
experiment as the progressives were. (401)
Perhaps today’s city managers can act as community builders in ways different from
their predecessors 87 years ago. Early managers were often from the engineering
profession and worked to develop the physical infrastructure and the municipal staff
of their communities. Today, managers must perform these tasks and also build
social capital and work to rekindle a sense of community spirit.
To do so, they will need different skills. Early managers were often the only
managerial members of the municipal staff. They developed skills through
experience, consultation with other managers, and formal training programs as they
became available. Today, municipal staffs include numerous trained professionals.
The manager is no longer the expert in all aspects of municipal administration. The
Future Horizons Committee suggested the manager be considered a coordinator. To
coordinate municipal operations, elected leader priorities and citizen projects, the
manager needs such skills as facilitative leadership and community building, conflict
resolution, and he/she needs an understanding of emotional intelligence.
The early movement to council-manager government emphasized efficiency,
but “it was not a tax-saving incentive nor desire for economy that inspired this first
effort to apply modem efficiency tests to municipal government” (Bruere 93).
Instead, Bruere says the motive was the belief that, through efficiency, social welfare
could be achieved and the city government could become a center for "getting things
done” for the entire population (93).
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Early ICMA textbooks encouraged the manager to avoid partisan and visible
public leadership roles on policy issues. This changed after World War II, except for
the avoidance of partisanship, as the manager became recognized as a community
leader who submits professional policy proposals to the council and advises it on
policy issues (Svara, 1989 55-56). Local government responsibilities were expanded
in the 1950s as the Federal government initiated programs of grant-in-aid to local
governments. Initially targeted to education and sewage treatment programs, the
grant programs were expanded in the 1960s and were followed by revenue sharing
block grants in the next decade. These grants required local governments to expand
management capabilities and to enter new service areas. Citizen expectations grew
dramatically. City managers began dealing with new issues, complex program
requirements, and greater citizen expectations. Many followed Richard Childs'
prediction and moved beyond existing service levels into new programs.
Karl Bosworth*s Classifications o f Managers
The manager’s role as a community leader has generated discussion among
academic researchers, practicing administrators, and elected officials since the 1950s.
Bosworth (1958) identified three distinct roles for managers:
• the administrative manager, who maintained the city’s internal affairs;
• the policy research manager, who researched issues and recommended
policies to the governing body; and
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• the community lender and manager, who advocated community
programs and projects while avoiding partisan political issues.
Bosworth contended that administrative activities such as budget
recommendations, procurement preferences, and the allocation of resources to
projects and areas of the community were political. The manager’s role of
implementing council’s policies, and meeting community needs and expectations,
makes the manager a politician (217-219).
Two decades later. Stillman (1977) found the question of whether the
manager functioned as a neutral, as a professional advisor, or as a political leader still
under debate. That debate continues today. However, agreement remains that the
manager must not become involved in partisan political roles, but rather must remain
neutral on this type of issue, while continuing to be engaged in a professional policy
role.
While concern for local government economy and efficiency continues today,
competing emphasis is on involvement of elected officials and citizens. It is at the
local level that citizens have greatest contact with their government and where they
seek the highest degree of involvement. Putnam suggests that citizen involvement
and civic associations may be keys to successful democracy. Involvement and
mutual responsibility build trust and confidence. They also generate what Putnam
(1993) and others refer to as “social capital—networks and norms of civic
engagement” (103-107). This is similar to what Nalbandian (1999) and Nalbandian
and James Oliver (1999) refer to as “community building,” wherein citizens
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determine goals, priorities, and in some cases, implementation strategies for
programs and services at neighborhood levels.
How a city manager balances citizen and elected official desires to have
greater involvement in administrative processes with the need to provide services in
a cost-effective manner is of interest to many observers. Nalbandian (1991)
describes the city manager as “a prototypical character in our society . . . [because] he
or she operates at the interstices of political and administrative constellations of
logic” (108). Change in the roles and responsibilities of city managers is an ideal
area of study for those interested in different interpretations o f the politics-
administration dichotomy and how democracy interfaces with government efficiency.
Hansell (2000b) describes the council-manager plan as having stability based
on enduring principles and flexibility to adapt to changing needs depending upon
trends and individual community preferences. Traditionally, local government
managers have been professionally trained in public administration values of
integrity, economy, efficiency, effectiveness, equity, and inclusiveness (18-19). For
the first fifty years of the council-manager plan, managers used this training to
administer local government services with policy direction from an elected body
composed of local business and professional leaders. Today, such training is
inadequate.
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Changes in City Government Structure
In the December 1998 issue of Public Management. Hansell discussed
changes to the C-M form of government. He cited:
• a commitment to ethics;
• open, participatory local government; and
• professional management as cornerstones of this form of government.
He added that the original council-manager plan emphasized:
• small councils elected-at-large;
• council members who served the community as citizen volunteers;
• nonpartisan elections; and
• a presiding officer (usually the mayor) elected by the council (15).
Members of the governing body looked at serving on the council as another
part-time civic duty. The group functioned as a homogenous body with limited issue
conflict and no partisan political conflict. Kaatz. French and Prentiss-Cooper
emphasize the difference between these two types of conflict. The former addresses
specific issues and policies. When it is resolved, the participants move to the next
issue with a clean slate. By contrast, partisan conflict is focused on policies and
issues but also, and more often, on other factors such as personalities and political
party affiliation (164).
Direct election of the mayor and election of council members by ward on a
partisan basis are common today (Hansell, 1998 15-16). Academic observers have
been sensing these changes on an evolutionary basis for decades. The changes have
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led to serious questioning of the need for a professional manager in many
communities. Hansell (2000) suggests that managers bring a unique perspective and
expert capabilities to local government and that these would in all probability be
absent without professional managers. He advocates further study into:
• the partnership between elected and appointed officials;
• the question of credentials for managers; and
• the imprints of expanded use of on local government operations and staff
relations with the governing body (17-21).
Changes in the make-up of governing bodies have been of particular concern
to practitioners and academic observers alike. Today's city council does not
resemble its predecessor. Today’s governing body is much more diverse in make-up
and is more partisanly political in nature than earlier groups. And, yet, it does not
reflect the latter group’s values or its perception of the division of roles and
responsibilities between the council and staff. Today’s council member wants to be
directly involved in administrative activities and tends to participate in partisan
political conflict. Partisan political conflict among council members tends to become
a continuous activity and to spill over to council-staff relations. This can degenerate
into ineffective governing and staff turnover (Kaatz et al. 1999).
Since Bosworth’s 19S8 discussion of the manager’s different roles in the
community, the changing roles and responsibilities of the local government managers
have been observed and reported. Others have commented on the same trends that
have led to a fusion of roles and responsibilities of managers and governing bodies.
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The Type III City
George Frederickson has looked at these changes and created a model, which
he calls a Type ID city. The Type I city in Frederickson’s model is the traditional
mayor-council form of government as contrasted with his Type II city which depicted
the C-M form. The two types were clear and distinct until recent decades. They
represented different values. In the case of the C-M community, the dichotomy
between council’s policy roles and the manager’s administrative responsibilities
replicated Woodrow Wilson’s initial separation of the two in 1887. Today, many
communities in each category (Type I and Type II) have adopted tenets of the other.
Type I cities have hired professional staff members in efforts to improve public
services by adopting professional management techniques. Simultaneously, elected
leaders in Type II cities have become more politically partisan, and staffs have found
a changing work environment (Frederickson, 1999 13, 16-19). Managers have been
forced to adapt to new roles or seek employment elsewhere.
Ethical standards, once a trademark of council-manager government have
become less clear. As noted by Peggy Merriss, City Manager, Decatur, Georgia, the
new roles, relationships and expectations of elected leaders make it “harder to define
ethical standards (of conduct).” A past chair of ICMA’s professional conduct
committee, she says "the nature of ‘gray’ is much different today when compared to
ICMA’s first Code of Conduct in 1924” (personal conversation with author, April
1999).
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New Horizons City Management
Craig Wheeland (2000) has used the recent literature on the changing roles
and responsibilities of the manager to develop the “New Horizons City Management
(NHCM) Theory.” He notes that the manager is responsible to three different
customers—the council majority, the community, and the city management
profession. These various groups bring different perspectives to different issues. He
adds that ICMA’s “Dialogue on the Profession” and “Council-Manager Plan Task
Force” both recognized the manager’s responsibility “to respond better to demands
for responsive, participatory government, and to defend more persuasively the
legitimacy of administrative leadership in the public sector” (255-256).
Wheeland elaborates on the NHCM theory and suggests that it:
• rejects the politics/administration dichotomy;
• recognizes the council as the manager’s primary employer; and
• acknowledges enhanced roles for citizens at-large (258-259).
He adds that the situation in 2000 is made more complex by manager efforts
to avoid political involvement and to resist council involvement in administrative
functions. He finds that politics and administration cannot be separated, but both the
manager and the council should be involved in “all dimensions of the governing
process from the developing and determining missions and policies to administering
and managing policies and programs” (258).
Wheeland describes the relationship between the manager, the council, and
citizens at-large as a partnership in which all three have equivalent rights and
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responsibilities. Tension mounts when citizens clash with the council and the
manager tries to work with both factions. He recognizes the complexity that stems
from manager efforts to remain aloof from political considerations of various issues
and to resist council involvement in the manager's ability to hire, supervise and
terminate staff. He adds, however, that “the city manager does not work in isolation”
(258-260). The manager who functioned as a semi-independent executive in the
1950s must now share more executive power with elected officials and department
heads.
New Roles for Managers at the Turn of the Century
Robert Golembiewski and Gerald Gabris (1995) found similar concerns in
their study of the manager’s changing role: “The implied role shift features a city
manager transition from chief implementer to chief facilitative change agent” (244).
The question is not whether or not the successful manager will change, but how. The
future manager will operate within an arena of shared power. Power and
responsibility will be shared with the council and with citizens.
Svara believes that the “model of complementarity is a stronger foundation
for public administration and for the council-manager form of government. A
complementary relationship also implies separate parts and distinctiveness but the
emphasis is on how each contributes to the whole” (1998 57). In a 2001 article, he
commented that:
— complementarity stresses interdependence along with distinct
roles; compliance with independence; respect for political control
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along with a commitment to shape and implement policy in ways
that promote the public interest; deference to elected incumbents
along with adherence to the law and support for fair electoral
competition; and appreciation for politics along with support for
professional standards. (179)
To be successful, managers will need to leam skills such as facilitative
leadership, conflict resolution, public-private and public-public partnership
development, team management with accountability, organization learning, and
consensus building that emphasizes community involvement in decision-making. In
addition, managers need to study psychology—the roles elected leaders want to play
in government, how these roles change with different leaders, and how they should
respond.
Academic training for managers should change to meet the needs of city
managers with different roles and responsibilities. That training must also be altered
to prepare managers for changes in their roles and responsibilities that will occur in
the future. City managers must know how others are adjusting to these changes as
they decide how to address them in their communities. Individuals interested in
careers in local government management must understand how roles and
responsibilities are both enduring and changing in varied respects.
As managers moved into the policy arena, the desire for professional
expertise in local government spread to communities that practiced strong partisan
political leadership. Cities that functioned as Mayor-Council communities
(Frederickson’s Type I) and traditionally structured county governments began
employing professional managers as administrators. Although some counties hired
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professional managers prior to 1970, most such professional administrative posts
were created only during the last three decades of the twentieth century. Apperson
(1998b) notes that county political leaders came to consider the employment of
professional administrators a necessity in order to meet increasingly complex
financial requirements, to oversee increased service levels demands by incoming
residents, and to apply for and manage Federal funds that were increasingly available
to local governments (51). In many cases, local individuals were hired as the
governing body’s administrator and had limited formal authority. In other cases,
formal authority was assigned to the administrator who was recruited from outside
the community. These new administrative leaders functioned in a manner similar to
appointed officials in Frederickson’s Type III city. This represents a significant shift
from the traditional forms of city government. The Type I city reflected the values of
patronage and favoritism compared to the Type II values of equity and efficiency.
Managers trained under the old system would need to adapt to the new one. This
bothers managers who must decide “what we stand for” (Witt, 2000). Hansell has
asked this question in several issues of Public Management. ICMA and its members
must determine the answer and how the professional manager fits into hybrid
systems. The other aspect of the question is how managers should be educated to
meet the varied challenges.
Svara suggests that the initial politics/administration dichotomy in the
counci 1-manager form of government was created when the use of scientific methods
closed off administration to the untrained politician and made the administrator an
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expert. Today’s technology allows the politician to attempt to function more as an
informed professional, causing Svara and others to consider the separation to be an
unrealistic effort to keep elected officials away from administrative issues. He
proposes a model of complimentary roles, with each party contributing to the whole
as a stronger foundation for public administration and the council-manager form of
local government (Svara, 1998 52-57; 2001 178-180). Svara’s proposals are similar
to those in Frederickson’s Type III community.
The managers role has changed in many communities. Part-time council
members looked to professional staff members for advice as to how new initiatives
could be financed and implemented. Council ordinances and policies were
frequently ambiguous. Robert Behn asks: "What should the public manager do in the
face of legislative ambiguity: ask for clarification or provide it?” (215) If a program
failed, council could look to the manager and claim that the policy was not
implemented as intended. If the program was a success, council did a good job.
Managers moved to fill leadership voids when council members did not.
As new stakeholders entered the local political arena, fragmentation became
common. Whitaker and Jenne refer to this fragmentation and cite the arrival of new
immigrants, the spread of tax revolts, a growing orientation towards privatization,
and increasingly competing views of the public interest as causes. After reviewing
the Winter Commission report, they proposed to improve city managers’ leadership
skills through the sharing o f executive authority and the promotion of direct problem
solving efforts by municipal employees. They cited more diverse public
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participation, greater conflict between council members, and mayors seeking
increased power and influence as threats to the manager’s leadership role (89).
The council-manager plan has been adapted to meet local needs and
preferences in many communities. Changes in the election process include some or
all council members being elected at-large and the establishment of a mayor-council-
manager hybrid system in which the mayor is elected by the public and the manager
functions as an internal administrator (Sharp 3).
Banovetz (1994) has identified a number of these adaptations that have
affected the manager’s roles and responsibilities. Some communities have reverted
from at-large to district elections, requiring managers to accommodate ward-based
politics. This shift has led to significant changes in the make-up of councils, which
are now more diverse and more partisanly political. Newly-elected leaders have
specific issue and service demands for their areas of the community and personal
constituencies (317-320).
Newell, Glass and Ammons report that the manager’s policy role is lessened,
but the management role is strengthened when governing body members are
nominated by district and elected at-large (105-106). Protasel (1989a) notes that a
directly elected mayor can become a focal point of leadership in the public arena.
Approximately 65% of the council-manager cities in the United States in 1988 had a
directly elected mayor. The 1987 version of the National Civic League’s model
charter indicated no preference between directly elected and council selected mayors
(28-29).
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Banovetz (1994) suggests that these changes have led to a change in the type
of person who is elected to local councils. Early reformers expected business and
community leaders to occupy these part-time positions as a community service.
Many of those elected today view the role as a full-time activity and expect
appropriate compensation. The position can become important as a community
power base leading to long tenure or “higher” elected office. He adds that the
mayor/council/manager form of government causes changes in the manager’s role
and responsibilities (320).
The new or altered forms of government have become associated with a
different breed of council member with different expectations than their
predecessors. The two changes (altered form of government and new type of council
member) have developed together. In some cases, the new council member has
altered the form of government. In others, the new form has caused candidates with
different political aspirations and role expectations to seek office.
These changes can affect the city manager’s tenure. Renner and DeSantis
(1994) found that the manager’s position was less secure with a popularly elected
mayor, which often created conflict between two executive leadership positions.
This tension seemed to decline with time. The longer the mayor remained in office,
the less likely it was that the manager would be terminated. They also found that
greater stability among the council members improved the managers tenure, and that
significant turnover at the council level was often accompanied by manager turnover.
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Managers with less formal power are left with fewer opportunities for independent
action and therefore tend to have longer tenure (105-109).
The 1992-1994ICMA Task Force on the council-manager plan described the
manager’s role in terms of responsibility to the council. They anticipated that the
manager would continue to provide policy advice, promote team-building, and
support council’s oversight of organizational performance. The manager’s
responsibility for directing the organization, appointing staff, and preparing the
budget were considered part of the manager’s accountability for organizational
effectiveness (Svara, 1989 56). These management functions become more
important for the manager when the mayor is directly elected, when council consists
of more than six members and when council is elected at-large from districts. In
these cases, the manager’s policy role is reduced as elected leaders assume a greater
policy leadership role (Newell, Glass, and Ammons 105-106).
Nalbandian (1995) suggests a basic difference in the value systems of elected
officials and professional managers. The staff members have been trained to value
economy and efficiency, cost-benefit ratios, and rational decision-making based on
facts. Elected officials have other values such as representation, individual rights and
social equity. Nalbandian (1994) suggests that the manager will continue to provide
a bridge between professional staff members and the governing body who often
speak different languages. The manager must understand "bureaucratease" and
“politicianease” and serve as a translator who brings both groups together (534). The
manager must be able to look beyond administrative problems onto the political
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horizon and recognize potential problems. Nalbandian (1991) describes the city
manager as: ‘‘a prototypical character in our society (because) he or she operates
at the interstices of political and administrative constellations of logic” (108).
Banovetz (1994) laments some of the changes in the managers position and
suggests that many will “hunker down in their jobs, focusing their energies on
delivering services and resolving customer complaints and avoid, whenever possible,
entanglement with the personalities on the council (321). But,” he adds, “this will
not be a proactive involvement that seeks to identify policy needs.. . . It will be
reactive, addressing issues that arise from other sources waiting for council direction
before charting alternatives and willingly accepting satisficing solutions” (321). In
this transition process, he believes that “managers will therefore lose their distinctive
place in the field of public management, their ability to be unique to the degree to
which they can rather openly assert their special qualities and status in the exercise of
leadership” (321).
And, yet, city managers must lead. They must articulate the organization’s
purpose and motivate people to achieve it. They must work to keep the organization
focused on its mission and encourage people to develop new systems for pursuing
that mission (Behn 212). How they lead will change, and they must be prepared to
adapt. Instead of being recognized as the public community leader, they may need to
facilitate from backstage. Some managers will find the change easy. Others will not.
How will they recognize the different circumstances, which require them to fill these
different roles and how will they adapt to various situations?
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The movement towards Type III communities is well-documented. It is not
new to the profession. In the last 30 years, many counties in the United States have
hired an administrator to assist the governing body. Many cities have modified the
council-manager form to include an administrator who works for the mayor and/or
the council, but does not have complete administrative authority over the
organization (Frederickson 1999). Changes such as the 1999 decision to transfer
executive powers in Oakland from the city manager to the mayor are increasing. The
changes are continuing. The Future Horizons Committee recognized these trends
and accurately predicted a role of city coordinator for managers in 2000.
How managers are responding to these changing roles is not well-known.
The impact of the changing role on the manager’s relationship with the governing
body is not known. The implications for local government programs and services
have not been assessed. And, finally, the need for changes in education and training
programs intended to prepare individuals for local government management
positions and continuously improve their abilities is not known.
The answers to these questions must come from managers themselves. Many
managers suggest a hard-nosed approach that fends off any and all intrusions into
administrative functions. These managers would rather relocate than compromise
what they consider to be basic tenets.
As James G. Witt, CM, Coppell, Texas, stated in a manager’s roundtable, one
underlying cause of the change in council members is the large number of corporate
consolidations that have taken place in recent years. Past council members were
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local business leaders with significant responsibilities for a local business and were
not involved in city government administration. Witt added that the local business
leader o f2000 is probably a middle level supervisor who frequently has limited
decision-making authority. Policies are determined in a central office located in
another part of the country or the world. These local business leaders who become
involved in city council are often frustrated by the lack of autonomy in their business,
and they have more time available for the details of government affairs and desire to
become involved in administrative functions and decisions. Another problem
resulting from the changes in the type of council member is that lack of
organizational experience. Council members elected without experience in other
organizations often do not fully understand their role as an elected official expected
to work with others and provide policy guidance rather than direct administrative
oversight. Other roundtable participants from the United States and Canada echoed
similar experiences.
Local government has changed since the Reform Movement and Charles
Ashbumer was hired as the first city manager in 1908. This study traces changes in
the local government environment since that time and reviews changes in the roles
and responsibilities of local government managers from 1908 to the twenty-first
century. The research also examines the founding of ICMA and changes in the
organization and its activities since 1914.
This study reviews the expectations of the 1978-1980 Future Horizons
Committee and compares those expectations with local government in 2001 with a
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focus on the managers roles and responsibilities and ICMA activities in support of
the managers. It also discusses future needs of managers for training and skills and
how ICMA can address those needs. Before the study addresses the future, however,
the origins and history of professional local government management and ICMA are
reviewed.
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CHAPTER II
ORIGINS OF THE COUNCIL-MANAGER FORM OF GOVERNMENT
The 1900-1945 period was one of dramatic change for local government in
the United States. The period began with cities being considered corrupt and
inefficient by observers and citizens alike. City governments were controlled by
political machines, that elected a large slate of candidates to political office. Elected
politicians, in turn, provided employment opportunities and public contracts to
supporters.
To fight corruption, reformers worked to reduce the number of elected
positions through the Short Ballot Initiative. They also advocated a new form of city
government—the council-manager form, which concentrated power in the elected
council. The council appointed a manager to direct the administration of the city’s
affairs. The managers gathered in Springfield, Ohio, in 1914, to form a professional
association.
The council-manager form of government and the ICMA grew throughout the
next thirty years. Early city managers strove to rid city governments of corruption
and to make them as efficient as possible. City revenues were limited during the
years of the Depression and World War II. This forced managers to develop ways of
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adapting the Scientific Management principles of Frederick W. Taylor to local
government.
The managers had few funds available for their new Association. Since
funding was limited, the Association modified its by-laws in an effort the expand
membership and developed a cornerstone of its future existence. The Association’s
first Code of Ethics was adopted in 1924. Although it has been modified on several
occasions since that time, the basic content and purpose of the Code remain in effect.
ICMA had to turn to other funding sources such as the Laura Spelman Rockefeller
Memorial Fund, which provided financial support during the 1930s and 1940s. The
Association initiated the "Green Book” series of publications for local government
managers and provided other forms of information for managers. Local government,
professional management, and ICMA survived a difficult period from 1900 to 1945.
and were significantly altered by the events described herein.
Colonial Origins o f American Government
Michelle Frisby notes: “The history of city and county management is rooted
in parliamentary England, but has evolved into a uniquely American balancing act
between elected and appointed officials” (38). Professional management in local
government was instituted as part of the Reform Movement or what Mosher (1982)
refers to as “Government by the Good.” This period began in the 1880s with
changes in the Federal government The movement began to affect local government
when the National Municipal League proposed the first Model City Charter in 1895.
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The movement was a response to the inefficiency, waste, patronage employment, and
purchasing practices of government at all levels. It also represented a group that
came together to lobby for women’s suffrage, anti-child labor laws, and similar
modes of social reform (Stillman, 1977 9).
In Colonial times and during the first century of this nation, American cities
were governed by councils and by council committees. The public oversaw the
legislature at town meetings. The mayor was elected by the council or appointed by
the governor and usually served as the presiding officer of the council. The mayor,
the recorder, and frequently a municipal police chief or sergeant served as the
community’s administrative staff. These administrative roles were limited since the
community provided few, if any, services. These positions and any other municipal
employees usually functioned on a part-time basis. The employees were contacted
when a service was needed.
Local governments were not addressed in the Constitution by the national
founding fathers. The United States Constitution provided for the powers, limits and
structure of the Federal government and reserved all other powers to the states and
the people.
With the coming of independence, state legislatures assumed control over
municipal corporations. In 1822, Boston and St. Louis became the first cities to
provide for a directly elected mayor. By 1840, most cities in the United States
provided for a mayor chosen by popular vote. Communities also decided that
municipal administrators be elected by the voters. Tax collectors, constables,
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assessors, clerks, treasurers, and attorneys and, in some cases, even engineers and
chiefs of police all stood for election on a regular basis.
Urban Development and Political Machines
In the second half of the nineteenth century, services were expanded as the
size and service needs of local populations grew. Police and fire protection, public
schools and basic welfare, and public water (if available) are examples of the core
services provided by nineteenth century cities (Adrian, 5-7).
The rapid urbanization of America in the second half of the nineteenth
century was caused by:
• mass immigration from Europe;
• industrialization, mass production, and the creation of new jobs;
• citizen movement from rural to urban areas in search of improved living
conditions and employment;
• the closing of the frontier (Waldo, as extracted in Mosher, 1981 53-56);
• government and fiscal incentives for industrial growth; and
• national expansionary trade policy (Stillman, 1974 6-7).
New conveniences, such as electricity, telephones, indoor plumbing, and
electric trolleys, were distinct advantages available to city dwellers, who became the
envy of their rural counterparts (Bailey and Kennedy, 564-6).
As new residents arrived, they received little help, if any, from government
agencies. They turned instead to political parties, which provided contacts for
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employment and living needs. Immigrants learned quickly whom they owed for their
jobs and how they should vote. Private contractors who worked for the government
provided funding for party leaders and political activities in order to obtain municipal
contracts. Cities learned to operate in a corrupt manner similar to the Federal
government but on a smaller scale.
The “spoils era” began at the Federal level somewhat with the introduction of
“government by the common man” by President Andrew Jackson in the 1830s.
While Jackson is recognized as having appointed individuals of ability and
competence, subsequent Presidents were not as concerned about qualifications. State
and local leaders quickly learned how the “spoils system” functioned. Public
perceptions of government administrators as incompetent and corrupt; increased
conflict between executive and legislative branches of government over
appointments; and, tremendous pressure on elected leaders by office seekers, were
some of the problems created by this method of selecting administrators (Mosher 64-
66).
Frisby suggests that “seemingly overnight, partisan bosses emerged,
indulging in nepotism, patronage and the exploitation of municipal funds over which
they were granted control” (40). While most public attention was directed towards
large cities such as New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, corruption also became
common in medium-sized and smaller cities and counties as partisan political
appointments, forced contributions, favoritism in the provision of public services,
petty theft, and wide-spread mediocrity flourished (Arnold 5). As George
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Washington Plunkett liked to say: “I seen my opportunities and I took ’em” (Riordon
3).
While not the focus of this paper, it is important to note the contribution of
machine politics to the orientation and assimilation of new immigrants. The new
inhabitants often came with little more than what they could carry. Many could not
speak the language and had no money or marketable skills. The political machine
served as their welcoming committee and social services/employment referral
agency. Richard Croker suggested the need to
. . . think what New York is and what the people of New York
are: One half, more than one half, are of foreign birth.. . . They
do not speak our language, they do not know our laws, they are
raw material with which we have to build up the state There
is no denying the service which Tammany has rendered to the
Republic. There is no such organization for taking hold of the
untrained, friendless man and converting him into a citizen. Who
else would do it if we did not? There is not a mugwump in the
city who would shake hands with him. (As quoted by Arthur
Mann in the introduction to Riordon xix)
Although the political machines had support from those who benefited from that
system, many middle and upper class residents became dissatisfied. They felt they
were denied access to the political system unless they supported inept and corrupt
politicians. They believed that the machines were not adjusting to the growing needs
of new residents and adequately addressing public health and welfare needs. They
wanted change.
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The Early Reform Movement
Muckraking journalists such as Jacob Riis, Ida Tarbell, and Lincoln Steffens
wrote extensively and tirelessly about the political corruption and living conditions in
large cities (Arnold 5). “In response to public discontent (primarily voiced by
citizens in rural towns and the small communities that surrounded the cities),
progressive reformers fought for and won a series of reforms that prompted a number
of organizational experiments in local government” (Frisby 40). Nalbandian (1991)
suggests that the reformers wanted to “remove politics from administrative processes
and reduce administration to a technical field subject to rational analysis and
management principles rather than political considerations” (6-7).
This was similar to the concerns of Woodrow Wilson in “The Study of
Administration” (1887). He called for the establishment of an academic discipline to
study government administration. He suggested that politics and administration
could be separated and that Americans could learn how to administer government
programs efficiently by studying European monarchies. He emphasized the
separation of politics and administration in order to ensure the preservation and
protection of democratic government processes when the more efficient processes of
totalitarian governments were introduced in the United States (Mosher, 1981 66-72).
Wilson looked at the dichotomy between politics and administration as an
intellectual tool and suggested that “managing the day-to-day operations of
government had become exceedingly complex, a task frequently beset by
inefficiency, graft and corruption” (Nalbandian, 1991 7). Nalbandian (1991) adds
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that Wilson considered politics and administration as two separate aspects of
governance that were arranged in a hierarchy as opposed to the traditional view of
equal branches of government. This logic allowed Wilson to look at administration
as a technical activity focused on efficiency and isolated from political influence.
His conclusion was that administration was subservient to elected leaders who were
responsible to the public—thereby preserving the crucial links to democratic theory
(7-8).
Waldo reported that Frederick Taylor’s scientific management principles
were being introduced into some branches of public administration as early as 1910
(55-56). Scientific management developed from Frederick Taylors studies of steel
production plants. Taylor sought the " ‘one best way” of production and used time
studies to identify uniform procedures that should be reduced to standardized policies
and rules. He advocated the division of work based on specialization, selection of
the best workmen, and the use of scientific knowledge. Taylor emphasized the
importance of cooperation between labor and management and called on
management to address worker concerns and recommendations (66-79).
Reformers initially turned their attention to the hiring practices o f the Federal
government. Concern for the patronage hiring at all levels of the executive branch of
government gave impetus for Congress to pass the Pendleton Act of 1883. This was
the initial creation of the Civil Service System. Similar state legislation was adopted
across the country (Mosher, 1981 49). Other significant initiatives at the Federal
level included anti-trust legislation, re-organization of Federal departments, a
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commission to apply efficiency principles to the Federal Government, and the
Federal Reserve Act (Bailey and Kennedy 689; Bruere, as extracted in Mosher, 1981
94; Morison 842-843).
Robert LaFollette defeated a machine organization in Wisconsin in 1900 and
initiated state-level reforms based on the Federal models. His initiatives encouraged
other states, such as Missouri, Oregon and California, to follow suit. In 1926, when
Harry Byrd, Sr., became the second youngest governor in Virginia behind Thomas
Jefferson, he initiated a reduction in the number of elected positions and independent
bureaus and commissions at the state level, but rejected recommendations by Luther
Gulick of the New York Bureau of Municipal Research to reduce the number of
independent officials elected at the local level (Heinemann 61,63-64, 81-83).
This pattern of eliminating many elected positions at the state level, but
retaining separately elected administrative positions locally, continues today.
Virginia elects three state-level officers (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and
Attorney General), but voters in each separate city and county elect five
administrative officers (Clerk of the Court, Commonwealth Attorney, Treasurer,
Sheriff, and Commissioner o f the Revenue). These officers are funded in whole or in
part by the state and continue to maintain allegiance to state officials and to function
independently of the local governing body.
Turning to the local level, reformers looked at cities rather than counties,
which were regarded as having limited influence on citizen services. This focus is
somewhat surprising in that the roles o f local governments developed differently in
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the various sections of the United States. The model established in New England,
based on Massachusetts, focused on municipal governments, while the Virginia
model of strong county government spread throughout the South. The mid-Atlantic
plan and variations developed in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania appeared
in many mid-western and western stales. Services at the county level were very
limited in many sections of the country, but counties in the South provided citizen
services (Salant 1-2). Frederickson and Johnson suggest that the reformers sought to
break the stranglehold exerted by political machines over municipal affairs. The
reformers thought cities could be run like a business and that professionally trained
managers should direct municipal affairs (8).
The National Municipal League and the Strong Mayor
Forty-six local government reform groups formed the National Municipal
League (NML) in 189S. Members concluded that they needed to change the
structure of local government if they expected to reduce corrupt party influence. The
League approved the first model city charter in 1898, which concentrated power in
the mayor’s position (Stillman, 1974 12). Reformers initially proposed strengthening
the position of mayor as a way to centralize bureaucratic responsibility. Under this
plan, mayors were granted extensive executive authority such as the line item veto
and budget responsibility. Granting additional powers to the mayor, including
designating him as the presiding officer of the council, was intended to provide
executive leadership to the governing body.
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Prior to this development, powers had been vested in multiple members of
the legislative body. It was anticipated that centralized leadership would facilitate
improvements in local government services. Many elected administrative positions
were eliminated as part of the short ballot movement (Arnold 7). This addressed one
of the progressive reformers’ goals—the desire for centralized decision making and
responsibility. Local government could therefore be administered in a business-like
manner with the watchwords of economy and efficiency.
Another concern of the reformers was their desire for an expanded citizen’s
role in the local democratic process. Strengthening the mayor’s role did not resolve
this concern, as the mayor’s political focus often became incompatible with
administrative responsibilities. In some communities, strengthening the mayor’s
position reinforced the machine system instead of reducing its power and influence.
Henry Bruere suggests that, in addition to increasing efficiency, the reform
movement sought to create a “community planned and community executed program
of citizen well-being” (93). Members of the reform movement represented business
and civic organizations in addition to academic institutions. They thought that
citizens similar to themselves should have greater inputs into the development of the
community and municipal services. Bruere contends that reformers realized that if
they were to be successful in breaking the machine’s power base, they needed to
provide an alternative to the disorganized, inefficient efforts of volunteer social
welfare agencies to meet the needs of new immigrants and low income citizens. To
the reformers, this included services in a variety of areas, ranging from public health
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and education to public safety and corrections to housing and recreation. It was one
of the reformers’ goals to provide progressive social welfare. They wanted to make
city government the ’’accepted common agency for 'getting things done’ by ail
groups of citizens in the execution of public purposes upon which they divide either
because of racial, sectarian, social, economic or political differences” (93).
These changes did not occur when the mayor’s powers were increased.
Corrupt politicians continued to control local government and to use public funds for
personal gain. Mayors elected because of political backing and charisma all too
often failed to demonstrate administrative skills and community leadership. The
reformers realized that they could not achieve their purposes through the strong
mayor so they began to look elsewhere. An experiment in Galveston, Texas, and Des
Moines, Iowa, caught their attention.
The Commission Plan
Richard Childs notes that the commission form of city government began as a
result of the Galveston tidal wave of 1901. In an effort to expedite recovery from the
disaster, the Galveston city council was replaced with a five-member commission.
Each commissioner was granted administrative authority over a municipal
department such as streets, garbage or water, and also served as a member of the
legislative body, which passed ordinances and budgetary appropriations for the
departments (76-78).
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Although the system was considered new to municipal government, it
actually resembled the county commission form that government established in
colonial times, wherein a 3-7-member board of commissioners served as the
legislative bodies and also functioned as department heads. The limited number of
services provided by county governments during the first century of the nation
rendered it somewhat obscure. The 1989 statement by former National Association
of Counties President John Horsley that “the commission form may be fine for some,
but it may be a total mess for others because of scandal, extreme dysfunction and/or
growth” was as relevant in 1900 as it was in 1989 (Krings 1). County governments
would follow cities in the reform process as greater service demands and increases in
governmental complexity would force governing bodies to look for professional
managers in the latter half of the twentieth century.
The new form of city government spread rapidly to over 500 communities by
1917, but it then began to decline. The number of governments under this form has
fallen to less than 200. Reformers considered the commission plan flawed because it
discarded all checks and balances previously established under the mayor-council
form. Commissioners were usually elected for their political skills and popularity
rather than their administrative ability. Many lacked the technical and administrative
skills necessary to function properly as department heads (Adrian, 7-9).
Childs read a 1910 editorial comparing the Galveston Plan to the organization
of a private corporation. The reformer disagreed with the comparison because
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private corporations operated with a board of directors which appointed a manager.
Childs thought that the commission plan had several shortcomings:
1. Electorates rarely selected the most able administrators as
commissioners. Those who were capable were reluctant to enter the
political arena and run for office.
2. There was widespread administrative confusion and inefficiency since the
commissioners directed separate departments and tended to operate
independently of each other.
3. There was no central direction since each commissioner had been elected
independently and could operate his department without coordination
with others (Stillman, 1974 15).
The sudden rise and quick fall of support for the commission plan was
reflective of the reform period. Reformers were not sure what would work best, but
they knew what they would not tolerate. The corrupt political machines had to go
and they would find the best alternative.
The Council-Manager Plan
Origins in Staunton
It seemed to Childs that successful businesses functioned more like the new
government in Staunton, Virginia, than like the commission plan. Staunton became
a first class city with a bicameral council consisting of a total of 22 members in 1906.
The city had no full-time employees so the council placed various programs and
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projects under the direction of numerous committees. This resulted in the complete
shutdown of the city capital projects. The council authorized a study committee to
consider alternatives for the new government. The committee initially looked at the
commission plan, but this was found to be unconstitutional under Virginia law. The
committee therefore recommended that a “General Manager” be appointed.
John Crosby, former Clerk of neighboring Augusta County, suggested to the
council members that they hire a general manager. Council members endorsed
Crosby’s proposal and hired Charles Ashbumer as general manager in 1908 (Frisby
42; Stillman, 1974 13-14). Ashbumer, an engineer with the Chesapeake and Ohio
Railroad, is usually considered the first city manager in the United States (Arnold 8).
Staunton was the birthplace of reform leader Woodrow Wilson, who was
serving as President of Princeton University and would later become President of the
United States. It was appropriate that his hometown would be a reform leader at the
local level. Among the major local issues was the lack of paved streets throughout
the community. Streets were paved by contractors who charged a different price for
city work than for a comparable project for a private business. The city’s price was
substantially higher. Record keeping was minimal, and there was constant conflict
over the costs of materials and inferior work. The city had an annual income of
approximately $160,000 but was forced to borrow money each year to meet operating
deficits. In 1905, a Virginia supreme court of appeals upheld a lower court ruling
against the city when it proposed to issue an additional $500 in street improvement
bonds because the city’s indebtedness totaled $578,000, which was above the state
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imposed debt limit for municipalities. Local attention was focused on the streets, but
other services operated in a similar manner. Community concern for municipal
mismanagement led to the need for hiring a general manager. Ashbumer was well
known to the community, having served as maintenance engineer for the local
division of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. He remained in Staunton for three
years before moving on to serve as city manager of Springfield, Ohio; Norfolk,
Virginia; and Stockton, California (City of Staunton 9-10, 23-24).
The idea of having a professional manager work for a local government was
not entirely new. Adrian suggests that the search for a new local government
structure was "an effort to return to the simplicity of the American colonial system, a
system in which there was no separation of powers” (9). School systems had been
employing professional administrators for more than 50 years. Louisville, Kentucky,
hired a school superintendent in 1937. The idea spread quickly and, by the mid
nineteenth century, more than 50 communities had followed suit (Stillman, 1974 5,
93). Haven A. Mason, a founder and first secretary of the League of California
Cities, had advocated a similar plan in 1899. He recommended that the local
governments create a position of “business manager” to administer the affairs of the
community. In 1904, Ukiah, California, created the position of chief executive
officer to be selected by the city council. Charles E. Merriam had advocated a
similar position for the City of Chicago as a member of the Chicago Charter
Commission in 1905-6 (Stillman, 1974 14).
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Richard Childs Spreads the Word
But it was Staunton that caught Childs’s attention. The leading advocate of
the short ballot, Childs saw the council-manager form as a vehicle for advancing his
goal of reducing the number of local elected officials so that citizens could better
identify with candidates and their positions on local issues. He advocated having a
manager, similar to Ashbumer’s position in Staunton (Nalbandian, 1991 9-10). He
submitted a proposal for a municipal manager position to Lockport, New York,
which was considering the commission plan.
Childs’s new plan for Lockport was rejected by the New York State
Legislature, but it was adopted the following year in Sumter, South Carolina (Childs,
116-117, Willoughby 20-21). Although Childs did not invent the council-manager
plan, he is considered the father of it. His contributions were to add substance to the
new plan through structural amendments to the commission form and his efforts to
promote it through the NML. He generated considerable press coverage for the
Staunton model and encouraged Sumter, South Carolina, and Dayton, Ohio, among
others, to adopt it By 1918, nearly 100 communities had adopted the new form of
municipal government (Stillman, 1974 18). Staunton’s experiment would be almost
25 years old before the number of cities adopting this form of government would
surpass the number operating under the commission form. It would be another
quarter of a century before the number o f council-manager cities would surpass the
number of mayor-council cities (Arnold 4,41; Adrian 8).
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The new council-manager plan quickly replaced the commission plan as part
of the reform movement. Reformers liked the fact that the new plan provided for the
separation of politics and administration as advocated twenty years earlier by Wilson.
It called for professional management with clear lines of authority and responsibility
within the administrative organization (Mosher, 1981 95). It also met another of the
reform movement’s goals. As the mayor’s powers decreased and the council’s
authority was restricted to policy decisions and legislation, political machines had
little to offer voters and government vendors. As the machine’s power declined,
reformers gained control of the local election process. This was described as equal
access to the election process. The theory was that all citizens would have equal
access to the policy making process by voting, and the grass-roots citizen
participation would thus be expanded (Stillman, 1974 9).
The lines of distinction between the council’s policy responsibilities and the
manager’s administrative roles were clear. Individuals hired as managers possessed
backgrounds in engineering and business. This represented a fusion of the Reform
Movement’s goals of open, professional government, a business-like model adapted
for government, and the Scientific Management goals of economy and efficiency.
Waldo suggested: “Democracy means an intelligent and informed citizenry
organized into groups, preferably as few as possible” (58). He added that local
governments would have a short ballot, a merit system, a budget system and a
reporting system (58). Adopting the pure reform program meant the adoption of
these changes: non-partisan; at-large rather than ward or district-based, elections;
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election of the mayor by the council from its membership, rather than by the voters;
and, adoption of the council-manager plan.
Frederickson and Johnson suggested existence of a clear shift in logic
between the mayor-council form and the council-manager form. The former follows
the state and national model of separation of powers, checks, and balances. This
traditional horizontal structure allows for friction between the elected executive and
the legislative branch members. It is replicated in clashes between the mayor and
elected city council members.
In contrast, the council-manager plan is similar to a private sector corporation
and the parliamentary form of organizational structure. This form provides for an
elected body that makes laws and appoints a third party or one of their members to
carry out those laws. The hierarchical structure reduces conflict between the elected
legislative leaders and the appointed executive who implements their policy
decisions. Part of the logic behind this form is the assumption that it increases the
potential for agreement among the elected officials and appointed administrator over
the efficient implementation or management of policies (Frederickson and Johnson
7-8).
Pioneer Managers Form the Association
In 1914, the new form of government gained prestige, when Dayton, Ohio,
became the first large city to adopt the plan and hired Henry M. Waite as its first
manager. Waite was a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and had
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acquired a national reputation as a professional engineer. He was in contact with H.
M. Hardin, City Manager of Amarillo, Texas, and Charles Ashbumer, who had left
Staunton and was then serving as City Manager of Springfield, Ohio. Waite and
Ashbumer were professional engineers who enjoyed the recognition and camaraderie
of the professional engineers'' association. They and Hardin were interested in
forming a professional association that could help provide stability and credibility for
their new profession. The three decided to invite other managers to a meeting in
Springfield. Eight of seventeen managers invited to the first gathering of city
managers in 1914 attended (Stillman, 1974 30).
The managers concluded that a need existed for a professional association
and they agreed to meet the following year. A three-man committee was asked to
draft a constitution and bylaws for the proposed association. The constitution was
adopted by the managers at their meeting in Dayton in November 1915. The
document identified the purpose of the association as “to promote the efficiency of
City Managers and municipal work in general” (Arnold 2). This purpose has been
amended but remains the same in principle today: “to increase the proficiency of city
managers, county managers, and other urban administrators and to strengthen the
quality of urban government through professional management” (Arnold 2).
The new association was called the City Managers’ Association. The
managers began contacting each other regularly and, in 1915, began publishing a
monthly newsletter called the City Manager Bulletin. The newsletter provided a
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listing of job openings and updated managers on current professional issues and
techniques of handling various aspects of the manager’s job (Stillman, 1974 31).
The League Endorses the Council-Manager Plan
Childs’s influence began to pay dividends when the NML replaced the
mayor-council form of government with the council-manager form in the 1915
revisions to its model city charter. The charter has been revised on several occasions
(1925, 1933, 1941 and 1964), but the role of the professional manager has remained
a key component (Stillman, 1974 19). The League’s decision to adopt the council-
manager form of government was a major boost for the new profession. The new
model charter incorporated other reform features such as:
• unification of powers under the city council;
• short ballot:
• non-partisan ballot; and
• elections of council members at-large rather than by district (Arnold 8).
The League has revised the Model City Charter five times since the 1915
adoption. All subsequent editions of the Charter have endorsed the council-manager
plan as the preferred form of government, although more recent versions have
included the mayor-council form as an alternative. The League formed a new study
committee to recommend revisions to the model charter in 2001. ICMA had
anticipated greater interest in the mayor-council-administrator form by the League as
part of this review process, but this was not the case (Hansell, 2001).
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During the early years of the council-manager form of government, a
professional administrator was recommended as an addition to the organizational
structure in many mayor-council communities as an alternative to changing to the
existing plan. The administrator was often referred to as the city administrator or the
chief administrative officer (CAO). The C AO usually served at the pleasure of the
mayor and was charged with three principal functions:
• human resources administration;
• supervision of line operations; and
• policy issues advice.
This concept was attractive to those who wanted to retain the political
leadership of the strong mayor form of government but also to improve the efficiency
of municipal operations. The CAO idea avoided the “managerial values,” which
were often considered an unacceptable part of the council-manager plan. It also
avoided a reduction in the m ayors role, which many found to be inconsistent with
their view of local American life. The CAO position was added to the San Francisco
Charter in 1931 (Stillman, 1974 25).
The addition of the professional administrator to the mayor-council form
continues today. In the United States today, very few communities with a population
greater then 2,500 function without professional staff. A recent modification, which
occurred in Oakland, California, retained the position of city manager but
strengthened the mayor’s position. This mayor-council-manager form of government
continues to be adopted as an alternative to both the mayor-council and the council-
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manager forms. It is often adopted as an alternative to changing the base form of
either mayor-council or council-manager government.
The administrator form of professional management has been particularly
popular with counties, which began hiring professional managers on a large scale in
the 1970s (Apperson and Wickstrom 34-44). In many counties, which have adopted
professional management, the governing body retains the right to employ and dismiss
key department heads who function under the direction of the county administrator.
Edwin O. Stene of the University of Kansas commented:
Many of the administrators are political rather than professional
assistants and even the trained administrators come and go with
political fortunes of their mayors Perhaps the most frustrating
experiences of the mayor appointed administrator result from the
inability to submit their own recommendations to the city council.
(Stillman, 1974 26)
The City Managers Association had no formal goals before 1930. The
managers shared common values such as nonpartisanship, productivity, prudence,
integrity, and idealism. They believed cities would be improved by the teamwork of
council members and managers. They focused on basic management and supervisory
issues and learned about municipal programs such as financial management at their
annual meetings. Managers developed municipal programs for:
• planning and programming work activities;
• measuring those activities;
• internal and external reporting;
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• merit system employment; and
• reorganizing activities (Arnold 9-10).
Working with the Chamber o f Commerce and Others
The young professional Association looked for ways to increase its influence
in local government. This would take time and money. The managers had close
working relationships with:
• reformers and other citizens concerned about honesty and efficiency in
government;
• academic community leaders that were developing public administration
as a field of study;
• the National Municipal League; and
• the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
City Managers also had different perspectives from these supporters and
sought to develop a separate, independent identity. The reformers were interested in
combating corruption and broader issues such as women’s suffrage, anti-child labor
laws, home rule, and anti-trust legislation (Stillman, 1974 9). The emerging
academic interest in public administration included several institutions such as
Syracuse University, Kansas University and the University of Southern California,
which establish programs of study for students interested in public administration
and city management. The League sought to change the structure of local
government to promote good government, the short ballot, and citizen participation.
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The Chamber supported the council-manager plan in an effort to promote the
application of business methods in government and the promotion of business
interests in general. In contrast to the multiple goals of the reformers, business
leaders, and the academic community, the managers wanted to encourage others to
join the Association and to learn how to deal with municipal issues. They were more
concerned about what street paving materials had the greatest durability and similar
"nuts and bolts” issues. They wanted to leam about these issues from each other.
The League and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s American City Bureau had
been the primary sponsors of the council-manager plan since its inception. The
League continues to promote the plan today, although this may change as the League
considers revisions to the model city charter in 2001-2003. The Bureau’s main
function initially was to promote the growth and expansion of the Chamber in local
communities. It advocated the council-manager form of government as part of that
effort. In 1918, the Bureau provided funding for the employment of H. G. Otis as the
first executive secretary of the CMA on a part-time basis. The Bureau also provided
office space for the Association in New York City and funding for the early
publication of the City Manager Bulletin.
The Bulletin was intended to provide two services to managers. It informed
them of job changes and new position vacancies, and it provided information on
technical subjects such as municipal budgeting. Otis was employed by the Bureau to
provide other services, but he was authorized to conduct Association activities during
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regular office hours (Arnold 18). As Otis noted in the initial issue of the Bulletin, the
Bureau promoted the manager plan by:
• providing speakers;
• assisting with charter drafting and publicity work; and
• managing campaigns for the plan's adoption (Stillman, 1974 31-32).
The League and the Chamber also developed and distributed separate reports
highlighting the council-manager plan as the most efficient form of local
government. Both reports focused on the dual themes o f‘‘civic progress'* and
"business methods” (Stillman, 1974 21). The managers also received substantial
support from leading academic institutions, which began providing professional
education programs for present and future city managers. The University of
Michigan established a program in 1914 and was quickly followed by Stanford
University (1919), the University of Southern California (1921), Texas A & M
(1924) and Syracuse University (1924). The Syracuse program had begun in 1911 as
the Training School for Public Administration at the Bureau of Municipal Research
in New York City, and was transferred to Syracuse thirteen years later (Stillman,
1974 34-35).
The young Association sought to better define its identity and purpose.
During these early years of the plan, the City Manager's Association was not
involved in the promotion of the counci 1 -manager form of government. In contrast to
the organizations that supported them, the managers were focused on the nuts and
bolts of city management and the needs of their association. Members expressed the
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need to establish a more stable financial base and to expand services. They also
sought to attract additional members and to develop a mechanism for guiding the
conduct of individual managers in their communities. Association activities were
purely voluntary and attracted less than one-half of the practicing managers with less
than one-half of the Association members attending the annual meeting during the
first decade. Leonard White suggested in 1927 that those managers who failed to
join '*were not professional managers at all and have no general interest in the city
manager movement. A few of them are fearful of offending some local feeling by
joining an outside organization” (Stillman, 1974 33-34).
The Association sought to become independent of the National Municipal
League and the American City Bureau. The big problem it faced in this effort was
one of financial necessity. Publication of the journal, a national office with a paid
staff, and annual convention costs were heavy expenses for the organization.
Managers initially paid annual dues of $5.00. In addition, the Association received
funds from advertising fees. To raise funds, the managers increased the annuai dues
from $5.00 to $15.00 during the Association’s first decade and made occasional
appeals to members for greater financial support (Stillman, 1974 33). The financial
stability of the Association and its relationship with non-membership dues funding
sources, has been an issue for managers to consider on a regular basis throughout the
history of the organization. Today, corporate partners provide significant funding for
ICMA activities.
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Childs suggested to the managers that membership should be restricted to
those managers working in communities with the official manager plan. The
managers rejected this in an effort to gain members and support. Many communities
adopted variations of the manager plan. Rather than accepting all elements of the
model city charter as advocated by Childs and other reformers, communities also
hired local citizens as their managers rather than recruiting from outside. The
broadening of membership categories by the Association meant that individuals who
were professionally trained and perhaps in contact with other managers, and local
individuals hired by a community as its first manager could both join the
Association. As a result, membership was easy to obtain, but there was little
cohesiveness in the new profession. This reflected the different goals of the city
managers and the reformers.
The latter group sought to encourage communities to adopt all aspects of the
model city charter and to function as pure council-manager governments. The
managers wanted to establish a professional identity for their new positions similar to
the status they enjoyed as professional engineers. The managers’ Association has
faced this issue on numerous occasions during the past 85 years.
Broadening the membership criteria has allowed ICMA to attract new
members who provide Association income. This also means more members may not
be professionally trained or working in council-manager communities. They may or
may not be inclined to participate in the Association’s professional development
activities and support initiatives such as the ICMA professional development
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academy of the 1980s, the ICMA University’s Certificate in Management program of
the 1990s, or the voluntary credentialing program initiated in 2001. The broadening
of membership criteria has also attracted members who are, in some cases, less
inclined to subscribe to the Association’s Code of Ethics first initiated in 1924
(Stillman, 1974 34-35).
A Growing Profession in the 1920s
Frisby refers to the 1920s as the “cult of efficiency” period among local
governments when scientific management, budgeting, personnel management
classification systems, and efficiency ratings were adapted to local government. She
also recognizes the importance of the first ICMA Code of Ethics which, among other
items: “required members to commit to providing quality public services for all
citizens and to support representative democracy, as directed by the community’s
elected officials” (46).
Several actions in the 1920s helped to shore up the Association. John Stutz
became Executive Secretary of the City Manager’s Association and Director of the
League of Kansas municipalities in 1922. The Association’s offices were moved to
the University of Kansas (Arnold: 18). Two years later, the Association adopted a
Code of Ethics. This emphasized the role of the manager as chief administrator
appointed by a council that was responsible to the public. The council would
develop municipal policies that would be implemented by the manager. The
manager would work to keep the public well informed and deal with council as a unit
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rather than with its individual members in secret. The manager was to take no active
part in politics. The Code has been revised five times but remains similar to the
original version adopted in 1924 (Stillman, 1974 36-37,123-124).
During the 1920s and 1930s, most managers were white, native-born
American males who lived and worked in the Midwest or in Southern communities
with populations of less than 50,000. The typical manager had graduated from high
school and attended college, with slightly more than half having achieved college
degrees. Many had worked in other positions in government before becoming
managers. They devoted their time to:
• speaking with department heads, callers and meetings (one third);
• supervising city activities (one quarter);
• planning future work (one quarter); and
• miscellaneous activities such as correspondence (Stillman, 1974 39-40).
Besides the adoption of the Code of Ethics, the other major change in 1924
was in the name of the Association, which became the International City Manager’s
Association (ICMA). Membership categories were expanded. Two new
categories—active member and honorary member—were added. Active members
were individuals 21 years of age and older who served as the administrative head of a
municipality but had not yet served for a period of at least one year. These members
are now known as associate members. Association membership continued to grow,
and by 1929 the number o f council manager cities had grown to 370. ICMA
membership totaled 468 (Arnold 4).
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These changes and the adoption of the Code of Ethics highlighted the
managers’ efforts to develop an independent professional Association that would
function in harmony with the reform movement, academic institutions, the National
Municipal League, and the Chamber of Commerce, but remain independent of them.
The honorary classification was to recognize individuals who made
outstanding contributions to the development of the plan and to the Association. The
first honorary membership was granted to Richard S. Childs (Arnold 11-14). Since
Childs’ membership was granted, the number of honorary members of the
Association has been limited to those individuals who have made significant
contributions to the Association and to the profession of local government
management.
The post-World War I period was a time of ups and downs for city managers.
Two themes became the watchword of the times. Declining revenues and citizen
concerns forced managers to adopt more business-like techniques for government
services. At the same time, the same forces caused governments at all levels to
reduce services. There was also an emphasis on a business orientation in government
operations, which meant managers focused on economy and efficiency. Managers
were expected to adapt business practices to local government operations. This also
meant adopting the philosophy of Frederick W. Taylor and the principles of scientific
management. Methods were introduced in order to reduce costs, improve efficiency,
and eliminate dishonesty. Systematic budgeting and accounting methods were
adopted at the federal level and were quickly modified by city managers. Personnel
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management techniques were modernized when the civil service system was
extended and better defined by legislation (Stillman. 1974 21). Stone, Price and
Stone suggest that the orientation towards business techniques for government
garnered support for the new form of government.
Perhaps the most popular argument in favor of the city manager
plan was the analogy of the business corporation Advocates
of the city manager plan were able to point out the similarity
between the position of the city manager and that of the general
manager of a large corporation. (Stone, Price, and Stone 27, as
reported in Stillman, 1974 20).
Advocates of the new plan emphasized the business orientation. They
suggested that, with businessmen on the council and business methods installed in
city hall, local government would become non-political and more economical. It was
logical to assume that an economical government might very well reduce taxes. New
citizens in growing communities demanded additional municipal services. Managers
identified needs for new programs to serve residents.
There was also a need for new community programs. These new programs
required efficient administration. The shocks of urbanization caused many
communities to invest in capital projects such as roads, airports, and electrical, water,
and sewer utility systems. Council members were usually willing to turn these
projects over to full-time experts so that they could concentrate on municipal policies
and their private business interests (Stillman, 1974 21).
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Questions about the proper role of administration and policy in the local
government process first emerged during these early decades. Managers attempted to
develop broad definitions of the administrative roles, including:
• appointment and removal of department heads;
• enforcement of municipal laws;
• responsibility for budget preparation;
• control over all departments; and
• the right to sit at council meetings without a vote.
Frequent emphasis was on a clear legal definition of the manager’s duties. At
the same time, managers continued to discuss the topic at annual conventions in an
effort to seek clear legal divisions between their own administrative roles and the
council’s legislative powers. In an effort to determine the best practices for their
communities, managers looked within themselves and to their own best judgment as
criteria on policy matters (Stillman, 1974 42-43).
During these first decades of its existence, the new Association:
• suffered from inadequate financial resources and controls over the
membership;
• attempted to stake out professional boundaries through the process of
defining membership standards;
• established a pattern of having policies set by the Association’s
professional elite;
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• initiated links with the university community for training, recruitment,
and research purposes; and
• developed its own Code of Ethics, which represented the first of its kind
for an association of government managers (Stillman, 1974 43-44).
City managers worked together to establish their professional identity, while
reformers and others encouraged communities to adopt the council-manager plan.
The plan and the Association were closely linked and continued to prosper together.
Leonard White’s book, The City Manager (1927), was the first
comprehensive study of the professional city manager. It focused on the managers’
personalities and activities. White suggested that these men were the “opposite of
the nineteenth century political party boss.” They were individuals “who did things
instead of talking about them,” and they were considered “direct, honest,
straightforward and interested in management technique rather than political
manipulation” (Stillman, 1974 50-51). White expressed a deep admiration for the
managers in his concluding chapter. He added that the greatest threats to the
managers were councils’ failures “to allow the managers to manage” without council
members attempting to infuse politics in the area of administration, and “the
managers venturing into matters of policy” (Stillman, 1974 51). A third problem
identified by White was the tendency of many councils to select local men as their
city managers rather than recruiting trained professionals. This tended to make the
manager’s job a partisan political issue (Stillman, 1974 50-51). These same
problems continue to plague the local government management profession today.
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The 1930s and World War 1 1
The 1930s was a time when managers had to reduce municipal services.
Property tax limitations were established and local communities had no other ways to
generate revenue. They also had to deal with massive tax delinquencies and
extensive unemployment.
The New Deal of the Federal government in the 1930s included many
programs designed to stabilize life in the United States. Federal measures included
income security, unemployment relief, public works programs, human resource
conservation and development, banking industry stabilization, and public utility
regulation. These programs affected local governments providing employment and
income for citizens, constructing new capital facilities in many areas, and, in some
cases, providing grants to localities for specific programs and projects. Programs
were designed for quick implementation in order to get funds into the field and to aid
people as quickly as possible. Local managers, however, received their first taste of
Federal paperwork requirements. Their predecessors had little, if any, contact with
the Federal government. Their successors would have much more (Arnold 22-23).
Banovetz notes that the public’s attitude towards government in the early
twentieth century was that government was corrupt through the spoils system and
machine politics. The citizens’ attitude in the 1915-1935 period was that
governments should be limited. Citizens were interested in:
• enforcing the Dillon rule, which effectively limited local government
initiatives;
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• ensuring citizen rights through substantive due process; and
• supporting reform legislation.
The manager of the 1914-1924 period was seen as an administrative
technician, focused on eliminating corruption and on applying scientific management
techniques to local government. From 1924 to 1938 the manager continued to be an
administrative technician but also developed roles as the organizational director and
as a policy leader (Banovitz, 1994 315-317).
Svara (2001) suggests that managers sought a dual focus in their relations
with the council. They desired to establish and maintain the separation and
insulation of administrators from political interference on one hand, and to promote
their interaction with the council and the incorporation of administrative
contributions to the design and implementation of public policy on the other. Early
contributors to the development of public administration recognized and accepted the
administrator’s policy role. Although the politics-administration dichotomy has been
part of the traditional paradigm of city management and public administration, it
should be noted that this is usually expressed in ways that portray administration as a
mechanical or technical process. This does not recognize the policy role of
administrators (176). Svara (1989) has clearly demonstrated that the line between
politics and administration has always been blurred and that city managers have been
involved in policy formulation throughout the profession’s history (182-187).
Nalbandian (1991) cites White (1927) and Stone, Price and Stone (1940) as
examples of early studies that demonstrated this policy role. The manager’s actual
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role is measured against the traditional view that portrays the manager as a politically
neutral technician rather than a policy advisor. Nalbandian (1991) suggests three
propositions that provide the foundation for the traditional view of city management:
1. The nature of city managers’ work isolates them from partisan politics
and frequently from community politics and policy making.
2. The city manager is a politically neutral administrative expert reporting to
the democratically elected governing body.
3. The efficiency of the city manager and the political responsiveness of the
governing body can be jointly pursued in the community (5).
The focus on scientific management in the 1930s was reflected in the 1938
revised Code of Ethics for the City Manager’s Association. The original 1924 Code
of Ethics emphasized the city manager’s emerging professional identity. In contrast,
the revised Code showed the profession’s commitment to the doctrines of Taylorism.
The first Code focused on ethical qualities, such as “loyalty” and “responsibility”;
whereas, the revised Code stressed administrative responsibilities of the manager.
Ethical standards continued to be a focus of the Association as the 1938 Code
continued to call for managers who recognized the importance of ideals such as
honor and integrity, and managers who would never seek personal aggrandizement or
personal profit from confidential information. Both Codes emphasized the
manager’s responsibility to keep the community informed on municipal affairs.
The revised Code also re-established the political-administrative dichotomy.
The original version left the door open to managers for involvement in the policy
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development process, but the revision more clearly established the political-
administrative dichotomy. This also reflected the managers" concerns about political
influences on administrative matters and suggested that the manager “resist any
encroachment on his control thereby handling all matters on the basis of merit” (1938
Code of Ethics, Tenet Number 8). Stillman (1974) adds that the revised version of
the Code “equated the competent city manager, free from political influence, with the
highest form of good, and it saw city problems fundamentally as issues for effective
management and administration” (52).
The managers’ young Association suffered through the 1930s in a manner
similar to the problems encountered by managers in their communities. Louis
Brownlow served as President of the Association and established and working
relationship with Charles Merriam at the University of Chicago. Together, they were
able to obtain funding from a variety of non-profit foundations, particularly the Laura
Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund which contributed funds throughout the
decade. The funds were used to establish the Public Administration Clearing House
(PACH) in Chicago, which was headed by Brownlow and housed nine organizations,
including ICMA, which moved from the University of Kansas.
Brownlow recognized the need to establish a professional identity for the
organization and helped it gain stature and prestige (Stillman, 1974 45-48). These
funds allowed ICMA to pay administrative expenses and to expand programs, such
as the Institute for Training in Municipal Administration (ITMA) in 1934.
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A key ingredient lacking for the managers was a set of training materials that
could be used by Association members to address various issues. The Institute was
established by ICMA to provide training materials that could be used by individual
managers or other public employees interested in improving their skills and
knowledge of specific local government issues such as planning, public works, or
public safety, through a series of independent study correspondence lessons
submitted to city managers and others trained to assist students in this effort. The
course materials could also be used by groups of local government employees who
could complete the courses individually or meet together to discuss the text materials
and issues in their communities. The program was phased out in the 1990s and
replaced by the ICMA University, which provides seminars and training courses.
The first edition of the Municipal Yearbook in 1934 and the development of
the Municipal Management Series (the “Green Books”) ini 935 were part of this
expanded effort to provide technical information to managers and prospective
entrants into the profession. The “Green Books” were textbooks developed for use
in college courses and by managers in the field, dealing with a variety of subjects,
such as municipal administration, personnel administration, municipal finance,
police planning, public works, fire, and recreation. These helped to establish the
Association as the premier information source for local governments. The
Association also developed in-service training courses that supplemented the “Green
Book” materials and could be completed as correspondence courses or as group
study courses (Stillman, 1974 47-50). Later activities funded during this era included
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the management information service program initiated in 1946 and pioneering
research in work measurement and service costs (Arnold 24).
Clarence Ridley succeeded John Stutz as the Association’s Executive
Secretary. Stutz was named the Association’s first full-time Executive Director and
the Association now had three employees. Stutz had served as Executive Secretary
for seven years. In 1929, ICMA was able to move towards the second half of its
original constitutional purpose: '"the improvement of municipal work in general’’
(Arnold 25). With financial help from the Spelman and Rosenwald Foundations in
1929-1949, the Association was able to expand services to city managers and
become financially self-sufficient in 1950 (Arnold 25-26).
The 1930s had been a difficult time for city and county governments.
Property tax limitation laws similar to those passed in the1970s and 1980s were
approved in many states. Pervasive unemployment devastated local economies,
further restricting local governments’ ability to generate revenue. Large-scale
unemployment and lack of income forced many property owners to become
delinquent on their taxes as the rolls of abandoned properties mounted in many
communities. Managers were forced to cut back on local programs to balance
budgets. This meant personal sacrifice as well. Many managers reported that
income for 1940 was significantly less than it had been a decade earlier (Arnold 22).
As the Association grew, so did the individual manager’s roles and
responsibilities. Three national changes affected city managers and their
communities:
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• growth in the federal government;
• intergovernmental relations; and
• public administration (Arnold 23).
In 1934, Clarence Ridley and Orin Nolting portrayed the city manager as “a
classic scientific manager, the almost mechanistic chief administrator of the
municipality who simply carried out the policies of city council” (Stillman, 1974 56).
Nolting was Ridley’s successor as Executive Director of ICMA. Nolting served as
Ridley’s assistant until Ridley retired.
The classic study by Stone, Price and Stone in 1940 portrayed a slightly
different role for the manager. They found no “sharp differentiation between the
idealized policy determination role of city council and the policy implementation role
of the manager” (Stillman, 1974 58), and they suggested that “it is generally
impossible for the city manager to escape being a leader of matters of policy, for it is
an essential part of his administrative job to make recommendations” (Stone, Price,
and Stone 243, as quoted in Stillman, 1974 58). The authors went on to suggest that
managers “have made great contributions in the techniques of administration, but
they have made even greater contributions as leaders of municipal policy” (58).
This clearly represented a change in perceptions of the role of the city
manager, who had been portrayed previously as having a very limited role in the
policy development process, but complete authority when it was time for policy
implementation. Ridley noted some of the changes in 1945 when he discussed the
role of the chief administrative officer. The main responsibility was to see that tasks
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were accomplished. The ICMA Executive Director added that managers needed to
develop the art and skills necessary to take a group of employees and mold them into
a ‘‘smooth, functioning administrative organization.” Administrative results
continued to be the prime objective of city management in general, but individual
practitioners had to develop skills in order to translate council policies into
administrative actions (Stillman, 1974 56-57).
Domestic programs sponsored by the Federal government increased
significantly during the New Deal years, but that was just the beginning of Federal
involvement in local affairs. Programs for capital projects and citizen services were
launched quickly in an effort to counteract the failing economy. Managers found
themselves dealing with Federal agencies, which wanted a quick start up to programs
and even quicker results from them. The period also saw the establishment of a
number of other public administration associations that, together with ICMA,
occupied space at 1313 East 60th Street near the University of Chicago campus.
Other associations such as the PACH and the Municipal Finance Officers
Association (MFOA), worked at the same location. Together, they became
recognized as the center for research data, program development and implementation
advice, and professional development activities for local governments in the United
States.
Local government, professional management, and ICMA changed
significantly between 1900 and 1945. Reformers began taking control of local
governments and adopting the council-manager form in 1908. This form of
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government consolidated power and authority in the legislative council, which
appointed a manager to administer its affairs. The new managers were kept busy
providing basic services and constructing capital facilities. Emphasis in the 1930s
moved from eliminating corruption to the adaptation of Frederick W. Taylor’s
Principles of Scientific Management to local government in an effort to emphasize
efficiency.
The managers met in 1914 and formed a professional association—the
ICMA, which has provided services to members and information about local
government since 1915. In addition to providing a method of association and
communication for local government managers since the first meeting, the
Association adopted a Code of Ethics in 1924. This Code has been revised several
times, but continues to represent a key element of professional management today.
The young Association struggled to survive financially during the 1920s and 1930s.
Foundation grants provided necessary support to maintain the ICMA and allowed it
to initiate several new programs. The most significant of these programs was the
“Green Book” textbook series, which continues to provide information to managers
and local government staff members, and students today.
After surviving a period of limited revenues and limited government, local
governments and their managers would have to adapt to an era of economic
prosperity and suburban growth after World War II. This would change the focus of
local government managers and their Association.
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CHAPTER in
FROM WORLD WAR II TO FUTURE HORIZONS
Local governments, local government management and ICMA would
experience a great deal of change between World War II and the time of the Future
Horizons Committee. Many returning veterans were able to take advantage of
military service benefits that included educational and housing opportunities. New
housing and businesses were located in undeveloped areas outside cities. New local
governments were formed to provide suburban residents with public services. This
was an extended period of population growth, the development and incorporation of
new communities and the expansion of local government services.
The period represented new opportunities for professional management as the
new communities and some counties began hiring managers. The public, which had
grown to admire executive leadership during the war years, generally looked at
appointed government executives favorably. Many managers took on a more
prominent community leadership role. In the 1950s, ICMA was independent of the
foundation support it had received in the 1930s and 1940s and expanded services to a
growing membership.
Public support of government changed dramatically in the 1960s as minorities
and youth began protest and demonstration activities. The assignations of President
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John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.,
and President Lyndon Johnson's efforts to fight a War on Poverty at home and a war
in Vietnam, left many citizens disillusioned.
The significant infusion of local government budgets with Federal funds for
housing, employment, and health and welfare, programs led to the initiation of many
new programs. The new Federal funds caused many more cities and counties to hire
professional managers to assist with the administration of these funds, and to meet
additional state and Federal requirements. Many of the new positions were city and
county administrator rather than manager, which caused ICMA to revise its
membership criteria and to change the name of the Association from •'manager” to
“management” in 1969. These professional managers frequently had roles and
responsibilities that differed, to various degrees, from traditional city managers. In
many cases, the administrator’s formal authority was less than the manager’s.
This change in membership criteria and name caused many ICMA members
to become concerned about how ICMA could support any form of professional local
government management other than the counci 1-manager plan. Other changes at
ICMA included the appointment of Mark E. Keane as Executive Director in 1967,
the adoption of the Association’s first two set of formal goals in 1962 and 1969, and
the relocation of the Association’s headquarters from Chicago to Washington in
1967.
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The 1940s
The World War II period was one of major changes for local government
managers. Many left their positions to serve in the military and returned to find their
community very different from the one they had left during the Depression. They left
communities whose citizens were burdened with high unemployment and dependent
upon Federal public works programs for work. Cities felt the loss of tax revenues
during the Depression and many managers were forced to reduce municipal programs
and the local government workforce. There was a strong emphasis on economy and
efficiency and little opportunity for innovation. Managers functioned as caretakers
out of necessity. Domestic shortages during the war caused the rationing of some
goods while others disappeared completely.
The end of the war initiated a period of domestic prosperity and growth. The
returning veterans were awarded a variety of benefits by the Federal government.
These benefits were frequently supplemented by state government programs.
National issues, such as foreign affairs, the atomic bomb, and racism, moved to the
forefront as managers faced a professional identity crisis (Stillman, 1974 55-56).
The question of the manager’s relevance to community needs sat like a dark shadow
on the horizon of what was otherwise a sunny day for local communities.
Government programs allowed veterans to continue their education and to
buy homes and automobiles. Suburbanization grew quickly as citizens desired to
live in one community and work in another. Subdivisions sprang up overnight, as
managers and their staffs worked with contractors to expand municipal facilities,
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such as utility services, streets, parks, and storm drainage, and ongoing municipal
services, such as sanitation services and public safety.
Managers, who had focused their efforts since the 1930s on scientific
management and its values of economy and efficiency, were caught up in the post-
World War Q expansion. Individual managers and the profession as a whole found
that the doctrines of Taylor that had been so heartily embraced prior to the war, were
no longer a priority as they began to deal with new political and social issues.
Instead of dealing with municipal efficiency, they turned their attention to broadening
services. Education and housing programs for returning veterans, coupled with a
strong industrial climate, created new opportunities for growth and development.
New communities developed across the country. Forests and farms turned into sub
divisions overnight. Local governments hired managers to provide services for their
new communities. While cost was always a consideration, speed and foresight in the
development process took priority. Providing new services to new residents was a
goal.
From the end of World War II until the Vietnam era. the United States
enjoyed:
• a stable dollar;
• low unemployment;
• expanding educational opportunities;
• growth in many new professions and occupations;
• extensive housing construction;
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• rapid suburban growth; and
• other physical, social, and economic, manifestations of the good life
(Arnold 22-23).
All of these placed new demands on local governments and city managers.
Municipal staffs grew rapidly, and managers found that they had less time for
engineering activities, as additional organizational oversight was required. More
managers came into the field with public administration backgrounds.
Speaking at Harvard University in 1945, Clarence Ridley suggested that the
growing importance of administration in local government was a reflection of the
increased number of services provided by the government and the resulting changes
in the technical character of administration. Ridley emphasized the manager’s role in
coordinating various programs and keeping departments working together. He added
that cities needed managers to “fit people and agencies and programs together so that
each supports the other” (Ridley, 1945 258). He explained this, another way by
saying: “The city manager’s chief responsibility is to take a group of human beings
and to mold them into a smoothly functioning administrative organization capable of
accomplishing efficiently and humanely the aims which are set for it” (259). Ridley
described a variety of management functions:
Organization Training
Staffing Coordination and Direction
Planning Management and Control
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Financial Administrative Representation
Legal Reporting (Ridley, 1945 258-259).
This was very similar to POSDCORB, Luther Gulick’s acronym for key
management functions:
Planning Coordinating
Organizing Reporting
Staffing Budgeting (Guilick, 1937, as reprinted in
Directing Shafritz and Hyde 81-88).
The Association moved forward and increased the information and training
available to local managers. After twenty years of assistance from foundations,
ICMA became financially self-sufficient in 1950. Income jumped sharply from sales
of yearbooks, training books and management information services subscriptions.
Managers and other local government officials looked to ICMA for answers to
domestic problems (Arnold 26).
Manager Roles and Responsibilities
Increased attention was focused on the manager’s leadership style and role in
the policy-making process. An individual manager’s leadership role was dependent
upon:
• the type of community;
• the quality of the council;
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• the temperament of the manager; and
• the actual situation at hand.
By thel960s, social scientists began to take note of the city managers’ roles as
an important factor in the urban political process (Stillman, 1974 59-60). Clarence
Ridley acknowledged that the city manager was involved in the policy-making
process, but he emphasized that policy-making was the legal prerogative of the city
council. The manager was involved as a source of information due to his role as the
chief administrator. After his retirement from ICMA, Ridley revised his position on
the manager’s policy responsibilities. In 1958, he wrote: “The manager is indeed
part of policy making process. The manager by the very nature of his job acts as a
policy formulator. The manager is, however, not the sole originator of public
policies” (Stillman. 1974 59).
ICMA publicly recognized this role in the 1952 amendments to the Code of
Ethics. The manager was identified as a community leader who “submits policy
proposals to the council and provides council with facts and advice on matters of
policy” (Tenet Number 4). The amendments deleted the section of the 1938 Code
that emphasized that the manager should remain in the background and only provide
information for the council to consider. The revisions to the Code recognized that
the manager was in a unique position to gather and evaluate information in order to
recommend policies (Stillman, 1974 62).
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Karl Bosworth’s Identification of Managerial Roles
Karl Bosworth identified the city manager as a nonpartisan politician despite
the manager’s distaste for the label. He suggested that the manager directly affected
the distribution of community power through:
• control of municipal administration;
• policy recommendations to the city council: and
• control over preparation of the municipal budget.
Bosworth went on to identify three types of city managers based on styles and
roles:
The administrative manager focused on the internal organization and
functioned in a manner similar to that initially envisioned by Childs and other early
reformers.
The policy researcher and manager would identify policy issues and advise
the council on the ramifications of various alternatives.
The community leader and manager would venture into community
leadership roles in order to settle public problems. Managers in this role were
particularly evident when the community faced a significant issue.
Bosworth cited the ICMA publication, The Technique o f Municipal
Administration, which stated “the city manager is free to act as a community leader
in the great majority of municipal policies which do not involve political
controversies” (ICMA, 1958 31). The 1958 addition of the ICMA text described
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what future researchers would refer to as the manager’s facilitative role. The
manager can remain in the background while encouraging other community leaders
to initiate community projects (Bosworth 216-219).
These positions contrasted sharply with the original expectations of Richard
Childs and other reformers. Childs went so far as to state that the manager should
always remember he is subordinate to council’s decision and should never promote
or defend any council decision until it is publicly adopted by the council, meaning
that the manager would never advocate an independent position in advance of
council's consideration and decision. This seemed far removed from the real world
of city management in the turbulent post-World War II era (Stillman, 1974 62).
In the years following World War II, several groups who had provided
significant support for the city management movement in earlier decades, allowed
this support to decline significantly as they turned their attention to other issues.
These groups included the prominent reformers, foundations that had previously
offered financial assistance, and the academic community.
Stillman suggests several reasons for the decline in academic support. First,
ICMA was remote from the metropolitan policy making issues of the post-World
War II period. ICMA was more focused on small communities and suburbs.
Second, the Association suffered from a lack of leadership as a result of the
decentralized structure of the Association and the annual election of the President. A
third reason the Association lost support was its failure to discipline members for
professional irresponsibility (Stillman, 1974 63-66).
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Some of these issues were not new. Variations of these same issues were
reviewed and addressed again on several occasions including the 1990s. Although
large urban communities were encouraged by the reformers to adopt the council-
manager plan since the plan’s initiation, very few did. While Cincinnati, Kansas
City, and Dallas were held in the limelight as successful council-manager cities,
other major communities, such as New York, Boston, Washington, Los Angeles, and
San Francisco, never adopted the plan. They did, however, employ professional
managers as city administrators and in other prominent governmental positions.
The relevance of the council-manager plan and ICMA to the large cities has
been questioned by Association members from those communities and by academic
observers since the 1940s. Other ICMA members have frequently suggested that the
Association places too much emphasis on these larger jurisdictions. In the 1990s,
specific sessions at the ICMA Annual Conference have been highlighted as being
designed for small communities with a population of less than 25.000. A recent
Association task force reported to the Executive Board in 2001 on how ICMA
programs could be made more relevant to these small communities. In contrast, the
issue of the council-manager form of government’s relevance for large urban
communities continues to be questioned elsewhere and defended by the Association.
The issue of Association leadership has been addressed by ICMA on several
occasions, including efforts by the nominating committee to ensure representation by
community size and by women and minorities on the Executive Board. In the 1990s,
changes were made in the ICMA Executive Board selection process to stipulate that
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at least one vice-president from each of the five geographic regions of the United
States must be serving as an assistant, rather than a manager. As a result of this
change, five of the fifteen vice-presidents from the United States in 2002 are
assistants.
Another change, intended to strengthen the Association leadership process,
directed the board of directors to select the new president from members who had
recently served as vice president. Prior to this change, the president was elected by
the membership after recommendations by the nominating committee and, on
occasion, nominations by petitions from the membership. The change helps to
improve the cohesion of the process and allows the president to begin his term fully
informed on current association issues.
ICMA has wrestled with Stillman’s third issue since the 1920s. Professional
conduct of ICMA members has been important to the Association, but somewhat
difficult to police. The Code of Ethics was first adopted in 1924, and ICMA has
sought to discipline members for unethical conduct since that time. Unfortunately,
many local government managers and administrators are not members of ICMA and
therefore are not subject to ICMA discipline. As a voluntary association, ICMA has
no control over non-members in the profession. The Association, and individual
managers suffer from “guilt by profession,” when managers participate in unethical
behavior.
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The 1960s—A Time of Turbulence
All of these challenges helped to set the stage for major changes in ICMA and
the city manager’s roles and responsibilities in the 1960s. Many observers had said
that America lost its innocence that decade. The assassination of President Kennedy,
social unrest during the civil rights movement, intense reactions against the Vietnam
war, student unrest and demonstrations throughout the country, and the effects of
technology, all combined to create general unrest throughout the country and new
issues for local governments (Arnold 26).
The 1960s would be a time when ICMA would undergo many changes
including:
• a move of the national offices to Washington, DC;
• expanded research activities;
• the appointment of a new Executive Director;
• a revised Code of Ethics; and
• a summary of the Association’s first formal goals study.
The 1940s and 1950s represented a significant shift in the orientation of local
government. Interest in efficiency and the focus on business and corporate ideals
declined. The rapid growth of suburbia placed new demands for infrastructure
construction and service delivery. New communities developed outside central
cities. Residents could live outside the city but still enjoy the employment
opportunities and cultural amenities of urban life. As they moved further away,
residents became less concerned with central city issues and focused on their own
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residential communities (Frisby 46). Hansell (1996) suggests that this was a time of
significant movement in the way citizens viewed their civic responsibilities.
Suburbanites tended to look less frequently beyond the boundaries of their own
immediate communities. They became concerned with these areas and sowed the
first seeds of democratic discord (7). Putnam (2000) has suggested this was the time
period when Americans moved away from a sense of community as membership
peaked in national civic organizations (52-58).
Changes in the nature of communities and in the services demanded by
residents of the new suburbs after World War n, opened up local government to new
employment opportunities as professionally trained workers in the fields of finance,
personnel, planning, and others joined the city manager on staff. The manager now
had other professionals to work with rather than serving as the only professional
member of the municipal staff (Arnold 33). This allowed the manager to begin
developing a broader vision for the community instead of having to focus on the
implementation of all municipal programs. He would need this opportunity as the
explosion of urban problems, such as the civil rights movement and student
demonstrations, moved to the forefront.
The growth of technology changed how managers conducted business.
ICMA began expanding training programs to reflect the environmental changes in
local government and changes in the managers themselves. Educational backgrounds
shifted from engineering to humanities and the social sciences. An example of this
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was the 1962 annual conference in Philadelphia, where five papers were presented on
the issue of “the city manager, an era of change.” Papers dealt with:
• economic forces;
• social and cultural change;
• management trends;
• technological change; and
• professional development (Arnold 26, 35).
As President of ICMA, Elder Gunter presented a series of issues for the
executive board to consider. Gunter maintained that leaders and institutions needed
to change in response to new needs and that ICMA “to maintain its place of influence
must also be prepared to change.” He added, “council-manager government and the
professional city management faced their own cold war problems from some quarters
of the United States” (1962 281). He added that the basis of the council-manager
form of government had been soundly conceived and that the Association "must
pursue a course which promotes improvement of council-manager government in the
development of managers capable of meeting changing urban needs” (1962 281). He
was concerned about six issues:
• lack of experienced, professionally trained managers;
• criticism of managers and professional administrators in general;
• lack of adequate education on local government in the school systems;
• lack of qualified persons interested in entering public administration
programs in college and universities;
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• inadequate research and a lack of funds for research in the field of urban
management problems; and
• violations of ICMA code of ethics.
Gunter (1962) stated: "Our challenge is to make sure that we as managers of
individual communities and as members of ICMA meet the problems of urban
America” (281). He called on managers to look at how effectively they had been
able to meet the needs of their communities. While acknowledging that the
acceptance of an individual manager by the community determines his success.
Gunter added that the Association’s reputation as a whole greatly affects the growth
of the form of government (282).
ICMA’s First Goals Study
Following Gunters lead, the executive board adopted a program designed to
expand ICMA activities and to support managers in the field in four areas:
• public information:
• contract and staff research;
• support for professional education; and
• ethics.
These became the basis for a fifteen-point program adopted by the board.
This work was a precursor to a much larger goal study undertaken in 1969 (Arnold
27). Among other goals, the program was intended:
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• to reduce the gap between the theoretical aspects of local government
management and actual practice;
• to improve manager performance through research in urban affairs and on
municipal management issues;
• to increase the understanding about local government in public schools;
• to upgrade the professional competence and leadership awareness of city
managers; and
• to strengthen the profession through revisions to the Code of Ethics.
Gunter (1962) said the program was necessary as managers have a broad
impact throughout the community. They must be accountable for their results of
municipal service programs. He stated “council-manager government represents the
most progressive system of municipal government yet devised, but the system is
continually on trial” (283). Gunter added that the manager can not function in a
vacuum or remain aloof from politics in the broad sense. While the manager does
not have a role in partisan politics, he has definite responsibilities in the policy
making arena (281-284).
Training for managers was broadened significantly as new programs were
created and existing ones were broadened from the basic management techniques of
the 1930s and 1940s into broader issues such as planning, intergovernmental
relations, finance, and the psychology of the workplace. These changes reflected
changes in the local government environment and among managers themselves
(Arnold 33-35).
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Other issues did not change as manager conferences continued to emphasize
basic issues and relations with city council and the public. During the 1960s, local
government managers and others realized that urbanism was going to continue to
expand, that civil rights and social unrest were going to change organizations, and
that intergovernmental relations and management were going to become ways of life
for cities and counties. All of these changes directly affected the roles and
responsibilities of the city manager.
A New Executive Director and the Move to Washington
In 1966, ICMA authorized the establishment of a branch office in
Washington and began to consider the feasibility of moving the Association’s
headquarters to the nation’s capital. Executive Director Orin Nolting had advised the
board that he would be retiring the next year. In Spring 1967, the Board appointed
Mark E. Keane to replace Nolting as executive director and voted to close the
Chicago office and move all operations to Washington (Arnold 39).
Keane was serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development at the time and was particularly well qualified for
the executive director’s position, having served as city manager of Tucson, Arizona;
Oak Park, Illinois; and Shorewood, Wisconsin; and as assistant to the city manager in
Wichita, Kansas; after completion of the MPA degree program at the University of
Kansas. An active member o f the Association, he had served as a regional vice
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president from 1958 to 1960 and as ICMA President in 1964-1965 (ICMA directory
2001).
He took over the reigns of leadership at ICMA during a highly turbulent
period. Many observers considered the 1960s to 1980s period the most divisive era
in the United States since the Civil War. National events, such as demonstrations
and domestic violence at political conventions, the Watergate episode, and the
resignation of President Nixon, indicated further citizen alienation from the Federal
government. Proposition Thirteen was initiated in California to force property tax
cuts, expenditure reductions, and cut-back management.
The news was not all negative for local governments and their managers.
Progress was made in civil rights and education and employment opportunities for
women. Sunshine laws opened up the proceedings of government agencies as never
before. Local governments discovered new ways of working with the private sector
to generate employment and to develop land.
City and county governments were caught in what was to become known as
the whipsaw of public opinion. The general public generated strong pressures to
reduce taxes and cut expenditures while various citizen groups sought increased
funding and higher levels of service. Local government managers found new ways to
work with people as citizens groups, committees, and coalitions appeared
everywhere and became involved with a variety of issues.
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After moving ICMA offices to Washington, the executive board established a
new goals committee to create a new program of goals for the Association. In 1969,
the Board adopted five goals:
1. to strengthen the quality of urban government through professional
management;
2. to be the professional educational association of appointed urban
managers;
3. to strengthen the competence of appointed urban managers and to ensure
qualified talent to meet urban management needs;
4. to contribute to the understanding and resolution of urban government
issues; and
5. to provide information and analysis of data, management ideas and
methods for urban government management and to stimulate and
participate in the development and translation of new concepts for urban
government management.
In addition, the Association extended full membership eligibility by voting to
include chief administrators of general management communities and the directors of
councils of government. These goals served as guidelines for ICMA until 1985,
when they were superseded by a mission statement and six goals. The 1985 project
was initiated in 1983 as a follow up to the Future Horizons Committee report issued
in 1979 (Arnold 44-45).
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Federal Government Support for the Strong Mayor
The move to Washington was coupled with a dramatic expansion of ICMA's
activities. If the early years of the council-manager form represented a period of
political reform, the 1940s through the 1960s period was one represented by
structural orthodoxy. This emphasis gave way to a period of social activism in 1960s
and 1970s (Newland, 1994 265). Harman and Carter (1973) note:
A new Federal-local alliance came into existence during the
administrations of the late Presidents Kennedy and Johnson in the
form of direct Federal-local programs. The growth in direct
Federal aid to local governments was matched by an equally
steady growth in guidelines which supported greater power in the
hands of mayors. The political philosophy of the strong mayor
has been strongly supported by the Federal government,
particularly the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(8)
The Federal government responded to social unrest by initiating a variety of
domestic programs, which funneled dollars to local governments and to private non
profit entities. The dollars allocated to local governments were primarily awarded to
central cities in urban areas. The relationship between the mayor and the Federal
government was greatly enhanced through the use of these funds. The Nixon
Administration counteracted this relationship by establishing general revenue sharing
and block grant programs, which vastly increased numbers of governments eligible
to receive funding. Elective leaders in these communities supported the new
programs and the Federal government, which bestowed them. ICMA and city
managers realized quickly that their focus needed to be on Washington, rather than
state capitals.
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Hannan and Carter suggest that a new focus on mayors began at the local
level following World War II as a result of increased housing needs, the physical
decay of core cities, and civil rights politics. They point to the work of Professor
Robert A. Dahl, who analyzed Mayor Richard Lee of New Haven, Connecticut, in
the classic Who Governs. Hannan and Carter believe this initiated extensive
academic and public interest in the role of the mayor (8).
ICMA’s Interest in General Managers
ICMA recognized this public interest in the executive leadership roles of the
mayor and became more interested in the general manager or city administrator
position. These managers served mayors and councils as staff advisors, but they
often had limited authority over the personnel selection process. As Mayor Arthur J.
Holland of Trenton, New Jersey, noted in 1973, mayors could hire administrators to
operate the municipal organization while the mayor concentrated on external
activities (14). This was a significant move away from the council-manager form.
ICMA recognized these changes and began to recognize the administrator
positions with the Association’s constitutional changes in 1969. This allowed city
administrators appointed by mayors to have their communities recognized by ICMA
as “general management” positions, whereas council-manager positions required the
manager be appointed by a majority of council. The new position could be
recognized if an elected representative or body of elected representatives made the
appointment.
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The counci l-manager position continued to require that the manager serve as
the individual responsible for preparing, presenting, and administering the budget.
The city administrator position required that the administrator have major
responsibilities for these activities.
The third principal difference in these positions, as recognized by ICMA in
1969, is that the manager needed to have full authority for the appointment and
removal of most principal department heads. The administrator is expected to
exercise significant influence on their appointment (Anderson 26).
The concept of an administrator rather than a manager also appealed to some
counties. Counties became active participants in the intergovernmental process in
the 1970s through the Federal revenue sharing and block grant programs. A study of
Virginia’s county elected leaders by Apperson and Wikstrom found several primary
reasons why they began hiring county administrators in the 1960s:
• new federal grant regulations;
• increased budget and accounting requirements;
• state regulations and reporting requirements; and
• a desire for organizational efficiency (44).
Although most of the growth in county administrator positions has taken
place since the Future Horizons report, interest in this type of position began in the
1960s and 1970s. Most of the counties that adopted the position before 1980 were
located in large metropolitan areas. Elisha C. Freedman served as Montgomery
County, Maryland’s first chief administrative office appointed by the elected county
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executive. He was recognized as the individual in charge of the day-to-day
operations of the government, freeing the county executive to work on policy
matters. He noted that while there were similarities in the relationships between
elected officials and administrators in the counci 1-manager and strong executive
plans, there were also differences.
The responsibilities of the manager who reports to the council as a whole, are
set out by state law charter or ordinance. In contrast, the administrator’s
responsibilities are often negotiated between the appointing executive and the
administrator rather than being established by an official document. This
administrative system often places the professional in a position of often having to
defend political policies of the executive to the council and the public. An
administrator appointed by a single elected official is much more likely to be brought
into transactional or market exchange type activities than the manager who reports to
all of the council as a whole (Freedman 11-13). The ability of local governments to
solve urban problems was seriously questioned in the 1960s by those who felt
disenfranchised. Minorities and social activists challenged the system and
sometimes took violent actions. Many communities suffered greatly from riots and
other civil unrest.
More Turbulence In the Late 1960s
The Federal government helped citizen groups develop capabilities of
challenging local governments through educational programs, laws governing
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employment and housing, and citizen participation requirements. Federal agencies
and laws helped citizens to challenge their local governments (Hansell, 1996 8). The
Kemer Commission noted the failure of government at all levels to deal with urban
problems. Members questioned the ability of professional government
administrators to effective relate to the issues facing low income and minority
citizens. They suggested that the loss of the historic urban political machine
eliminated the minority and underprivileged citizens’ access to local government.
Keith Mulrooney noted that “confronting anti-war demonstrators, holding
council meetings in Chicano houses, and sitting with hippies in a park discussing last
week’s narcotics bust,” and similar activities, were “far removed from the traditional
managerial functions of POSDCORB’s” and similar traditional administrative
concerns (6). He suggested that managers would need new models to learn from in
the future and could not rely on traditional methods of operation (7), while most of
those that he contacted “seemed to feel there was nothing inherent in the plan or the
manager, which would make either unsuited to deal effectively with “ major social
problems’” (9). Frank Sherwood, in a letter to Mulrooney, suggested there may have
been constitutional limitations with the plan which could limit the ability to
effectively deal with social problems. Sherwood added: “You can’t just have one
person pulling all the levers. It’s a basic question of organizational theory. The
classical model of the council manager plan is a closed-system theory. It is not
adaptive” (9).
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Spurred by Federal support, neighborhood activism became a greater force in
community politics. Neighborhood organizations were initiated in response to
specific issues or situations, and they became players in the local government arena.
The effort went even further when citizens in some states and communities increased
or began participating in government decision making through the referendum
(Frisby, 1999 46-47). Arnold suggests: “City and county employees work with the
public in ways that were almost non-existent before the 1960s. Citizen groups,
committees, and coalitions sprung up overnight, often in connection with land
development proposals” (43). Whitaker and Jenne suggest that the diversity of
public demand on local governments began with the civil rights movement in the
1960s. They add that this diversity has increased in recent decades as local politics
has become more fragmented with the arrival of immigrants, the spread of tax
revolts, a growing ideology of privatization, and increasing and competing views of
the public interest (89).
Thomas Fletcher was city manager, San Jose, California, in the early 1970s.
He agreed that many of his colleagues “must be seriously concerned whether or not
we have the capacity to manage the types of problems all of us are now facing in the
urban scene” (14). He added that the traditional image of the manager as a
professional dealing with techniques of engineering and finance was gone. Human
problems would now have priority for the local government. The manager would
become a “modern political animal” dealing with new challenges, and the leadership
of local communities would need to be placed in the hands of local elected leaders,
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particularly the directly elected mayor. Managers would need to try new systems and
procedures and investigate private sector technology and adapt it for public use.
Local governments were facing financial crises, which Fletcher suggested was not as
great a danger as the managerial bankruptcy they were facing. Change was occurring
quickly, and the need for the change was even greater. He concluded that managers
must be capable of making the changes or the profession, as he knew it, would not
survive (18-19).
Banovetz (1994) suggests that the political role expansion of the city manager
from 1952 to the present, and particularly between 1960 and 1985, was in response to
elected leaders who viewed government as paternalistic—a source of support and
service. They welcomed managers who could help their communities deliver
services demanded by varied interests.
This was in contrast to the elected leaders of the 1914-1952 period who
favored limited government and were suspicious of those who wanted to increase its
services and responsibilities. He adds that, after 1965, government began to be
viewed as excessive. Anti-war demonstrations, taxpayers revolts, and “Reaganism”
became the themes, and Proposition 13 was adopted in California to roll back
property tax rates and then spread across the country.
City councils and their constituencies became much more politically active.
The make-up of city councils changed, becoming more diverse, reflecting the
growing heterogeneity of the American community. City managers discovered that
more council members were being elected from wards rather than at-large. The role
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of the mayor changed as the impact o f the strong mayor-council-manager began to
rise. This meant there would be new roles for the manager. The independently
elected mayor would serve as chief executive and the manager would serve the
mayor and the council as the administrator and hope to avoid being caught in a
conflict between the two. It was suggested as early as 1988 that there might be a
convergence of the council-manager and mayor-council forms into a new form of
local government (Banovetz 318,315-319).
The 1960s through the 1970s was also a time when forward-thinking county
boards began hiring administrators who brought a new perspective to the courthouse.
Hired to assist governing boards with Federal grant programs and state and Federal
mandates, the new county administrators began to make an impact in their new
positions in a manner different from the first city managers only because of the
general advancement of society and technology. The administrators also began to
have an impact on ICMA. which would wait another decade before adding “county”
to the Association’s name. The impact of the county administrators on the
profession would grow and be much greater in the 1980s and 1990s. By the late
1970s, it was clear that strong winds of change were on the horizon.
The thirty-plus years between the Second World War and ICMA’s Future
Horizons Committee represented dramatic changes for local government,
professional management, and ICMA. Managers had focused on cost containment,
efficiency, and, in many cases, reduced services in order to avoid deficit spending in
the 1930s and early 1940s when many unemployed citizens could not pay taxes. City
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councils usually consisted of five or seven white males who were community
business leaders elected at-large in a non-partisan manner. They relied on the city
manager for policy guidance and allowed the manager a great deal of leeway in the
administration of the city’s affairs. ICMA functioned with limited resources and a
small staff to provide support to managers and technical information to managers and
local governments.
After World War II, the industrial facilities that had been dedicated to the war
effort were suddenly available to produce domestic goods. Economic expansion
occurred quickly as new homes were built and the demand for goods and services
rose sharply. Citizens began living in one community and working in another.
Putnam has suggested that this period represented the initial breakdown of the sense
of community connectedness in many areas of the country. The new housing was
built outside municipal corporate limits and led to the creation of new suburbs whose
residents demanded public services such as public safety and sanitation collection.
City councils relied on managers to provide leadership in the development of public
services for the new subdivisions. Karl Bosworth examined the roles of managers
and categorized them as administrative managers, policy researchers and advisors,
and community leaders. ICMA worked to expand services and to provide technical
information, needed by managers.
The 1960s was a period of disillusionment and discord in the United States as
minorities and youth protested a variety of government policies ranging from civil
rights to the Vietnam War. Many Federal programs were initiated that included
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some grants and mandates for local governments. Managers had to deal with protests
and riots as well as the Federal mandates, which easily outweighed the grants.
These grants were consolidated into block grants and General Revenue
Sharing in the early 1970s. Cities and counties expanded programs and increased
staff levels to provide new services. In the late 1970s, the Federal funds began to be
withdrawn leaving local governments and their managers skeptical of the future.
Many mayor-council cities and county boards of supervisors hired professional
managers to guide them through the Federal grant and mandate processes. These
managers did not have all of the powers and authority of traditional city managers,
who initially looked upon them with suspicion.
These professional management positions were occupied by city managers
who changed positions, and by new managers entering the field. ICMA had to
change the name of the Association from “manager’' to “management” and expand
membership criteria to accommodate the new positions. The Association also made
other changes including the hiring of Mark Keane as Executive Director, the moving
of Association offices from Chicago to Washington, and the establishment of goals
and objectives in 1962 and 1969.
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CHAPTER IV
FUTURE HORIZONS—THE ESSENTIAL COMMUNITY
The local government environment changed significantly in the 70 years
following the hiring of Charles Ashbumer in Staunton. Cities adopted the council-
manager form of government to end corruption. Citizens in the 1970s did not
remember local government corruption, but they were angry with government for
other reasons ranging from the Vietnam War to civil rights. Women and minorities
started to become active in governmental affairs as diversity entered the council
chambers. The decline in community association memberships continued as more
citizens lived and worked in different communities and suburban sprawl continued.
The impact of the Federal government on local communities had risen
sharply in the 1960s and 1970s through grant-in-aid and block grants, and mandates.
The grants had been withdrawn, but the mandates remained. Groups of citizens
wanted programs continued while the general public and politicians clamored for tax
cuts. Local government felt the impact of the whipsaw caused by the conflict
between special interest groups and the public-at-large.
Managers worked in a rapidly changing environment as the membership of
councils was changed by the courts and by the voters. New opportunities for
employment became available as counties began hiring managers and administrators
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to oversee the Federal grants process and compliance with mandates. Cities with the
mayor-council form of government hired city managers as administrators to perform
similar functions but with different authority and responsibilities from the managers'
prior roles. ICMA members relied on the Association to provide support and
assistance. Members were divided as to what held them together—the council-
manager form of government or their professional expertise and a sense of integrity
demonstrated by the ICMA Code of Ethics.
Events that Helped To Set the Stage
The 1960s and 1970s were turbulent times for the United States and its
communities. The post-World War II period was a time of suburbanization and
growth for American metropolitan areas. Subdivisions and suburbs sprang up
overnight. Managers and technical staff members were needed to provide
infrastructure coordination and public services for the new development areas. City
employment numbers increased rapidly as local governments strove to meet growing
service demands.
At the same time, citizens began living in one community and working in
another, often with children being sent to schools elsewhere. Community spirit in
neighborhoods began to decline as residents became more distant from each other.
Their ties to the residential neighborhood were reduced as attention shifted to the
work community for part of the day, but there was little or no community spirit in the
employment community either. Instead of focusing on neighborhoods and
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communities, citizens turned their attention to their personal and immediate family
needs.
Civil rights activists and demonstrators began making new demands on city
hall and state capitals in the mid-l9S0s and the 1960s. Federal troops were required
to integrate schools and universities. Minority residents believed they and their
neighborhoods were often denied municipal services equal to higher class parts of the
city. Concern for discrimination and the denial of services continued until violence
took place. Social uprisings left deep scars in local communities across the nation.
The late 1960s saw a dramatic shift in general citizen confidence in
government as protesters felt betrayed by their national government’s actions in
Southeast Asia and the official reports presented on those actions. After failing in his
bid eight years earlier, Richard Nixon was elected president in 1968.
Nixon demonstrated political and administrative skills as he worked to
consolidate many of the programs funded as part of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society
programs and to shift funds away from direct grants to community-based
organizations to block grants allocations to cities and counties. Local government
leaders, who had claimed that direct Federal funding for community-based
organizations undermined local authority, now found themselves responsible for
Federal dollars. Community-based organizations sought funds from the local
government. Program participants wanted programs continued and improved, while
other citizens questioned program values.
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Managers became responsible for significant dollars and for resolving
domestic problems that were previously not considered traditional local government
services. Cities and counties hired staffs to direct programs in areas of employment
and training, criminal justice, housing and redevelopment, and social services.
General revenue sharing was signed into law by President Nixon in 1972, and
allocated general purpose dollars to cities and counties. Grant preparation and
reporting requirements made it necessary for counties to hire professional
administrators and cities to expand staffs. Communities with a strong mayor or
commission form of government found it necessary to hire professional managers to
meet Federal grant requirements and additional state requirements in areas such as
budgeting and financial reporting.
The mid-1970s was a time of gasoline shortages and long lines at many local
stations. The price of a gallon of gas tripled. Natural gas could not be extended into
growing areas of many communities because of a lack of availability. Solar and
wind energy alternatives were researched and advocated, but they never became
popular with the general public. Everyone liked these ideas but did not trust the
alternative sources to provide adequate energy 365 days a year. The economy
entered a deep recession and a period of heavy inflation. President Ford’s program
of “Whip Inflation Now” (WIN) failed to meet pressing needs.
Jimmy Carter was elected president in 1976 and began dismantling some
domestic programs, which provided funding for states and localities. Community
demands for programs and solutions remained high as funding sources began to dry
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up. Many communities began funding the programs with reduced local dollars. This
left everyone unhappy. Program participants complained because funding levels
were reduced. The general public objected to higher tax rates for programs they did
not support. Other communities discounted the programs entirely.
Taxpayers revolted as state and local governments were forced to reduce
funding due to the loss of Federal funds and the recession, but citizens continued to
demand the new services. Proposition 13 in California and Proposition 2Vz in
Massachusetts represented the new citizen priority—reduced taxes. Reduced
revenues forced managers to make unpopular reductions in programs and refocused
efforts on economy and efficiency.
The Total Quality Management (TQM) movement of the 1980s, fathered by
W. Edwards Deming, somewhat represented a modem version of Frederick W.
Taylor’s scientific management. Following World War n, a new word had joined the
manager’s vocabulary as the two “Es” became three. Economy and efficiency were
supplemented and, in many cases, replaced by concerns with effectiveness. Waldo
and many others had stressed all three “Es,” but economy became a lower concern
for many. With the energy crisis of the 1970s, managers again asked at staff
meetings and at conferences: “How can we reduce program costs?” Under TQM,
concerns became: “How can we be certain the program is efficient and effective, and
doing what council intended, at the least cost?”
The late 1970s and early 1980s also reflected significant changes in city
council make-up as minorities and women joined the local governing bodies.
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Citizens interested in specific political policies and/or careers as partisan political
leaders, replaced community oriented business leaders. The diversity and internal
orientation of individual members changed governing body orientations. Some
council members no longer worked together to better the community but tended to
focus on individual and personal interests. Former ICMA President Buford Watson
said that this time reflected a lack of political leadership on the part of elected
officials, and it was the worst time to be a city manager (personal conversation with
the author in 1978). He later died of a heart attack following an especially
disputatious council meeting.
The Future Horizons Committee
This was the environment in which ICMA launched a new initiative. ICMA
President Robert Kipp asked Dallas City Manager, George Schrader to chair a
committee that would look to the future and help the Association and individual
managers prepare for it. This "Future Horizons” committee represented ICMA’s
most extensive effort to develop a strategic plan for the Association and to provide
members with tools needed to prepare their communities for the twenty-first century.
Kipp believed that "every profession needs to look beyond the immediate
present and that it was time for ICMA and the city management profession to take
such a look” (Rutter 139). The committee of 33 members and friends of ICMA
included representatives of cities, counties, and councils of government of varying
sizes and locations, and a mixture of race and gender. Professors of public
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administration and public policy, national leaders of local government, and
representatives of the private sector complemented the make-up of the committee.
The committee began its work with a meeting with the National Academy of
Public Administration in 1978. Four meetings were held in Kansas City, with a fifth
in Washington. With assistance from ICMA staff and experts from throughout the
country, five different scenarios were established to represent alternatives for local
governments in the year 2000 (Rutter 139-140). They included:
• “doubt town”—a product of pessimism;
• “hope county”—“a product of optimism;
• “delight community”—representing a very optimistic future;
• “careful village”—“a mixture of optimism and pessimism” for small,
non-metropolitan areas; and
• “caution city”—“a mixture of optimism and pessimism” for large
metropolitan areas.
The committee looked at five broad subjects (areas) of concern:
1. External factors—“parameters of urban life”;
2. Scale of government—federalism, regionalism and other factors of local
government structure”;
3. Democratic governments—"elections, citizen participation, and other
political factors”;
4. “Humanism on a modest budget—’’education, human services, housing,”
and similar programs; and
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5. The role of the urban executives in the year 2000— "political and
managerial relations, the profession in ICMA” (Rutter 141).
The committee presented two written products for the ICMA membership.
• ‘ New Worlds of Service” was a 32-page interim summary of the committee’s work
and expectations for the future that was presented to the ICMA members at the 1979
conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The Essential Community: Local Government in
the Year 2000 was prepared by ICMA Deputy Director Laurence Rutter, who served
as staff director for the committee. This was a paperback text, published in 1980 that
became part of ICMA’s new municipal management series.
The original series began with Techniques o f Municipal Administration in
1934 and became known as the ICMA “Green Book” series. This 1980 text was part
of a quite different product line, however. The “Green Books” had all been hardback
and were approximately 8 V z inches by 11 inches in size. The new book appeared a
year after ICMA had published Managing with Less in a new, paperback, 6 inches by
9 inches format. These non-green books became the predecessors to the practical
management series of the same size that was initiated under the editorship of Barbara
Moore in 1983 with Telecommunications fo r Local Government. In 2001, the series
consisted of 28 volumes on a variety of issues facing local government managers.
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Key Values Recognized by the Committee
The Future Horizons Committee recognized four key values:
1. The value of representative democracy was stressed first. Elected
officials need to be aware of constituent desires and needs. They perform
a key service when they resolve social conflicts within communities in an
expedient and equitable manner.
2. The direct services provided by local government are the best expression
of the public service needs of the citizenry.
3. Equity in the delivery of services is a key local government requirement.
4. There are limits to what services governments can provide. Citizens
should not expect the government to serve their needs and wants without
limitation (Rutter 7-8).
Most of the committee’s work and the reports dealt with the roles of the local
government manager and ICMA. The committee also addressed the future
environment and context of local government and suggested possible strategies for
governments to adopt to meet the challenges of that changing environment.
The committee had many expectations for the future. The energy shortages
of the 1970s were expected to be a thing of the past, and, with careful policies,
sufficient energy sources were expected to be available to meet future needs. This
would include the environmentally wise use of coal, solar and synthetic fuels, and the
ultimate use of nuclear energy, if that industry could satisfy public safety concerns.
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The committee expected water to be the greatest resource problem o f the new
century.
Poverty in the United States was expected to be reduced as more families
moved into better socio-economic positions. More elderly people, a majority of them
women, would be living alone, and urban sprawl was expected to continue.
Telecommunications were expected to become a powerful technological force
(ICMA, 1979 3-6).
Continued Local Government Powerlessness
The committee predicted that '"politics would be characterized by a
continuation of relative powerlessness among elected and appointed officials but
today’s severe problems of credibility, confidence and consensus will abate” (ICMA,
1979 6). The committee suggested three major contributors to this situation:
• The intervention of the central government in the community and local
government life;
• The intervention of the courts into all decisions; and
• The whipsaw of public opinion.
The committee noted that the whipsaw effect is caused by the general public
feeling that they are paying excessively high taxes while select, narrowly focused
interest groups want higher levels of service. Citizens and community groups would
tend to hold public officials accountable but not give them the power to act (ICMA,
1979 6-7).
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The committee was particularly concerned about the intervention of the
Federal government into areas that had formerly been solely the responsibility of the
local communities and their governments. In many communities, as much as one
half of the local government’s budget was provided by and controlled by the Federal
government in the late 1970s. This dramatically reduced local decision-making and
initiatives that could be undertaken without close scrutiny by Federal regulators who
promulgated mandates, policies, and opinions that were frequently considered to be
inconsistent and conflicting. The courts granted standing to those who challenged
what were formerly legislative decisions. Local governments found their decisions
by the governing body being overturned by the judiciary. These factors (Federal
intervention, judicial intervention and conflicting public opinion) were expected to
be present in the new century, but with reduced intensity from the late 1970s (Rutter
23-24).
Local Governments to “Get by Modestly”
To address these issues, in a scenario in which local governments were
expected to learn to get by modestly with minimum revenue increases, there would
be increased skepticism of Federal government grants and transfers. To deal with the
growing scale of government, support for metropolitan-wide government was
expected to decline in favor of collaboration among the governments of metropolitan
regions. Services would be altered to address the changing population demographics
and the needs of the aged, women, minorities, and smaller sized households. There
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would be a greater promotion of and reliance on volunteerism and increased efforts
to create public-private cooperation and stronger alliances with the scientific and
technical communities. Efforts to manage and affect citizen participation would be
renewed, especially at the block and neighborhood levels.
Concern was expressed for the election process as post card and instant voter
registration efforts would be used to promote participation. Some individuals
suggested that voting might become mandatory. Committee members also
speculated that an increased number of celebrities and athletes would enter public life
as political candidates. Communities were expected to attempt to establish codes of
behavior in areas in which there was perceived to be an overriding public interest
(Rutter 25-26,93, 122).
The “Complete City" Versus “Back to Basics"
The committee looked at two sharply contrasting alternatives for
communities of the future. The “complete city” represented the classical city that
would seek to deal with all problems faced by citizens in an urban area. This
alternative would continue the urban policies of the 1960s that were especially
intended to address issues such as equity in the provision and production of public
services. It was expected that citizens would lose confidence when such policies
would fail.
In contrast, the Committee hypothesized a “back to basics” alternative in
which local governments provided mostly basic services such as sanitation, fire, and
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police, thereby essentially functioning similar to communities of earlier decades
(Rutter 88-89). In this alternative, many members anticipated that local governments
would learn to get by modestly and assume that budgets would not grow
incrementally.
City staff would assist citizens in handling for themselves some services that
the public expected government to provide for them in 1980. In essence, committee
members envisioned the need to regulate the demand for government services and
public goods. There would be a reduced economic demand for public services.
It was anticipated that maintenance of basic infrastructure would be a major
concern for local governments with growing skepticism about the value of central
government programs and consolidation of local jurisdictions. Cities and counties
would need to buy back their independence and reevaluate the scale of local
government, as region-wide metropolitan government was found not to be the
panacea expected in the 1950s and 1960s. Instead, there would be some
decentralization of local government to communities and neighborhoods, but with
regional collaboration to cope with shared needs. A mix of local government
services would be altered to meet changing demographics and needs as local
governments responded to the aging of the population and the expanding voice of
women, minorities, and smaller households in local affairs. Committee members
also anticipated a baby-boomer echo. Governments would seek to make local
government employment more satisfying in order to retain employees in a
competitive market (ICMA, 1979 8-13).
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Alternative Scenarios for Local Government
After discussing factors expected to impact local government in 2000, the
Committee prepared five scenarios to represent different expectations for the future.
By considering these alternative futures, the Committee hoped to establish
boundaries that would include the most likely environment managers could expect to
face in the future. They represent pessimistic, moderately optimistic, and highly
optimistic alternatives.
The “Doubt Town” Scenario
Expectations for “Doubt Town” were based on a pessimistic future. They
included scarce, expensive energy sources, limited growth of the economy with high
inflation, a shortage of key goods, and an aging population with older women far
outnumbering men.
There would be a strong move toward centralization in government, with
local governments becoming outposts of the Federal government. Regionalism
would take on a less important role, with few or no reforms in local government.
Citizen participation would be limited due to a lack of effort by citizens and elected
officials alike.
There would be a void in local government leadership with narrow focus
among council members, ward elections, and competition for resources. Elected
leaders would have shorter tenures and would not be willing to work together to
accommodate the needs o f each other. The relations between the elected officials
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and managers would continue to deteriorate, with a lack of support for managers who
were tied to individual political leaders. Council would become more involved in
administrative matters and patronage would again become part of local government.
In this dismal scenario of “Doubt Town,” the committee predicted fewer
professionally managed cities and counties, while managers became less involved in
day-to-day activities and more involved in political issues. People would stay in the
profession for shorter periods of time and be more mobile. They would need
improved communication skills and a better understanding of the urban economy.
ICMA would include a broader, more political membership with the council-
manager plan no longer the preferred form. A “more realistic” statement would
replace the Code of Ethics. While some other local government associations would
have folded because of a lack of resources, ICMA would target services to members
in crisis and focus on lobbying in Washington (Rutter 142-151).
The “Hope County” Scenario
In contrast to “Doubt Town,” “Hope County” offered an optimistic scenario
where citizens would enjoy sufficient, cheap energy sources and abundant oil, with
relative prosperity, low unemployment, and less poverty. An older population, with
smaller families and more single people, would emphasize a simpler lifestyle with a
tolerance for diversity.
Balance would be achieved in the Federal system, with functions sorted out
but no increase in government spending. There would be less reliance on sweeping
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government programs. Government would do less, but do it better. Regional bodies
would be stronger, with directly elected boards and more authority to resolve a
limited range of issues. Local governments would experience some consolidation,
and some services would be more targeted. Neighborhood organizations would be
strong, and in some cases, even become sub-governments. New decision tools would
become available to neighborhood groups. Linkages between the public and the
private sectors would be expanded.
More elected officials would be full-time and elected by wards. There would
be an emphasis on capacity building, and, therefore, elected officials would become
more knowledgeable, able and professional. These elected officials would
experience a loss of personal privacy. Citizens would have greater opportunities to
participate in government due to better communication devices.
Relations between elected officials and the manager would be less
acrimonious and more supportive. There would be a shared responsibility for public
and administrative matters. Managers would need fewer technical skills but greater
skills in the areas of brokerage, negotiations, and communications. There would be a
greater emphasis on knowledge of current issues, human behavior, and the historical
base of communities. The city management profession would be more
demographically heterogeneous with duties less rigid and with more mayor appointed
administrators.
ICMA would be merged with other national organizations such as the
National League of Cities, U.S. Conference o f Mayors, National Associations of
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Counties, and National Association of Regional Councils. There would be continual
needs assessments of manager skills, but there would be no certification of managers
(Rutter 142-151).
The “ Delight Community” Scenario
“Delight Community’' was the product of a very optimistic imagination where
citizens would have continued concern about the environment, and would be willing
to pay the cost of environmental protection. There would be a permanent and
dominant role for government in environmental protection with an emphasis on land
use controls on a regional basis and recycling.
In “Delight Community,” there would be abundant cheap oil and new energy
sources available and citizens would experience little poverty, stable employment,
and a higher standard of living. The portion of the population of Hispanic origin
would increase while the Black proportion of the population would remain constant.
The population would be older, as retirement age moved to 70. The country would
value racial equality and spirituality.
Public sector responsibilities would grow, and there would be an increase in
the quasi-public sector. Grants-in-aid would be less to local governments, but
general revenue sharing from the Federal government would be much higher. The
states would step in to help local governments as the Federal government moves
further away from local issues and takes a hands-off approach. Education, health,
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and welfare would all become Federal government responsibilities thereby freeing
local and state resources for other projects.
Regional bodies would replace councils of government and there would be
mandatory membership and service delivery. While traditional services would
remain with localities, regional authorities would begin providing some services.
The geographic scale of local government would remain unchanged. There would be
some metropolitan government experiments with a two-tiered model becoming
popular. The array of local services would remain the same with a focus on
enforcement of community values. A major concern would be the maintenance of
the local infrastructure. Neighborhoods would retain the same prominence as in the
1970s, rather than become more politically important.
There would be growth in the quasi-public sector but little growth in private
investment in public projects. There would be a rise of the citizen politician, with
fewer council members elected by wards. There would be greater public confidence
in government and less use of referendums and initiatives. Political parties would
play a small role in the local election process. There would be less demand for direct
citizen participation although voter turnout for elections would be higher. Two-way
cable TV would be used extensively for local politics.
Local governments would rely heavily on service charges. They would not
abolish the property tax but would reform it. There would be less reliance on single
sources of funding and less need for direct Federal support.
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Affirmative action would become unnecessary, as there would be great
economic and social progress for minorities. There would be no major increase in
public sector recreational activities or human service programs.
There would be less pressure on elected officials and administrators who
would be more supportive of each other. There would be more specialization of
responsibilities as elected officials dealt with the public and managers dealt with
administration. Managers would have a lower profile. There would be a need for
technically knowledgeable and managerially skilled professionals similar to long-
range planners. Support staffs would have greater competence. Job security for
managers would be greater, but mobility would continue. There would be higher
salaries and a new form of government—the strong mayor/administrator with the
manager appointed by the mayor and council.
Managers would have a greater demand for technical and managerial
assistance from ICMA. which would become product and service oriented. The
Association would emphasize mid-career development, personal counseling and a
placement service. Two organizations would emerge from ICMA. One would be
focused on educational and technical issues, the other on personal services to
individual members. Major support for the ICMA endowment would continue
(Rutter 142-151).
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The “Careful Village’ * Scenario
In between the pessimism o f “Doubt Town” and the optimism of “Hope
County” and “Delight Community,” the Future Horizons Committee placed “Careful
Village.” and “Caution City.” Both are a mixture of optimism and pessimism, with
the former being a small, non-metropolitan area and the latter representing a large
metropolitan area.
In “Careful Village,” energy would be plentiful but costly as citizens would
experience a decline in the living standard, and many would practice frugality.
Productivity would drop, and there would be a smaller public sector in the economy.
There would be a shift to regions, states and the Federal government, with all
major human services being provided by the Federal government Participation in
regional governments would be mandatory. Regional governments would displace
local governments with arrangements mandated by states and the Federal
government Cities and counties would lose a great deal of autonomy to the regions,
but would relate to community values and lifestyles. Neighborhoods would focus on
citizen interest and there would be no increase in public-private cooperation.
Elected officials would be elected by ward, with no consensus and
widespread apathy. Special interest groups would dominate the electoral body,
which would experience high turnover. Citizens would be disillusioned with citizen
participation and few of the innovations of the 1970s and 1980s would survive.
There would be alarm at the power of special interest groups.
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There would be a greater separation between political and administrative
responsibilities in local government. Managers would be more insulated from direct
pressure from elected officials, but more vulnerable to outside sources. Managers
would be recognized as public leaders with shorter tenure and greater tensions.
There would be a technical specialization brokering and intergovernmental contracts.
The manager would become a broker with other governments and private
organizations.
ICMA would be a major voice for local government with political clout,
direct career support, and regional offices. It would provide contract negotiation
services for managers. Membership in ICMA would be difficult to obtain, as
managers would need to be certified. A multi-million dollar research program would
be funded by the ICMA endowment This would enable ICMA to become a
dominant force in urban research (Rutter 142-151).
The “Caution City” Scenario
Citizens in “Caution City” would experience scarce, expensive energy and
relative prosperity with some economic declines. Major corporations would continue
to dominate many local economies. The elderly would be a dominant political and
social group with many special government programs established for their benefit.
Local government powers would continue to erode as cities and counties
became the delivery agent for Federal human services. The prominence of regional
governments would increase. There would be no major change in the size and role of
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local governments from the 1970s, but there would be more housing and older
American programs. Neighborhoods would be more organized and politically
sophisticated. In many cases, neighborhood organizations would become quasi-
official bodies. Local governments would no longer be major tax collectors. Most
public revenues would be paid to the state and Federal governments, which would, in
turn, fund cities and counties, as they deemed appropriate.
In ‘‘ Caution City,” there would be a decline in the quality of elected officials,
with more single-issue candidates and few decisions made by the council. Many
decisions would be made by popular vote. Elected officials would have larger
personal staffs. Citizen participation would increase with more decisions made by
referendum.
State and Federal funds would be used for education, while local
governments would retain direct control of implementation. Provision of human
services would be the exclusive concern of state and Federal governments, with an
increase in programs serving the elderly.
Relations between elected officials and local government managers would
deteriorate, with conflict being common. This and other factors would make it
difficult to find good local managers willing to face higher job requirements and less
job security. Managers would need to be flexible, serving as change agents and
brokers between factions. Skills in areas such as consensus building and economic
theory would be necessary. A great deal of the manager’s time would be spent with
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council and the public. Managers would receive high pay, with fixed-term contracts
and more “professional” assistance.
ICMA would be a strong advocate and supporter of the profession, with
regionalized services. ICMA training programs would be shifted to meet the career
needs and personal concerns of members (Rutter 142-151).
Looking at the Scenarios Together
A review of the scenarios provides insight into the expectations and concerns
of members of the Future Horizons Committee. The environment, the energy crisis
of the 1970s, America’s growing elderly population and increasing minority
populations and similar issues were clearly on their minds. Regionalism was another
big concern and appeared in different forms in several scenarios. Large, metropolitan
governments expected to have regionalism forced on them while smaller, rural areas
were much more cautious. There was a general expectation that some services,
particularly human services, would be assigned to regional bodies and that basic
services such as public works and public safety would remain with cities and
counties. Support from the Federal government was a serious concern, as this was
expected to decline in most cases.
Local governing bodies were expected to become more diverse, reflecting
changes in the population. In some cases, elected officials were expected to have
shorter tenures and become less cooperative with each other. In other scenarios,
elected officials were predicted to become full-time professionals with personal staff
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assistance. In some cases, the elected leaders were expected to become more
supportive of the professional manager, and the two would work well together with
clearly delineated responsibilities. When considering other possibilities, committee
members expected elected leaders to become more involved in administrative
matters while the manager became more involved in partisan politics.
The general tone of the scenarios suggests that the manager will become more
of a negotiator and consensus builder relying on staff to oversee government
operations. The need for technical skills will decline while communication skills
will be of greater concern as managers facilitate the work of governing body
members and negotiate with other entities in the community. Managers would be,
for the most part, expected to have shorter position tenure with greater movement in
and out of the profession.
The themes also include expectations for ICMA. In “Doubt Town,” ICMA is
expected to become a political organization with reduced emphasis on the Code of
Ethics. At the more positive end of the spectrum, ICMA would continue to
emphasize technical assistance and personal support for members. Under some
circumstances, the organization could become a major force in the development of
urban policies advocating management perspectives on a variety of issues.
Manager Roles and Responsibilities
Future Horizons Committee members anticipated some changes in the roles
and responsibilities of the city manager. They suggested the title “city coordinator’
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for a professional who would function similarly to the city manager of the past, but
who would spend more time with the governing body and community as a broker
among various political and social groups.
City staffs were expected to contain many management technicians in such
functions as finance, planning, personnel, public safety, and public works. The
coordinator’s job would be to transmit this information from the technicians to the
governing body and citizens. Instead of providing all of the technical information
directly, the coordinator would need to know how to use the technical information
and translate it into laymen’s terms for the council members and citizenry. The
manager’s prime responsibility would be that of a broker or negotiator rather than a
compromiser. Committee members expected managers to be in a position to help
hold together the varying factions of their communities. They would, in essence,
'’stitch up” those communities. This would require skills not traditionally included in
local government management training programs (Rutter 2-3,126).
Committee members added:
In the past the focus has been on the technology of service
delivery, the analytical skills of administration, and the strategies
of direction from the top down. In the future, the prime skill of
management would be brokering and negotiation. (Rutter 127)
Committee members went on to say that local government managers would
need the ability to:
• “lead by being led”;
• direct an organization of people without dominating them; and
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• help people see their own desires and goals more clearly and then to help
them satisfy those desires and goals.
Managers would need to instill in people self-confidence to contend
successfully with the future. It was anticipated that managers would have a greater
role in the intergovernmental system and would need to understand the complexity of
growing national centralization and the traps and hazards that were often obscured
with potential benefits and money (Rutter 127).
It was anticipated that the local structure of government of the future could be
such that management would share its legal authority, such as appointing key
personnel and setting personnel and purchasing policies with the governing body. As
the manager became more of a broker and negotiator with specialized knowledge,
legal authority for management activities would be shared.
The distinction between policy and administration was expected to become
less clear than in the past. Although it has always been hard to distinguish, the
dichotomy between the responsibilities of elected and appointed leaders would be
even less clear. Elected and appointed leaders would have a shared stake in policy
and administration and the demands of organizations in the future would require
shared decision-making responsibility (Rutter 128).
Committee members felt that power between administrative and managerial
leaders would be shared, and that there would be less reliance on the legal basis of
management authority. There could even be an erosion of the firm legal basis of
local government management positions in the future. It was noted that the council-
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manager form of government had been defined by its legal basis in a charter or
enabling state legislation with specific duties and responsibilities and that these were
required in order to be recognized by ICMA. In the future, most decisions would be
shared in that governing body and community support would be needed for key
appointments and budget proposals.
Members noted that, in many communities, an established consensus on the
roles and responsibilities of the manager and council existed that differed from the
written documents, and that the politically astute administrator walked a fine line
between the broad distinctions between policy and administration while trying to
avoid failing to fulfill any legal responsibility. As politically frustrated elected
leaders became less comfortable delegating authority of significance, they would
seek someone to broker and negotiate between them in order to resolve
administrative and policy issues (Rutter 129).
Committee members thought that the new focus of professional management
on brokering and negotiating on intergovernmental relations and on the interacting
roles of the manager, department heads, the governing body, and the community
along with the continued insecurity of the manager’s position would lead to the new
profession within local government management. They suggested that this new
profession would be that of an internal manager. The internal manager would be
responsible for day-to-day operations, multi-faceted staff work, such as budgeting
and report preparation, the implementation of new technologies, and work with the
staff while the manager worked with the council and the community (Rutter 131).
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The committee looked at the issue of certification that has been used by many
organizations (law, medicine, accounting, education, etc.) as possibly arbitrary
criteria that might result in limiting access to the profession or occupation. It was
thought that future managers would continue to resist such proposals and maintain
the competitiveness and vitality of an open entry into a profession from a variety of
disciplines.
At the same time, the lack of job security would continue to haunt managers
who would need to balance concerns about perceived excessive administrative power
and ensure positive responsiveness to representative democracy. It was hoped that
managers would not be terminated in “an arbitrary and capricious manner’ in the
future but that third parties might be used to negotiate separations between the
manager and the community.
Because of these continued stressors on the management profession,
committee members encouraged managers to look at personal needs and for
professional help as needed. It was recognized that there would also be family,
spiritual, and physical needs of the manager and that these “whole person” and
family member needs would have to be addressed (Rutter 131-133, 135).
Managerial Leadership
Managerial leadership in the future was expected to require individuals with
negotiating abilities, empathy with elected officials, and awareness of sophisticated
management techniques such as the successors to zero-based-budgeting and
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management-by-objectives. Managers would have a greater presence in
intergovernmental matters and would share power with elected officials and staff
members. There would be less reliance on the legal basis of the form of government
and more emphasis on the ability to “lead while being led.” Managers would
continue to function in an environment that would not be stable but might hopefully
be less capricious than in the past, while the idealism of excellence in management
and a theory that local governments should always be subject to continual
improvement would remain high among managers. Managers were expected to hold
high:
• the goal of representative democracy:
• a concern for equity in community services; and
• a commitment to ethical conduct (Rutter 135-37).
Future managers were expected to “nurture the essential community.” This
would involve an emphasis on financial limitations, and a recognition that
government must prioritize services and work within limitations. Services would
need to be developed for a much broader range of lifestyles, communities, and
neighborhoods, while focusing on basic services that local governments can provide
in the best manner. It was anticipated that the rapid growth of state and local
governments from the 1950s through the 1970s would level off and that new budget
processes would need to be developed along with a renewed interest in program and
performance budgeting. There would be greater demands to monitor the actual work
of public employees.
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The distinctions between the central city and suburbs were expected to
decrease, and municipal administration was expected to require greater inter-agency
and inter-jurisdictional cooperation. An emerging interest in Federal service reform
and governmental reorganization was expected possibly to have significant impacts
at the local level as needed changes in municipal structures would be attempted but
perhaps not be successful (Rutter 91,121-123).
Municipal leadership of the future was anticipated to have many dimensions
as it did at that time and previously. Some of this leadership would be political and
would be exercised by political leaders elected to office. Other aspects of leadership
would be general and assumed by involved and informed citizens. The third section
of municipal leadership was expected to be technical and provided by experts, while
the last would be managerial, cutting across the popular, political, and technical
(Rutter 125).
The Profession
It was anticipated that the local government management profession would
change as more women and minorities would be serving cities, counties, councils of
government, and special service districts. There would also be renewed efforts on
the part of the profession and ICMA to recruit and further the careers of new
managers who could bring new ideas into the profession (Rutter 26).
The committee reexamined the 1969 goals established by ICMA and noted
that that was the last time the Association had renewed itself and that it should do so
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approximately every ten years. The 1969 study resulted in a new name for the
Association, as the International City Managers’ Association became the
International City Management Association, with a new constitution with broader
membership requirements, as well as the move to Washington and a broader set of
goals that called on ICMA to:
• strengthen the competence of appointed urban managers and the quality
of local government through professional management;
• contribute to the understanding and resolution of urban government
issues;
• provide information, data, management ideas, and methods of urban
government management; and
• serve as the professional educational association tor those appointed as
managers (ICMA, 1979 25-26).
Ten years later, Future Horizons Committee members stressed that these
needs draw the local government management profession closer together through a
greater ICMA presence at state and regional association activities and more direct
support to members, such as:
• technical help with key problems;
• personal help with such issues as employment and compensation; and
• new programs, such as the ICMA retirement corporation.
ICMA would need to continue expanding technical assistance training and
information services, while building alliances with other national and international
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groups, such as Public Technology Incorporated (PTI), the National League of Cities
(NLC), and the National Association of Counties (NACO). A need would be to
improve the quality of instruction about local government in primary and secondary
schools. The profession would need to strengthen its representation within Federal
and state governments and with news media, while becoming international, in fact,
rather than merely in name.
The Committee emphasized the need to strengthen ICMA’s financial base
and to see that a larger portion of the support for ICMA wouid come directly from
local governments. Part of the strategy would be to expand the community served by
entering the broader local government services market.
State associations were considered to be the front line of the profession with
needs to be strengthened, while ICMA would take steps to broaden the membership
by removing barriers and encouraging all local government managers to join. This
meant that the Association would rely less on the legal definitions of the duties and
responsibilities of potential members and instead look at the actual functions. As
part of this effort, it was suggested that an ICMA name change should allow the
Association to broaden the membership base to include counties and councils of
government. It was thought that ICMA should no longer be considered only a “city”
organization. It was also suggested that the Association develop a Code of Ideals to
serve as an expression of beliefs in democratic values and processes, representative
democracy and the needs of social justice and equity in addition to the existing Code
of Ethics (ICMA, 1979 27-33).
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Local government leaders looked at the approaching end of the 1970s with a
great deal of anxiety. There had been more change in city and county government
activities since the early 1960s than in any 15 year period since the creation of the
council-manager form of government. County leaders, who had had limited contact
with Federal agencies, had established employment and social services programs
with millions of Federal dollars. Cities, which had participated in targeted urban
renewal programs such as Model Cities, were the recipients of community
development block grant funds, which provided much greater recipient flexibility.
Cities, which had never participated in the urban renewal programs, also received
these funds with limited restrictions as to their use. The General Revenue Sharing
Program provided more “free money” for both cities and counties. All of these
programs combined to give local governments a source of funding to pursue local
priorities.
When the Federal funding was reduced or eliminated, local governments
faced program constituents without an outside funding source. During the same time
period, state and Federal courts had intervened on numerous occasions to required
local governments to provide various services without a funding source. State
governments had added to the problems by passing Federal program requirements on
the cities and counties without providing necessary funding.
Many citizens with diverse backgrounds became interested in local
government as women and minorities were courted for public office. Council-
manager cities revised their charters to provide for partisan elections by district and
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the direct election of the mayor. Mayor-council cities and counties began hiring
professional administrators to assist with Federal and state mandates and program
requirements. It appeared to some that council-manager cities were becoming more
politically partisan while other local governments were adopting some aspects of
professional management.
Managers found themselves in different roles depending upon the specific
charter, ordinance or state statute that authorized their position, and on the
personalities of the elected leaders who employed them. As the membership of city
councils and county boards became more diverse, managers were placed in a variety
of roles. They faced these different roles with anticipation, anxiety, and enthusiasm.
ICMA members heard reports by the Future Horizons Committee at annual
conferences in Phoenix in September 1979, and in Monticello, New York, in
September 1980. Different members identified with the various issues addressed by
the Committee and looked at the five alternative scenarios. Members were able to
identify with the various scenarios depending upon the circumstances in their present
and former communities. In many cases, a member who had experienced different
community environments in various employment situations could identify with more
than one scenario. There was a sense of distrust and dismay towards the Federal and
state governments among Association members who had experienced the rapid rise
and quick demise of Federal assistance to local communities. There was a great deal
of concern for the growing dissension among governing body members in many
communities. Managers were concerned about the lack of harmony and common
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purpose among members of their council and board, but there was also an overall
feeling of hope for the future of their profession and their Association. Managers
could reflect on how the Association and the council-manager plan had grown in
recent decades and expect this growth to continue in varying circumstances.
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CHAPTER V
FROM FUTURE HORIZONS INTO THE
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Local governments experienced many changes in the 1980s and 1990s. The
Reagan Administration emphasized foreign policy and continued the withdrawal of
Federal funding from local governments while Federal tax cuts provided incentives
for citizens to seek reductions from state and local governments also. An emphasis
on effectiveness and quality management supplemented the local government
management focus on efficiency. The work of Dr. W. Edwards Deming attracted
supporters among local government managers in a manner not unlike the support
Frederick W. Taylor attracted in the Depression Era.
The changing role of local government managers was the subject of
significant research and writing. Dr. James Svara discussed a reexamination of the
traditional view of the policy and administration dichotomy and urged recognition of
the close working relationship between elected officials and administrators that was
needed in successful governments. Managers who relied on charters and ordinances
for authority were often seeking new employment opportunities. Dr. John
Nalbandian advocated a role for managers as facilitative leaders who could practice
community building and develop what Robert Putnam referred to as social capital.
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E h * . George Frederickson looked at how council-manager cities were becoming more
partisan with mayors being elected-at-iarge and being given additional
responsibilities. He noted that some council members were now being elected in a
partisan manner from districts instead of at-large. Frederickson also reported on the
significant number of mayor-council cities that were employing professional
managers to oversee administrative activities. Frederickson identified these
communities that had adopted some parts to the council-manager system and some
aspects of the mayor-council system as hybrid or Type III cities.
As more managers found themselves working in Type HI cities and for
counties with similar hybrid structures, they thought about how they should maintain
their professional identity. ICMA facilitated discussions on this subject and
encouraged members to examine the issue. Discussions kept focusing on the
importance of integrity and the Code of Ethics.
While much has changed during the decades since the Future Horizons
Committee met, other factors and issues have remained constant Many
developments that the committee anticipated have come to fruition, while some
changes were not anticipated. Many of the issues and concerns that surfaced in the
1970s and were part of the impetus for the Committee’s work continue to command
the attention of local government managers and ICMA in 2001.
Mulrooney’s question in 1971. as to whether or not the council-manager
system could solve the urban crisis, remained relevant into the 1980s and beyond.
Urban conditions have in many cases improved, but the underlying problems, such as
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low self-esteem, underemployment, and low education have not gone away. Greater
emphasis has been placed on process as well as products. Citizens are demanding
that elected officials and managers involve them in the resolution of their problems
and concerns rather than merely taking care of the problems. Neighborhood groups
are insisting on self-governance in lieu of traditional representation by elected
governing body members. One of the underlying issues that repeatedly arises is
whether or not the council-manager form of government with its businessman
orientation can effectively relate to all classes of citizens.
Mulrooney referred to the 1967-1970 period when he talked about the efforts
to expand the membership base by recognizing the overall performance of a manager
rather than restricting membership to organizational responsibilities (12-13). This
change to include a general membership category as full members significantly
altered ICMA’s membership base. City administrators, county administrators and
the directors of regional councils of governments became full members participating
in ICMA's governance. This gradually altered the focus of the organization.
The issue of whether ICMA should recognize local governments or promote
professionalism continues to be an active topic of debate among Association
members. The Staunton Society, which was formed in 1999, is an example of a
group within ICMA to promote the essential elements of the original council-
manager plan rather than allowing it to be diffused and absorbed into what George
Frederickson refers to as a Type III community. A task force formed in January 2000
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to review ICMA’s position recognition process reported that ICMA membership
should be open to all professional local government managers who:
• agree to follow the ICMA Code of Ethics;
• state that their position includes significant general management
responsibility as described by ICMA; and
• have served in the position for at least three years (ICMA, 2000 3).
The question of councii-manager government’s ability to deal with urban
issues was the heart of Mulrooney’s 1971 discussion. Bollens and Ries had
suggested in 1969, that the council-manager form meant good government to middle-
class residents but it also meant continued dominance by others to lower-class
residents. Ernest Miller suggested that the personalities and attitudes of managers
that developed as a result of their family backgrounds, social classes, education and
training were in part responsible for the managers’ greater comfort when handling
fiscal matters rather than social problems. This greater comfort level with a financial
or public works problem stems from the ability of the manager to grasp the perimeter
of it and to develop a solution for it. In contrast, social problems are much more
fluid and more difficult to grasp, clarify, and resolve (Mulrooney 9-12).
Frank Sherwood suggested that managers could indeed be responsive to the
needs of minority groups, but this would depend upon individual managers and their
backgrounds and experience. Some managers would have greater difficulty
understanding the needs and demands of minority and lower income residents.
Professional managers from two-parent families who associated with others from a
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similar background might not have a great deal in common with low income,
minority residents and might not understand their concerns (Mulrooney 9-12).
Randy Harrison from the League of California Cities suggested that managers
and administrators could indeed be relevant to urban issues, but they would have to
change. The technocratic and bureaucratic expertise focus of many managers and
their governments would have to change if they were going to address issues of
social justice (Mulrooney 9-12).
Norton Long added that this would have to be negotiated with other citizens
who constituted the manager’s power base. Resources allocated to minority and
lower income neighborhood issues would have to come from those funds otherwise
allocated to problems in other parts of the community. The degree to which existing
city council members would want to share the reigns of government with minorities
and social activists (and will want to today) would differ and would clearly affect the
manager’s ability to work with the latter group (Mulrooney 9-12).
The issue of sharing the reigns of government continues today as council
members and county supervisors negotiate and resist efforts by community activists
who want to participate in the local government’s decision-making. Citizen activists
continue to demand to be involved in the discussion of social issues, growth and
development projects, and other community issues. Anti-tax groups frequently
provide the other side of the whipsaw identified by the Future Horizons Committee.
In many cases, the battles being fought in city hall and the courthouse in 2001 are
similar to ones anticipated in the Committee’s Report two decades earlier.
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Varied Roles of Managers in an Era of Increased
Citizen Participation and Complexity
As long-time ICMA employee David Arnold notes: “Effective responses and
creative local government depend on a balance of:
• popular involvement—the citizen and the community component;
• political involvement—the elected officials, members of boards and
commission component; and
• management involvement—the appointed professional component” (60).
While the council-manager system anticipated citizen participation in the
policy development process through traditional governing activities, such as public
hearings and the election of council members, the role of the manager in this policy
development process has been less clear. A focus of inquiry concerning the council-
manager form of government since it was created has been the question of what
policy and mission advisement role the manager should fulfill. Clear direction on
policy matters is beneficial to the manager and administrative staff. Many managers
and observers have frequently lamented the failure of councils to address policy and
mission issues and to focus on management concerns (frequently small issues)
instead. A few observers have suggested that some council members find it easier to
deal with minutia than to address policy issues. Managers often describe this
practice as micro-management and nitpicking.
In response to this, ICMA has worked with the National League of Cities and
state organizations to help develop policy government models to facilitate council's
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focus on the development of a mission statement and goals and objectives for the city
administration to implement. John Carver (1997) has suggested that clearing
administrative and management issues off the council agenda and establishing
parameters within which the manager should function, allows the governing body to
focus on the big picture and improve its governing process.
One of the areas the Future Horizons Committee reviewed extensively was
the future use of technology. ICMA staff members, committee members, and other
managers interested in the future initially viewed most of this discussion as a
question of how managers and staff members would use automated data (Knight 6-
8).
Wayne Wedin (1978) was a member of the Future Horizons Committee who
was particularly interested in technology. He asked how technology would shape
local government in the future generally and he was especially interested in citizen
participation:
If in fact the move in our society is from a system of
representative-type democracy to participative-type democracy,
which many of our publications, radio and television programs
seem to reinforce, then the style of government which has been in
process for so many years will be changed as the new style of
participation by citizens increases. (4)
Wedin recognized that technology and access to information would change
the manager’s roles and responsibilities as related to council and citizens. Today,
automated information systems and mass communication channels facilitate easy
access by citizens and council members to the local government’s administrative
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information. The personal computer and the Internet have replaced the tradition of
citizens and elected officials seeking information from a managers office. They can
now obtain this information directly. "This new openness of information facilitates
some renewed unity or community in council-manager government. It has already
dramatically altered the environment of council-manager relations and that trend will
continue” (Newland, 1995 273).
Ted Tedesco. City Manager, San Jose, California, exposed ICMA members to
the future in July 1978, when he provided an example of a computerized message
service, which allowed him to:
• review messages;
• access resources and staff research files;
• review completed projects; and
• update projects still in progress.
San Jose was participating in a demonstration project sponsored by the
California Innovation Group’s Urban Technology System and the Urban Consortium.
He was demonstrating a predecessor of the Internet (Tedesco 9-11). He and other
managers did not acknowledge the potential uses of the Internet by council members
and citizens to access city data sources, if they anticipated this at all. Today’s
managers have found the Internet to be a key tool for communications and keeping
up with news and events as well as researching information sources. They have also
become subject to demands by elected officials and for additional on-line data access.
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Whitaker and Jenne (1995) suggest that the growing diversity of interests in
city government is a major challenge to the city manager’s cooperative leadership.
Social equity, individual rights, and representation are issues that may have mutually
incompatible goals. While many groups in the community may see the manager as
remote and inattentive to their needs, others such as the local Chamber of Commerce
may tend to view the manager as neutral or supportive of their efforts. They add that
more diverse public participation, increased conflict among council members, and
more assertive mayors, all add to the growing challenges to the city manager s
traditional organizational leadership role.
They suggest that the manager brings expertise and information about
policies, options and management practices to the policy development process, while
the council brings the legitimacy and accountability of popular election. The council
also has the ability to pass laws and has direct knowledge of citizen needs and wants.
Successful managers need to establish a partnership with the council to resolve
conflicts and extend beyond the council to the community as well. They note that the
diversity of claims on city government has moved performance expectations away
from the traditionally dominant concern for efficiency (Whitaker and Jenne 89).
They add: “City managers are more likely to become more effective leaders through:
• sharing executive authority and responsibility more broadly;
• using the manager’ s central position to facilitate problem solving; and
• supporting responsiveness by people throughout City government.” (84).
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The manager’ s role as facilitator is a key theme of John Nalbandian's (1995).
He suggests four alternative and, perhaps, competing priorities for local government:
(1) representation, (2) efficiency, (3) individual rights, and social equity (2).
Nalbandian (1994) notes three transformations taking place in local
government. First, he sees a movement toward gradual inclusion of democratic
values in professional practice—a change from the traditional policy/administration
dichotomy to a sharing of government functions and responsibilities. Second, he
identifies a move from political neutrality and formal accountability to political
sensitivity and responsiveness to community values. And, finally, he notes a move
from efficiency as a core value to an array of values including efficiency,
representation, individual rights and social equity. He adds: ‘‘Professionals realize
that success depends less on staking out distinct and exclusive realms of
administrative competence and more on forging relationships both individually and
as a profession with governing bodies and associations of elected officials” (531-
534).
ICMA’s 1985 Strategic Plan
As a follow-up to the Future Horizons Report, ICMA initiated a strategic
planning task force in 1983. This resulted in a new strategic plan and the following
mission statement adopted in 1985: ‘‘The purposes of this Association are to enhance
the quality o f local government and nurture and assist professional local government
administrators in the U.S. and other countries” (Arnold 46). This statement bears a
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strong resemblance to the purpose of the Association approved by the original
members in 1915 : ”The purpose of this Association shall be to promote the
efficiency of City Managers and municipal work in general” (2).
The Association adopted six goals in 1986, intended to extend ICMA's
interest in several directions.
1. Provide professional development programs and publications enabling
local government professionals to improve skills and knowledge of local
government and reinforce their commitment to the ideals and values of
professional management;
2. Support professional management in all forms of local government and
encourage adoption and retention of the council-manager or general
manager plan in the United States and other countries;
3. Increase opportunities for women and minorities in the local government
administrator recruitment process;
4. Serve as a national and international clearinghouse for the collection,
analysis, and dissemination of local government related data and conduct
research and other contractual technical consulting services to meet local
government needs;
5. Work in cooperation with other public interest groups and serve as a
resource in the development of public policy; and
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6. Promote the manager’ s personal, professional, and family needs by
offering services and programs and provide a communications network to
address these concerns (Arnold 46-47).
Arnold noted that, as an Association, ICMA actively continued to seek the
participation of minorities, women, and assistants in association affairs. In 2002,
one-third of the Executive Board is reserved for assistant managers. Arnold adds
that, since the 1970s and the Future Horizons Report, a strong emphasis has been
placed on personal support for managers. This has included sessions at the annual
conference and articles in Public Management magazine in areas such as:
• personal financial planning;
• stress management;
• balancing job values with family values;
• personal health and well-being;
• coping with dismissals and career changes; and
• job changes in families with dual careers (Arnold 46-48).
Despite the turbulence of the times, Stillman notes that the council-manager
form of government offers continuity and stability in a changing society. The plan
stresses administrative effectiveness, professional expertise, and public
responsibility. This contrasts with the mayor-council form, which emphasizes
political partisanship, fragmented authority, and what Stillman (1985) calls
“administrative amateurism” (3-6).
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But if there has been continuity, there has also been change. Blubaugh (1987)
suggests that the relationships between the manager, staff, and elected officials were
changing. The traditional hierarchical organization was no longer functioning as
intended. Instead, development of participative, cooperative, and interconnected
relationships was replacing the traditional pyramid. He acknowledges the predictions
of the Future Horizons Committee that the prime role of the manager will be as a
broker or negotiator, and that the legal basis for a professional management position
will not be as firm as the power of the administrator becomes more widely shared.
He also cites the Committee's expectation that the assistant's role as internal manager
would continue to grow. The Committee anticipated greater responsibilities for the
assistant manager as an internal organization coordinator to allow the manager
additional time for external relations. Blubaugh adds that the citizen will have an
even greater role as task forces and neighborhood councils are formed to work with
staff and elected officials (7-10).
His concern for citizen participation and citizen roles is well placed.
Newland (1985) reminds us that the basis for self-governance is citizen effectiveness
followed by popularly-based council authority, which is supported by responsible
executive expertise and professionalism (7-9). A re-emphasis on citizen
participation and citizen roles in the governance process is appropriate twenty years
after the Future Horizon's Report.
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Citizen Roles in Governance at the Local Level
March and Olsen (1995) identify four essential parts of what they refer to as
the democratic vision. This vision reflects the essential values held by individuals as
necessary for a community, state, or country to be considered democratic. The four
parts are:
1. emphasis on "personal liberty and individual responsibility ...:
2. popular sovereignty and political equality" (2);
3. faith in individual responsibility and the collective use of reason in
human affairs; and
4. "emphasis on procedural reliability and stability based on the rule of law
and the control of the arbitrary use of power" (3).
March and Olsen note that citizens retain ultimate responsibility for
government and that they therefore have a responsibility to participate in that
government. How a society will be governed is the responsibility of the members of
that society. They add that democratic societies are expected to tolerate and
encourage differences of opinion among citizens who reflect different backgrounds,
values, interests, and policy preferences (2-3).
While the council-manager system anticipated citizen participation through
governing activities and the election of council members, a focus of the government
since it was created has been on the professional component. This focus on the
manager was particularly dominant during the enhanced executive period of state and
national government. Citizens have unintentionally been allowed to reduce their
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activities to a minimum and participate only when they desire or when an issue
directly affects them.
According to critics, citizens have, in effect, disenfranchised themselves
through avoidance of civic responsibilities and become alienated from their
governments. On the other hand, the doctrine of consent of the governed does not
require frenetic citizen involvement in political affairs so long as capacity to
withdraw consent is sustained. The theory of constitutional democracy, in short,
does not designate high involvement politics as essential.
The council-manager form of government assumes representative democracy
through elected council members. Today, some citizens want to participate in their
local governments directly rather than through their elected officials. Hansell
suggested in 1996 that the period of 1970s and 1980s represented a time when
citizens were activated to focus on specific issues. They worked directly with local
governments to solve specific problems in their neighborhoods.
The flip side of this occurred when Howard Jarvis initiated Proposition 13 in
California, which journalist Peter Schrag said "crippled state and local governments
with so many limitations, mandates and so tangled responsibility that it is
increasingly difficult for government to function at all and nearly impossible for even
well-informed people to know who’s accountable for what” (“California’s Elected
Anarchy,” Harper's Magazine, November 1994, as quoted by Hansell, 1996 8).
While Schrag’s comments may not be entirely accurate, Proposition 13 clearly
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represented a citizen-driven initiative to limit government and its passage and
implementation changed how California local governments functioned.
Hansell (1996) adds that, at the time of the country's founding: "City
democracy was viewed as the responsibility of individuals in government working
together to form 'the public’ for most citizens being part of the political society
involved civic minded volunteerism and problem solving’" (6). Hansell warns:
‘‘Local officials must prepare their citizens to feel empowered to participate in their
community decision making. He must also invite the business sector to join in the
process of rebuilding the civic infrastructure” (13).
The ICMA Future Visions Project
Frederickson and Johnson (1999) note that the council manager form of
government is often criticized as being unresponsive. Citizens sometimes suggest
that managers are not always responsive to citizen demands and that an aggressive
city manager can sometimes dominate policy making (10). In the 1990s, many
communities began strategic vision projects in which citizens worked with the
governing bodies to develop a vision for the future and the means for achieving it.
Part of this was in response to the shift from representative to participatory
democracy.
The ICMA Future Visions Project was established by the Association in 1988
as a follow-up to the Future Horizons Project. In its report to the membership, the
Committee noted that a shift from representative to participatory democracy was
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unprecedented in governmental decision-making. It represented a new phase in the
citizen participation movement. Citizens discovered they could effect change by
being part of the government process. The committee suggested that, if it was
practiced effectively, participatory democracy could:
• rebuild the legitimacy of government;
• provide a basis for consensus building; and
• help overcome gridlock when consensus cannot be reached (Paul, 1991
4).
ICMA and its members wanted to know where the profession stood a decade
after the Future Horizons Project and a decade before the new century. Five task
forces were established to deal with: (I) information and technology, (2) governance,
(3) service delivery, (4) economics and finance, and (5) human resources.
Two additional committees looked at processes. They discussed how things
worked. The external committees addressed issues of community strategic planning
while the internal committees looked at the role of the manager and the skills
required to manage public organizations in the face of accelerating change (Paul,
1991 1-2).
The committee suggested that local government managers would need skills
in a variety of areas:
• consensus builder;
• educator on community issues;
• translator/interpreter of community values;
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• problem solver and process leader;
• convener of interested parties and diverse community groups;
• team builder/mentor;
• source of empowerment;
• change agent;
• champion of new technologies;
• facilitator of conflict resolution;
■ bearer of ethical standards; and
• champion of leadership diversity within the community (Paul, 1991 3).
Many of these skills identified by the Future Visions Committee were similar
to the skills discussed by the Future Horizons Committee ten years earlier. Many are
similar to the skills that have been identified as being needed by successful local
government managers in the twenty-first century. Most of them relate to concepts of
shared power in local government and the manager's role as a coordinator rather than
the traditional view of the manager as head of an organizational hierarchy similar to
the exalted executive of the 1930-1960 period.
Overarching Themes in 1990
Among the overarching themes and trends noted by both the Future Horizons
and Future Visions Committees was the technological revolution, which has
fundamentally altered how organizations are managed. This combined with the
explosion in information technology, pointed to a weakened hierarchy with dispersed
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control and everyone having access to information traditionally controlled by the
executive staff. Demographic changes in local and national populations were
recognized as a rich source of diversity and as a challenge for local government
leaders who would need to negotiate with citizens who often have conflicting values
and priorities.
The economic globalization and competition discussed by the Future
Horizons Committee was expected to continue at an accelerating pace. Local
economies have become regional, and regional economies have become national,
while national economies have become continental and, in many cases, worldwide.
The importance of quality, value, and customer sensitivity were recognized as critical
in private industry, while government was beginning to talk about total quality
management. Changes in service delivery were expected to continue, as there would
be more privatization and joint public/private services. Education and human
resource development issues were expected to rise in importance and head the
agenda of community problems and concerns (Paul, 1991 1-2).
Working with Citizens
The Future Visions Committee members expected managers and elected
officials to develop new leadership styles in order to facilitate consensus among
citizens with ethnic differences and diverse value systems. They would need to
facilitate better communications between community groups and to avoid adversarial
relations. Civic education would become increasingly important to ensure that all
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citizens had equal access to government information and government decision
making. They added that the demands of single interest groups would require elected
leaders to take stronger leadership roles in defining the community vision of the
future. Broader participation in public policy development would require well
defined systems to take advantage of the additional input while facilitating
participation, but not adding to the amount of time governments take to make
decisions.
The Committee suggested that new strategies would be needed to facilitate
participatory democracy and to connect citizens with each other and their local
governments. There would need to be investment in civic infrastructure to
familiarize residents with the democratic process. Managers would need to assist
elected leaders in achieving community consensus and to ensure that all groups of
citizens have opportunities to participate (Paul, 1991 4-5).
Michael Chandler (2001) suggests:
In the past, citizens were almost an afterthought at the end of the
planning process. Now we have learned that it works better to
engage citizens earlier. In the past, planning training was
technical. Frequently, citizens rejected plans as technical
documents created by consultants and technical bureaucrats rather
than the community. The quality of public decision-making as
well as the public's understanding of the issues and challenges
associated with public decision making will improve if citizens
are given the opportunity to participate.
Nalbandian (1999) suggests that the greatest challenge of the 1990s has been
the amount and character of public participation expected in policy making and
problem solving. He notes that this concept is not new and has been emphasized in
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city manager literature since the 1960s. It is consistent with his theme of community
building, which relates closely to Robert Putnam's concern for social capital, which is
discussed in the conclusion of this analysis. Nalbandian adds that managers and
elected officials are required to share power with citizens. They can no longer make
decisions and announce them.
Nalbandian (1999) adds that the historical legitimacy of the city manager
rested in the form of government—nonpolitical, efficient and responsive
government—but the memory of patronage and widespread corruption has faded.
The public has lost sight of the reason why the council-manager form of government
was created. Now managers and elected officials must work with citizens to
establish community visions and priorities (190). Managers must demonstrate how
they can provide value to local government. Facilitative leadership, community
building, the ability to create new structures for local government service delivery,
and the ability to devise new ways of involving all groups of citizens in government
and bringing them into the governance process, are examples of what professional
managers can add to local government in the twenty-first century. City managers and
county administrators both need many of these skills as county governments have
moved forward in the last thirty years of the twentieth century to provide services in
a professional manner comparable to cities. While most of this research has focused
on city managers, the professional inroads made by county administrators since the
1970s should be recognized.
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The County Administrator Form of Government
The emergence of the county administrator form of government has
significantly affected the evolution of council-manager government. Counties were
almost silent partners in the Federal system during the first seventy years of the
twentieth century. Today, many local government professionals have been able to
move into positions in counties and make improvements similar to those made by
early city managers in the 1920s and 1930s.
Counties were originally established in seventeenth century North America.
The Colony of Virginia recognized the need to form a local government larger than a
parish and divided the Colony into eight shires or counties in 1634. Additional
counties were organized as the population increased and spread inland. The Virginia
system, which emphasized county government and assigned to it substantial citizen
service responsibilities, has spread through the remainder of the South. Many
counties in the South provide significantly more services than their counterparts in
New England, which were influenced by the Massachusetts form of local
government which assigned a greater portion of citizen service responsibilities to
smaller, compact units such as towns. In between these two was the Pennsylvania or
Mid-Atlantic model in which counties shared service responsibilities with
municipalities (DeSantis 55; Sad ant 1-2; Duncombe 19-22).
There has been an emphasis on independent elective offices in the Colonies
since Revolutionary times, and many problems stemmed from long ballots. Citizens
did not know all the individual candidates and therefore tended to vote party lines
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rather than for individuals candidates. The problems that developed were similar to
the ones addressed by the early reform movement when the short ballot initiative and
the council-manager form of government were launched.
The early reform movement focused on initiatives at the national and
municipal levels. States lagged behind the Federal government, and county
government structure remained mostly unchanged for the first half of the twentieth
century. Counties tended to provide fewer services and maintained minimum service
levels during these decades. Duncombe (1977) notes that between World War I and
the early 1950s, many traditional county services were shifted to the state and
national governments. Changes in organizational structure came very slowly to
counties, which provided reduced services during this time period (27). After World
War II. suburbs were created as new subdivisions were built beyond the municipal
corporate limits. The former city residents were now residents o f new townships and
boroughs or unincorporated areas in the surrounding county. They wanted services
similar to what they had formerly received as city residents and looked to the county
board of commissioners or supervisors to oversee service provision and coordination.
County boards soon found the tasks of service delivery and coordination too
burdensome and decided to seek professional assistance. Many urban counties
decided to hire county managers or administrators.
The 1960s' War on Poverty included many Federal grant programs for health,
education, and welfare programs, such as manpower training, Operation Headstart,
and Office of Economic Opportunity programs. Many of these funds went to
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nonprofit organizations in urban centers. When the grant programs were
consolidated into block grants for employment and training, law enforcement
housing and community development, social services, and similar program areas, the
funds went to cities and counties. Counties, in particular, often did not have the
managerial capacity to prepare the grant applications and administer the programs.
This caused many more counties to hire administrators or managers in the 1970s and
1980s to coordinate the grant programs. When the grant programs were reduced or
phased-out, many counties retained professional staff members to coordinate services
and meet state and Federal mandates in environmental, financial reporting,
incarceration, and other areas.
The first county administrator was appointed in 1927 in Iredell County, North
Carolina. By the 1950s, 16 counties had appointed managers and were recognized by
ICMA, while several counties had elected county executives. The three primary
alternatives to the county administrator form of county government are:
1. the county executive, who serves in a manner similar to the directly
elected mayor in the mayor-council form of municipal government;
2. the county commissioner or supervisor form, which functions somewhat
similar to the city commission form; and
3. the county manager form that is similar to the council-manager form of
municipal government (Duncombe 28-14).
The problems with the traditional commission form are similar to those noted
by observers of the city commission form of government. In most counties with this
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form, the commissioners or supervisors conduct personnel, purchasing and similar
administrative activities for line departments as a group rather than designating an
elected leader for each department. Each department head may report directly to the
elected board of supervisors or commissioners. With a series of independently
elected or “row" officers given administrative responsibilities by state statutes,
commissioners and supervisors have little administrative control except in budget
allocation matters. In some states, such as Virginia, the independently elected line
officers receive budget allocations from the state and are therefore beholden to the
state legislature and executive rather than the locally elected board. They, therefore,
have less incentive to cooperate with the local board. An independent election of
government department heads was considered the most democratic form of
government, but it is also the least effective. This system creates too many
opportunities for transactional politics based on trades and political alignments.
Many note that the elected executive in the county government provides for
stronger political leadership similar to that of the strong mayor, which also allows
many opportunities for transactional politics and continuous conflict between elected
executive and legislative leaders. The county administrator form is intended to
function in a manner similar to the city manager form. There are some differences
between the specific roles and responsibilities of a county manager and a county
administrator depending upon local preference. The county manager position is
frequently established by county charter, which can be changed only by a lengthy
process involving state law. State law often designates the specific roles and
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responsibilities for a county manager. The county manager form of government is
common in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. It is becoming popular
in New York state.
In contrast, a county administrator position may be established by local
ordinance, which can be modified at discretion of a local board of commissioners or
supervisors. Another variation of county administrator form of government occurs
when the governing board hires an administrative assistant to handle daily operations
while retaining all authority and control. Counties in Virginia and other southern
states usually adopt the county administrator plan while many northern counties
prefer the commissioner plan (Duncombe 27-49). (See also DeSantis 56-60 and
Salant 1-6).
Although some states provide home rule options for counties, most have
established one or more forms of county government such as the county manager,
county administrator, or county executive form by statute. In most cases, the
legislators authorized forms similar to what they had authorized earlier for cities.
States with strong council-manager cities have tended to authorize the county
manager form for counties while weak council-manager states have not.
Svara (1996), Streib (1996), and Klase and Song (2000) suggest that
structural conditions in counties have promoted political partisanship and impeded
executive leadership. County managers and administrators continue to deal with
independently elected administrative officials, such as the sheriff, assessor, and clerk.
Individuals with a strong transactional political orientation and an independent
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political base frequently occupy these positions. These officers frequently have
personnel responsibility and can hire and discharge personnel on a political rather
than a merit basis. County governments frequently have large numbers o f quasi
independent agencies who are responsible for many human services and similar
functions.
In addition, counties often function as the administrative arm of the state and
manage programs that are directed by state appointed employees who function as part
of the county. These factors may cause county officials to be more inclined than city
council members to engage in conflict with each other. As a result, county
manager/administrators may have to be more adept at people skills and consensus
building than the city managers, and they have to be facilitators who function similar
to city managers, but must emphasize active coordination and communications
among elected and appointed personnel. Svara (1996) suggests: “Rather than using
the traditional city manager dictatorial style—the county manager's stereotypical
view of a municipal manager—county managers must be collaborative leaders.
Effective communications is particularly important to community managers” (124).
Svara cites Malone (1986), who maintains that county managers were
“shifting into networking and people-style management before cities knew what it
meant” (5). Svara adds: “County managers believe that city managers will have to
become more like them to respond to current and future challenges” (124).
The rapid rise in the number of county administrator positions that have been
created since the Future Horizons Committee met has impacted city management in
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several ways. City and county governments participate in many regional projects and
must work together much more closely today than they did twenty years ago. As a
result, elected leaders from both entities have become much more familiar with the
operations of the other governments. City council members have observed the
influence of county commissioners on county administration and have sought ways
to emulate that influence on the administration of their city or town. City managers
have had to adjust procedures to adapt to changing demands from their elected
leaders.
The large number of counties that have adopted county administrator or
county manager positions and hired professionally trained administrators has created
many employment opportunities for city managers, assistant managers, and
department heads. Urban counties, in particular, have been able to attract successful
city managers by offering salary and benefit incentives and by offering challenges
similar to those faced by early city managers fifty years earlier. Many local
government managers who served in these capacities for a city have moved to county
administrator positions. They often attempted to bring as much with them, such as a
municipal code of ethics and professional staff members, as they could. Some have
returned to city management while others who were originally hired as county
administrators have moved into city management. This movement between city and
county government has caused local government managers to rely less on the legal
structures o f their governmental positions and more on their abilities to facilitate and
coordinate with elected and appointed leaders. They have helped to demonstrate the
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importance of professional local government in cities and counties alike during an
era of changing government needs and modified government structure.
L. Kimball Payne and Daniel Stuck left county administrator positions to
accept city manager positions in Virginia in 2001. They suggest that the difference
in their roles at the county and the city level are very minimal. The position in both
localities was defined by their relationship with the governing body rather than by
charters and ordinances (personal comments and letters to the author, October 2001).
The growth of professional management positions in county government has
had significant impact on ICMA. County managers and administrators were initially
treated like city administrators by Association members who held more traditional
positions with full management authority. They were considered to be misfits—
professionally trained but working in a more partisan political system. As more city
managers accepted county manager and administrator positions and city
administrator positions, ICMA realized that it was missing an opportunity to gain
significant revenue and membership talent by not treating these professionals as full
members. Membership category changes in 1969 allowed county managers and
administrators and city administrators to be full members of the ICMA. In 1988,
ICMA changed its name for the fourth time since 1915 and became the International
City/County Management Association, thereby designating county managers and
administrators as full partners in local government management.
The Future Horizons Committee did not deal extensively with county
governments and the rapid rise of the county administrator position. This rise in the
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prominence of the county administrator in local government was just beginning at the
time of the Future Horizons project and has continued through the 1980s and 1990s
into the new century. It has paralleled and reinforced one of the Committee's main
expectations that the manager in the twenty-first century will serve more as a
facilitator and a coordinator than as a director, and that today's manager has less
authority (both official and unofficial) than the managers hired in the 1910s and
1920s.
Management Skills for the Future
The Future Visions Committee suggested that management professionals who
could identify and interpret data in order to recognize the effects of broad
demographic, economic, and technological trends would be a valued resource to their
local governments. This professionally developed skill was expected to be a major
source of the value added to local government by professional public managers in the
future. Managers would need to look to the future rather than the past, be aware of
trends as they were occurring, and move quickly rather than waiting for complete
trend information. The speed of change has increased significantly since the Future
Horizons Committee had met and was expected by that committee to quicken in the
1990s and after 2000.
The Committee concluded that the line between local government
administration and policy would continue to blur. Appointed and elected leaders
would need to renegotiate this on a regular basis. The particular circumstances o f a
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community and the personalities of elected leaders and managers, rather than
ordinances and charters, would dictate these roles in each community. Consortium
members suggested that managers would need to develop sensitivity to and the
capacity for change in local government organizations. Organizations would need to
be flexible and able to reorganize and respond to changing needs quickly.
Traditionally slow to change and often rigid in structure, local government was
expected to face special challenges in trying to develop the capability of responding
quickly to trends.
Several generations of change took place between 1980 and 2000, many of
which affected local government. Many other factors affecting cities and counties in
1980 remained the same, or at least similar, in 2000. Cities and counties had to
address declining revenues as Federal dollars that were available in the 1970s,
disappeared. Challenges to proposed tax increases forced local governments to adopt
service fees and to privatize some services.
The composition of governing bodies changed during the two decades as
minorities and women began occupying positions on city council and the county
board of commissioners. These new elected leaders brought different perspectives to
local governments. Many of the leaders elected in the 1980s and 1990s had been
protesters in the 1960s and 1970s. They entered government to change it. They were
not like their predecessors who had agreed to serve on the council as a civic duty.
Council members elected in the 1920-1970 period were highly involved in business
matters and similar activities. They tended to rely on the manager for policy
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guidance and usually left administrative matters to staff. This began to change in the
1970s and continued through 2000 and beyond as business mergers and other
economic forces were felt in local communities. New council members who had
become citizen activists involved in local issues did not feel comfortable leaving
details to government managers and staff members, whom they regarded as part of
the establishment the activists had protested against. The new elected officials were
activists who preferred to obtain information directly from staff members and to form
their own policy proposals.
Managers had to adjust their style of leadership in order to successfully work
with the new elected leaders. Managers who had previously been highly visible in
the community and the primary spokesperson for the city or county had to step back
and allow elected leaders to bask in the limelight. Managers became facilitators and
coordinators who worked to keep all the players on the same team instead of
allowing them to work against each other’s objectives. Strategic planning gained
importance for managers who sought to work with elected leaders and staff members
in the development of priorities, goals, and objectives that all members of the
municipal team could support and work towards.
The membership of ICMA changed as more minorities and women joined the
Association and moved into management positions. Counties continued to gain
prominence in ICMA in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s to the degree that the name of
the Association was changed to the International City/County Management
Association in 1988. More managers were appointed to positions that had significant
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management responsibilities that were not the same at those of traditional city
managers. Many of those occupying the new positions were appointed by mayors
rather than by councils. Many served as administrators instead of as managers. As
more countries became interested in democratic local government, ICMA developed
contracts with U.S. AID to send representatives into Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia,
and South America to assist with the process. The international component of ICMA
grew rapidly.
The growing diversity of ICMA forced the Association to seek ways of
involving all members in the Association’s affairs. The Future Visions Committee
of 1988-1990 had identified many of the skills needed by future managers. ICMA
responded by developing training programs for managers seeking the additional
skills. The issue of whether ICMA should recognize professional managers by
position or by skills and education, continued to surface during Association
meetings. Members were very much divided on the issue by the time of the 2000
Strategic Plan Committee.
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CHAPTER VI
FUTURE HORIZONS THEN AND NOW
It is clear from this research that the environment of local government, the
roles and responsibilities of the local government manager, and the focus and
activities of ICMA have changed in some key respects since the Future Horizons
Committee Report. All three areas have changed continuously since the reform
movement nearly 100 years ago; but, unlike the initiation of the council manager
form of government, which was a dramatic shift that could be considered
revolutionary, the changes since that time have been evolutionary, reflecting gradual
and incremental changes in the local government environment. It is also clear that
the typical council member’s background, personality, and purposes for holding
public office have changed. The white, male, businessman interested in government
as a form of community service has been replaced by a man or woman who may or
may not be white and who may be interested in serving on the council as a step
towards higher elected office, promoting a particular policy, or obtaining the
compensation the position now provides. Many of the changes that have affected
local government managers and ICMA have been long-term to the extent that the
Future Horizons and the Future Visions Committees were both able to identify a
trend and predict the future result. Changes in the make-up of city councils, the
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development of the Type III or adapted city, the continued growth of professional
management in county government and the withdrawal of the Federal government
from many domestic programs, were all underway and discussed by the committees.
Managerial roles had been initiated in the first half of the twentieth century
through amendments to municipal charters. The charters and state laws governing
the form of government usually provided managers with a clear description of the
position’s responsibilities. These documents and the initial implementation of the
form of government established clear procedures limiting council’s ability to
interfere with employment practices, purchasing procedures, and similar matters. In
a similar manner, managers were warned by the ICMA Code of Ethics to refrain
from becoming involved in partisan political activities.
As new positions were created in later years, there was less clarity
demarcating the responsibilities of the council and those of the manager. These
positions that were created later had some characteristics as recommended by the
Model City Charter, but not all. In a similar manner, many cities governed by the
mayor-council form amended municipal codes to provide for a city administrator
who provided professional guidance and technical expertise but did not possess the
authority and responsibilities of a city manager. Counties continued to appoint
professional managers to a variety of administrator and manager positions with a
wide disparity of position responsibilities and authority.
The greater variety o f position roles and responsibilities of local government
managers also affected ICMA, which added ‘‘county” to the Association’s name in
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1991. Many members questioned how the Association could effectively serve the
needs of members who occupied such a variety of positions. Some members
advocated restricting membership to those who occupied traditional city management
positions while others felt the Association should welcome and address the needs all
professional managers and assistants in local government regardless of the specific
roles and responsibilities of the positions they occupied. As the new century neared,
it was clear that ICMA would have to address the issue of position versus person.
Changes in the Local Government Environment
Many of the changes predicted by the Future Horizons Committee have
occurred. Their recommendation that local governments be wary of Federal dollars
and the dependency they can create is clearly justified as the withdrawal of the
Federal government from some domestic affairs initiated when block grants were
reduced during the Carter Administration, has continued under the leadership of
Republicans and Democrats alike. The same bipartisan national leadership has not
hesitated to levy additional financial demands on the local governments, which they
no longer support financially. State tendencies to follow a similar policy of imposing
mandates on local governments without adequate funding, compounds the problem.
The inadequate attention to domestic priorities at the national level is ironic at
best, disheartening at worst, and sobering at least. Tax cuts continue to be the
preferred mechanism for dealing with the nation's economy, while the gap between
social economic classes continues to widen.
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The Future Horizons Committee talked about the whipsaw cause and effect.
When groups of citizens sought funding for specific projects and services while the
general public focused on the need for reduced taxes, local governments were caught
in the middle. The withdrawal of the Federal government and the increased disparity
between socio-economic classes has accelerated the whipsaw effect. The Committee
advised local governments to seek to regulate (limit), the demand for local
government services, but this has not occurred. Citizens with service needs or
special interests continue to seek support from city hall and the county courthouse.
The partial withdrawal of the Federal government from local communities
has led to an increase in transactional politics and a move away from earlier
priorities. The grant programs of the 1960s focused on the needs of central cities and
older communities. They were based on the socioeconomic status of the community
and program proponents. The allocations of these funds were also strongly
influenced by personal relationships between local and national elected leaders.
Congressmen were often found be directly involved in the allocation of funds. The
block grants of the 1970s and general revenue sharing were based on population
formulas and represented guaranteed amounts for local governments that followed
general Federal guidelines. Funding for local governments was not a priority during
the Carter or Reagan Administrations. Block and categorical grants were reduced
and eliminated while requirements on localities were imposed by Federal laws and
by Federal departmental regulations.
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Newer grant programs in the 1980s and 1990s have emphasized allocations to
state governments, which, in turn, determine how their funds are allocated between
state and local priorities. The process in the 1960s was considered narrowly political
in that the influence of Congressional leaders could help localities obtain funding.
This political influence in the grant distribution process was weakened by the block
grants of the 1970s and 1980s. The loss of block grants severely restricted the ability
of cities and counties to serve the employment, health, and welfare needs of citizens.
Today, elected state leaders often seek to influence decision-making concerning the
allocations of funds. Locality projects are often funded based on the relationship of
local elected leaders with state elected leaders rather than on the merits of the project.
Not infrequently, the guiding hand of Congressional leaders can still be found in the
grant award process. While Federal and state government leaders have failed to give
adequate financial attention to the needs of cities and counties, they continue to
develop program requirements for local governments to follow. Both higher levels
of government continue the process of legislatively earmarking funds for specific
programs. This eliminates all local discretion and creates situations for transactional
politics.
The Committee recommended that local governments learn to get by
modestly. Committee members did not expect local government revenues to increase
quickly enough to keep pace with citizen demands for expanded services, employee
demands for wage and benefit increases, and public infrastructure needs. Efforts in
the 1990s to redesign government, contract services, create regional service
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agreements with other local governments, privatize services completely, and adapt
Total Quality Management techniques to local government are examples of how
professional managers have worked to improve services with fewer financial
resources. Their successes have demonstrated one aspect of the value of professional
management to cities and counties.
Some communities have been able to keep up with these demands, while
others have not. The financial picture for local governments continues to reflect a
lack of resources to meet needs. Those needs continue to expand as changing
demographics force communities to look for ways to provide services to new
residents who do not have the same cultural values as earlier residents and in many
cases do not speak the same language. This situation is similar to the problems faced
by reformers over 100 years ago. New residents coming to large cities became
affiliated with political parties and corrupt political machines in order to meet basic
survival needs and to begin life in this country. Today, those machines no longer
exist on a large scale and new citizens look to local government to provide necessary
support.
The Future Horizons Committee was hopeful that the energy crisis of the
1970s would be resolved and that adequate sources of energy would be available at
reasonable prices. Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing through the 1980s and
most of the 1990s, there was an increase in resources and a dramatic increase in
urban sprawl. Sprawl and rapid population growth became a battleground issue for
local government. Political contests in the 1990s and the new century have included
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debates echoing the arguments put forth in the 1960s and 1970s. Energy sources
suddenly disappeared at the turn of the century as calls for the mining o f natural
resources and energy sources on Federal lands of the early 1980s were repeated in
2001. The Committee’s concern for water supplies continues to be an issue in many
communities in the new century. This concern is a significant factor in many debates
over local growth and development.
The Future Horizons Committee’s fifth recommendation was that
communities should emphasize decentralization and the regionalization of services.
Although regionalization has occurred in some large communities, regional
governing bodies have not replaced most local governments. Instead, cities and
counties have entered into multi-jurisdictional agreements for the provision of
regional services. Airports, landfills, incarceration centers, and utility services are
examples of services provided by multi-jurisdictional agencies with governing body
members appointed by city councils and county boards instead of the voters. The
number of quasi-public agencies and authorities whose governing body members are
appointed rather than elected and that provide citizens services for one or more local
governments that previously provided those services directly has increased
significantly. Thus, while the metropolitan government that was envisioned in the
1950s and 1960s, such as in Dade County, Florida, and Toronto, Ontario, has not
remained a major movement, regional collaboration among local governments has
grown.
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Changes in Managers' Roles
Stillman (1982) comments on the movement of authority away from the
council chambers and the manager’ s office to boards and commissions and to
regional agencies. He suggests that this creates additional demands for managers
who must work through independent and quasi-independent boards and
commissions, and their staff members to accomplish tasks previously accomplished
by a staff directive. George Frederickson’s 1999 analysis of “conjunction” among
local government professionals in metropolitan regions deals with today's political
realities. While some respondents to the ICMA 1980 survey on the profession
suggested that the manager's role as a broker may increase, others thought this role
might lead to greater politicization of the manager's function. Both are correct
depending upon local circumstances. Many managers are much more skilled at
negotiation, mediation, and consensus building than their predecessors, because they
have had much more practice at it. Others have allowed their office to become more
politically oriented in an effort to achieve desired results. Some managers have
increased brokering activities and become more political. As the Future Horizons
Committee predicted, the manager's position has become more of a broker,
coordinator, and facilitator rather than a director in a command-and-control hierarchy
(169).
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New Hybrid Forms and Variations among Governments
Changes in the roies of the manager have led to debate about the formal
structure of local governments. Research by H. George Frederickson and others has
demonstrated how the council-manager form of government has sometimes merged
with the mayor-council form. In 1971, Mulrooney looked at the continued increase
in the number of council-manager plan adoptions and the decline of the mayor-
council form and predicted that the council-manager form would become dominant
throughout the United States (8).
While adoptions of the council-manager form have continued, there has also
been a significant number of adaptations to the form and the mayor-council form of
government to create a hybrid category or Type III community. Frederickson (1996)
notes that since the 1960s, the most prominent features of the council-manager
government, such as a professional executive and a merit-based civil service system;
have been adopted by most mayor-council communities. At the same time, many
council-manager communities have adopted the provisions for a directly elected
mayor and at least some council members elected by districts rather than by the city-
at-large. By 1990, the fusion of these two models became the dominant form of local
government in the United States. Few communities retained all the elements of the
original council-manager form and few communities functioned without a
professional manager or administrator with varying degrees of responsibilities.
While most of the American cities with a population between 25,000 and 1,000,000
surveyed by Frederickson and Johnson in 1992 and 1996 can be classified as either
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mayor-council or council-manager cities, many have characteristics of the other
form. Of 3,028 cities that were classified, only 107 were pure mayor-council cities,
482 were pure council-manager cities, and 2,489 were adapted cities with at least one
characteristic of the other form. The most common characteristic of adapted mayor-
council cities was the employment of a professional administrator appointed by the
mayor or the mayor and council. Direct election of the mayor and the election of at
least one council member by district were common adaptations of the council-
manager form (Frederickson, 1996 154-155). (See also Frederickson and Johnson
21.)
This movement has been the result of changing values and circumstances.
Many mayor-council communities have faced serious social problems and fiscal
crises. They have sought to become more efficient while retaining the values of the
mayor-council form, such as responsiveness to the needs of particular citizens,
inclusiveness, and competitiveness between legislative and executive branches.
Apperson and Wickstrom suggest similar reasons for the expansion of county
administrator government in Virginia. County supervisors needed professional
assistance with grant projects, budgeting and reporting requirements, and regional
cooperation demands. They created county administrator positions to handle these
matters while they retained political control over employment decisions and similar
matters. While this change in mayor-council cities has occurred, Frederickson notes
that council-manager cities have responded to the increased desire for political
competition, political executive leadership, and inclusiveness by adding features
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reflecting these changes to their governments. These features include direct election
of the mayor, partisan elections, and election of some or all council members by
ward or district instead of by the city at-large.
Some of the principal characteristics o f the new hybrid forms of government
include:
1. The mayor—and, in some cases council or individual council members—
may become involved in management details.
2. The manager/administrator may be caught in the middle, when the
interests of the mayor and those of council conflict.
3. The control of the policy agenda is shared by the mayor, the council and
the manager.
4. The principles of efficiency and professional management may be
compromised to accommodate political preferences.
5. Political preferences may be compromised to accommodate the principles
of efficiency and good management (Frederickson, 1996 160-162).
Arnold suggests that many of these changes began to appear in the 1980s and
that it became obvious that ICMA and the city management profession would have to
adjust in order to retain influence in local government (49). As ICMA President
David Mora has noted: “Council-manager government in its traditional definition is
not always the best or most appropriate for our community. Our emphasis as
professionals must be on providing expert local government management regardless
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of the form of government” (Naibandian, 1999 192). Or, as Mulrooney suggested
more than thirty years earlier
Hopefully, an even more effective council-manager plan will
emerge as we learn more about managing change and dealing with
complexity, for cities will need all the creative leadership they can
obtain to solve unsolvable problems and improve the quality of
life for all their residents. (13)
Naibandian (1999a) adds:
Prominent mayors may become seen as the new reformers.
Council-manager government may become an old story. The
search for legitimacy is really a search for identifying what value
the city manager adds to a community. That is where the
community building facilitative leadership paradigm holds
promise. (192)
The need to keep the mayor who is elected independent of council connected to that
council is a growing concern. Managers will need to work with the mayor to keep
him or her connected to the council while maintaining the trust of the remaining
members of council and spending significantly more time with the mayor in order to
build a relationship with that elected leader (Naibandian, 1999b).
Frederickson and Johnson (1999) note the importance of the revised mayor’ s
role. They consider the decline in political corruption in local government as
evidence of the reformers’ success. They note criticisms of the council-manager
system as not always responsive to all citizens and the potential of an aggressive city
manager to dominate policy issues. Many efforts to increase the mayor’s public
visibility and community leadership roles have been in response to these criticisms
(9-10).
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Svara (1986) suggests that institutional arrangements are one of the important
factors in establishing the preconditions necessary for a mayoral leadership in
council-manager jurisdictions. These factors include a direct election of the mayor,
the mayor's ability to appoint commission members, and an adequate staff and salary
for the mayor (207-227).
The Misunderstood Dichotomy
If there is an overriding theme of the Future Horizons report concerning the
expected changes in the manager’s roles and responsibility, it is one of shared
partnership. The committee suggested that an assistant manager would be needed to
perform to role of internal manager. This assistant manager would be needed to
coordinate line department services and to provide traditional management functions.
These services change to reflect new techniques, technologies, and priorities of
varied communities and their municipal organizations, but a common theme of
management oversight and accountability remains. Redesigning government,
contracting for services, performance measurement and Total Quality Management
are examples of management projects that have been directed by internal managers in
the 1990s.
As an internal assistant manager assumes a greater portion of these
responsibilities, the manager functions more as a coordinator and facilitator. The
manager must coordinate the activities of the internal organization with governing
body members, other governments, and other community interests, such as
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businesses, neighborhoods, and private non-profit organizations. The traditional
emphasis on the dichotomy between administration and policy has changed as new
the manager has assumed greater responsibilities for coordination between staff, city
council, and the community.
Svara (2001) suggests several reasons why the idea of a dichotomy has
remained prevalent until recent years. First, it was a convenient way of explaining
the division of roles between elected and appointed officials as opposed to the
concept of role sharing among these individuals. Second, the dichotomy concept
helped to shield administrators from scrutiny of elected officials and served the
interest of elected officials who could pass the responsibility for unpopular decisions
to administrators. Third, the dichotomy helps to obscure the influence of
administrators on the policy process. Finally, as Kettl has suggested, the dichotomy
theory relates to the theory of a hierarchical organizational structure and top-down
accountability (176-177).
Svara (2001) elaborates and refers to the work of Wallace Sayre, who
enunciated the dichotomy model with an emphasis on the complete separation of
spheres of influence and suggested that public administration was a self-contained
world with its own separate values, rules, and methods concerned exclusively with
the execution of assignments received from political leaders (178).
The concept of the dichotomy was accepted quickly and was promoted by
early leaders of ICMA and the council-manager movement. The 1938 Code of
Ethics referred to the importance of the dichotomy without labeling the separation of
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policy and administration as such. Managers were urged to restrict their activities to
administration and to avoid policy leadership activities. Svara (2001) suggests that
this echoes the view of Ridley and Nolting in their 1934 work, The City Manager
Profession. The two authors were then serving as executive director and assistant
executive director of ICMA when they noted that managers should avoid the public
limelight and not allow themselves to be brought into controversy through a
leadership or responsibility role in matters of policy (177).
Svara (2001) states that the underlying question is one of the relationship
between elected officials and administrators and between political control and
independence. Elected officials want to maintain control of the government through
the setting of policy and maintaining oversight They should also be encouraged to
allow professional administrators to maintain their independence by inserting
professional perspectives in the policy formulation process. Some elected officials
can meet both of these goals while others may not (and may not want to). He
continues by suggesting that “complementarity” be recognized as the proper division
of roles between local elected and appointed leaders rather than dichotomy.
“Complementarity” allows for the independence and reciprocal influence of elected
officials and administrators so that they can each maintain a distinct role while
allowing their functions to overlap as they join together in the common pursuit of
sound government. Interdependence is stressed along with distinct roles and respect
for each other’s roles (179).
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Montjoy and Watson (1995) suggest that the dichotomy has been
misinterpreted. They reviewed the work of Woodrow Wilson and Frank Goodnow.
They suggest that Wilson actually dealt with two different types of politics. One
focused on partisanship and patronage. This is what is commonly referred to today
as transactional politics. The other type of politics was policy-making. This differed
from transactional partisanship issues and was focused on what policies should be
adopted to regulate private activities and public goods and services. Wilson was
advocating the study of administration and the use of European administrative
models, which were part of non-democratic governmental systems. Wilson wanted
to make certain his readers understood that administration could be separated from
politics and that politics could be used to accurately express the policies of the state
while not interfering with the efficient administration of those policies. The
democratic processes could be used to elect those who would adopt policy (232-233).
In a similar manner, Goodnow suggested three administrative sub-functions:
1. executive—general execution of the law;
2. quasi-judicial and semi-scientific—applying technical knowledge in
specific areas; and
3. clerical—carrying out the orders of superiors (as noted in Montjoy and
Watson 234-235).
Montjoy and Watson (1995) believe Goodnow anticipated policy-making
within these administrative offices at lower levels once a general policy had been
established by elected leaders. The primary concern at the time was machine politics
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and partisan political control of the administrative organization. The reformers'
primary objective was to insulate the manager and the administrative functions from
transactional politics. Montjoy and Watson believed this was consistent with the
way the dichotomy was defined before the 1950s. They add: ‘‘The dichotomy of
policy and administration as traditionally interpreted prescribed roles that are neither
practical nor desirable in council manager government.” They continue: “However,
few would wish to abandon the dichotomy of politics and administration as the
bulwark against certain forms o f particularism, such as special favors in hiring or
contracting decisions” (231).
They suggest that the policy-administration dichotomy should not be
considered a clear line dividing council from the manager and staff. They believe
that, instead, managers should participate in the policy process and exercise
discretion as allowed by the council but maintain a clear line of separation against
market-place type transactions that might be directed towards themselves or staff
members. Council, for its part, still maintains the capability of directing the
bureaucracy through very detailed policy-making if it so desires (Montjoy and
Watson 231-237).
Montjoy and Watson identified two dichotomies. The first was conceptual
and divided the functions of government into an expression of the will of the people
and the execution of that will. The second was operational. It dealt with the doctrine
of independent administrative functions free of political influence. Administrative
positions were to be filled and government contracts were to be awarded in ways that
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would not be designed to attract support for particular candidates in a contest for
elected offices.
Greg Protasel (1989a) summarized the issue of the dichotomy very
succinctly. He suggested that the design of the council-manager plan may require the
city manager to exercise political leadership but this can be very risky for the
manager. At the same time, he suggests that studies of city managers indicate that
many view themselves as leaders who should provide policy recommendations in
contrast to the traditional city manager who viewed the policies in neutral terms and
rejected visible involvement in community affairs (27).
Community Building and Varied Communities
Another underlying theme of the Future Horizons committee report is the
concept of facilitative leadership. The manager is described as a coordinator who
works through others in order to exercise leadership. Naibandian (1999) suggests
that the manager can use facilitative leadership skills to build a partnership between
the governing body, city staff, and the community. He adds that the city manager
must work to empower the governing body and citizens by developing and using the
tools of engagement—facilitative leadership skills to frame issues and processes
dealing with diverse community interests and to focus citizens on common interests
rather than on positions when working to solve problems and develop community
partnerships. Naibandian ties facilitative leadership to community building as
anchors for contemporary professionalism in local government. He suggests that
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success for city managers in this effort will depend upon whether or not they
acknowledge that the value contributed by the professional to the governing process
can be found in these skills rather than in the form of government, and whether
managers can formulate these concepts into a new theory that will connect and build
on the historic reform heritage in a new way that appeals to citizens (195-196).
Community-building involves the development of political capacity to make
collective decisions amidst diverse and conflicting interests. It is necessary to
develop a sense of responsibility among citizens to participate in and obligate
themselves to collective decisions. This stems from the fact that certain tasks require
collective public action and from the expectation that agents of governing institutions
will respect the values of representation, individual rights, and social equity.
Naibandian adds: “Getting problems solved collectively, while respecting the values
of representation, individual rights, and social equity, builds a sense of obligation to
the collective good and constitutes one way of looking at community building” (189).
Naibandian sees this as the continuation of the search for the meaning of
professionalism identified by Stillman in 1974. He suggests that local government
professionals are in a unique position to enhance civil society and to build social
capital if community building becomes part of the bureaucrat's understanding of
what the city governance should be.
Community building is not an easy task, as managers must deal with long
term social, political, and economic trends that have fragmented society. As Craig
Gearhart has noted, “there is no sense of community. There is too much time on
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physical and fiscal infrastructure and not enough on social/civic infrastructure. We
need to retrofit our communities’’ (personal statement to the author February 2,
2001). Gearhart adds: “Today, there is an extra rush perhaps created by the shrinking
communications through e-mail and the Internet. The Internet was supposed to
reduce the rush, but instead we have more events to attend and things to learn” (2001
statement).
Putnam (1993) suggests that a silent erosion of social capital has occurred
over several decades, with more empty seats at PTA meetings and church masses and
fewer individuals involved in public affairs. He compares this with earlier
generations and suggests that today’s citizens are less engaged with one another
outside the marketplace and less prepared to co-operate in order to achieve shared
goals. He believes this decline in social capital helps explain the economic and
political troubles of democracy (106).
The Reform Movement Today
Putnam (2000) finds many parallels between American society in 1900 and
today. He notes: “Americans at the end of the nineteenth century were divided by
class, ethnicity, and race such as we are today, although today’s dividing lines differ
in detail from those of a century ago” (376). He adds that the Asians and Hispanics
of today have replaced the Jews and Italians of the late nineteenth century. He
suggests that the reform era was a time very similar to the present, with great
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potential for technological advance and unparalleled prosperity but lacking a sense of
integrated connectedness.
In 1900 and one hundred years later, new forms of communication offered
great promise for the development of community. It did not happen in 1900 and does
not appear to be happening now. Instead, new concentrations of wealth and
corporate power have raised serious questions about the meaning of democracy.
Today, and one hundred years ago, large concentrations of impoverished ethnic
minorities posed basic questions about social justice and stability.
As in 1900, today, a comfortable middle class is tom between the attractions
of escape and a desire to provide social stability. In both eras, new forms of
commerce, a restructured workplace, and new organizations of community living
threatened older forms of solidarity. As new waves of immigration changed the
complexity of American society, they are (were) considered a threat rather than an
opportunity to diversify and strengthen communities. In 1900 and today,
materialism, political cynicism, and an inclination towards spectatorship appear to
dominate society rather than action towards idealistic reformism. In 1900 and today,
older strands of social connection are being weakened and, in many cases, destroyed
by technological, economic, and social change (Putnam, 2000 381-382).
Putnam believes America needs “an era of civic inventiveness to create a new
set of institutions and channels for reinvigorated civic life that will fit the way we
have come to live,” and adds that “we need to be as ready to experiment as the
Progressives were” (401). He notes that the Progressives recognized the eroding
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close-knit ties that occurred during the urbanization of industrial America. They
were concerned that impersonal and transactional ties were replacing the sturdier
bonds of family, friendship, and small-town solidarity. He suggests that the
reformers of 1900 remained hopeful that new types of social bonds with similar
values could be developed even in the “arms length” society that was developing
around them. He adds that the social reformers of that era recognized the ills of
society, such as poverty, as reflecting societal and economic changes rather than
individual moral failings (380).
Putnam (2000) counts among the results of the progressive movement a
number of initiatives surrounding the council-manager form of government. These
include the secret ballot, popular initiative and referendum, presidential primaries,
council-manager system, direct election of senators, women’s suffrage. Federal
Reserve System, income tax, Bureau of the Budget, Federal Trade Commission,
environmental legislation, general accounting office, child labor laws, worker’s
compensation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He notes that each of these
innovations typically began with experimental reforms at the state and local
community levels and then “gathered strength as it thundered toward Washington”
(398).
Among the issues city managers and local communities must address today is
what Putnam (2000) refers to as the propensity of progressives to favor technocratic
elitism in which they proposed “professional” expert solutions for social problems.
This may not have had the intention of, but nonetheless had, the effect of reducing
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public participation. The progressives, who preferred boards and commissions that
were, in effect, dominated by middle class professionals saw partisan politics and the
political machine as the enemy. The progressives were very much aware of
corruption and dependency created by the political machine, but they failed to
recognize the role of the same machine in providing access to the political process
for otherwise powerless citizens. Historians have argued as to whether the
progressive era was about social reform or social control. Some have suggested that
middle class reformers organized in order to gzii. community control over what they
regarded as uncouth working-class immigrants (399-400).
The diversity of community populations today offers great opportunities for
managers to utilize facilitative leadership skills discussed by John Naibandian to
build communities. It also creates greater challenges for local government and calls
for change. Perhaps, as Charles Adrian suggested in 1971 comments to Keith
Mulrooney, “what is needed is not a different plan of government, but more
representative city councils and managers who have broader training and
understanding of social issues” (Mulrooney 9). It is those very city councils and
county boards that, as they become more diverse reflecting their communities, will
create additional challenges for professional managers. The managers must deal with
a variety of perspectives and priorities among governing body members instead of
dealing with five businessmen who served on the council as a civic duty.
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Changes at ICMA
The 1980-2000 period brought many changes to ICMA, including a new
executive director. Mark Keane retired in 1983 after a very successful sixteen-year
tenure that was highlighted by:
• the move to Washington;
• the broadening of membership criteria;
• the increase in contracts and grants for research and development at
ICMA; and
• the Future Horizons Project
William E. Hansell was hired in 1983. Like Keane, Hansell was well-
qualified for the Executive Director’s position. He earned an undergraduate degree
and a Master of Government Administration degree at the University of Pennsylvania
and served as Manager o f Catasauqua Borough and South Whitehall Township,
Pennsylvania before becoming City Administrator of Allentown, Pennsylvania. He
served that city for eight years as City Administrator, Development Director and
Business Administrator and also served as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania
League of Cities for almost two years before joining ICMA (ICMA, “Who’s Who”).
During Hansell’s tenure, ICMA continued many of the initiatives, that were
underway and began several other programs. A strategic planning task force begun
in 1983 resulted in a reaffirmation of the Association’s mission statement in 1985
and the adoption of six goals in 1986 that were similar to the goals the Association
adopted in 1969. During the 1980s, ICMA emphasized effectiveness and issued a
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new textbook, The Effective Local Government Manager, which replaced Managing
the Modem City. The latter text had replaced The Technique o f Municipal
Administration in 1971. Reflecting the changing roles of local government
managers, the first text “ ‘provided an effective overview of the challenges the city
manager in his moderate-sized community and served as a useful guide in the
performance of administrative tasks” (Banovetz, 1971 Preface). Banovetz suggested
that the 1971 text “recognizes that the professional administrator or manager now
plies his trade in an increasingly diverse number of contexts” (Preface). His list of
different positions occupied by managers includes:
• traditional city manager:
• urban county administrator;
• urban city administrator:
• staff and departmental positions;
• council of government directors; and
• state and Federal agencies and in semi-public agency managers (Preface).
The new text, with editions in 1983 and 1991, reflected the changing needs of
managers and focused on relationships between managers and other members of the
local government environment. An underlying theme of the new text is how
managers can facilitate the work of others and how they can build community
coalitions (Anderson, Newland, and Stillman vii). As Bill Hansell stated in the
“Foreword” of the second edition: “Today’s manager works in a complex, changing
environment------A primary part of the job is building and mediating relationships,
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and — the public nature of the job creates special pressures and responsibilities”
(Newell, “Foreword,” 1993a).
Throughout Hansell’s tenure at ICMA, the Association has emphasized
member support and encouraged members to seek balance between professional
responsibilities and private lives. The Association has also:
• made dramatic strides in the sharing of democratic principles and
management expertise with emerging democracies throughout the world;
• expanded research and technology development activities in support of
member needs;
• increased partnerships with state affiliations and other organizations in an
effort to improve member communications and member support
programs;
• increased public awareness of professional management and public
policy advocacy efforts;
• initiated a dialogue on professionalism and whether ICMA should focus
on supporting the traditional council-manager plan or the value of
professional management in all forms of government;
• expanded ethics education activities, including the publication of ethics
texts and training materials for local governments, and a monthly advice
column in Public Management based on members questions to staff; and
• enhanced professional development offerings through the ICMA
University and the Best Practices Symposium.
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The ICMA University evolved from the Association’s commitment to
continuing education for members and others working in local government. This
effort began when the first group of managers met in 1914 to share information. A
significant shift in this effort occurred in the 1930s when ICMA began publishing the
Green Book series and offering correspondence courses. Continuing education
efforts were expanded with the introduction of special seminars before and after the
Annual Conference in the 1970s.
In 1991, the ICMA Executive Board convened a special Task Force on
Continuing Education and Professional Development. The ICMA University was
created as a result of the Task Force recommendations in 1994. Eight “Practices for
Effective Local Government Management” were identified as skills necessary for
effective managers to continuously update as part of a life-long learning effort. An
inventory/self-assessment tool was developed to help members identify areas for
improvement. ICMA University offers over 50 workshops at the Annual
Conference, the Best Practices Symposium, at state association meetings, and as
special events. The workshops are based on member requests and the eight
Practices. A Management Practices Assessment was developed for members in 1999
to include an Applied Knowledge Assessment and a Performance-based assessment
The Applied Knowledge Assessment has become a basis for the Voluntary
Credentialing Program and the Performance-based assessment is a 360 degree
feedback program for managers (ICMA Task Force on Continuing Education and
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Professional Development; ICMA Practices for Effective Local Government
Management; Logan, conversation with the author).
Hansell and the ICMA staff were constantly looking to the future and helping
managers anticipate and prepare for change. The 1983-1985 strategic planning task
force, the Future Visions Committee and the 2000 Strategic Plan are examples of this
type of effort While ICMA continued to broaden the Association’s membership
base, member committees and staff members scanned the horizon for new
opportunities.
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CHAPTER VU
BEYOND FUTURE HORIZONS—2020
This research has traced changes in the environment of local government, the
roles and responsibilities of local government managers since Charles Ashbumer was
first hired as City Manager of Staunton in 1908. Several trends can be identified to
indicate possible futures for local government and their managers. The future local
government environment and the future roles and responsibilities of local
government managers can, in turn, indicate skills and training needed by managers in
the future.
One very clear trend in local government since the Reform Period has been
change. Growth in both population and in size, changes in technology, frequent
changes in the relationships between local governments and between those local
governments and state governments and the Federal government, changes in citizen
expectations, and changes in elected local government leaders have all contributed to
changes in the local government environment and the roles and responsibilities of
local government managers.
The local government environment will continue to evolve in the future.
Some trends identified by the Future Horizons Committee, such as a feeling of
powerlessness, will continue. Local governments will continue to feel the impact of:
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• state and Federal mandates with less funding;
• mandates established by court decisions; and
• the whipsaw of public opinion when individuals and interest groups seek
enhanced services while others seek reduced taxes.
The changes in the evolving local government environment will continue to
affect the roles and responsibilities of local government managers. Managers hired
during the Reform Era usually worked in similar positions that were based on the
Model City Charter. Medium-sized communities tended to adopt the council-
manager form and the governing bodies most often consisted of five to seven males
from the business community. Although local communities differed to some degree,
managers could, for the most part, expect the same type of relationship with councils
in different cities; and they could expect to deal with similar issues, with some local
variations, in most communities. They fulfilled the role of manager and directed the
municipal organization.
Managers hired in 2002 can expect a variety of responsibilities in different
communities. They may be hired as a city manager, city business administrator,
mayor’s assistant, county manager, county administrator, internal or deputy manager,
or in a similar position. In any of these positions, they are coordinators who must
negotiate powers and duties each time the elected leadership of the community
changes. They must facilitate the work of those elected leaders who do not constitute
a homogenous group. Today’s typical city council or board of commissioners
consists of men and women who are often of different races and who represent a
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variety of interests in the community in addition to business. They have sought
office for a variety of reasons. If the city council member in 1920 served as a civic
duty, the 2002 council member may serve because of this reason, because of an
interest in higher office, or because of a desire to promote a particular interest or
project.
As professional management expanded from the council-manager form of
government into other forms of municipal government and into county government,
it moved from the nonpartisan area into the partisan arena. Managers may seek to
avoid involvement in politically partisan issues, but they will see it all around them.
Managers are much more likely to be working under the direction of commissioners
and councils elected by district on a partisan basis with a mayor elected at-large in
2002 than they were in 1920. This movement towards greater political partisanship
in local government and its impact on the management profession are likely to
continue.
The local government management profession is as diverse as the positions
managers occupy. This diversity is reflected in membership and the leadership of
ICMA. It is also reflected in the priorities established by the Association in 2000.
ICMA will continue to change in response to the changing needs of local government
managers, who will be adjusting to changes in the local government environment. It
is hopeful to think that, through projects such as the Future Horizons Committee and
the 2000 Strategic Plan Committee, ICMA can help managers anticipate the future
local government environment and prepare for it.
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Varied Local Government Environments In the Future
Changes in recent years provide some evidence of what the future
environment of local government may be. Some of the changes identified by the
Future Horizons Committee continue to be felt in 2002. Changes in the local
government environment since the Future Horizons Committee met can also be
expected to impact local government managers and ICMA in the future. A number
of overriding changes in the local government environment of the future can be
identified, including:
• outdated intergovernmental system;
• outdated government structures;
• blurring o f public and non-profit agencies;
• technology;
• velocity o f change;
• emergency preparedness;
• continued feeling of powerlessness;
• continuing and increased economic development efforts; and
• population diversity.
Changes Identified by Robert J. O’Neill, Jr.
Robert J. O’Neill, Jr., President of the National Academy of Public
Administration (NAPA), and former County Executive of Fairfax County, Virginia,
and City Manager of Hampton, Virginia, discussed some of these changes in the
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local government environment at an October 22,2001, meeting of the Virginia Local
Government Management Association.
The first of O’Neill’s points is the recognition that the boundaries of the
Federal system are permeable today. No problem can be neatly shelved and assigned
to the Federal, state, county or municipal government. Today’s problems must
instead be addressed on an intergovernmental basis that involves regions, states, and
in many cases, agencies of the state and Federal governments. Frequently more than
one agency is involved in an issue. Manager skills in developing partnerships and
working with others will be critical to success. It must also be recognized that many
of these issues will require local rather than state or Federal government leadership.
The city manager or county administrator will need to initiate a solution.
In a similar manner, O’Neill’s second observation is the irrelevance of
traditional local government organizations, which have been developed around single
disciplines. In contrast, citizen services require multiple disciplines, which must be
coordinated. Telling citizens to visit four departments to resolve one issue is no
longer acceptable. Managers must develop ways of making service delivery among
various agencies seamless.
O’Neill’s third trend is the blurring of public and non-profit agencies that will
be pushed closer together in the future. No one working with the Future Horizons
Committee in 1978-1979 would have considered an infusion of public dollars for
faith-based agencies to be a realistic scenario. Twenty-one years later initiatives in
this area are gaining support and momentum. While the interest in the privatization
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of public social services on top of long-used local government contracts for private
production in public works was beginning at the time of the Future Horizons
Committee, the non-profit sector was a relatively small player in this field. The non
profit sector’s role in the provision and/or production of local government services
will continue to expand.
Technology is O’Neill’s fourth expected change. Although it has many
virtues, technology also presents additional challenges. O’Neill believes the greatest
of these challenges is how to balance the speed gained by technology with
democracy. In essence, how can local governments and their managers take
advantage of new technologies to reduce the time required for decision-making while
ensuring and protecting the individual’s rights to participate in the decision-making
process and to have their inputs considered and respected?
This is similar to the issue surrounding O’Neill’s fifth impact, which is the
velocity of change. The speed of change forces local organizations into a constant
state of change, and managers must facilitate the change process by encouraging
adaptation, experimentation, and flexibility. Managers must also help their
organizational members to understand that changes may be out of date before they
are fully implemented and that new changes will supersede them (O’Neill 2001).
(See also O’Neill, 2000 4-5.)
One example of changing technology is the Internet, which offers numerous
opportunities to inform citizens and to provide opportunities for them to participate
in the governing process. The Internet provides a vast array of resources for
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information that can be used by city staff members. New problems generated by the
Internet include modifications in the freedom of information processes to determine
what information should be provided by the locality to Internet subscribers and what
information should not. Local governments will also need to regulate the utilization
of Internet information sources by organizational employees.
O’Neill (2001) noted in his conclusion that the events of September 11, 2001,
illustrate the changing nature o f local government emergency response needs. He
expressed his admiration for the public employees who performed their duties so
admirably and unselfishly that day. Except for civil defense in previous wars,
traditional large-scale responses by local governments have been limited to natural
disasters such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes; and to civil riots
during many periods of social conflicts. Only since the 1990s have local government
managers had to develop plans for mass shootings in schools.
The bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City represented the first
large-scale emergency response by local government to a man-made disaster. Not
since the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7,1941, had as many individuals
required emergency assistance from local government. Wars in Korea, Vietnam, and
the Persian Gulf were far from American local governments, although civil riots took
place at home.
Just as the news media brought war in Southeast Asia into American homes
in the 1960s, it brought the unfolding actions of terrorists in New York City,
Washington DC, and Pennsylvania directly into the lives of Americans across the
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nation on September 11,2001, as they occurred. The unfolding events surrounding
anthrax in 2001 forced local governments to come to grips and prepare for large-
scale disasters that may be caused by other human beings rather than natural events.
This is another example of an action being reported as it takes place. Counties have
had to deal with health threats such as flu epidemics and HIV on a regular, long-term
basis. Other types o f large-scale human inflicted disasters that had traditionally been
considered science fiction must now be considered a possibility. Managers and their
staffs will have to develop plans for dealing with what they used to see in science
fiction movies.
Continued Feeling of Powerlessness
Roger Kemp expects the whipsaw effect, as discussed by the Future Horizons
Committee, to continue. Citizens will continue to want funding for essential
services, such as public safety and public works, and even the so-called ‘‘soft”
services, such as recreation and libraries, while demanding lower taxes. There will
be no help from the Federal and state governments in the future as they continue to
shift service requirements to local governments without providing funding (Kemp,
2000b 21-30).
The other factors identified by the Future Horizons Committee as
contributing to a feeling of powerlessness will also continue in the future. The
Federal government and the states will continue policies that have been in effect
since the 1970s. Service mandates will be placed upon local governments without
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adequate financial support while the higher levels of government propose tax cuts
and rebates. Some states, such as Virginia in the 1990s, have even gone as far as to
mandate the reduction o f local taxes. In a similar manner, courts will continue to
intervene in the local government process and mandate additional services and costs
through decisions.
Continuing and Increased Economic Development Efforts
This will prompt local governments to continue to focus efforts on attracting
and retaining economic development prospects. Job retention and expansion will be
priorities for managers who, in 1980, were beginning to create economic
development departments. These efforts will continue to be expanded and to require
a greater portion of the local budget. In many cases, regional cooperation among
localities will be expanded in areas, such as tourism and marketing; but competition
for tax base enhancements seems likely to keep the trend towards regional economic
development cooperation at bay, with continued sprawl as a result.
The focus on economic development and job retention will require
environmental considerations. Efforts to retrofit and upgrade old plants will be
necessary so that they can be reused while environmental concerns are addressed.
Environmental factors will continue to be an issue as there is greater concern for
reduced sprawl and improved mass transit systems. Higher energy costs and traffic
congestion will continue unabated if the present course continues. Technology-based
industries, telecommunications centers, tourism, and service-based industries are
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examples of where local governments will focus their economic development
recruitment efforts in the future. The speed of change in the local economic base will
quicken as more local and regional companies are merged with, and acquired by,
larger national and multi-national conglomerates. This will result in the movement
of decision-making regarding the future of local industry further away from the
community and local government. Discount centers and mail-order distribution
centers that have replaced the department stores of the 1980s, which replaced the
smaller, local banks and stores of the 1930s and 1950s are now being somewhat
challenged by Internet sales centers. These changes affect the local community’s
employment base when jobs are lost, gained, and then lost again. The losses affect
local government finances when companies that contributed to local taxes and
generated other revenues for the community are closed. Local governments also lose
the contributions of managers and leaders of these companies when they are no
longer in a position to donate their time and talents to city council and other
community service needs. New members of county boards and city councils who fill
the positions formerly held by local business leaders will often not have the
organizational and leadership skills the business leaders had developed through
experience in their professional positions.
Greater telecommunications capabilities will improve the coordination of
operations within local government organizations and agencies. It will also improve
citizen access to information. Local governments will continue to upgrade public
access stations to provide citizens with maximum information and greater
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opportunities to participate in the local government decision-making process (Kemp,
2000a 11-13).
The Future Horizons Committee anticipated globalization. But, the speed at
which economic globalization has occurred was not expected. Globalization,
innovation and competition have interacted to shape the international economic
development process since the 1980s. Local governments now find that they are not
competing with their neighbors or other sections of the United States for plant
location projects. They must now compete with the international markets. Local
communities with superior transportation connections no longer have the advantage
when plant location decisions are being made. Companies can locate outside the
United States and send goods into the country cheaper than they can produce them in
the United States. Many communities have faced plant closings when national and
international interests have purchased local companies and forced them to relocate
facilities to other countries in an effort to avoid environmental regulations and to
attain lower labor costs.
While some might suggest that the complex issues of globalization,
competition, and innovation can be avoided, many others disagree. International
business location decisions are being made on the basis of these factors and will
continue to be made according to these criteria for decades to come. Local
governments that used to focus on maintaining low taxes and providing subsidies for
businesses will find that the quality of local government administration and services
will be as important as the fees and taxes levied. The quality of local banks and
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business support will play important roles in business location decisions as will the
proximity of higher education establishments and research institutes. Local housing
conditions, medical services, sports and recreation facilities and the transportation
network will continue to be of increasing importance (Gorzalek, Griffin, and Honey
1-5).
Population Diversity and Shared Multiculturalism
Continued growth in local population diversity will also impact local
government. As a greater proportion of the local population speaks a language other
than English, local government employees will need to develop additional
communications skills. The aging population identified by the Future Horizons
Committee will continue to grow and expect increased services. Special populations
such as handicapped citizens will seek additional local government services. Many
of these groups will nominate candidates for public office while other candidates will
campaign on a platform of reduced taxes. Anti-growth groups will form to oppose
development projects in contrast to other groups that seek additional growth and
development. Candidates from both of these groups will seek elected office. In
many cases, some candidates from several of these factions will be elected to the
governing body. That group’s diversity will make governing more difficult. Local
governments and their managers will be caught in the middle o f these positions.
These evolving trends, trends such as the feeling of powerlessness that was
identified by the Future Horizons Committee, changes in the structure of local
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government, and changes in the make-up of city councils and county boards, will all
continue to impact the roles and responsibilities of local government managers.
There will also be greater diversity in the roles and responsibilities of managers
working in different government organizations. ICMA will need to work with
managers in an effort to identify the skills needed by managers in the future and to
provide training in these needed skill areas.
Managerial Qualities and Attributes
The skills that the Future Visions Committee suggested that local government
managers will need in the future continue to be relevant in the twenty-first century.
Conflict resolution and facilitative leadership skills will be needed as managers deal
with a variety of interest groups while realizing that their formal authority to impose
a solution on these groups has been significantly reduced. As managers who have
served in traditional city management slots move into city and county administrator
positions, they have realized that their authority has been reduced by state enabling
legislation and local preferences. Managers in all positions have found their
authority reduced by citizen activists who have insisted on participating directly in
government decisions that affect them, and by elected officials who have different
expectations of managerial roles than their predecessors in 1950.
The greatest of these challenges for managers will be the changes in the
make-up of the local governing body and the expectations o f its members. As these
councils and boards continue to reflect greater population diversity, it will be harder
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for them to work together for the common good. Councils and boards that do not
work together effectively and move forward, will be criticized by the public and the
media alike. And, they will blame the manager for their failure. Managers will need
to exercise adroit facilitative skills in an effort to help the diverse members of the
governing body, work together. One suggested method to facilitating governing
body unity and leadership that has been recommended by ICMA to its members is
the governance process developed by Dr. John Carver.
A New Model of Governance
Changes in the structure of local government and the make-up of local
government governing bodies have been discussed in other sections of this paper. It
is clear that today’s governing body is more diverse in composition and more
oriented to partisan politics than those of the 1910-1970 period, and even from those
of the time of the Future Horizons Committee. This diversification and politicization
of local governing bodies will continue as the population in general becomes more
diverse and special interest groups work to affect the political process. Changes in
local government structures, such as those identified by H. George Frederickson, will
result in a stronger partisan political influence on local government. This creates a
third type of political situation with which managers must deal.
Until the time of the Future Horizons Committee, the manager and the
council dealt with policy politics and personality politics. When council members
disagreed over policy issues, they could make a decision and go on to other issues
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without lingering ill feeling. Members who disagreed with each other personally
created additional problems for the manager who sought to keep the council working
in harmony. The re-institution of party politics to the council has created a third
source of conflict when council members feel obligated to support each other as a
result of political party affiliation. This makes the manager’s task more difficult.
The manager needs skilled expertise when attempting to bring the council together
and facilitate governing efforts.
Assisting these new councils with their work will continue to top the list of
challenges for local government managers. Consensus building and group cohesion
processes will be critical. John Carver has offered a new approach to governments
that offers great opportunities for council members who want to focus on policy
issues. The Carver process consists of four types of policies that are adopted by
governing bodies: end statements, executive limitations, governance process policies,
and board-CEO linkages.
• End statements define the outcomes of the organization’s work, identify
people who will benefit from these outcomes, and analyze the cost of
achieving them.
• Executive limitations identify and restrict the means which the CEO and
staff may utilize to achieve the organizational goals. They indicate what
activities the governing board will accept and will not accept. This
provides accountability by the board and flexibility for the manager and
staff.
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• Governance process policies describe the means by which the board does
its work. These are the standards of individual and group behavior for
which the board agrees to hold itself accountable.
• Board-CEO linkages describe the mechanisms by which the board will
transfer authority to staff and how the board will monitor the use of that
authority (ICMA Executive Board Materials, July 25-26,2001 3-1).
Michael Conduff, City Manager of Denton, Texas, suggests that the Carver
governance model can be related to Steven Covey’s Seven Habits o f Highly Effective
People. Covey’s second habit is “begin with the end in mind.” Carver’s model
enables governing bodies to create a clear purpose and to work towards that purpose
rather than merely react to requests from interest groups and citizens. The Carver
model allows council members to establish the ends they desire and to use the means
of local government programs and services to achieve them. This allows them to act
in positive ways to create the future they desire rather than merely reacting to events
as they occur.
Emotional Intelligence and Social Skills
Many of the traditional skills demonstrated by local government managers
will continue to be in demand in the future. Traditional skills such as engineering
and accounting will be required of internal managers (assistant or deputy managers)
and other organizational leaders. The chief administrative officer may not, however,
need as much proficiency in these areas. Instead he or she will need to have better
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people skills and communication expertise. The recognition of the need for training
in “soft skill” areas, such as group communications and organizational development,
began in the 1970s when ICMA and others began offering training for managers in
these areas. In the future, the demand for those skills among local government
managers is likely to continue to grow and expand. Leadership skills are being and
will continue to be redefined.
Daniel Goleman (1998) groups leader capabilities into three categories:
1. Purely technical skills include such traditional competencies as
accounting and project planning. Building a bridge and scheduling
sanitation collection routes require technical skills.
2. Cognitive abilities refer to one’s analytical reasoning abilities.
3. Emotional intelligence is an individual’s “ability to work with others and
effectiveness in leading change” (94).
Goleman (1995) identifies five components of emotional intelligence:
• Self awareness—“the ability to recognize and understand” individual’s
“moods, emotions and drives and their effect on others” (95);
• Self regulation—“the ability to control or redirect destructive impulses
and moods.” The ability “to think before acting” (95);
• Motivation—underlying reasons for effort—the drive “to pursue goals
with energy and persistence” (95);
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• Empathy—“the ability to understand the emotional make up of other
people”—the ability to treat others “according to their emotional
reactions” (95); and
• Social skills—“proficiency in managing relationships and building
networks—the ability to find common ground and build rapport” (95)
with others (1998 93-95).
Goleman (1998) describes social skills as the “culmination of the other
dimensions of emotional intelligence. People tend to be very effective at managing
relationships when they can understand and control their own emotions and can
empathize with the feelings of others” (102). He suggests that “socially skilled
people tend to have a wide circle of acquaintances and they have a knack for finding
common ground with people of all kinds, a knack for building rapport” (101-102).
Goleman’s descriptions of socially skilled people are appropriate for managers who
seek to fulfill the Future Horizons Committee’s expectation that the manager will be
a coordinator and John Nalbandian’s call for facilitative leaders who can practice
community building and develop Robert Putnam’s social capital.
Local government managers will need to understand the concepts of
emotional intelligence if they are to be successful in the future. Goleman (2000) has
identified six distinct leadership styles that derive from different components of
emotional intelligence. He suggests: “Leaders with the best results do not rely on
only one leadership style. They use most of them in a given week” (78). Successful
leaders use different leadership styles in varying circumstances and situations in a
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manner similar to the professional golfer who uses a different club depending upon
the demands of the shot.
Goleman (2000) identified six styles of leadership:
1. Coercive—demanding compliance;
2. Authoritative—mobilizing people towards a vision;
3. Affiliative—creating emotional bonds and harmony;
4. Democratic—building “consensus through participation” (83);
5. Pace Setting—expecting excellence and self direction of others; and
6. Coaching—“developing people for the future” (82- 83).
He adds: “Leaders who have mastered four or more—especially the
authoritative, democratic, affiliative and coaching styles—have the very best climate
and business performance. And the most effective leaders switch flexibly among the
leadership styles as needed” (87).
Goleman effectively builds on the work of Hersey and Blanchard, who
suggested in 1969 that different situations would require different kinds of leadership
and effective leaders must be able to adapt their styles to meet the demands of
various situations. Goleman’s work also reflects Karl Bosworth’s 1958 discussion of
the various manager leadership styles and the different leadership styles identified by
James Svara in the 1990s. Changing demands will require greater flexibility on the
part of local government managers in the future. While many of the skills needed in
2020, will be similar to those used in 1980, they will be used in different ways and to
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meet different needs. The keys for the successful local government manager will be
flexibility and adaptability.
Learning and Communicating in Different Ways
As local communities experience greater diversity of population and that
diversity is reflected in elected officials, local government managers and municipal
staff members, managers will need to recognize that one size no longer fits all.
Different men and women receive and process information differently. Managers
must leant how to present information in a variety of ways in order to communicate
effectively with different governing body members, citizens, staff members, and
representatives of other agencies. In a similar manner, research has shown that
individuals favor the right or left side of the brain. Left-brained individuals process
information in a logical and sequential manner. They tend to be analytical, they react
to situations and circumstances in a logical manner. In contrast, right-brained
individuals tend to be more spontaneous and intuitive, and they will react to
situations and circumstances emotionally and are more likely to express feelings than
their left brained counterparts (Caskie I l-l 5). It is because of the changing make-up
of city councils and municipal staffs, and the recognition of these differences in how
individuals communicate and learn, that ICMA began presenting programs on these
skills and the manager’s need for them at the annual conference in 2000. The
number of programs in these areas will increase at future conferences.
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Collaboration and Dispute Resolution
Charles Ashbumer directed a very small staff as Staunton’s city manager in
1908. He was able to make decisions and operate as an individual. Today’s manager
is a member of a professional team. He or she no longer operates and makes
decisions as an individual. The manager must collaborate with a staff, elected
officials, boards and commissions, citizens, other agencies in the community, and
other levels of government. This trend will continue, forcing managers to become
consensus builders and group facilitators.
Dispute resolution techniques will be a key skill for managers of the future
who will be participants in some disputes and arbitrators/mediators in others. They
will need to become skilled in group facilitation techniques, problem-solving
techniques, conflict resolution and consensus building, and mediation techniques.
Skills in these areas must be developed through training and application. ICMA and
state associations have begun offering training in these areas in an effort to prepare
managers who will need to utilize the skills.
Some communities, such as James City County, Virginia, have begun using
these processes as alternatives to traditional court hearings. Other communities have
called-in experts to assist managers with the resolution of community conflicts in
areas such as growth and industrial plant and housing development locations.
When the Future Horizons Committee met in 1980, some community groups
talked about “NIMBY”—not in my backyard. In 2001, similar citizen groups are
talking about “NIMBI”—now I must become involved. In 1910, citizens became
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involved to change their government and adopt the council-manager plan. In 2001,
citizens are again becoming involved in their local government, and managers must
develop the skills needed to use this citizen energy and desire to be involved in a
positive manner for community betterment (Dukes, Piscolish, and Stephens). (See
also Lickson; Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute).
Skillful managers were needed when the council-manager form of
government was initiated during the Reform Era. Managers needed expertise in the
construction of municipal facilities and the delivery of city services. They had to
learn how to adapt the techniques of scientific management to local government
services. Since that time, the skill needs of local government managers have
changed to emphasize communications, facilitative leadership, and dispute resolution
techniques. In the future, new models of governance, emotional intelligence,
communications with others who learn and understand in different ways, and more
dispute resolution techniques will be among the skills needed by professional
managers. ICMA will need to help prepare managers who seek to enhance their
skills in these and other areas.
ICMA—Moving Towards 2020
As local governments and their managers continue the evolutionary change
process, ICMA must help managers anticipate and prepare for future challenges and
opportunities. The 2000 Strategic Plan is a significant step in this effort. More
important than the plan itself are the efforts undertaken by the ICMA Executive
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Board and staff to ensure follow-up and implementation of the 2000 Strategic Plan
Committee’s recommendations. Some of these efforts were underway before the
plan was completed while others have been initiated since the plan was adopted.
They will form the blueprint for ICMA’s efforts to support its members and
professionalism in local government management.
Mark Keane left ICMA a very different organization from the one inherited
from Orin Nolting. Of special significance during the 1950s was Nolting’s outreach
to local government leaders in other countries, primarily Canada, Western Europe,
and the English-speaking countries. Nolting followed Clarence Ridley’s policies for
the most part, so changes from 1929 to 1967 were gradual and reflected only what
was necessary. In contrast, the local government environment changed quickly
during Keane’s tenure, and he moved ICMA to keep ahead of the curve. During
Keane’s tenure, the Association:
• relocated its offices from Chicago to Washington, DC;
• redefined and broadened membership criteria to include many managers,
and assistants in cities, counties, and councils of government, who had
previously not been members, or only associate members, because they
did not serve in a city manager position;
• adopted a position on community social and economic development
goals, which was its first public position statement;
• actively participated in adoption of such Federal legislation as General
Revenue Sharing and block grants;
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• redirected and expanded the Association’s research efforts in order to
enable managers to take advantage of Federal initiatives and advances in
public and private sector technology (including the creation of Public
Technology Incorporated [PTTj), which was suddenly available for
transfer;
• greatly enhanced ICMA’s reputation as the premier source of information
on municipal problems in general and municipal management in specific;
• created the ICMA Retirement Corporation (ICMARC) and endorsed
written agreements between professional managers and their governing
bodies; and
• worked to addressed the gradual diversity of ICMA membership through
the Young Professional Task Force, the Task Force on the Role of
Minorities in the Profession and similar task force initiatives on women
and Hispanics.
Keane’s contacts with the Federal government enabled him to dramatically
expand ICMA’s research and information development activities. ICMA members
benefited from this by using their Association as a principal source of information on
new technologies and urban problems. Many of the initiatives launched near the end
of Keane’s tenure and the early years of Bill Hansell’s tenure were devoted to issues
arising from the Future Horizons Committee report.
The Future Visions Committee report of 1990 provided a great deal of
information on the urban environment and the future of local government. It did not,
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however, place a great deal of emphasis on the future of the local government
manager and ICMA. These issues were discussed, but they were not addressed as in-
depth in the Committee’s report as they were in The Essential Community and New
Worlds o f Service.
The 2000 Strategic Plan
The 2000 Strategic Plan emphasized concern for the future of the local
government manager and ICMA. As such, it represents a restatement and
continuation of many concerns raised by the Future Horizons Committee. The 2000
Strategic Planning Committee reported that the structure of local government was
important and that ICMA should continue to emphasize the council-manager form of
government. The Committee noted “the council-manager form of government is the
foundation of the local government management profession in general and of ICMA
in particular” (A-5). But the Committee also suggested: “it would be short-sighted to
consider one form of government as the only way to provide professional
management services to a community in need” (A-5).
The committee added that ICMA membership should continue to be broad-
based to include professional managers dedicated to the ICMA Code of Ethics, who
work in a variety of forms o f government, and that the Association should continue
to be wary of changes that alter the roles and responsibilities o f the elected leaders
and managers of local government. The Committee was very much aware of the
changes that had taken place in local government structure since the Future Horizons
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Committee. Members discussed the work of H. George Frederickson on Type III
communities and identified first-hand examples of professional managers working
with different roles within differing types of government structures. In that regard
and to promote the importance of professional management, the Committee
recommended that professionalism be defined.
Bill Hansell had initiated a dialogue among the membership on this issue in
1998. The policy statement adopted by the ICMA Executive Board in May 2001
defined professional management as
. . . the overall management of a community’s resources by an
individual appointed by an elected official or officials on the basis
of his or her education and experience as being appropriate for the
position and demonstrating commitment to the ICMA Code of
Ethics in developing and maintaining a specific professional
competency required to manage today’s cities and counties. (1).
A Voluntary Credentialing Program
As a follow-up to this issue, the Strategic Planning Committee recommended
the establishment of a voluntary credentialing program to define and recognize
professional local government managers and to promote life-long learning.
Development of the voluntary credential program is continuing with the matter
scheduled for final Board adoption of criteria in Guadalajara, Mexico, in January
2002 and the initial Board approval of credentialed managers in Washington, DC, in
May 2002. The Florida State Association agreed in 2001 to work in cooperation
with ICMA staff to initiate the first group of managers applying for the credential.
Virginia and several other states also planned in 2001 to participate in this initial
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effort. Almost 70% of the ICMA members who responded to an association survey
indicated that they would seek the credentials (Logan, conversation with the author).
A member seeking the credential must complete the applied knowledge
assessment through ICMA and Georgia State University. An application for the
credential must include:
• applicant's educational background and experience in local government;
• what the applicant has learned from the applied knowledge assessment;
and
• how the annual requirement of forty hours of professional development
will be fulfilled.
The credential will:
• be valid for ten years;
• be subject to continued adherence to the ICMA Code of Ethics;
• require an annual submission of how the forty hours of professional
development is met each year; and
• require completion of the performance-based assessment at least once
every five years (Hansell, 2001 26-27).
This program is in contrast to the prediction by the Future Horizons
Committee in 1980 that members would continue to avoid any type of certification
process similar to other professional associations such as engineering and
architecture. The prediction was made at the time of ICMA’s Professional
Development Academy, which included those managers who made a commitment to
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annually increase their professional knowledge and skills. The Academy was very
controversial among Association members, many of whom thought that ICMA was
attempting to form a professional union that would leave them out because of a lack,
of formal education and training and a lack of commitment to professional
development.
The 2002 program reflects the broad array of professional management
positions occupied by Association members and ICMA’s goal of promoting
professional management in general as well as the council-manager form of
government in particular (ICMA, January 2001 2-8).
Promoting Public Awareness and Professional Management
A second key objective of the 2000 Strategic Plan was the need to promote
the value of professional management and council-manager government. Committee
members suggested renewed efforts to strengthen the Fund for Professional
Management. ICMA utilizes this fund to finance the promotion, adoption, and
retention of the council-manager form of government A predecessor to this fund
was the ICMA Educational Endowment, which was established for the same purpose
and to promote diversity within the profession in the early 1980s as follow-up to the
Future Horizons Committee report.
The 2000 Strategic Planning Committee also recommended that the
Association initiate a series of programs to increase public awareness and the value
of professional management to local government (A-9). To meet this need, the
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Executive Board has initiated a public awareness campaign in cooperation with state
associations and other public interest groups, which will promote the value of
professional management. Promotional ads will be launched in 2002. The Virginia
Local Government Management Association has worked with ICMA to produce two
videos promoting professional management in local government.
Public Policy Advocacy Activities
In 2001, the ICMA Executive Board established a public policy committee,
which will represent local government concerns and public issues as they relate to
management. Recent fire fighter union efforts to mandate fire department staffing
raised concerns among a number of public agencies. ICMA Vice President Mark
Watson presented a position paper endorsed by the board concerning staffing issues.
The Association has endorsed efforts to continue appealing the proposed standards.
Likewise, ICMA has worked closely other national organizations representing local
governments to minimize unfounded mandates from state and Federal governments
and to avoid the preemption of local authority. Executive Board members have
indicated a desire to expand ICMA’s policy advocacy role in the future.
Member Support
ICMA has emphasized member support since initial creation in 1914. As the
Association has grown, it has been harder to maintain member connections, as many
members have felt more distant from the ICMA leadership. The Future Horizons
Committee discussed this and recommended enhanced member connections. In the
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1990s, ICMA established agreements with many state associations to enhance
cooperation in joint ventures in an effort to promote member support. Regional vice
presidents attempt to visit each state association at least once a year.
The 2000 Strategic Plan recommended continuation of this effort, the use of
advanced technology to support member services, and full and open decision-making
on Association issues. The 2000 Strategic Planning Committee’s report also
advocated expanded partnerships with state associations and other national
organizations to increase efforts to attract new individuals into the profession to
enhance member connections. Modem technologies were applied to transfer
information to ICMA members and to receive input on a continuing basis. An
example of this in 2001 -2002 was the effort through the ICMA Web site to solicit
member input concerning the establishment of criteria and qualifications for a new
executive director.
Assistants and Emerging Professionals
The Executive Board adopted the final report of the 1999-2001 ICMA Task
Force on Career Development for Assistants and Emerging Professionals in July
2001. The task force recommended that an additional competency, to be identified
as personal development, should be added to the competencies of self knowledge,
self development, and personal learning as part of the voluntary credential program
self assessment. The Board approved the proposal for the new competency in
December 2001. The task force also recommended that a regional workshop devoted
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to preparing new potential managers be added to the ICMA University curriculum.
University Director Felicia Logan has developed a series of workshops dealing with a
variety of traditional and emerging issues in local government management that are
offered at ICMA and state association conferences throughout the year. The task
force's final recommendation was that the eight competencies developed by ICMA
University and adopted by the Board should be promoted to the membership through
additional information packets. The Board adopted this report and emphasized the
importance of attracting new members for the future of the profession. The ICMA
staff was asked to develop additional strategies to help promote the local government
management profession to young professionals and to emphasize their importance to
the Association membership.
Research and Development—Sharing the Results
The fourth strategy of the 2000 Strategic Planning Committee reflects an
ICMA continuing priority to “position ICMA as the authority on professional local
government management and establish ICMA as the premier clearing house for
information on local government practices” (A-9). This reflects a goal of the
association since 1914 and has been reiterated on numerous occasions, including in
the Future Horizons Committee report. ICMA continues to pursue corporate
partnerships and revenue supported research opportunities in order to develop and
share information. In July 2001, the Executive Board adopted a policy of insuring
that “information and research in support of professional management and member
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development will be easily available and of high quality” (ICMA, Ends Policy on
Information Sharing and Publishing I).
ICMA continues to rely on outside support for these efforts in addition to
member dues. In the 1910s and 1920s, support came from the National Municipal
(now Civic) League and the United States Chamber of Commerce. In the 1930s,
financial support came from private foundations. In the 1990s and 2000s, support
has come from Federal agencies, foundations, and corporate partners who contribute
to ICMA’s research and development efforts in order to participate and interact with
ICMA members.
The research and development activities initiated under Mark Keane’s tenure
as Executive Director have been continued and broadened by his successor, Bill
Hansell. The efforts include relationships with a wide variety of Federal agencies,
private foundations, and corporate partners who support the Association’s efforts in a
variety of areas.
Research and development activities at ICMA in 2001 include:
• an extensive network of local government members of organizations,
personal and programmatic links to local, state and Federal agencies;
• the ability to facilitate and coordinate projects and programs that cut
across all levels of government; and
• an extensive knowledge and experience with environmental issues and
innovative local government management practices.
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Future projects under consideration by the research and development staff at
ICMA include developing a technical assistance strategy for helping local
governments solve specific problems and the development of new products in such
areas as community development, energy efficiency, cultural resources, workforce
development, public safety, public health, and environmental practices. This ICMA
research staff expects to continue efforts to diversify funding for these projects by
including new Federal agencies and private foundations (ICMA Research and
Development Strategy, 2001b).
The transfer of successful and failed projects has been an ongoing effort by
ICMA. Members have considered it important to learn from each other’s failures as
well as successes. At the time of the Future Horizons Committee, these failed
projects were promoted as “Fabulous Flops.” This effort to share information about
programs and strategies will continue to be stressed by ICMA in future years. It is
considered a primary membership service and part of ICMA’s basic mission.
Expanded Technical Assistance Abroad and At Home
The Association has traditionally worked to take advantage of opportunities
as they are presented when they are in sync with the Association’s mission and
purposes. Interest by the United States Government in expanding technical
assistance to new and emerging democracies has provided opportunities for ICMA to
contract for the delivery of this technical assistance to state and local governments
throughout the world. The international component is one of the fastest growing
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parts of the ICMA grant program. It allows ICMA to promote local democracies
throughout the world and to advocate the development of professional management
associations in other countries. Eighty-three countries were represented at the 2001
Annual Conference of ICMA.
The terrorist attacks of September 11,2001, caused the Federal government
to reduce ICMA’s activities in other countries. Financial support for technical
assistance was reduced as domestic security concerns take priority. ICMA staff
members have been working with the new Federal Office of Homeland Security in
the development and presentation of anti-terrorism and emergency response
programs for local communities in preparation for possible future events. ICMA’s
flexibility and ability to respond quickly to changing needs has allowed it to continue
as the leading source of information and technical assistance for local governments.
It is also a benefit of the solid working relationship with Federal agencies that was
initiated by Mark Keane and expanded by Bill Hansell.
In a similar manner, the Federal government’s emphasis on community-
oriented policing in the 1990s enabled ICMA to secure funding for the development
of technical workshops in community-oriented policing and community-oriented
government that were delivered to teams of city managers and chiefs of police
throughout the United States. This has led to the development of team-building
workshops for managers and chiefs of police that will be presented in 2002 in
Winchester, Virginia, and Salinas, California.
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These efforts to implement the 2000 Strategic Plan will enable ICMA to help
managers prepare for the future. Plan implementation will also address the critical
areas identified by Association members during the plan’s development process:
• continued professional development;
• public awareness and advocacy;
• member support;
• research and development; and
• Association stability.
ICMA will also need to take advantage of other opportunities to enhance
professional management as they occur. Another strategic planning process will be
needed to identify and access changes in the local government environment and to
determine how they will affect local government managers before implementation of
the 2000 Strategic Plan is completed. In addition to these issues, ICMA will need to
participate in the development of new Model City and County Charters and select a
new Executive Director to succeed Bill Hansell.
A New Model City Charter
The development of a new Model City Charter by the National Civic League
and the recruitment and selection of an Executive Director were the two most
pressing issues facing the ICMA Executive Board at the outset o f 2002, along with
implementation of the new strategic plan that year. The League was an early
proponent of the council-manager form of government and has been a staunch
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supporter of the form of government in ICMA, since the second model city charter
was adopted in 1915. Although the first charter in 1900 recommended the mayor-
council form of government, the second, third, and fourth all recommended the
council-manager form only.
It was not until the fifth charter of 1941 that guidelines for the mayor-council
form were provided for those communities that sought this alternative form of
government. Since that time the charter has been revised twice (1964 and 1989). In
these three additions, the council-manager form was endorsed with alternative
guidelines for those communities selecting the mayor-council form. It was not until
the sixth charter revision in 1964 that a directly elected mayor was specified as an
option for the council-manager form. Other changes suggested in this addition and
the succeeding addition included alternative methods of electing council members
rather than the at-large tradition. Although there were other minor changes in each
amendment, the following underlying principles have remained as key elements of
the model:
• a professional manager;
• a merit-based personnel system;
• a formal purchasing and bid process; and
• standardized budgeting, accounting, and auditing processes.
National Civic League President Christopher T. Gates suggested in 2001 that
a critical time had arrived to discuss local government structure in light of political
consternation and service dysfunctions at all levels of government. He added that the
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question facing the committee considering recommendations for a new model city
charter was how to make democracy work best at the local level for all and that it
was not about which form of government should be promoted. He suggested that the
issues to be resolved included:
• the possibility of separate models for small and large cities;
• guidelines for regional service provision;
• how to use enhanced technology to promote direct and representative
democracy; and
• how citizens, council members, the mayor, the manager,and staff should
interrelate.
Gates (2001) suggested that government should reflect specific values that
can perhaps be promoted in various forms of government as opposed to the
traditional concept that form of government reflects values (“Presentation and
Comments”).
This is in contrast to the concerns of Bill Hansell and others that any shift
away from the council-manager form o f government is a shift away from
professional management and a step back towards transactional politics. This
concern for professional management and the council-manager form of government
was the basis of the discussion Hansell initiated among ICMA members in 1998,
when he asked whether ICMA should focus on promoting the council-manager form
of government or on supporting professional management in general.
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It was with this concern in mind that the ICMA Executive Board convened a
special task force in January 2000 to review the council-manager recognition
process. This resulted in recommendations to the Board that were later adopted by it
and the membership that ICMA would remain committed to the council-manager
form of government as the preferred form. The Committee also recommended that
ICMA voting membership be open to all professional local government managers
who abide by the ICMA Code of Ethics. This expansion of the ICMA membership
criteria is formal recognition that the local government manager position is evolving
and will continue to change. As the Frederickson model suggests, adaptations in the
council-manager form and mayor-council form of local government are bringing the
two closer together in a manner similar to Frederickson’s Type m city. A manager
who is committed to the ICMA Code of Ethics, equity in the distribution of services,
and the effective and efficient delivery of municipal services can reflect the values of
ICMA in any form of govemment.
Hansell was pleased to report to ICMA members and the Executive Board in
December 2001 that the Model City Charter Revision Committee had endorsed a
“unitary system of organizing local government that is designed to promote the
values of accountability, transparency, representative democracy, professional
management, and political leadership” (ICMA, Newsletter, Dec.17,2001 1). While
acknowledging that much work remains before it is completed, Hansell added that he
expects the new charter to recommend the council-manager form of government (1,
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11). (See also Hansell's comments to the Executive Board, Dec. 20,2001 and Jan.
12, 2002.)
A New Executive Director
This discussion was completed in part as a prologue to the formidable task of
selection by ICMA of a new Executive Director in 2002. Bill Hansell provided
exceptional organizational leadership for 18 years, building on the traditions of Mark
Keane and others while leading ICMA through new challenges. An extensive
Association member input process was developed in 2001 to allow all members to
suggest what they would like to see in the new Executive Director. An independent
consultant was selected to provide an entirely neutral perspective and guidance to the
Board. The Board undertook a search for someone to guide the Board and the
Association as the profession moves forward in the twenty-first century. The Board
sought an individual who, along with other qualities, would reflect the sentiments of
Richard Childs, who stated in 1918 that "the great city (county and COG) managers
of tomorrow will be those who push beyond the old horizons and discover new
worlds of service” (ICMA, 1979 back cover).
Hansell’s successor will find the Executive Director’s position challenging.
The Association has moved forward in a number of areas since the Future Horizons
Committee met. Hansell served as Executive Director for most of this time period.
Building on the efforts of Mark Keane, Hansell worked to embrace the diversity in
membership and in managerial positions that have occurred since the 1970s. He also
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continued Keane’s efforts to develop contacts with the Federal government in an
effort to influence urban policies and to gain financial contracts for ICMA. Hansell
expanded on Keane’s international work and has helped ICMA gain recognition for
technical expertise throughout the world. Hansell continued Keane’s strategic
planning efforts through the Future Visions Committee and the 2000 Strategic Plan
Committee. The implementation of the latter will guide ICMA for several years,
while the new director prepares for a new strategic planning process.
The new director will also deal with changes in local government and will
need to demonstrate flexibility as ICMA responds to the changing make-up of the
Association’s membership and the different roles and responsibilities of those
members in their communities. He or she will need to monitor the Model City
Charter revision process closely, as members continue discussions about whether
ICMA should recognize professional managers by positions or by credentials and
commitment to the Code of Ethics. The new director will need to assist the
Executive Board as it seeks to establish boundaries for the new public advocacy
program and decide the extent to which the public awareness campaign should be
pursued. He or she will need ultimately to guide the Board as it seeks to continue
providing technical expertise, member support, and ethical guidance to the more than
7,500 Association members representing local governments throughout the world.
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Conclusions: Shared Professionalism To Serve Varied Communities
Early Versions of Community and “The Plan” and Today’s Realities
of Diversity Within and Among Communities
Local government managers work, in an environment that is very different
from the one encountered by their predecessors. Almost all of the managers hired in
the 1908-1960 period worked for council-manager cities that followed the Model
City Charter. Significant variations from the concept of a small, non-partisan council
that was elected-at-large and that elected the mayor from its membership did not
appear until after 1960. It was in this decade that large, urban cities began hiring
professional managers to assist with municipal operations. These individuals were
hired as assistants for the mayor, as business administrators, and in similar positions,
which brought them into daily contact with partisan politics. They had the same
professional training and education as city managers, but they did not possess the
same authority that the managers did.
It was in this same decade that urban counties began employing
professionally trained managers to assist with government operations. The need for
professional assistance in county government became obvious in the 1970s when
counties worked to meet Federal grant and mandate requirements. Professional
managers were hired into a variety of positions in comities. County managers
possessed authority similar to city managers, but they also had to deal with
independently elected row officers who were responsible by state statute for central
services, such as real estate assessments and collections, and law enforcement and
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incarceration. County administrators and administrative assistants were not granted
as much authority as county managers. The board of commissioners or supervisors
usually approved personnel and purchasing decisions. County administrators and
administrative assistants also had to deal with independently elected row officers.
As these new city and county positions began to appear, mayors and councils
in council-manager cities began to adopt some of the partisan aspects of the new
governments such as direct election of the mayor and partisan elections of city
council by district. Mayor-council cities began hiring professional managers to assist
with management and policy issues. These managers were hired into a variety of
positions with a variety of responsibilities instead of as city managers. The addition
of city administrator, county manager and administrator, and hybrid positions to local
government meant that “one size no longer fit all.” The initial uniformity of local
government management no longer exists. Managers now find that they may be
employed in different positions with a wide variety of powers and responsibilities.
Sustained Professional Connectedness Amid Growing Complexities
and Variations in Managers’ Roles
The growing diversity o f positions occupied by local government managers
can be a dividing factor among them. There was extensive debate among ICMA
members when the name of the Association was changed from “manager” to
"management” in 1969 and from “city” to “city/county” in 1991. Concern continues
to be raised by members as to whether ICMA should recognize members according
to the position they occupy or by the training and experience of the individual. The
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1999 Task Force on ICMA Recognition reiterated the Association’s support for
individuals who are professionally trained and who adhere to the ICMA Code of
Ethics. Members have agreed on numerous occasions that the Code of Ethics is a
key leg of their Association. Professional ethics and integrity is what separated city
managers appointed in the 1910s and 1920s from their elected and appointed
politically counterparts in mayor-council and commission cities. That same standard
identifies professional management today.
The second leg of professional management is continued professional
development and technical advancement. ICMA’s voluntary credentialing program
is designed to meet this need for members. It is the successor to a long line of
professional development programs, such as the ICMA University of the 1990s, the
Association’s Academy for Professional Development of the 1970s and 1980s, and
ICMA’s correspondence training program, that were initiated as part of the “Green
Book” series in the 1930s. ICMA continues to provide the best and most up-to-date
research and development information available for its members. This enables
members to maintain current information in light of ever changing technologies.
The third leg of professional management is the support for and from one’s
peers. ICMA members have developed extensive networks of support for each other
through the Association and through state affiliations. These contacts help members
deal with professional issues and avoid having to “reinvent the wheel.” They also
enable members to support each other when professional and personal situations
arise.
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ICMA’s Roles: Facilitating Professional Continuity, Proactive Changes,
and Essential Connectedness in Service o f Diverse Communities
ICMA provides the glue that holds professional management together. It
provides guidance and support for members who occupy a wide variety of positions.
Maintaining the Code of Ethics for members who are placed in different situations
provides a leg of the Association’s key services to members. This Code of Ethics
and a sense of integrity separate professional management from partisan politics.
ICMA provides training for members at the annual conference and through training
seminars on the Code and how to deal with different situations when they arise.
Association staff members also provide guidance and recommendations to members
as requested.
A second leg of ICMA’s support for its varied membership is an allegiance to
democracy and to efforts to promote citizen participation in government throughout
the world. The Association has recognized the importance of citizens in the
government process since the initial meeting of managers in 1914. Throughout and
since the days of citizen protests and demonstrations in the 1960s and 1970s, ICMA
has encouraged members to expand citizen participation efforts and provided
resources on how this can be done. The Code of Ethics and the Declaration of Ideals
require managers to support the citizen’s role in the governance process. ICMA has
been in the forefront of efforts in the 1990s and 2000s to assist emerging
democracies throughout the world.
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One of ICMA’s original goals was to provide technical information to city
managers and local government. Today, the Association’s research and development
efforts are recognized as a key component of ICMA’s services to members. Staff
members are dedicated to keeping managers "ahead of the curve” as changes occur in
technology and state and Federal requirements for local governments. ICMA
members contact the Association daily to leam how other communities are handling
various situations and to be updated on the latest technology.
Membership support and connectedness is the final leg of ICMA’s link to
professional managers serving in a variety of positions. The Association devotes
extensive resources in an effort to keep in contact with members and keep them in
contact with each other. This has been a trademark of ICMA since the first meeting
in 1914. ICMA board members and staff members are assigned to work with state
associations and attend state association meetings to update members on ICMA
activities. The City Manager Bulletin, initiated in 1919, has been replaced by the
monthly magazine, Public Management, and by the bi-weekly ICMA Newsletter.
Local government has changed significantly, since Charles Ashbumer was
hired as the first City Manager in Staunton, Virginia, in 1908. This research has
indicated how local governments and the professional manager’s position have
evolved since that time. It has also suggested how they will change in the future. It
is clear that a commitment to the ICMA Code of Ethics, continual professional
development, and member connections form the nucleus of this changing profession;
and they will provide the common denominator that unites professional managers in
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a variety of positions in the future. It is also clear that ICMA has provided ethical
guidance, a commitment to democratic government, continuous up-to-date technical
information and assistance, and a sense of connectedness for a rich diversity of
members for 87 years; and it will continue to in the future. ICMA has been and will
be the glue that holds professional management together.
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Drug treatment providers' organizational responses to implementation of California's Proposition 36

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Executive development and effectiveness: A study of mobility assignment experiences of career executives in federal research and development agencies

Asset Metadata

Creator Daley, Edwin Charles (author)

Core Title Historical perspectives and future horizons of local government managers and the International City /County Management Association

School School of Policy, Planning and Development

Degree Doctor of Public Administration

Degree Program Public Administration

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag history, United States,OAI-PMH Harvest,political science, general,Political Science, public administration

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Newland, Chester (committee chair), [illegible] (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-216473

Unique identifier UC11339074

Identifier 3073767.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-216473 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 3073767.pdf

Dmrecord 216473

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Daley, Edwin Charles

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA