On this episode of the FCCMA podcast, we went all the way across the country to Moorpark, California! City Manager and past ICMA President Troy Brown believes there is no better way to understand and implement good policies than community engagement. He recommends sitting down and listening to people, understanding what’s important to them and what they value, and creating policies that directly address those things.

Dr. Robert Lee is a senior fellow at ICMA with extensive experience in local government and is currently a professor in the Political Science Department at Florida Gulf Coast University. He and Steve discuss the importance of building culture and credibility when starting a new position, formulating a strategic plan, and the power of transformational leadership and setting expectations.

If you could take all the knowledge from all the City Managers and County Administrators and squeeze it into one brain, that’s who our guest is! Lynn Tipton, Director of the Florida League of Cities University, joins Steve in this special episode of the FCCMA podcast. She shares her insights and understanding of city government and what it means today in Florida.

Doug Baber assumed the role of City Administrator of Mexico Beach in 2021, three years after the City was nearly destroyed in Hurricane Michael. Doug shares his experience in this interview recorded shortly after Hurricane Ian caused devastation on the west coast of Florida.

Leon County Administrator Vince Long is this year’s ICMA Career Excellence Award recipient. Vince talks with Steve about being patient to see long-term successes and how this field of work is incremental and punctuated by moments of opportunity that you have along the way.

This episode features City of Palm Coast City Manager Denise Bevan. She focused on Ecology in college and began her professional career at an environmental consulting firm in St. Augustine. In 2007 she began work with the City of Palm Coast, which recruited her because they wanted someone on staff specifically focused on the environment. Bevan helped develop a land development code for the city.

During Hurricane Michael, 92% of buildings in Panama City were destroyed. City Manager Mark McQueen discusses his 36 years of service in the army, how his experience has helped him serve in city government and the revisioning and revitalizing of a city fresh from disaster.

Join us as we discuss retired public manager and author of Ethical Leadership in Challenging Times Merrett Stierheim’s accomplished management career and his perspective on making ethical choices through the scope of local government.

Town Manager of Sneads Lee Garner is the oldest active town manager in Florida and has much to show for his tenure and accomplishments. His advice to listeners and anyone in town leadership is to get to know your council members and let your staff know you wouldn’t ask them to do anything you wouldn’t do.

A man of many locations and even more experiences, Randall Reid, joins the FCCMA podcast to discuss his journey through both the county and city levels throughout the past 50 years. From Ohio to Wyoming to Florida, Reid discusses his current role at ICMA, including providing professional development, ethics training and how they support local managers and their jurisdictions.