Freeport native Bob Franz recently retired as the city manager of Deerfield, Illinois after a long and successful career in public administration. Bob visited with our group to share his experiences and talk about his profession. We were pleased that our mayor joined us for Bob’s visit.
Steve Berley, Sterling's former city manager, also took time to drive up and visit with our group. Before moving to Sterling, Steve was the Village Manager in LaGrange and then Oak Brook, Illinois. Steve also shared his experiences and helped us better understand the various facets of a council-manager form of government.
Among the materials Steve passed out was his resume. Steve did his undergraduate work at Augustana College and received his masters degree in public administration at Northern Illinois University. Incidentally, NIU offers one of the most respected departments of public administration in the country.
Steve’s career in public administration stretched from 1965 until his recent retirement. He now serves as a consultant for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). ICMA is dedicated to the profession. Retired managers like Steve consult with city managers on issues facing their communities as well as their personal career development.
Our group’s biggest concern with regard to the present council-mayor structure in Freeport is possessing the experience and education necessary to address the increasingly complex realm of public administration. In our view, Freeport does not have a formal structure in place to maintain the continuity of professional administrative leadership.
This leaves our city vulnerable to repeat the steep learning curves with each new administration and thus the mistakes of the past.
In today's very complex and challenging environment, our community can ill afford to be without a professional experienced and educated public administrator.
In his Publisher’s Column, Steve Trosley colored in the cons and pros of a council-manager form of government. In our opinion, Steve could easily use the same pallet and brush to illustrate mediocre performance and corruption in a mayoral administration. History is certainly full of that.
The central difference between the council-mayor form and a council-manager form is the form itself. It is the structure supported by university and professional certification, continuing education, and re-certification. That form, that structure, of credential and certification is better equipped to administer the public trust in our opinion.
After all, we do not elect our school principals and superintendents. Our school board hires experienced educated professionals to operate our schools and districts.
Why shouldn’t our city council and our mayor welcome the benefit of a professional to manage the day-to-day operation of Freeport? It would give our elected officials more time to plan for the future and consider strategies to meet future challenges with the guidance of a trained professional.
Yes, our group seeks the “professional.” But more so, we seek the “form,” the structure, wherein that professional might operate successfully for the benefit of Freeport and its citizens.
As we make our way down the path to professional administration, please join us at this site. Our next visitor is the former mayor of Rochelle, Bob Gingerich. Bob will discuss his experiences and challenges of transforming his community into a council-manager form of government.
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