President's Welcome 2018
Welcome to NCMA! What an honor it is to serve with other elected and appointed officials across the state of Nebraska and to represent NCMA at the national level.
The Nebraska City/County Management Association is an information, knowledge and experience-sharing organization dedicated to the advancement of professional administration and management of local communities in the state. The organization boasts representation of communities across Nebraska with growing membership as more managers recognize the benefits of belonging to a professional management association.
If you are new to Nebraska public management, I believe that you will find our organization and our members to be a welcoming group eager to share information and support one another. I believe that our NCMA organization is progressive, evident in the following initiatives considered to have long reaching, positive outcomes for our state.
The first initiative is to reestablish the Senior Advisor Program across the state. The program is a partnership with ICMA to help address the personal and professional needs of individual members. Personal support is the program’s priority activity. Assistance to governing bodies and community groups on the form of government is the second priority.
The second initiative is the continuation of electric “fueling” or charging stations in communities across the state. Our members continue to promote the addition of these stations for owners of electric and hybrid cars as they drive from one end of the state to the other.
The third initiative is to reestablish our relationship with the ICMA Student Chapter at the University of Nebraska Omaha. It is essential to attract and cultivate an inclusive as well as talented group of individuals that will become the next generation of local management leaders in our state. We hope to attract undergraduate students who are interested in public service but may not be aware of career possibilities in local government.
The fourth initiative is the continuation of our relationship with municipal managers from Norway in order to share experiences and ideas with their government leaders. Dr. Robert Blair, a professor with the University of Nebraska at Omaha, initiated a successful relationship with the local public management association of Norway. We have since sent a delegation from NCMA to Norway and were honored in 2016 to host our Norway friends here in Nebraska. In August 2018, NCMA delegates will travel to Kristiansand, Norway to continue to deepen our relationship and initiative.
I am proud to serve with the following 2017-2018 NCMA Executive Board Officers:
President - Brent Clark, Broken Bow
President-Elect – Al Vacanti, Wisner
Vice- President – Nathan Johnson, Scottsbluff
Secretary/Treasurer – Michael Holton, Plainview
Past-President – Shane Weidner, Norfolk
The Executive Board gratefully recognizes the service of Past President Shane Weidner who served in 2016-2017 as NCMA President.
Please take the time to reach out to our new NCMA-ICMA members. We look forward to seeing you at our annual NCMA Summer Training Conference hosted this year by Al Vacanti in West Point, Nebraska.
If you have any questions about our organization, please don’t hesitate to contact me on my cell phone at (308) 870-2150.
Sincerely,
Brent Clark
NCMA President