What's the ACM to CM transition like?

An ACM in California who recently became the permanent city manager talks about the changes he has encountered in his new role. A mayor is accused of physically assaulting the city secretary at the Texas Municipal League conference and the Texas Rangers are investigating. A city manager has stepped down to assume the role of CEO for a healthcare company and a Texas manager gets out of prison.

All that and more news after the job postings.

It is free to post all of your senior and executive level recruitments over at the AAME job board. If you would like to include them in this newsletter, select the $199 option.

A military veteran with extensive local government experience recently contacted me to request some help in their job search. They are ideally looking for an assistant city or county manager role after spending many years working in emergency services/public safety as a department head. I asked them to put together a short summary of their background below. If you have any desire to learn more about this person, please email me and I will put you in touch.

Highly intelligent, motivated, and strategic leader seeking opportunities as an Assistant City or County Manager. Military veteran and former intelligence officer with over 30 years of local government experience in emergency services. Proven executive leadership as a department head for three agencies ranging from 90 to 366 personnel. Extensive experience across Fire Rescue, EMS, Emergency Management, and 911 Communications. Demonstrated success in authoring, defending, and managing departmental budgets exceeding $80 million. Strong expertise in continuity of government, organizational leadership, and complex public safety operations.

The Texas Rangers are investigating the Magnolia city secretary’s allegations that Mayor Matthew Dantzer assaulted and choked her outside a Fort Worth hotel late last year at the Texas Municipal League Conference.

City Secretary Christian Gable was pregnant at the time. The city hired an outside firm to investigate, but deemed their findings inconclusive.

Disclosure: I filed a public information request for information related to this incident back in January, but never received any responsive documents. I also contacted a local reporter and her editor to ask them to cover the story, but was rebuffed.

Great article featuring Redwood City Manager Patrick Heisinger in which he explains the adjustments he is currently undertaking as he transitions out of the ACM role and into the top spot.

Departments that once operated outside his day-to-day oversight now fall under his purview, requiring him to step back from the details and think more broadly about how to spend his time.

“You go from being able to get in the weeds on everything in land use to now you have to really step back and think about how you invest your time on a day-to-day basis, or else you get stretched way too thin,” he said.

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