WCMA Board Retreat Draft Minutes
Friday, November 18, 9:30 am – 4 pm
Tukwila Community Center Social Hall, 12424 42nd Av S, Tukwila
- Board Member Networking
Board members shared their personal and professional histories.
- Review of Structure and Function of WCMA Committees
David Cline explained that this year the Board is initiating a more structured approach to the board meetings, including the scheduling of Executive Board meetings in the months that the regular Board does not meet.
Bob Larsen emphasized the need to provide more support to Vice-President, particularly during years when there are two conferences. Sponsorship support is becoming more important to the financial success of the conference, and there was agreement that the team approach to sponsorships is a great help to the conference planning chair. The conference planning element deters some from joining the executive board. The goal is to provide enough support so that any member can participate on the executive board if they would like to. The additional support from MRSC is important to achieving this goal.
Scott Spence articulated the need for a more defined path for involvement in the organization as a board member. Continued outreach to city management meetings throughout the state is important for member engagement.There are regular city management groups meeting in Thurston, King, Pierce, Snohomish, Eastern Washington, Southwest Washington, and the Spokane area. One way to engage the board would be to have them help to do outreach with regional city managers meetings.
New board members can help spread the workload of the board. It would be useful to have defined responsibilities and roles that are posted on the website along with key documents. Conference planning and fundraising; regional connections;and being a liaison to the senior advisor are three key areas of involvement.
There was agreement to put organizational documents on the website in one place and get that information out to new board members. There was agreement that there should be an orientation for new board members as a pre-conference session at the summer conference that includes meeting logistics information.
The following board members agreed to assist the Vice-President with fundraising for the conference:
Bob Larson
Derek Matheson
Regan Bolli
Steve Taylor
David Scott
Nadia Chandler Hardy
Albert Tripp
The following board members agreed to assist the Vice-President with planning content for the conference:
Gil Alvarado
Marie Mosley
Scott Spence
Nadia Chandler Hardy
Albert Tripp
The following board members agreed to assist in developing a new board member orientation:
David Cline
Scott Spence
Subir Mukerjee
Marie Mosley
Marilynne Beard (non-board member invitee)
The following board members agreed to participate in developing the editorial calendar for the newsletter:
Regan Bolli
Marie Mosley
- WCMA Strategic Plan
-Small Group work on Mission-Vision-Values and Strategic Goals (Attached)
-Next Steps
MRSC will send survey results and a summary of the retreat results to the steering committee members and the full membership. MRSC will prepare a draft plan for review at the next board meeting and will solicit input on the draft from the full membership. The plan for the next board meeting is to spend 1.5 hours on the plan, engaging all members in attendance.
The intention is to have final adoption of the plan in theSpring of 2017 followed by an interactive session at the summer conference to attract volunteers interested in helping with implementation of some aspect of the plan.
- Organizational Business
-Senior Advisor Appointment
Action: The motion to appoint Dick Zais as the Puget Sound Senior Advisor, with Ben Yazici as the alternate was approved.
-Financial Report
David Cline reviewed the main revenue and expense items in the current financial report.
Action: The motion to approve the 2017 Budget was approved.
-Conference Planning Check-In
Cindy Reents will be reaching out the board volunteers on the conference planning committee in the next few weeks to start planning the conference in earnest.
-ICMA Mentoring/Coaching Program
Cindy Reents explained the ICMA coaching program. It is a resource that is free to anyone with an interest in taking advantage of it. Participants contact a coach and arrange for a 15-minute coaching session. The ICMA Coachhelps professionals find the resources that they need to make progress on the issue. ICMA is seeking coaches and is asking state chapters to vet potential volunteers. ICMA provides atemplate for volunteer coaches, so it is easy to be a coach. ICMA is also asking state chapters to promote the program. You can currently access the program from the ICMA website. MRSC will add access to the WCMA website.
Action: The Board approved a motion to support the ICMA coaching program and will begin the preparation for a roll out in January.
The board suggested the following topics for coaching: how to enter an organization as a new manager; how to move from being a technical expert to being a leader of people; personnel issues; performance management; finance and budget from an organizational perspective; land use rules in Washington; how to ask questions of your police and fire chiefs; labor relations; how to facilitate a council through a difficult policy decision where the community is split; crisis management; inclusiveness and diversity of workforces; equity; building effective teams; and capital project management.
-Reports:
Membership Committee
WCMA has a new recruitment flyer that ICMA helped to prepare. The flyer and a letter were sent to a targeted group of 35 potential ICMA and/or WCMA members. Dawn Masko is coordinating one-on-one outreach to these potential members. WCMA has grown from 140 to 179 members this year. The next step going into 2017 is reaching out to department directors and others who are not yet city managers.
Membership will work with MRSC to develop a better pipeline of information for the new member welcome and support of members in transition and to communicate through a listserv that all regular board meetings are general meetings of the membership.
Steve Taylor volunteered to be on the membership committee.
International Committee
Lloyd Halvorson reported that WCMA has a formal signed agreement with two Polish organizations 1) Polish city administrators in Holy Cross province and 2) A nationwide organization dedicated to sustaining the democratic process.
WCMA members have participated as consultants for communities in Poland and as hosts and tour guides to visiting Polish dignitaries. Lloyd is anticipating a transition in leadership of the committee in the next two years or so.
Form of Government
Derek Matheson reported that Snohomish appears to have voted to retain the city manager form of government. [Note: late-breaking votes flipped the outcome to a vote to change to a Mayor Council form of government in Snohomish] Soap Lake voted to retain the Mayor-Council form of government. WCMA’s role in the form of government debate is less of an advocacy role and more of an educational role.
Scholarship
Cindy Reents reported that WCMA increased to a $5,000 award this past year. Cindy is interested in transitioning this program to new leadership and will solicit possible new leaders at the next meeting.