Managing Cities and Counties: ICMA Activities and Resources

Managing Cities and Counties: ICMA Activities and ResourcesReview by: Barbara H. MoorePublic Administration Review, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Jan. - Feb., 1994), pp. 90-92Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Society for Public AdministrationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/976511 .

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TOPS: Those Other Publications I Beverly A. Cigler, Editor

Managing Gus and Counties: IGMA Activities and Resources

Barbara H. Moore, International City/County Management Association

T he International City/County Man- agement Association (ICMA) is a professional and educational organization

that serves appointed administrators in local governments in the United States. and other nations. Its members are individuals-city managers, county administrators, assistant managers and administrators, council of governments directors, state league directors, and other appointed professionals. Founded in 1914, the organization has grown from a handful of managers to a current membership of nearly 8,000.

The organization's roots are in the reform movement at the beginning of the 20th cen- tury. Professional administration, including the council-manager form of government, was introduced as an antidote to governmen- tal corruption.

Publications Program

Most of ICMA's program activities include a publishing component. ICMA has no scholarly journal. Even its survey research focuses primarily on local government programs and practices rather than the testing of hypotheses. In the public administration community, ICMA is probably best known for its Municipal Management, or "Green Books," Series. The Green Books are often used as texts for courses in public management, public finance, planning, and other municipal policy and service delivery topics. Green Books are also used as reference books by local government managers. They form the basis for many courses offered by the ICMA Training Institute.

ICMA's Municipal Year Book provides data and analyses about local government practices, articles on important and emerging topics, and summaries of major national and state government legislative, executive, and

judicial actions and decisions that affect local jurisdictions. Names and salary information for many local government positions are also included in the book, which serves as a desk and library reference.

ICMA also publishes a substantial num- ber of more limited references for practitioners, researchers, and others. The association conducts contract-funded research and offers technical assistance projects that generate occasional publications serving multiple audi- ences.

ICMA develops publications and training packages in response to needs identified by members, professors, and other customers and potential customers. A few are written by staff; most are written or edited by managers, consultants, or members of the aca- demic community. Except for contract deliv- erables, ICMA develops publications with its own funds and relies on product sales to recoup its investment.

The remainder of this article highlights ICMA's less-known publications, beginning with a brief summary of publications designed to support management professionals in their careers.

Professional Management As is the case with most membership

organizations, ICMA publishes a newsletter, a magazine, and a membership directory. It also makes available a model employment agreement and a job-hunting handbook.

The monthly magazine, Public Manage- ment, covers key management issues, reflect- ing the practical orientation of ICMA's members. The content spans the concerns facing managers in today's environment, e.g., evaluating police department performance, self- funding of health insurance, maintaining

creditworthiness and bond ratings, and implementing alternative dispute resolution techniques. The "Departments" sections provide book reviews, profiles of managers, and information and advice on ethics.

Form of Govemment Because ICMA's roots are in the council-

manager form of government, the organization also publishes descriptive and educational materials about the council-manager plan, including publications for use by citizens who support referenda to adopt or retain the plan. Of the 7,175 U.S. municipalities, 2,973 have the council-manager form of government.

An extension of these efforts is a broader- based program geared to educate citizens about local government, beginning in ele- mentary and secondary schools. The Citizen Education Program was created after ICMA members expressed concern with the scant coverage of local issues in many high schools. Its flagship publication, Investing in Our Future: A Handbook for Teaching Local Gov- ernment, suggests ways to initiate programs in local schools. It includes a discussion of educational methodology, model programs con- ducted by educators and local government professionals, and sample lessons.

Information Sharing

In many senses, ICMA is a giant local government management information clearinghouse, which collects information and "success stories" from thousands of jurisdictions and disseminates such information via reports, monographs, newsletters, and-more recently-videotape programs for chief administrators and department heads.

The Management Information Service, for example, is a subscription that provides monthly (MIS) reports and inquiry access to a data base of local government documents. These monthly reports use text and case studies to describe the key decision-making points involved in developing, implementing, deliv- ering, and/or evaluating specific local government programs. Many of the reports are written by practitioners or feature case studies provided by practitioners. Many reports also include sample ordinances or administrative forms used by local governments.

Recent MIS Reports include Neighbor- hood Service Delivery, which presents a new way of looking at local government's relation-

90 Public Administration Review * January/February 1994, Vol. 54, No. I



ship with citizens, and Allocating Resources for Human Services, which uses illustrations drawn from several cities and counties to cre- ate a model policy. Planningfor Disaster Recovery presents a blueprint for emergency planners. Strategic Budgeting, written primarily for smaller local governments, serves as a guide for the manager who must strive to make the local budget reflect and promote community goals. Reports from the series find their way into course packs as practical examples for students.

Special Reports, published two or three times a year, treat subjects in greater depth. Examples are How Effective Are Your Commu- nity Services: Procedures for Measuring Their Quality, by Harry Hatry et al., and a forthcoming revision of Evaluating Financial Con- dition, by Maureen Godsey Valente. The Hatry report provides methodologies for evaluating service delivery; the Valente publication provides indicators that local governments can track to assess their financial health.

Survey Research

Annually, ICMA collects the following data through mail surveys: (1) names and salaries of city, county, and council of governments officials for publication in The Municipal Year Book directories and in a Compensation annual and (2) salary and other expenditure data for police and fire services.

In addition, ICMA conducts two or three other surveys each year on topics of current interest. Recent or forthcoming surveys are on technology use in local government, health care costs and cost containment, alternative service delivery, and economic development. Generally, the survey questions focus on management practice. An exception is ICMA's periodic "Form of Government" survey, which gathers information on the electoral systems of U.S. cities and the char- acteristics of key elected and appointed officials. ICMA surveys all cities 2,500 and over in population and cities below 2,500 that are recognized by ICMA as providing for the council-manager plan or for a position of overall general management. Respondents provide specific information on their current form of government, the highest elected offi- cial, and the council.

Several grants and contracts to ICMA have included a survey component. For example, the association collected information on international activities undertaken by U.S. local governments and on SARA Title III (the Emergency Planning and Communi- ty Right-to-Know Act). The international activities survey examined the involvement of

American local governments with foreign cities worldwide. Respondents indicated type of relationship (e.g., sister cities, host, technical assistance), language skills of staff, and private sector activity. The SARA Title III survey examined the use of hazardous chemi- cals and the incidence of chemical emergen- cies in the private sector. Respondents provided information on prevention and preparedness of their cities, their emergency plan, and community awareness.

ICMA survey results are usually dissemi- nated through the Year Book, Baseline Data Reports that provide tables and analysis, and occasional monographs. Findings from the SARA Title III survey were incorporated in Emergency Planning: Local Government and the Community Right-to-Know Act by Rose- mary O'Leary. That report explains the regulations as they apply to local government; reports court decisions and EPA administrative actions; and describes local emergency plans, successful resolutions of compliance problems, and other practices.

Special Data Issues, which list the responses of individual jurisdictions to select- ed survey questions, are a new ICMA offer- ing. Population information on each jurisdiction allows users to compare their own practices with those of others in the same population range. A recent Special Data Issue, Local Government Infrastructure Financ- ing, for example, provides information by jurisdiction on the type of capital financing used, impact fees, cost shifting, growth management restrictions, and methods of marketing general obligation bonds.

ICMA data sets also are sold on diskette for various software packages (e.g., Lotus 1-2- 3, dBase, SPSS, Symphony) to academics, private sector organizations, and others. Data sets currently available include form of government, technology use in local government, and alternative service delivery. The data sets are used for instructional purposes in quanti- tative and research methods courses.

Community-Oriented Policing Through a grant from the National Insti-

tute of Justice, ICMA provides training and technical assistance for the implementation of community-oriented policing in cities and counties. This strategy requires a change in orientation for traditional police organizations. Beat officers are asked to contribute to the solution of problems that foster criminal behavior and to participate in decision making as authority moves downward in their organization. For the strategy to be effective, both the police chief and the chief administra- tor must understand and support the change.

The collective wisdom of researchers and practitioners on community-oriented policing appears in an anthology, Community-Ori- ented Policing: An Alternative Strategy. This is used as a text for workshops and is available as a stand-alone volume as well.

Environmental Management Since the 1980s, environmental issues

have created increased pressure on local governments. Landfill space and siting; recycling programs; regulations and mandates govern- ing clean air, clean water, and other resources; and Superfund responsibility have emerged as management and budget chal- lenges.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funds ICMA programs in solid waste management, chemical emergency planning, and Superfund assistance. Part of ICMA's role is to improve communication between local administrators and EPA, which is fre- quently a lightning rod for complaints about the national government's requirements for cities and counties. The environmental programs are major contributors to ICMA's ongoing publications series. MIS Reports on siting municipal solid waste facilities, managing the impact of Superfund, and marketing recyclables, and Clearinghouse Reports on solid waste management and composting have been produced.

A significant component of the environmental management programs is peer exchange, i.e., matching local officials who need assistance with individuals who have successfully solved similar problems. Another aspect is conferences and seminars that foster the exchange of information. As a result, briefing books for Superfund seminars and for meetings of an Environmental Mandates Task Force are available to nonparticipants. They include information on avoiding Super- fund liability, managing as a "potentially responsible party," financing cleanups, and obtaining insurance coverage.

International Municipal Development In 1989, ICMA was awarded a contract

by the Office of Housing and Urban Pro- grams of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to launch an ambi- tious international development program to provide technical assistance, training opportunities, and information exchanges on effi- cient and cost-effective local government practices throughout the world. This is espe- cially important as national governments worldwide decentralize authority to the local level, and as urban centers swell in size.

TOPS: Those Other Publications 91



Under the program, ICMA has had a presence in most Latin American countries, the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Kazakhstan, and the central and eastern European nations of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary.

The international program provides technical assistance to local governments in management and service areas ranging from budgeting to public works. On-site assistance is delivered by experts who undertake assign- ments of varying lengths. Other forms of assistance include seminars, conferences, study tours, and research. ICMA utilizes U.S.-based managers and administrators to identify effective programs that can serve as models for other countries.

The Cities International newsletter, published quarterly in English, French, and Spanish, reports on successful municipal management programs worldwide. It reaches municipal managers, mayors, urban planners, and academics in more than 96 countries.

Occasional reports developed from international efforts include Privatizing Solid Waste Management Services in Developing Countries (seminar proceedings), Recommen-

nations for Improving Municipal Capabilities in El Salvador, Property Tax in Poland, and Urban Development in Poland

Another outgrowth of the municipal development project has been a small collec- tion of translated editions of ICMA's publications. Among them are portions of the Elected Officials Handbooks (Russian, Span- ish), Small Cities and Counties Japanese), and the ICMA Code of Ethics (Hungarian, Span- ish).

Housing and Community Programs

Outside funding has also enabled ICMA to provide technical assistance and other services for housing and community concerns. A consortium of local governments funded research and publications for jurisdictions with homeless populations. One result was a guidebook, A New Approach to Homelessness: A Guide for Local Governments, which helps a community to design plans to meet its unique needs in this area. A grant from the Environmental Protection Agency funded a project to promote local radon programs. One result of the program is a Radon Monthly newsletter.

Conclusion

ICMA uses a variety of published formats to convey current information to public managers and those who educate future managers as they work to improve administrative capacity in local government.

The organization publishes textbooks, reference books, training courses, data publications based on surveys, a magazine, and dozens of management information resources. A recent increase in grant- and contract-funded activity has been accompa- nied by an increase in monographs and reports on policing, environmental management, and international municipal development subjects.

Programs and accompanying publications are publicized and made available in support of ICMA's stated mission to "enhance the quality of local government and to support and assist professional managers in the Unit- ed States and other countries." ICMA undertakes projects-with inside or outside funding-only if they help to accomplish this mission, and the organization continually seeks opportunities to make such contribu- tions.

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Documents

Managing Cities and Counties: ICMA Activities and Resources