ICMA

Due to a scheduling conflict, this webinar has been rescheduled from Tuesday, June 9 to Thursday, July 9. We apologize for any inconvenience! As we move through 2026, the lines between digital habits and physical presence have blurred.

Over 75 percent of Germantown, Tennessee, voters rejected a charter amendment that would have created a full-time mayor. The city’s charter will remain unchanged with a part-time mayor with a salary of $42,000. ICMA’s Future of Professional Management Fund provided $10,000 to the Citizens for Servant Leadership, the local organization that advocated to keep Germanton professional, efficient, and focused on serving residents.

ICMA is pleased to congratulate the recipients of the 2026 Local Government Excellence Awards. These distinguished honorees exemplify the very best of professional local government leadership, demonstrating creativity, innovation, and a steadfast commitment to strengthening communities. Their achievements highlight the value of professional management and its profound impact on the quality of life for residents across the globe.

I’m a management analyst in the public works department for a city government located in the East. I’m a hard-working staff person who is often a go-to person for my boss, the public works manager, as well as the public works director. Whenever I’m given an assignment or project, I stay on task and get results. Our organization has a lot of older senior managers who have just retired or are getting ready to retire.

In March 2026, a delegation of ICMA members, including the ICMA Executive Board, participated in the ICMA Global Exchange, spending five days on the Island of Ireland to learn from their counterparts and share solutions to drive meaningful change in communities around the world. The delegation spent a day in County Longford in Ireland’s Midlands, whose main economy for years has centered around peat harvesting for power generation.

DATE & TIME Eastern Time (North America) Updates on the first Thursday of the month: A free webinar for HR and city/county leadership looking for ways to engage city employees. Did you know that over 9 million public service workers, including full-time county employees, are eligible for student debt forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program? Yet, fewer than 3% have received relief. The real question is: Are they aware of it? Are they maximizing their student debt forgiveness?

Public and private sector employees face similar retirement decisions—but the challenges they encounter, and the support they need, differ in important ways. Based on new national research from MissionSquare Research Institute, this webinar examines how advice use, saving behavior, investment confidence, and retirement income planning vary across sectors.

A personal health issue that surfaced while I was in Dublin, Ireland, gave me an unexpected opportunity to reflect on community through my experience with care in a public hospital outside the United States. The waiting room was small and crowded. I arrived at noon and did not see a doctor until 5 p.m., and then again not until midnight. People from all walks of life filled the space—young and old, housed and unhoused, some speaking different languages, all waiting together.

“Managers are ready for the future and invest in their people,” observes Dr. Eric Zeemering, professor and MPA director at the University of Georgia.Zeemering discusses council-manager government and why that structure works, with a focus on accountability, financial skills, and long-range planning in ICMA’s new video series, “Why it Works.” As a former local selected official, he understands the challenges of local government from the viewpoint of the council table.

DATE & TIME Eastern Time (North America) An honest dialogue with fellow women local government leaders exploring how to navigate personal and professional challenges. Women in local government leadership are navigating rapidly evolving challenges ranging from workforce pressures, polarization, changes in technology, and the personal realities of leadership itself.