Journal of Public Affairs Education

Due to the retirement of the baby boom generation, many individuals, in a relatively short period of time, will need to be trained and educated to step into local government senior leadership positions. The paper examines the question of whether Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs are doing an adequate job of preparing the next generation of local government managers. The critical competencies needed by city managers are identified using existing data, supplemented by new data resulting from a Delphi study using a panel of top practitioners and scholars in the field. These competencies are then compared to the content of curricula of MPA programs with a concentration in local government. The analysis identifies 118 individual competencies important to effective local government management. The majority of these competencies are similar to those that are important to business and Federal agency managers. MPA programs with a concentration in local government provide good coverage of competencies associated with administration, legal/institutional systems, and technical/analytical skills. There is less coverage of competencies associated with ethics, interpersonal communications, human relations, leadership, group processes, and community building.

Generational change in government employment presents numerical, attitudinal, and organizational challenges. There are more impending retirements in government than in the economy generally, and the number of young professionals available to fill vacancies is relatively small. A survey of Masters of Public Administration students at five universities and other research show the strong public service values among the younger generation, as well as document an interest within this cohort in working across sectors and levels of government. Professional associations and local governments will have to do more to make work inviting and engaging. They can also expect to make efforts to reenlist persons who either start work in government and go elsewhere or enter work in government later in their careers.

This article addresses concerns expressed by members of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) regarding whether the supply of qualified local government managers will keep pace with the future demand for this occupation. The authors developed several important observations, which are based on decades of experience with a Master of Public Administration (MPA) program focused on local government management, plus strategic planning experience in over 100 local governments. First, it is likely that the impending retirement of the Baby Boom generation of city managers will cause some supply shortages of professional managers in specific geographical regions of the country. Second, increases in the number of professionally managed cities creates the probability that some municipalities, due to their lack of associational attractiveness, may experience difficulty in generating sufficient pools of quality applicants. We suggest that MPA programs continue to nurture communication and relationships with local governments that will lead to specific mutual benefits. For instance, MPA programs benefit from the availability of practitioner speakers and student internships and, in turn, local governments benefit from the creation of a pipeline that provides a continual stream of quality applications.

Although there are some general resources for citizens who are appointed or elected to local government boards, there is a clear need to develop comprehensive and context-specific training material to better prepare citizens for public service and board governance. This study details the development, delivery, and impact of a structured curriculum developed by the authors and used for citizen board training in Montana. The curriculum covers four key areas: (1) Foundations of governance (such as relevant statutes, including state constitutional provisions on the right to participate and right to know, and good governance principles); (2) effective meeting techniques, with a focus on procedural methods such as Robert’s Rules of Order; (3) conflict management; and (4) leadership and team-building skills. Curricular materials include a detailed handbook, case study exercises, relevant handouts and worksheets, and Web-based resources such as podcasts. At the end of the training, we asked participants to self-evaluate their level of change in terms of knowledge and behavior, using both print and online surveys with Likert-scale items and open-ended questions. We used the responses to measure the impact of the educational program; analysis showed a positive change in participants’ knowledge and behavior as a result of the training. Strengths, challenges, and implications of the current training curriculum, as well as further program refinement and its delivery in various contexts, are presented and discussed.

University public affairs programs have expanded their markets and impact on government by offering an array of nondegree educational programs to government officials. Local, elected legislators and executives represent one group targeted by such efforts. Serving this market niche offers both exciting opportunities and vexing challenges to universities seeking to improve local governance. Integrating data from three sources—a survey of training programs for local, elected officials in 23 states; a survey of local, elected legislators in southeast Michigan; and observations drawn while directing a university-based institute created to serve local, elected officials—this paper examines these opportunities and challenges and offers guidance for universities developing programs for these officials. The meta-analysis finds that a large number of programs have emerged to enhance the knowledge of local, elected officials on the fundamentals of local government, leadership, basic services, and professionalism. Universities play an increasingly prominent role in such programs, and there is room for continued growth. Expanded involvement by universities can lead to improved governance and provide universities with goodwill among important stakeholders, enhanced visibility, increased enrollment, internship and employment opportunities for students, and research opportunities for faculty. Such expansion should be premised upon an assessment of the university’s financial, human resource, administrative, networking/organizational, technological, and leadership capacity for implementing such training programs.

How local government managers acquire skills and knowledge of policy approaches applicable to multijurisdictional problems is the primary focus of this paper. Managers work in an environment where cities and their infrastructures are getting older and more expensive; economic and social disparities are increasing; and the cost of local services is rising faster than elected officials are willing to raise revenues (Miller, 2002). Municipal managers face these concerns on a daily basis, and they are the officials most likely to realize the inadequacy and ineffectiveness of acting alone when trying to solve problems that have metropolitan origins and effects. Solving these problems requires engaging in intergovernmental and inter-local activities in new and innovative ways. For that reason it is important that managers be prepared with a range of skills that facilitate regional solutions. To address this concern, we review the Model City Charter as well as training materials and guidelines from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) to determine whether the current emphases in local government management training prepare local managers to handle multijurisdictional or regional problems. Our conclusion is that there is a serious mismatch between the traditional skill set and what is now required for multijurisdictional problem solving.

As more supervisory and management staff reach retirement age, local governments are realizing the challenges they face in finding qualified individuals to fill vacant positions. To best plan for succession, local governments need a pool of talented, educated staff from which to draw. This article discusses the approach taken by one university to address the educational needs of local government staff through a creative approach to the delivery of graduate classes in public administration.

In this case study, we describe and assess how the Villanova University Master of Public Administration (MPA) program involves practitioners in local government management education. We present student and faculty views on the effectiveness and quality of the university’s one-credit courses on different topics taught by local government managers and the three-credit course on effective city management team-taught by three township managers. We also review the contributions of municipal internships to Villanova MPA students’ education and career trajectories. Finally, we explain the curriculum featured in the university’s Graduate Certificate in City Management program and stress the advantage of offering the certificate to pre-master’s and post-master’s students, as well as to MPA students choosing to specialize in city management. Data from a 2009 survey of program directors from National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) member schools indicate that the combination of Villanova’s practices is unique. Because the students and faculty believe this approach is an effective one, we offer the university’s model as one way for full-time faculty to partner with local government professionals to help recruit and educate the next generation of city and county managers.