U.S. Post Office in Lockport, New York, which was completed in 1908. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York met at this location until 1916, and the building is still used as a post office today. Source: National Archives.

In 1911, Richard S. Childs, a political reformer and eventual chairman of the National Municipal League (1931–1978), introduced a plan for government in the New York legislature that united commission and manager government in a proposed city charter for Lockport, New York.

The Lockport Plan included three elements that became integral to the council-manager plan: the short ballot, political power vested in the council, and the concentration of administrative authority in a single individual appointed by and responsible to the council. Sumter, South Carolina, became the first city in 1912 to adopt by a vote of the people a charter incorporating the basic principles of council-manager government.

The National Municipal League endorsed the council-manager plan in the 1915 version of its Model City Charter, which superseded the organization’s first charter adopted in 1900. This second edition replaced the strong mayor-council plan with the council-manager plan and incorporated the unification of powers in the city council, the short ballot, the nonpartisan ballot, and the at-large election of the governing body.

To learn more about the many milestones in the history of ICMA, its members, and the professionalism of local government management, visit icma.org/anniversary and scroll through the anniversary timeline on the home page. Then, click on “The ICMA Experience” tab at the top of the anniversary homepage and add your personal experiences or reminisces.