Near the end of 2019, my wife and I ended our 18-month sabbatical. I accepted appointment as a city manager thinking 2020 would be an exciting year.
I did not expect what easily qualifies as an annus horribilis.
Of course, that characterization is relative. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic malaise, life in the United States is considerably more comfortable than many places in the world. Unlike many Americans, I have been gainfully employed throughout the entire year. There have been modest inconveniences, but doing considerably more cooking at home hasn't been a hardship. The situation has been conducive to more home projects, handy given that we've settled into a new house.
Aside from a new position, another change for me--as a public administrator--was my decision to allow my membership in ICMA to lapse. I have been a card-carrying members of the International City/County Management Association since the late 90s. In the midst of a financial crisis that has forced our city to layoff public employees, spending over $1,000 on a single professional membership did not seem appropriate. That's particularly true when compared to an outstanding organization like the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). We could have six employees enrolled in GFOA for less than my annual dues.
Part of the situation with ICMA is the third party payer problem, something endemic in health insurance. When a employer pays for an employees health insurance, the employee has no real incentive to shop around based on price. The employee also rarely sees the true price of the good or service. Most ICMA dues are paid directly by employers. It's fairly standard to include the obligation to pay dues in a manager's employment agreement. Given that it's largely customary, a city or county simply signs the agreement. Someone in finance sends a check to ICMA every year and rarely does anyone sit down and do a cost-benefit analysis.
In broad terms, I think ICMA is a good organization. It's also inarguably an expensive one for members (or more accurately, members' employers). ICMA has its headquarters in Washington, DC, a city that is the antithesis of local government. It's also generally an expensive labor and housing market. A colleague of mine once described ICMA as a "high-priced consultancy." That likely a fair description. Some local governments can afford high-priced consultants. Many--including ours--cannot. There are other reasons I think ICMA has lost some of its value-added over the past 20 years, but that's for another post.
