Maria Lasday
Village Manager
Bannockburn, Illinois
mlasday@villageofbannockburn.org
During the past eight years, my community has been aggressively replacing infrastructure. The last project will be completed this summer, which will allow us to refocus many of our efforts.
During the next year, village board members and I plan on spending a significant amount of time doing strategic thinking and planning to reassess the village’s goals. Our challenge will be to bring residents together to help generate ideas for the future. We plan to hold several community events to engage the residents.
A main priority to address in our strategic plan involves personnel. In the next four years, several of the command positions in Bannockburn’s police department will need to be filled due to retirements. As a result, we will need to continue to develop a succession plan to ensure a smooth transition, especially since the first retirement will occur in August 2016.
John Bennie
Chief Executive Officer
Greater Dandenong City Council
Australia
j.bennie3@bigpond.com
In 2016, local governments in the state of Victoria, Australia, will be bound by legislation that “caps” rates (local taxes) to the consumer price index. In classically Australian vernacular, this Fair Go Rates legislation aims to protect households from a growing, yet essential, rates burden.
My council and the entire local government sector have argued vigorously against this blunt legislative instrument that, for my city, will reduce revenues by a compounding A$3 million annually, and it will foresee adverse service impacts and widening infrastructure gaps as an outcome.
Nonetheless, it is the obligation of local government professionals to explore and implement actions that minimize impacts on communities and their assets. Strong, considered, and innovative leadership will be required in addressing this significant challenge.
Peter Crichton
County Manager
Cumberland County, Maine
crichton@cumberlandcounty.org
For me, the most important project is one that ICMA is helping to inspire in a big way.
The project is focused on helping Cumberland County supervisors become better supervisors. We have approximately 75 supervisors and managers in our organization. The curriculum that we are using for this program consists of the Effective Supervisory Practices textbook and the Effective Supervisory Skill Building Study Guide, which are published by ICMA. Some helpful DVDs will also be used as part of the program.
The course covers everything from planning and organizing to evaluating employee performance.
Often I will say that county employees are its greatest asset. In this case, we are putting our money where our mouth is and making supervisors one of the county’s highest priorities.
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