City Manager Unfiltered

In Illinois, Freeport City Manager Rob Boyer recently faced down a citizen's petition to move away from the council-manager form of government and revert back to the strong mayor form. Reeling from mismanagement and economic decline, Freeport abandoned the strong mayor form of government about a decade ago. Since that time, Rob and his two predecessors have done great work to turn the community ar...

City managers deserve to have a professional association that will fight for them and help communicate their narrative in an environment where the deck is usually stacked against them.  In this week's episode I wanted to unpack some various advocacy efforts the American Association of Municipal Executives is currently engaged in on behalf of city managers. Not only are we engaged in direct advocac...

Last September after mounting pressure, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) finally capitulated and settled the James Freed lawsuit a month before it was scheduled to go to trial. In this episode, we catch up with the Port Huron, Michigan city manager and see what life is like after his huge victory. Hint: Lots of vacations with the wife. ROTFLMAO! We also discuss the failu...

When Jeff Cantrell uprooted his family and relocated for a city manager job in central Kansas, he never dreamed it would all come to an end two short years later. He was leaving Chanute (pop. 10,000), a Southeast Kansas town, for Hutchinson (pop. of 40,000) and replacing a well-respected manager who was retiring after holding the seat for 17 years.  It seemed like a no-brainer next step in the pro...

City Manager Kevin Phelps and his team in Glendale, Arizona have put on a clinic when it comes to leveraging economic development. Since his arrival in 2016, the city has figuratively backed up the Brinks truck and filled their bank accounts with cash. Residents pay lower property taxes per unit of valuation today than they did when he took over. And the number of employees in Glendale today is lo...

Join Gavin Baum-Blake , Co-founder and CEO of City Detect , on City Manager Unfiltered, where he discusses how AI and computer vision technology are revolutionizing urban management. With a background as a US Army veteran, an attorney, and an entrepreneur, Gavin brings a unique perspective to the ethical application of cutting-edge technology in tackling urban challenges like blight, housing decay...

Yucaipa City Manager Chris Mann invited yours truly, and Calimesa City Manager Will Kolbow, to sit down for an interview on the Yucaipa 360 podcast. The three of us discussed a variety of issues and subjects related to the city management profession and local government. This episode is a rebroadcast of that interview for my audience of listeners. Chris and his team in Yucaipa are really raising t...

Three small towns in Connecticut are seeking to share an administrator -- the first time that something like this has ever been attempted according to the organization conducting the recruitment. Joining me on the podcast to discuss this innovative approach is Alex Torpey from the Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston. This shared administrator wi...

Stale, boring recruitment brochures are played out and offer little value for candidates seeking their next city or county manager opportunity. Many of them contain boiler plate language or rehash text used in a previous announcement for a different community. Isn't it time we re-imagine what a public sector executive recruitment should look like? City managers are in an incredibly risky and volat...

Public sector human resources can be an incredibly challenging environment to operate in for even the most seasoned director. It is another level of difficult when your previous experience in HR was at Amazon, one of the largest and fastest growing companies in the world. When Andrew Patton left Amazon and became the human resources director for La Vergne, he did not have a network of peers to cal...

Back in June, the City of Atwater hired Chris Hoem to be their next city manager. It was his first city manager gig and he was coming off of being terminated as a department head a few months before. This interview was conducted shortly after he had completed his first 100 days in the position in late October. We talked about his preparation and how he navigated this introductory period. And he ca...

Mark Moses is the author of " The Municipal Financial Crisis " where he lays out a "framework for understanding and fixing government budgeting." Mark has some strong opinions on how local governments have gradually increased and broadened their scope of services to an unsustainable level and he kills off some sacred cows along the way diagnosing the problem. In this episode, we discuss zero based...

One of my goals with this podcast is to help you produce "wins" for your resume so that you can advance your career. When you can do the "right thing" and help those who need it most while also scoring a professional win -- it does not get much better. This is a great, relatively low cost idea that many communities will benefit from. Morgan Massera of Coalinga, California, is a mother of a young c...

In last week's interview about radical mental health transparency, Todd Hopwood broadly discussed the 10 questions he asks himself each day. In this follow up episode, we breakdown those 10 questions, how you should assess them, and how to calculate your score so that you can better track your mental health and mood. Here are the 10 questions: How motivated am I today? What are my perceived energy...

Todd Hopwood shocked me when he explained his radical approach to mental health transparency. We discuss a system he has implemented which is designed to help him when he is struggling and needs help the most. Frankly, it is not an approach that I would personally be comfortable practicing in my workplace. However, there is no question that his courage, leadership, and modeling of this behavior pr...

Seth Winterhalter has some thoughts on work-life balance, leaders needing chaos to thrive, and the let down that achievers can feel once they accomplish major goals. An executive coach and owner of HaltingWinter Municipal Solutions, Seth seeks to help city and county managers escape burnout, set boundaries, and experience breakthroughs in work-life balance. He recently rebranded his podcast to foc...

In my first installment of my new "Side Hustle Sunday" series, I discuss the power of leveraging real estate to create wealth with Noel Bernal. Noel started his real estate investment journey in his early 20's before he became a public sector executive. He, along with his wife, have increased their real estate holdings over time and expanded into larger real estate transactions through syndication...

Confident. Certain. Poised. Prepared. Jorge Garcia, a first-time city manager in Pismo Beach, California, embodies all of these adjectives. He has spent many years readying himself for this moment -- his first assignment as a chief executive officer for a municipal corporation. He is only one year into his tenure, but as you listen to this interview, you will come away with the impression that he'...

Our friend, Daniel Rosemond, visits the show to provide an update on his legal case against the City of Hallandale Beach. In February, he had a major set back and we talk about battling through this ordeal that has now stretched out more than 8 years. We also talk about his work with East to West Development and share some exciting news about his book, "Death of the Public Servant." Daniel was fea...

Nick Loper is a legend in the side hustle and internet marketing space. He is the host of the Side Hustle Show podcast and runs the Side Hustle Nation website. I get excited when talking about internet marketing, start-ups, passive income, and entrepreneurship. And I hope many of you do, too, as I would like to explore this topic in more earnest in the future. Being a city or county manager is ver...

Clarendon City Administrator Brian Barboza literally started at the bottom and worked his way to "the chair." When he was a young man, recently graduated from high school, Hereford City Manager Rick Hanna took an interest and gave him an application to become an employee in the streets department. Barboza worked for the city while going to college with plans to becoming a police officer. A fateful...

City Manager Brooks Williams brings a passionate but demanding philosophical approach to local government. He joins the program to talk about the importance of innovation and efficiency, accountability, employee development, and building strong relationships with your elected officials as he leads the City of Ferris, Texas. Brooks recently published " Rising to Serve ," which I can only describe a...

As I predicted, the ICMA finally capitulated and settled the anti-defamation lawsuit brought forth by Michigan city manager James Freed. As part of the agreement where financial details were not releaed, the ICMA agreed to retract the censure by removing it from their website.  The settlement was announced via a joint statement on ICMA letterhead. However, I have received overwhelmingly negative r...

Things are heating up in the battle between Port Huron City Manager James Freed and the ICMA over the last two weeks. The two-year saga began in June 2022 when the ICMA publicly censured Freed and stripped him of his credential. Freed countered with a lawsuit alleging the ICMA engaged in a conspiracy to defame him. On September 5, 2024, Freed sent out an email along with a 21-page court filing. Se...

Audree Guzman refused to become a statistic and has courageously battled through childhood sexual molestation and domestic abuse as a young woman. We discuss her battles along with other struggles encompassing eating disordes and mental health issues. This is very powerful episode but listener discretion is strongly advised. SHOW NOTES: Here is the LinkedIn page for Audree Guzman For more informat...