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 will be tasked with helping the cities of Canterbury, Chaplin, and Pomfret while technically being employed by the Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments (NECCOG).

As the demand for public services exceeds revenues and the complexity of local government increases, is it inevitable that consolidation will become more common as jurisdictions seek to walk the financial tightrope?

We explore this fascinating recruitment in this episode.

SHOW NOTES:

Alex Torpey's LinkedIn Page and email address: [email protected]

Link to Recruitment Brochure and email address for the Edward J. Collins Center: [email protected]

EPISODE SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by Holbrook Asphalt.

Maintaining your roads is one of the most difficult tasks for any city government. The good news is the secret to making it easier is only 3 letters: H-A-5.

HA5 extends the life of roads and reduces the financial burden on taxpayers. HA5 is an innovative pavement preservation treatment trusted by over 300 public agencies. It keeps good roads in good condition, reducing repair costs and saving taxpayer dollars.

Join the hundreds of other cities making the smart choice. Choose HA5 for longer-lasting roads and a healthier budget.

Learn more at holbrookasphalt.com/city.

SUBMIT JOB POSTING:

Do you have an executive or senior level vacancy in your organization? Use this form/link to submit your job listing in my weekly newsletter for just $100:

https://forms.gle/ceMzWqeLwiRFRAGj9

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

Subscribe to my FREE weekly report of city and county manager resignations, terminations, and retirements (RTRs) at this link:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/

If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.

Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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 volatile line of work. Resignations and terminations hurt their spouse and children.They can be financially devastating and destroy a person's confidence.

Isn't it time we start thinking more about the candidates and try to provide them with actionable information so that they can do a better job of ascertaining whether they believe they are a good fit for that community and governing body?

I want to introduce you to a new series of podcast episodes called: "City Manager Wanted"

This is where I interview key individuals involved in the recruitment process with the goal of providing a more detailed and comprehensive examination of the opportunity. City management is a "people business."

So, doesn't it make sense to try and get a better understanding of the people these candidates will work with?

In this episode, we examine the opportunity in beautiful Columbia Falls, Montana. I spoke with the following people:

I hope you enjoy it and find the conversation beneficial to your job search.

SHOW NOTES:

Recruitment conducted by Michael Boese of Clear Career Professionals

COMING SOON - Link to job listing: https://clearcareerpro.com/career-opportunities/

SUBMIT JOB POSTING:

Do you have an executive or senior level vacancy in your organization? Use this form/link to submit your job listing in my weekly newsletter for just $100:

https://forms.gle/ceMzWqeLwiRFRAGj9

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

Subscribe to my FREE weekly report of city and county manager resignations, terminations, and retirements (RTRs) at this link:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/

If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.

Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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 call upon for advice and counsel. He was on an island and soon found himself at the center of a story that rocked his community and literally created international headlines.

In this episode, we examine how Andrew stumbled upon a networking hack that allowed him to rapidly ascend the learning curve and become a thought leader in his region virtually overnight within the field of human resources.

And the beauty of this hack is that literally every single person listening to this podcast can implement it and start enjoying the immediate benefits.

SHOW NOTES:

Andrew Patton's LinkedIn page

EPISODE SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by Holbrook Asphalt.

Maintaining your roads is one of the most difficult tasks for any city government. The good news is the secret to making it easier is only 3 letters: H-A-5.

HA5 extends the life of roads and reduces the financial burden on taxpayers. HA5 is an innovative pavement preservation treatment trusted by over 300 public agencies. It keeps good roads in good condition, reducing repair costs and saving taxpayer dollars.

Join the hundreds of other cities making the smart choice. Choose HA5 for longer-lasting roads and a healthier budget.

Learn more at holbrookasphalt.com/city.

SUBMIT JOB POSTING:

Do you have an executive or senior level vacancy in your organization? Use this form/link to submit your job listing in my weekly newsletter for just $100:

https://forms.gle/ceMzWqeLwiRFRAGj9

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

Subscribe to my FREE weekly report of city and county manager resignations, terminations, and retirements (RTRs) at this link:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/

If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.

Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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 candidly shared his story about his termination and why he did not accept an offer to resign.

SHOW NOTES:

Chris Hoem's LinkedIn page

EPISODE SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by Holbrook Asphalt.

Maintaining your roads is one of the most difficult tasks for any city government. The good news is the secret to making it easier is only 3 letters: H-A-5.

HA5 extends the life of roads and reduces the financial burden on taxpayers. HA5 is an innovative pavement preservation treatment trusted by over 300 public agencies. It keeps good roads in good condition, reducing repair costs and saving taxpayer dollars.

Join the hundreds of other cities making the smart choice. Choose HA5 for longer-lasting roads and a healthier budget.

Learn more at holbrookasphalt.com/city.

SUBMIT JOB POSTING:

Do you have an executive or senior level vacancy in your organization? Use this form/link to submit your job listing in my weekly newsletter for just $100:

https://forms.gle/ceMzWqeLwiRFRAGj9

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

Subscribe to my FREE weekly report of city and county manager resignations, terminations, and retirements (RTRs) at this link:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/

If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.

Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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 budgeting, privatization, impacts on the nonprofit community, and how elected officials negatively impact the budgeting process.

The book is very thought provoking and I highly encourage you all to read it. In particular, I recommend that the city and county managers listening to this podcast purchase the book for their electeds so that they can read Chapter 3, which was probably my favorite chapter.

SHOW NOTES:

The Municipal Financial Crisis by Mark Moses

Mark Moses' LinkedIn page

EPISODE SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by KUDO. Make your council meetings accessible with translated audio and live captions into 45+ languages.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Only listeners of the City Manager Unfiltered podcast can sign up for a FREE, no risk, no obligation one-month trial offer. Use this link: https://kudo.ai/cmu/

SUBMIT JOB POSTING:

Do you have an executive or senior level vacancy in your organization? Use this form/link to submit your job listing in my weekly newsletter for just $100:

https://forms.gle/ceMzWqeLwiRFRAGj9

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

Subscribe to my FREE weekly report of city and county manager resignations, terminations, and retirements (RTRs) at this link:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/

If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.

Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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 child that has difficulty communicating verbally. In this episode, we discuss her personal journey and her efforts to get communication boards installed throughout the parks in her community. Not only do these boards help children like hers, they also help children and individuals who are unable to communicate in the same language interact with each other.

She worked closely with the incredible staffers staffers at the City of Coalinga and the Coalinga-Huron Recreation and Park District. This includes former Coalinga city manager, Marissa Trejo, and Mallory Griffith-Wells, general manager for the district.

Funding for the project was generously provided by the Coalinga Healthcare District.

SHOW NOTES:

Link to Morgan Massera's Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/morgankathleen9/

Morgan would like to refer parents and families of those affected to Apraxia Kids for more information and resources.

Communication Boards produced by Talk to Me Technologies

EPISODE SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by KUDO. Make your council meetings accessible with translated audio and live captions into 45+ languages.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Only listeners of the City Manager Unfiltered podcast can sign up for a FREE, no risk, no obligation one-month trial offer. Use this link: https://kudo.ai/cmu/

SUBMIT JOB POSTING:

Do you have an executive or senior level vacancy in your organization? Use this form/link to submit your job listing in my weekly newsletter for just $100:

https://forms.gle/ceMzWqeLwiRFRAGj9

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

Subscribe to my FREE weekly report of city and county manager resignations, terminations, and retirements (RTRs) at this link:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/

If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.

Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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:

What does your daily score mean:

These questions are based off of the research and work over at FormScore.

SHOW NOTES:

Todd Hopwood's LinkedIn Page

EPISODE SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by KUDO. Make your council meetings accessible with translated audio and live captions into 45+ languages.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Only listeners of the City Manager Unfiltered podcast can sign up for a FREE, no risk, no obligation one-month trial offer. Use this link: https://kudo.ai/cmu/

SUBMIT JOB POSTING:

Do you have an executive or senior level vacancy in your organization? Use this form/link to submit your job listing in my weekly newsletter for just $100:

https://forms.gle/ceMzWqeLwiRFRAGj9

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

Subscribe to my FREE weekly report of city and county manager resignations, terminations, and retirements (RTRs) at this link:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/

If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.

Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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 promotes greater awareness of mental health issues in the workplace and it most definitely gives employees greater assurance that their mental health concerns are valid and will be supported within the organization.

Todd is my first international guest on the show. He works for the Australian city of Wollongong as the senior manager for their Customer and Business Integrity department.

SHOW NOTES:

Todd Hopwood's LinkedIn Page

EPISODE SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by KUDO. Make your council meetings accessible with translated audio and live captions into 45+ languages.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Only listeners of the City Manager Unfiltered podcast can sign up for a FREE, no risk, no obligation one-month trial offer. Use this link: https://kudo.ai/cmu/

SUBMIT JOB POSTING:

Do you have an executive or senior level vacancy in your organization? Use this form/link to submit your job listing in my weekly newsletter for just $100:

https://forms.gle/ceMzWqeLwiRFRAGj9

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

Subscribe to my FREE weekly report of city and county manager resignations, terminations, and retirements (RTRs) at this link:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/

If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.

Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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 focus on local government executives and content. He has started rolling out interviews with city managers, too. I encourage you all to check it out and will link to it in the show notes.

Also in this episode, I went "off script" and put myself on the couch a little bit. It was an unplanned detour and I thought about cutting my personal elements out of the podcast -- but I think the resulting discussion may prove beneficial to some of you so I left it in.

SHOW NOTES:

Seth Winterhalter's LinkedIn profile and website for HaltingWinter Municipal Solutions

Link to The HaltingWinter Podcast

EPISODE SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by KUDO. Make your council meetings accessible with translated audio and live captions into 45+ languages.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Only listeners of the City Manager Unfiltered podcast can sign up for a FREE, no risk, no obligation one-month trial offer. Use this link: https://kudo.ai/cmu/

SUBMIT JOB POSTING:

Do you have an executive or senior level vacancy in your organization? Use this form/link to submit your job listing in my weekly newsletter for just $100:

https://forms.gle/ceMzWqeLwiRFRAGj9

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

Subscribe to my FREE weekly report of city and county manager resignations, terminations, and retirements (RTRs) at this link:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/

If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.

Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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 deals.

We both preach the importance of city and county managers adding additional income streams to their portfolio so that they can weather separations and also maintain some control over their own destiny when it comes to working in toxic environments.

Passive and secondary income streams give you options and prevent you from being trapped in soul crushing situations where you might feel forced to put up with abusive and unprofessional treatment by elected officials because you are fearful of not being able to put food on your family's table.

My initial plan is to release an episode on the first Sunday of every month featuring interviews with government employees who are working on a side hustle or highlight someone outside of local government who is engaged in a side hustle that I think might inspire you to start your own journey towards securing financial independence.

If you or someone you know has an interesting side hustle that they want to share with my audience, please reach out and contact me.

SHOW NOTES:

Noel Bernal's LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/noelbernal/)

Noel is the Founder & CEO of Main St. Public Financial (https://mainstpublic.com/)

EPISODE SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by KUDO. Make your council meetings accessible with translated audio and live captions into 45+ languages.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Only listeners of the City Manager Unfiltered podcast can sign up for a FREE, no risk, no obligation one-month trial offer. Use this link: https://kudo.ai/cmu/

SUBMIT JOB POSTING:

Do you have an executive or senior level vacancy in your organization? Use this form/link to submit your job listing in my weekly newsletter for just $100:

https://forms.gle/ceMzWqeLwiRFRAGj9

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

Subscribe to my FREE weekly report of city and county manager resignations, terminations, and retirements (RTRs) at this link:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/

If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.

Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.