City Manager Unfiltered – Details, episodes & analysis

Things are heating up in the battle between Port Huron City Manager James Freed and the ICMA over the last two weeks. The two-year saga began in June 2022 when the ICMA publicly censured Freed and stripped him of his credential. Freed countered with a lawsuit alleging the ICMA engaged in a conspiracy to defame him.

On September 5, 2024, Freed sent out an email along with a 21-page court filing. See link in the show notes.

On Friday the 6th, the ICMA issued its first public statement on the lawsuit mentioning James Freed by name and referencing yours truly indirectly.

On Monday the 9th, Freed and the ICMA once again made public statements. Freed addressed his employees at an annual luncheon and spoke about the lawsuit and upcoming trial. His remarks were about 20 minutes long and have been included in this podcast.

Additionally, the ICMA's director of advocacy pubished an article on its website. Jason Grant argued that public censures were not punitive and defended the organization. However, the final paragraph signaled to me thta the organization is preparing to settle with Freed while trying to save face. 

SHOW NOTES:

James Freed Court Filing and Public Statements:

• Freed Email Statement and Court Filing
• Video of James Freed addressing ICMA issue

ICMA Public Statements & Court Filing

• LinkedIn Post
• In Defense of the ICMA Code of Ethics by Jason Grant, Director of Advocacy
• Court Filing

Additional Information about James Freed vs ICMA

• Main Reference Page

AAME JOB BOARD:

The American Association of Municipal Executives has a free job board exclusively focused on executive and senior level local government recruitments. To post a job, go to: https://jobs.aame.org/

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

1. Subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter hosted on LinkedIn. It is called the "City Manager News & Job Board" newsletter and can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/
2. If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.
3. Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Audree Guzman refused to become a statistic and has courageously battled through childhood sexual molestation and domestic abuse as a young woman. We discuss her battles along with other struggles encompassing eating disordes and mental health issues.

This is very powerful episode but listener discretion is strongly advised.

SHOW NOTES:

Here is the LinkedIn page for Audree Guzman

For more information about James Freed's anti-defamation lawsuit against the ICMA, I have created a reference page that will serve as a Wikipedia page of sorts. It can be found here: https://citymanagernews.com/james-freed-vs-icma/

AAME JOB BOARD:

The American Association of Municipal Executives has a free job board exclusively focused on executive and senior level local government recruitments. To post a job, go to: https://jobs.aame.org/

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

1. Subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter hosted on LinkedIn. It is called the "City Manager News & Job Board" newsletter and can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/
2. If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.
3. Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

A confidential source sent me an audio recording of ICMA West Coast Regional Director Pat Martel discussing the American Association of Municipal Executives. This discussion took place two weeks ago at the Oregon City/Count Management Association conference..

In this audio clip, Martel states that the ICMA is very much aware of the AAME, that it supports the AAME mission, and that it is perfectly acceptable for ICMA members to join AAME and other organizations.

In this episode, I talk about how many ICMA members who are supportive of my efforts have expressed an unwillingness to join the AAME. They state they fear retaliation.

And I urge the ICMA executive board to make a public statement attesting to the fact that members will not be targeted if they do join the AAME.

SHOW NOTES:

If you want to join the American Association of Municipal Executives and becoming a founding member, register today at: https://community.aame.org/.

Deadline to become a founding member is July 15.

AAME JOB BOARD:

The American Association of Municipal Executives has a free job board exclusively focused on executive and senior level local government recruitments. To post a job, go to: https://jobs.aame.org/

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

1. Subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter hosted on LinkedIn. It is called the "City Manager News & Job Board" newsletter and can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/
2. If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.
3. Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Last week the big news story was the announcement by the ICMA that CEO Marc Ott was retiring to spend more time with family. We also learned that Port Huron City Manager James Freed was given a trial date for his defamation lawsuit against the ICMA.

Coincidence?

These two stories are inextricably linked and are the topic of this week's podcast episode.

SHOW NOTES:

In this podcast I mentioned that Caribou, Maine City Manager Penny Thompson is a founding member of the American Association of Municipal Executives and that she is looking for an assistant city manager. You can find the job description here: https://www.cariboumaine.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ACM-for-Planning-and-Economic-Development.pdf

If you want to join the American Association of Municipal Executives and becoming a founding member, register today at: https://community.aame.org/.

AAME JOB BOARD:

The American Association of Municipal Executives has a free job board exclusively focused on executive and senior level local government recruitments. To post a job, go to: https://jobs.aame.org/

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

1. Subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter hosted on LinkedIn. It is called the "City Manager News & Job Board" newsletter and can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/
2. If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.
3. Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Marilyn Rivers had a stellar career and an impeccable reputation having served for nearly 20 years as the Director of Risk and Safety for the New York city of Saratoga Springs.

About 18-months away from this 20-year mark where she would be eligible for her pension, a newly elected commissioner set his sights on her to settle an "old score" from fifteen years ago.

Rivers wanted to do this podcast because she never had a chance to defend herself, her record, or address the toxic behavior of this commissioner during the entire ordeal. She told me that she needed to do the podcast because she wanted her "voice" and her good name back.

This is slated to be Part 1 of a multi-part series. Stay tuned for the next episode when Marilyn will reveal tips, tricks, and tactics to reduce your insurance costs and make you look like a star for your governing body or your city manager.

SHOW NOTES:

Here is a link to Marilyn Rivers' consulting firm: Rivers Risk Consulting, LLC. The company's LinkedIn page can be found here and this is a link to her personal LinkedIn Page

If you want to join the American Association of Municipal Executives and becoming a founding member, register today at: https://community.aame.org/.

AAME JOB BOARD:

The American Association of Municipal Executives has a free job board exclusively focused on executive and senior level local government recruitments. To post a job, go to: https://jobs.aame.org/

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

1. Subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter hosted on LinkedIn. It is called the "City Manager News & Job Board" newsletter and can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/
2. If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.
3. Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

ICMA CEO Marc Ott has presided over an organization that is dysfunctional, lacks accountability, and produces mediocre work product. 

His permissive and absentee approach to managing employees allowed ethics staffers to prosecute a personal and political vendetta against Port Huron City Manager James Freed -- a stain that will be forever left upon his legacy.

Combined with an international development emphasis that has lacked focus and failed to deliver results, it has been Ott's shepherding of the organization towards the promotion of a leftist political ideology that has alienated many members who simply desire to be in a non-partisan, apolitical organization that will help them become better public sector executives.

For these reasons and more, it is time for the ICMA executive board to terminate Ott and begin the process of repairing the damage done during his tenure.

SHOW NOTES:

Here is the court ordered motion to compel issued against members of the ICMA executive board.

Here is the most recent ruling by the judge highlighting the stall tactics used by the ICMA in its case against Freed.

If you want to join the American Association of Municipal Executives and become a founding member, register today at: https://community.aame.org/.

AAME JOB BOARD:

The American Association of Municipal Executives has a free job board exclusively focused on executive and senior level local government recruitments. To post a job, go to: https://jobs.aame.org/

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

1. Subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter hosted on LinkedIn. It is called the "City Manager News & Job Board" newsletter and can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/
2. If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.
3. Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Rainier City Administrator Scott Jorgensen is no fan of the Oregon City/County Management Association (OCCMA).

A few years ago, he was the subject of an anonymous ethics complaint without any clear explanation of his alleged offense. About a year later, Jorgensen learned that another city manager had accused him of leaking his listserv comments. 

The evidence was a conversation between this city manager and one of his elected officials the city manager had surreptitiously recorded.

Jorgensen maintains that he did not leak the listserv comments and even if he did, he vehemently rejects the notion that those comments are not public records since the city manager used his official city email address.

Moreover, Jorgensen was disgusted by the fact that the OCCMA ethics committee knew that the conversation was recorded without the consent of the elected official and did nothing about it.

Jorgensen has some strong opinions about the OCCMA, the value of his membership not only to himself but the taxpayers, and how other city managers conducted themselves during the pandemic.

He is a fascinating person with a very unique background having worked in politics as an official staff to state legislators in the Oregon capital, to being a journalist, an author, and a guitarist in a rock band. 

Don't miss this episode where the guest is as unfiltered as the host!

SHOW NOTES:

W. Scott Jorgensen's LinkedIn page

You can catch his band, Robots Building Robots, on Spotify where you can listen to their album "Dysphoria."

Jorgensen has four books he has written listed on Amazon. You can view them here.

In the episode, I discussed Ferris, TX city manager Brooks Williams' book "Rising to Serve."

If you want to join the American Association of Municipal Executives and becoming a founding member, register today at: https://community.aame.org/.

AAME JOB BOARD:

The American Association of Municipal Executives has a free job board exclusively focused on executive and senior level local government recruitments. To post a job, go to: https://jobs.aame.org/

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

1. Subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter hosted on LinkedIn. It is called the "City Manager News & Job Board" newsletter and can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/
2. If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.
3. Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

We continue our conversation with Polson, Montana city manager Ed Meece in Part 2 of our interview series. 

In this episode, Ed talks about:

✅ a new state association for Montana city managers that is not affiliated with the ICMA, ✅ a conversation he had with ICMA CEO Marc Ott and Ray Baray, his chief of staff, and ✅ why he is so excited about the new American Association of Municipal Executives

SHOW NOTES:

Ed Meece's LinkedIn page

AAME JOB BOARD:

The American Association of Municipal Executives has a free job board exclusively focused on executive and senior level local government recruitments. To post a job, go to: https://jobs.aame.org/

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

1. Subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter hosted on LinkedIn. It is called the "City Manager News & Job Board" newsletter and can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/
2. If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.
3. Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

In 2015, city manager Ed Meece did something he never thought he would do. He canceled his International City/County Management Association membership twenty-five years after joining the organization.

What happened?

Meece explains his reasoning in Part 1 of this two-part series.

SHOW NOTES:

Ed Meece's LinkedIn page

AAME JOB BOARD:

The American Association of Municipal Executives has a free job board exclusively focused on executive and senior level local government recruitments. To post a job, go to: https://jobs.aame.org/

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

1. Subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter hosted on LinkedIn. It is called the "City Manager News & Job Board" newsletter and can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/
2. If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.
3. Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Baker Tilly has been bad -- again. 

Recently, yours truly dropped a bombshell about Baker Tilly when he appeared as a guest on the Making Sense with Michael J. talk show in Amarillo, Texas.

We discussed the Amarillo city manager recruitment and the consulting contract Baker Tilly landed to help review their charter.

Host Michael Stevens graciously allowed me to replay the interview on the podcast.

Since the interview aired on May 20th, sources have been feeding me additional information about Baker Tilly and its recruitments. Stay tuned for more coverage in the near future -- especially after I get my public information requests.

If you have any information worth sharing -- please get in touch with me so I can expose them.

SHOW NOTES:

Michael J. Stevens is the host of the "Making Sense with Michael J" show on KGNC AM 710 and 97.5 FM radio in Amarillo. You can listen to their live stream here. 

You can find Michael on LinkedIn here.

The American Association of Municipal Executives is located at AAME.org.

AAME JOB BOARD:

The American Association of Municipal Executives has a free job board exclusively focused on executive and senior level local government recruitments. To post a job, go to: https://jobs.aame.org/

SUPPORT THE PODCAST:

1. Subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter hosted on LinkedIn. It is called the "City Manager News & Job Board" newsletter and can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/city-manager-rtrs-job-board-7164683251112992768/
2. If you would like to support the podcast by making a donation, please use the "Buy Me A Coffee" link.
3. Please rate and review the podcast on Apple or your preferred platform if you enjoy the show. It helps tremendously. But more importantly, refer your friends and peers to podcast through personal conversations and posts on your social media platforms.

Joe Turner's LinkedIn Page

City Manager Unfiltered YouTube Page - Subscribe Today!

Note: Page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.