Council Action Requested:
Create a Management Fellowship position within County Administration.
Points to Consider:
The International City-County Manager's Association (ICMA), the professional association for City and County Administrators/Managers, annually coordinates the Local Government Management Fellowship (LGMF) program.
This program places Fellows in full-time local government management-track positions shaped by direct mentorship under senior government leaders and rotational assignments. Talented professionals with a recent master's degree in public administration, management, public policy, public affairs, or related area, are given the opportunity to gain unique exposure to local government and assist local governments with their operational, analytical and management needs.
Both the County Administrator and Assistant County Administrator have managed the ICMA Fellow program in previous jurisdictions and have found the program to be highly beneficial for both the organization and Fellow.
Participating local governments have to communicate their interest in participating in the program in December, in order to receive program applicant information in March, for Fellows to begin their employment after graduation in May.
Each Fellowship is for one to two years and typically finds employment within the hiring organization at the end of the Fellowship.
Given the timeline to provide notice to participate in the program, the County Administrator is seeking County Council support for the position, however depending on the availability of candidates and background or skillset of the available Fellows, the County may not select a Fellow.
The County Administrator's intent with this program is to utilize this position as a workforce recruitment initiative to advance his goals to enhance professionalism throughout the organization and increase the organization's capacity to provide more and better information for the Council and public. Specifically, this position will supplement the Budget staff and Administrator's office to undertake special projects and reports related to service delivery and organizational efficiencies and effectiveness and provide a performance measurement and evaluation component for the budget management.
The timeline for the Fellows program is as follows:
- Early December: Jurisdictions communicate interest in participating in the program
- Early December: Student applications due
- Late January: Advisory Board reviews due (generally the third week in January)
- Early February: Finalist files routed to hosts for review
- February-April: Hosts contact finalists for interviews and begin the hiring process
- June-August: Placed fellows begin one- or two-year Fellowships throughout summer
Funding and Liability Factors:
ICMA recommends the participating jurisdictions establish a salary range for the position between $35,000 to $61,000 to be competitive with a Federal Fellows program.
The salary for this position is targeted to be $56,000 with a full year estimated cost to be approximately.$85,000 (with benefit costs), which will need to be supported in the FY2023-2024 budget.
The cost associated with the position for the month of June this fiscal year is estimated at approx. $6,700 which can be absorbed by the current budget.
Recommendation:
Approve