In addition to attending informational sessions on budgeting and economic development, Haines Borough Manager David Sosa can golf and groove at the International City/County Management Association 2014 Annual Conference next week.
The conference, held in Charlotte, N.C., runs Sept. 14-17 and bills itself as “the largest annual event in the world for local government managers and staff.”
It features workshops and presentations “offering an abundance of educational, information-sharing, and networking tools to help you manage your community in today’s complex environment,” according to the ICMA website.
The conference also includes a golf tournament, morning yoga sessions, a 5K walk/run, bowling, disc golf and live entertainment. Grammy Award-winning funk band the Commodores will perform at the conference’s 100th anniversary celebration the evening of Sept. 15.
The Commodores performance isn’t included in the conference registration fee.
The borough budgeted $3,250 for ICMA this year: $1,800 in travel and per diem for the trip, $650 for registration and $800 for dues and subscriptions to the organization.
Sosa spent the weekend planning out the sessions he wanted to attend, an experience he said “felt like college all over again.”
“One of the great things about the conference is the ability to choose a schedule focused on the needs of your community, and I am particularly interested in the discussion related to communications, budgeting and development,” Sosa said.
Sessions Sosa identified for attendance included “The Innovation Culture: Where Great Ideas Come From,” “The Next 10 Years: Strategic Planning and Performance Management,” “A Taste of the Carolinas,” “Do You Manage a Community Under 5,000?,” “Building a Better Downtown District” and “The Road to Excellence.”
Sosa said he understands there will be at least eight other managers from Alaska at the conference. “It will be a good opportunity to network with others who have been in management for a while, and there is also opportunity to meet managers from communities with similar concerns and interests and see what has or has not worked for them,” he said.
Clerk Julie Cozzi, who budgeted for the ICMA conference when she was serving as interim manager, said she included expenditures for the conference because Sosa has never been a municipal manager before.
“Having attended a few international clerks’ conferences, I am keenly aware of the huge value it is. It is very much like going to college crammed into a few intensive days…almost like a boot camp,” Cozzi said.
Former manager Mark Earnest attended the conference once during his tenure in Haines. “He believed attendance every few years was sufficient for him, because he had been a manager for many, many, many years,” Cozzi said.
Sosa will be gone Sept. 11-18. Cozzi will serve as acting manager in Sosa’s absence.
After returning from North Carolina, Sosa will head out of town again Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 to attend training in Juneau.
The City and Borough of Juneau is bringing in specialists to provide training on “systematic consent building.”