It’s a great honor to serve as the FCCMA President this year. It provides an opportunity for me to give back to many people and to a profession that have helped me so much over the years. When I started in local government almost 41 years ago, I had no clue of where it would take me. While I’ve been fortunate to work in some great places, my wife, Janet, and I have fallen in love with Florida. After moving here almost 18 years ago, one of the first things that I did was join FCCMA. Without hesitation, I can say that my involvement with FCCMA has made me a better manager. Whether it’s the quality training or networking with other managers, FCCMA is dedicated to supporting each of us throughout our careers and to promoting professional management in Florida.
We are already off to a great start. The 2017 Conference was a huge success! It was the largest conference in FCCMA history with 342 people registered not counting exhibitors. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Please fill out the survey. The results will be used to make next year’s conference even better.
I’m happy to announce that FCCMA will be hosting the 2025 ICMA Conference in Tampa. Florida last hosted the ICMA Conference in 1999, almost 20 years ago, and this is an incredible opportunity to show leaders from around the country how great it is to live (and work) in Florida! Stay tuned for more details.
During my year as President, I’ve asked that we focus on the following areas:
- We need to “sell” our story to promote ourselves and our profession. We need to talk frequently about the importance of professional management and we need to support each other in doing so. By that I mean, we need to go to other cities and counties to congratulate their elected officials on having a great manager in place and for their anniversary of the council-manager form of government. We will do more of this through our PMM programs this year. I hope each of you will join us in promoting professional local government management when opportunities come up in your area. Make arrangements to speak at local clubs; schools; and organizations. Seek out opportunities to speak up about professional local government management.
- We will enhance and expand the training available to FCCMA members. This will include webinars/on-site trainings/symposiums and an expanded training library with on-demand access. We will expand our training abilities by working with other associations such as the Florida Association of Counties; Florida League of Cities University; Florida Association of City Clerks; and Florida Government Finance Officers Association, to develop training for our respective members, as well as elected local government officials. We must create learning paths for members at every stage of their careers.
- We will continue to improve the content and relevance of our website and social media platform. We will enhance these means of communication and hope you like the new look of this newsletter.
- We will continue to encourage and develop the “next generation” of local government managers through outreach to student councils at local universities, participation in job fairs at Florida universities and mentoring young, emerging professionals. Providing opportunities for them to join us at conferences and other events often turns into networking and job offers.
- The FCCMA must recognize, embrace and serve our increasingly diverse membership. This includes not just race, gender and age but also cities and counties, geographic diversity across the State, and members at different stages of their management careers.
- The charter, bylaws and strategic plan will be reviewed, updated and enhanced. A committee is working on these issues and will bring back revised documents for the membership’s review next year.
- We will continue to work diligently to increase retention and recruitment of our membership. To do this, we must insure that FCCMA provides great value for your investment of time and money.
It’s not too late to sign up for a committee this year. FCCMA is YOUR association; volunteer on a committee and help us to continue to provide quality programming.
I look forward to seeing you at our events around the state and working together to promote professional management in Florida!
