FCCMA Members,
October is one of my favorite times of year. County Fairs, Halloween and the cooler weather are nice leads into the quickly approaching holiday season. October was also when ICMA held its annual conference in Austin Texas. It was the largest attended ICMA conference ever with over 5,500 attendees. Florida had a very strong showing at the conference and at the ICMA Southeast Regional session. The room was mad up of about 75% Florida attendees. I think the biggest take away that came back with me was the importance of having a citizen academy. These outreach efforts are able to provide a pipeline of individuals for your volunteer boards and Commission/Council seats. They also can be a valuable tool to help with community outreach when there is a major initiative like a sales tax or major capital project.
Keeping on the topic of training/conferences, registration is now open for the 2024 Winter Institute, themed “Putting AI to Work in Local Government.” It is scheduled for February 8-9, 2024, at the Renaissance World Golf Village in St. Augustine. As with all Winter Institutes, there is a maximum capacity so please sign up early to ensure your spot. For the Fall Symposium, it is your last chance to register. If you did not do your required ethics training for FY 2023, sign up now. Click here to register.
The FCCMA Directory Photo Contest opens for submission in November. I encourage everyone to submit a photo. The winning photo will be featured on the cover of our next directory, which is pretty awesome. On a similar note, the FCCMA Video Showcase entry period is coming to a close, if you want to submit a short-form video please do so by December 1st.
FCCMA is currently accepting applications for academic and conference sponsorships. If you have someone in your organization who is a student, encourage them to apply for the academic scholarship. If you have an emerging leader in your organization, encourage them to apply for the conference scholarship. As a former recipient of the emerging leadership scholarship, I think it is a great way to recognize next generation talent.
I would also like to thank our membership for your interaction and engagement on the FCCMA social media sites. Please continue to like, comment and get others to follow our FCCMA social media accounts.
Lastly, dues invoices were sent electronically October 5th. If you did not receive yours, please contact Carol Russell at crussell@flcities.com.
Mike
