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Strategic Plan 

NCCCMA Strategic Plan
Adopted June 28, 2003

Mission statement

To advance excellence in North Carolina local government by developing
and promoting professional management

Core Values

  • Honesty and integrity as expressed in the ICMA Code of Ethics
  • Professional development
  • Stewardship of public resources
  • Membership diversity
  • Council-manager plan as preferred form
  • Representative democracy

Goals (numbered), Objectives (lettered), Strategies (bullets)

1. Build and sustain an active membership
a. Actively recruit and retain members

  • Reach out to managers, assistants, and entry level professionals
  • Develop mentoring program for new members, using active members and retirees
  • Visit MPA programs to encourage students to attend conferences and activities

b. Provide personal and professional support and contact to members in transition or trouble

  • Identify pool of active members to act as sounding board
  • Continue ICMA Range Rider program support
  • Use website and listserv to advertise job openings, notice of MIT in timely fashion

c. Pursue diversity in local government management and the association

  • Encourage diversity in the hiring and development of assistants and interns
  • Ensure Board of Directors & committees represent the organizational and individual diversity in the membership

2. Provide/promote professional and personal development
a. Provide high quality program content at conferences

  • Solicit ideas for program from general membership
  • Continue use of corporate sponsorship to support program content
  • Organize NC specific best practices series
  • Offer Ethics workshops

b. Encourage use of the ICMA group practices and voluntary credentialing

  • Offer ICMA university workshops
  • Offer other workshops and programs that would count for ICMA credentials
  • Offer Applied Knowledge Assessment (AKA)

c. Expand networking opportunities

  • Improve listserv & website
  • Integrate informal networking into conferences
  • Explore more frequent and regional meetings

d. Support executive leadership development programs

  • Support establishment of programs in NC
  • Expand scholarship opportunities
  • Use scholarships to encourage diverse participation

3. Advocate for excellence in local government
a. Promote and defend council-manager plan

  • Educate general public regarding benefits of plan
  • Develop specific strategy to use media opportunities to promote benefits of plan
  • Assist communities in establishing and defending council-manager plan

b. Continue and expand civic education efforts

  • Develop adult civic education programs such as citizen academies
  • Ensure that third and ninth grade programs remain current
  • Support and prepare teachers to teach civic education

c. Foster successful working relationships with elected officials

  • Sponsor workshops to present best practices in successful relationships
  • Develop orientation strategies for candidates
  • Explore appropriate participation of elected officials in NCCCMA conferences

d. Represent members' concerns in the public policy arena as they relate to professional management

  • Advise on personnel and employment issues
  • Develop standard employment agreement
  • Use the Association as an information resource for legislative bodies

e. Promote intergovernmental cooperation

  • Identify and support successful city/county relationship models
  • Consider future emergence of regional authorities

4. Strengthen partnerships with other organizations
a. Enhance the working relationships with the IOG, the NCLM, the NCACC

  • Collaborate on educational opportunities for elected officials

b. Strengthen the association with ICMA

  • Educate membership about value of ICMA
  • Invite greater ICMA presence at conferences
  • Ensure NC adequately represented on ICMA boards and committee
  • Encourage ICMA membership

c. Improve communication and collaboration with graduate programs

  • Promote manager involvement in teaching
  • Promote manager involvement in curriculum development

d. Pursue partnerships with other associations of elected or appointed officials

  • Enhance communication and understanding
  • Enhance effective and efficient service delivery