Executive Board Meeting Highlights
The ICMA Executive Board met in Annapolis, Maryland, May 30 – June 2, 2013, and took these actions:
- Selected Jim Bennett, city manager, Presque Isle, Maine as ICMA’s 2013–2014 President-elect. Mr. Bennett will be installed as ICMA President at the conclusion of the 2014 annual conference. He has served in local government for 31 years in Maine. He was an ICMA Regional Vice President, 2008-2011.
Mr. Bennett will become a member of the ICMA Executive Board along with the incoming vice presidents at the Celebration of Service session on Wednesday at the 2013 annual conference. At that time, Simon Farbrother, city manager, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada will be inducted as ICMA’s 100th President.
- Adopted a $37,284,000 FY2014 Budget (July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2014) with revenue exceeding expenses by $100,000. In addition, approximately $235,000 will be used from reserves for one-time, non-capitalized costs related to the implementation of the association management software which is expected to produce efficiencies in processes throughout the organization. The net impact will be a reduction in reserves of $135,000 in FY 2014.
FY 2014 is considered primarily as an investment and assessment year as ICMA continues ongoing services, funds new priorities, responds to continuing changes in the market, especially in publishing, and makes adjustments in some business lines. As a result, the margins in the FY 2014 operating budget are very narrow, with a proposed addition to net assets from operations of less than 1% of revenues. New priorities include rolling out the national campaign for Life Well Run, launching the 100th Anniversary celebration, enhancing Knowledge Network functionality, expanding state-by-state recruitment and retention strategies, recruiting an additional regional director, upgrading the association management system, and assessing additional professional development offerings to meet member needs at various career stages
From FY 2009 to FY 2012, ICMA contributed more than $2.3 million to net assets and is expected to exceed the budgeted contribution of $336,000 in FY 2013. At the end of FY 2013, net assets are projected at more than $6.1 million, exceeding the net asset target of $5.3 million established by the board by over $800,000. And this is after paying for the debit card program and contributing $200,000 to the Life, Well Run campaign.
- Debriefed on the first regional nominating committee process for the selection of nominees for ICMA Regional Vice Presidents. The board agreed that the Regional Nominating Committees handled their interview and selection responsibilities very smoothly and selected a nominee for each region to appear on the May 24, 2013 ballot which will be canvassed June 28th. A few suggestions for changes to the background materials and on-site processes will be discussed by the board at its September meeting.
The board’s nominations and elections schedule states that “the board will review the diversity in the make-up of the upcoming board at the June board meeting. The results of this review will then be shared with state and affiliate organizations as well as with the membership.” The board reviewed the make-up of the 2013-2014 board, assuming the election of the nominees who are unopposed. The board will have members from communities in all population ranges from under 10,000 to over 100,000), two members from counties, six women and two African –Americans. For the second year, there will be no Hispanic members and the two African-American members will leave the board in 2014.
The board emphasized its commitment to diversity and the need for ICMA and state and affiliate organizations to work together to identify diverse candidates. They noted that currently ICMA’s general membership lacks diversity of gender, race and ethnicity and is not representative of the communities served. This creates challenges for the selection process. The board emphasized that greater diversity in the membership is vital to the sustainability of the profession and underscored the board’s commitment to increasing diversity in the membership and in those who serve on the ICMA Executive Board. The board wants to strike a balance between the demographics of the membership and the demographics of the communities served. This will take shared efforts to identify candidates and groom future candidates.
Regional Vice Presidents will be asking state and affiliate presidents to provide an opportunity on their board agendas to discuss working together to increase diversity in membership and leadership at both the state and national level. The board believes that crafting and carrying out joint strategies will lead to a more diverse executive board.
The board also reviewed background information that had been pulled together on all ICMA strategies and statements that relate to diversity. This is in preparation for discussion in the fall on crafting a strategic plan for addressing ICMA’s commitment to increasing diversity in the membership and in its governance.
- Reviewed progress on membership recruitment and retention. In ICMA’s third quarter, 173 new in-service members joined ICMA (88 Full, 13 Senior Affiliate, 64 Early Career Affiliate, and 8 Intern). Overall, ICMA is attracting new members in the U.S. at an improved rate (555 to date) over FY2012 (555 actual) or FY2011 (493 actual). Staff continues to develop and implement long-term recruitment and retention strategies specifically tailored for states and national affiliates/partners. The strategies will recognize the unique challenges and opportunities in each state, leverage the affiliation agreements, and tap on-the-ground resources to complement the work of ICMA headquarters staff.
- Selected Portland/Multnomah County Oregon as the site for ICMA’s 2021 Annual Conference and selected the Midwest region for the 2022 Annual Conference.
- Selected Severo Esquivel, Clovis, California and Lloyd Harrell Chandler, Arizona as Distinguished Service Award recipients. The awards will be formally presented at the Celebration of Service on Wednesday of the 2013 Annual Conference.
- Selected Demitrios M. Moschos, Senior Partner with the law firm of Mirick, O’Connell, DeMallie & Lougee, Worcester, Massachusetts as a nominee for Honorary Member. The membership will be asked to approve this nomination at the Annual Business Meeting at the 2013 Annual Conference.
- Confirmed the schedule and process for conducting the board’s and executive director’s evaluation at the September 2013 board meeting.
