Planning and Managing Municipalities: A Spotlight on ICMA

Municipal management becomes more critical by the day, and planners have a key role in advocating for the importance of quality leadership in our communities. In fact, more and more planners find themselves in the role of municipal manager, where they face some challenges the profession has prepared them for, and perhaps some it hasn’t.

Whether you’re a planner who sees the value in hiring a municipal manager well-versed in land use (and need to make that case to your governing body) or a planner who is managing a municipality, knowing where to go for assistance is key. Many planners (and especially those who have studied for certification through the AICP) know and love the “green Bible” otherwise known as the International City/County Management Association’s volume on Local Planning. But this is far from the only resource ICMA offers to planners interested in municipal management.

The ICMA (International City/County Management Association) is the key international organization for municipal managers.  The PA Chapter for ICMA is APMM (Association of Pennsylvania Municipal Management).  APMM together with PML (Pennsylvania Municipal League) are the leading organizations in PA for municipal managers. All of these organizations have resources that may help planners support their municipal managers or negotiate the challenges of being one themselves.

APA PA thanks Greg Primm, President of the Association for Pennsylvania Municipal Management, and Mark Stivers, board member, for their contributions to this article.