by Lynn Tipton, Executive Director
I have had a couple of emails and phone calls this month about Florida’s status nationally with the ICMA Credentialed Manager program and what we use as a nickname: “credentialing.” The April 1 deadline is looming (no April Fools’ day jokes, I know!) for this quarter’s review period, and you might be asking if this is something you should pursue.
If you haven’t been an Association member for very long you might not be familiar with the history. Let me take a minute and say that Florida worked with ICMA on this idea from the very beginning. In the 1980s, a number of cities and counties were facing challenges to change to the elected executive plan. ICMA had a task force that looked at ways to elevate the profession, and one recurring theme was that an engineer, water systems director, accountant, and attorney have designations after their names conveying their professional status, so what could a professional city or county manager have as a similar designation? The idea of either a certification or credential was discussed and debated for another ten years or so, and in 2001 a model was unveiled to the membership that became ICMA’s credentialed manager program. The idea is to publicly recognize a manager’s commitment to professionalism through continuing education and a commitment to updating his/her training throughout a manager’s career. Florida held some of the very first workshops on credentialing and the Association paid for the Knowledge Assessments for the first few years in an effort to promote it. It was successful, and the Sunshine State led the nation (and world) for the first decade of the program. We are now tied with North Carolina at 111 credentialed members each. In fairness, some of the Carolina managers are former Floridians and vice versa. Those numbers have moved with the member! I remember the first credentialed managers’ reception we held at our conference. As we handed out the new ICMA pins, I noticed that some members had reprinted their business cards to show the ICMA-CM designation. Very proud moments!
Florida continues to support and promote credentialing as it helps the public recognize what a professional local government manager is. I have noticed that some county and city advertisements now include “credentialed manager preferred.” That is an important step taken by these governments to make their own commitment to hiring someone who has made this educational commitment to the profession.
I also think credentialing helps a manager focus on the essential practices of a member’s continuing education. You have so many choices when it comes to the subjects within public administration and the related local government specializations; it can be overwhelming. If you use the ICMA practice areas, it can help weed out the less important subjects. It is like using the Tenets of the ICMA Code of Ethics when you are planning that part of your continuing education; a great outline and list of essential subjects is beneficial.
You might argue that the fees for becoming credentialed are expensive. I don’t know how it compares to bar requirements for an attorney, or CPE credits for planners, CPAs or engineers, but most of our members have told us it was worthwhile and have not let the designation lapse. If you want to talk with one of the reviewers, you’ll be glad to know that New Smyrna Beach City Manager Pam Brangaccio (also an FCCMA past president) is one of them. She’d be glad to discuss it with you.
Want to help break the tie and put Florida in first place again? For more information, please visit this link: http://icma.org/en/icma/members/credentialing
