Professional Local Government Management

1
Professional Local Government Management

• Reading Works Program
• August 2, 2007

2
Complex Local Government Requirements

• Strong political leadership
• Policy development
• Relentless focus on execution and results
• Commitment to transparent and ethical government,
  and
• A strategy to represent and engage all segments
  of the community
• We take service delivery for granted, but there
  are others behind the scenes who make sure it
  works 24 hours, 7 days a week.

3
Who are these People?

• City manager
• County manager
• Town manager
• Chief Administrative Officer
• Managing Director
• Works with others in public safety, public works,
  community and economic development, among others
  to deliver services

4
What Is The Managers Role?

• Community and elected leaders establish a vision
  for the community
• Managers are hired to carry out and implement
  that vision with fairness and equity
• Manager coordinates the work of departments to
  ensure the smooth delivery of services and build
  public/private partnerships and various other
  community resources to solve problems.

5
Managers Develop the Organization

• This is principally done through and with many
  other city employees.

6
Reading Citizens
Boards and Authorities
City Council
Boards and Authorities
Mayor
Law
Managing Director
Public Works
Development
Codes
Fire
Human Relations
Police
Call Center
Library
Information Technology
Human Resources
Finance
7
What Are The Skills?

• Managers used to be dominated by civil engineers
  when roads, bridges, and utilities were being
  developed
• Todays managers possess management know-how to
  build strong communities, and draw on the
  following
• Personnel management
• Financial management
• Public Policy Implementation
• Service coordination

8
What Do Managers Do?

• Work with elected officials to develop policies
• Ensure laws and policies are equitably enforced
• Seek feedback from citizens and businesses to
  address and solve problems
• Prepare and implement the annual budget
• Supervise departments heads and other employees
• Solicit bids from contractors and make the
  appropriate selection(s)
• Receive citizen complaints and recommend changes
  to elected officials
• Manage daily operations of the city.