The Ohio City & County Management Association (OCMA) is excited to announce that the nomination process for the Annual Awards is now open! This is your opportunity to recognize and celebrate the outstanding achievements of your colleagues in local government who are making a significant impact in their communities.
The OCMA Annual Awards honor individuals and projects that exemplify excellence in local government. There are eight award categories, each designed to highlight different aspects of community improvement and professional achievement:
Placemaking: Recognizes innovative ways that communities create unique public spaces.
Redevelopment Projects: Celebrates community redevelopment projects that have been substantially completed.
Career Achievement Award: Honors an outstanding local government administrator with a minimum of 10 years of senior-level service within Ohio.
Career Development / Mentoring Award: Recognizes significant contributions to the development of new talent in professional local government management.
Distinguished Early Career Award: Celebrates individuals leading and setting standards for professional management within the first 15 years of their career.
Innovation in Local Government Award: Highlights successful applications of cutting-edge organizational tools in public service delivery.
Citizen Participation Award: Recognizes strategies designed to inform and include citizens in community decision-making.
Intergovernmental Cooperation Award: Honors outstanding programs developed through cooperative actions or strategic partnerships.
Nominations are reviewed by an award review panel, and finalists will be recognized by their peers and awarded a plaque at the Annual Awards during the OCMA Annual Conference. The deadline for nominations is December 15, 2024.
The Ohio City/County Management Association (OCMA) is thrilled to announce that Peter Kageyama will be the keynote speaker for the 2025 OCMA Annual Conference. The conference, which will be held from February 26 to 28, 2025, at the Hilton at Easton Town Center, promises to be an exciting event for local government professionals across Ohio.
Peter Kageyama is an urbanist and bestselling author of four nonfiction books on cities and placemaking. His first book, For the Love of Cities, was recognized as a Top 10 Book in Urban Planning and Development. He speaks all over the world about better placemaking that emphasizes small, inexpensive, and fun approaches to city building. He was a Senior Advisor to the Alliance for Innovation, a national network of city leaders, and is an Ambassador for America in Bloom.
In 2023, St. Petersburg Press published his first novel, Hunters Point. The work of historic fiction draws upon the wartime experiences of his father and his Japanese family. The sequel, Midnight Climax, was published in early 2024.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Peter studied at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He later attended law school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In his spare time Peter is an avid board gamer, comic book geek and classic rock nerd. He lives in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife, award winning architect Lisa Wannemacher and their dog Dobby.
Peter’s keynote address will focus on the theme of “For the Love of Cities”: How to fall in love with your community, the economic benefits to emotional engagement and how to engage your citizens as development resources. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of placemaking as it impacts talent attraction and retention and economic development strategies.
We look forward to seeing you at the 2025 OCMA Annual Conference and to the inspiring insights that Peter Kageyama will bring to our community.
The Ohio City/County Management Association (OCMA) is excited to announce that we are looking to fill three vacant positions on our committees. This is a fantastic opportunity for members to get involved, contribute to the profession, and help shape the future of local government management in Ohio.
Open Positions and Committee Descriptions:
Support of the Profession Committee
Co-Chair: Vacant
Description: This committee develops initiatives to retain and promote the use of professional local government managers. It provides technical assistance to communities, educates the public on the benefits of professional management, and oversees ethics training and ICMA Credentialing.
Professional Development Committee
Co-Chairs: Two Vacancies
Description: This committee identifies professional development needs, assists in designing conferences and events, and promotes training opportunities. It supports professional growth at all career stages and organizes networking opportunities and the OCMA Annual Conference.
Application Deadline: December 1, 2024
If you are interested in applying for any of these positions, please visit our committee page here for more information and to submit your application. We look forward to your participation and contributions to the OCMA community.
Local government managers serve their communities in many ways, often juggling responsibilities that range from budgeting to community relations and beyond. In this demanding role, a senior advisor can be an invaluable asset, providing expertise and perspective that can make a tangible difference. OCMA is proud to offer this benefit to its members and now has 4 senior advisors that serve our member communities across the state of Ohio.
Here are five compelling reasons to utilize your senior advisor:
Sharing and Expertise and Experience: Senior advisors are available to share a wealth of experience and knowledge and coach managers through difficult situations. They’ve typically seen a variety of challenges and can offer insights to help guide decision-making processes, offering solutions that are tried and tested.
Strategic Planning and Vision: Your senior advisor can be a valuable resource for long-term strategic planning. Their experience allows them to see the bigger picture and understand the nuances of policy development and implementation. They can help you establish a strategic vision that aligns with your community needs and expectations.
Crisis Management: During times of crisis, whether it be a natural disaster or a sudden political upheaval, having a seasoned advisor can be crucial. Their experience with previous crises can provide a steady hand and clear-headed coaching for navigating through difficult times.
Mentoring and Development: Senior advisors can play a significant role in mentoring and developing future leaders within your organization. They can impart valuable lessons and skills to emerging leaders, ensuring that the next generation of local government leaders is well-prepared for their roles. This mentorship can lead to a more competent and confident team, ultimately benefiting the entire community.
Networking and Resources: With years of experience often comes an extensive professional network. Your senior advisor likely has connections that can be leveraged for the benefit of your community. Whether it’s reaching out to other local government professionals for advice, accessing exclusive training opportunities, or finding funding sources, the connections that a senior advisor brings can open doors that might otherwise remain closed.
Utilizing your senior advisor is not just about tapping into their knowledge; it’s about fostering a collaborative environment where their experience and insights can help build a more effective and resilient local government.
We are excited to announce that the 2025 OCMA Annual Conference will be held on February 26 – 28, 2025 at the Hilton at Easton Town Center. We look forward to connecting with you at this exciting event.
The 2025 Conference Planning Committee is currently working on the schedule of events, and more details will be shared soon. To design a high-quality program that is of value to members, we have opened up a Call for Session Proposals. You are encouraged to submit a proposal for consideration as a conference session:
Andy is joining OCMA as he starts his new position as Assistant City Manager for the City of Delaware. Andy previously served as the Operations Director for the City of Hilliard where he has worked since 2020.
The OCMA Executive Board is currently seeking a new Board Member at-Large to begin their service on July 1, 2025. If you are a Full Member of OCMA, we encourage you to apply for this rewarding opportunity.
How to Apply
To apply, you must be a Full Member. You can confirm your membership level in your account on the OCMA website. Interested candidates should email the OCMA Secretariat at ocmaohio@gmail.com by Friday, January 17, 2025 with the following documents:
A one-page Letter of Interest
A one-page Resume
Board Member Requirements and Responsibilities
You must be a Full Member to apply. As an OCMA Board Member, your responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:
Attending Board Meetings (usually 6 per year, third Thursday of the month)
Voting on motions made during board meetings
Reviewing new member applications
Answering questions from OCMA members and the public
Guiding key decision-making to support the OCMA Strategic Plan
Service on the Board can total up to 6 years, with the following progression:
Year 1: Board Member at-large
Year 2: Board Member at-large
Year 3: Senior Board Member at-large
Year 4: Vice President
Year 5: President
Year 6: Immediate Past President
We look forward to your participation and interest in contributing to the OCMA Executive Board. Please contact ocmaohio@gmail.com with any questions.
As a city manager responsible for preparing the budget, unknowns are inevitable. Sure, you make plans and projections, but events beyond your control create challenges for you as the top operating official in a local government. Yet, some things are certain – the need for: jobs and economic development, planning for the future needs of the community, maintenance of current facilities, and the dreaded infrastructure renewal. How do you meet those needs while balancing an operating budget with minimal cushion to absorb fiscal challenges that could impact the City’s short and long term financial condition?
A recent example of a fiscal challenge is the drying up of monies from the federal government passage of two huge spending bills – the CARES Act and ARPA – as part of the response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Many communities benefited from this funding for operating expenses, capital budgets, and maintaining staffing levels but this supplement is rapidly concluding, the band-aid is slowly coming off, so to speak. Is there a plan in place to address this challenge?
This phrase has been used in the past that, as a city manager, you deal with it and gain experience by learning to pivot. After all, the ‘to-do’ list of capital needs extends well beyond supplemental funding.
Energy Systems Group® (ESG) can assist with the pivot. We help our clients uncover opportunities to improve their bottom line so they can invest in and maintain their facility and utility infrastructure in a manner that levels out the fiscal unknowns.
Optimize Budgets, Minimize Costs
When times are tough, people find ways to scrimp. However, when cities put off essential infrastructure projects, it can lead to safety risks, a decline in resident and business confidence, increases in energy and insurance costs, and inflationary impacts later. But what can be done when budgets decline due to federal monies drying up or other reasons? There’s cost-cutting, which is always painful, or raising taxes/passing levies, a last resort, especially when inflation has left many families struggling.
ESG can find ways to reduce operating expenses, support your capital budget, and identify new sources of revenue. Our strategy is to develop an understanding of your needs, challenges, and objectives and then dig through the budget to find pockets of money, locate areas of potential savings, and align solutions with your objectives.
ESG’s expertise goes beyond cost-reduction strategies. Our methods promote efficient decision- making so our customers can move rapidly from concept to engineering to procurement to project execution. We get customers to cost certainty on projects quickly.
Certainty includes something we deliver called performance assurances. ESG believes there is an increasing gap between what works in theory and what works in the real world. We deliver capital improvements that will operate as designed with intended contractual outcomes relating to system performance and achieving projected savings. So, if the project does not perform as we projected, ESG has a contractual obligation to make it right.
Simplifying the Procurement Process
At ESG, we aim to make the procurement process as seamless as possible for our clients. Local governments and organizations can easily advance projects through qualification-based selection methods without being tied to the low-bid process. For instance, in Ohio, local governments can contract for projects using a qualifications-based process. This allows them to select a partner based on professional expertise rather than the lowest bid. Additionally, as a qualified partner through Sourcewell, customers can directly procure our services without going through the formal, time-consuming bidding process because Sourcewell has already done the work. This streamlined approach saves time and ensures that the most qualified professionals handle projects.
There are other procurement channels, such as TIPS, offering even more flexibility for cities seeking to simplify project procurement. By leveraging these alternative procurement options, you can avoid the limitations of traditional low-bid methods, ensuring high-quality results and smoother project execution.
Let us handle the heavy lifting in finding the best ways to make your procurement process efficient and effective.
Ohio Success Stories
We’ve worked with multiple cities throughout Ohio. Because ESG orchestrates much of the heavy lifting involved with the projects, it makes it easy for local governments. With limited staff and resources, our turnkey solution with a single point of contact means a limited staff does not limit the possibilities. Check out these two success stories.
Infrastructure Renewal without Raising Taxes
Facing a range of complex challenges, the City of Huber Heights needed to modernize critical infrastructure, honor its commitments to taxpayers, but contend with 84% of unvoted debt spoken for from previous economic development investments. Aging HVAC equipment made it difficult for the city to maintain comfortable and healthy indoor environments, a critical need elevated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The typical, lengthy procurement process for capital improvements hindered its ability to address urgent modernization needs efficiently and keep up with growing demands. ESG was able to bring expertise to the table to expedite implementation through our direct procurement and project management capabilities.
We provided engineering, design, financing, construction, and project management services for the following project scope:
Infrastructure renewal at eight buildings and several parks
HVAC improvements
Installing a city-wide Energy Management System
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) upgrades at multiple facilities
Rebuild of two major intersections including drop lane
Citywide interior lighting upgrade
Replacement of emergency generators at two fire stations.
Through the solutions implemented by ESG, the City of Huber Heights was able to modernize eight buildings while also realizing savings of $949,000 in operational costs and $677,000 in energy costs over 15 years. The $3.3 million project capital improvement project was completed without new taxes.
Facility Renewal Results in Significant Savings on Operating Expenses
The City of Vandalia was seeking a partner to help them create a vibrant community, maintain sustainable fiscal practices, and leverage technology across the city. With original equipment in most major buildings, failure of A/C on the hottest week of the year made it clear that phasing the project over multiple years was off the table.
ESG supported the heavy lifting required to deliver fact-based recommendations to Council on “what now” and “what could wait”. ESG expedited engineering and development to lock down prices early in very volatile markets. Once implementation was complete, ESG developed a comprehensive plan so that future needs are identified, quantified and become part of the capital budget process.
The City was then able to understand its needs rather than be limited by an arbitrary budget placeholder. The results were a comprehensive facility renewal program. It included:
100,000 sq ft of Roof Replacements
HVAC System Upgrades
LED Building and Street Lighting Retrofit
Traffic Signal Maintenance and Interconnectivity
Illuminated Overhead Street Signage
Solar-powered walking path lighting
Emergency generator for Municipal Building’s
Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
Comprehensive facility plan
HVAC duct cleaning
Moving Projects Forward
As a City Manager, you’re constantly juggling the demands of the city and the available budget. While funding sources shrink or dry up, facility and utility infrastructure needs don’t. ESG helps cities overcome the financial barriers that block essential projects and achieve cost surety. Get ahead of what you are behind on, and invest in solutions that improve livability, workability, and resiliency with our unique funding strategy.
Registration is now open for the 2025 OCMA Annual Conference. This year’s theme, “Building Ohio Together,” sets the stage for an inspiring and collaborative conference. We’re thrilled to announce the return of popular social events like the Restaurant Romp and Pins Mechanical, offering ample opportunities to network and reconnect with colleagues.
Join us as we engage in meaningful discussions and activities that will shape the future of our communities. This year’s conference will feature:
The launch of the 2025 OCMA Conference mobile app! More information to come.
Redesigned conference website and registration
Keynote Address with Peter Kageyama, Author, For the Love of Cities
“Reconnecting the (Housing) Dots” Mobile Workshop
Pre-Conference Training co-organized with OHPELRA
Hot Topics in Local Government: Ohio Edition featuring OCMA Board Members
Breakout sessions from OCMA members and sponsors
Activities, receptions, networking opportunities, and more!
If you prefer to make your reservation over the phone, you can call +1 614-414-5000 and ask for the OCMA 2025 Conference Room Block using group code: 920. The group rate is bookable until the cutoff date of January 26, 2025, or until the room block sells out.
Please join us for a great opportunity to connect with other OCMA members!
