American Association of Municipal Executives

Last night, AAME's ethics complaint against Mineral Wells city manager Jason Weeks was the top story for the 10 o'clock edition. Weeks denigrated Theo Melancon, JD, MPA, ICMA-CM in some social media posts in Facebook group for the Pecan Lakes Estates HOA. Multiple members of that HOA board then vocalized their opposition to the hiring of Melancon at Monday's meeting. In this 2-minute news story by KBTX Media, our founder explains why we sent an ethics complaint to the ICMA - International City/County Management Association requesting that they investigate Weeks. -------- AAME annual conference registration is now open to anyone who wants to sign up. Simply go to the AAME homepage to learn more.

City managers deserve to have an advocate in the trenches fighting with them while they are being viciously attacked and smeared on social media and in local news reports. In this article, our founder attempted to balance the scales of injustice on behalf of Theo Melancon, JD, MPA, ICMA-CM -- one of our founding members. From the article: Joe Turner, the founder of the American Association of Municipal Executives, says Melancon was brought in to fix deep-rooted problems in Dickinson and believes there’s a smear campaign to discredit Melancon. “And so what you have right now is you have individuals who are criticizing the city manager for what he did in Dickinson. But that’s simply because he had to make tough decisions in order to clean up what was going on in the police department,” Turner said. “Reality is that Theo Melancon is a very talented, very competent city manager with an excellent track record of success.” ---------- For decades, city and county managers have usually suffered in silence and took the public floggings. Not anymore. The AAME is the only organization that exists to advocate on behalf of local government executives. We are re-opening for membership soon. Join our waitlist if you want to be a part of an association that will fight for you: https://lnkd.in/eBp-qm4t

Our founder, Joseph Turner, spent his entire weekend fighting on behalf of Theo Melancon, JD, MPA, ICMA-CM who is the target of a vicious smear campaign designed to ruin his bid to be the next city manager for the City of Navasota. He spent hours on the phone talking to numerous individuals and sources gathering information and research. This includes speaking to one or more members of the Navasota governing body to shore up support. He wrote articles for CityManagerNews.com and LinkedIn. He defended Melancon against the pathetic keyboard warriors in numerous social media comments on Navasota related Facebook pages. On Sunday, while at lunch with his wife, a one-sided television news station article was published. Nobody told him about the article. He found it himself because he's always in the fight. Within 90 minutes of it being published, Turner was talking to that station's news room and the reporter who wrote it setting the record straight and defending Melancon. He then canceled the day's plans and returned home to conduct an interview with that reporter. On top of that, over the last month he has invested well over 100 hours fighting on behalf of Scott Whitaker in Summerfield, North Carolina. He is another manager who has been disgustingly treated. City managers deserve to have a junkyard dog who will go to bat and intercede on their behalf. We will be re-opening the doors to new members in the very near future. If you want to join the only professional organization that is committed to serving you the professional -- then you may want to take 90 seconds and join our waitlist here: https://lnkd.in/eBp-qm4t

We are unhappy with the current state of public sector executive recruitment and will be taking steps to advocate on behalf of candidates in the near future. The AAME is going to draft a "Bill of Rights" for local government executives and make it clear what our expectations are for recruitment firms and recruiters. We are not going to tolerate certain behavior nor will we turn a blind eye when firms and recruiters do not disclose important information to the candidates. And we will take steps to hold those firms who do not conduct themselves accordingly accountable. On Monday, March 3rd, AAME founder Joseph Turner and Theo Melancon, JD, MPA, ICMA-CM will host the first workshop inside our private community. We will go over the first draft of the document and ask those in attendance to weigh in on the inclusion of these items. Please login and RSVP today. On Monday, March 10th, we will then present the final draft for consideration. If you are interested in contributing to this discussion -- but are not an AAME member. You are welcome to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments. What irritates the hell out of you when it comes to the recruitments you have participated in?

Some exciting news to report. Two of our founding members have been named as finalists for the Brentwood, Tennessee city manager search. Brad Gotshall and Andrew Patton - CMFO, PSHRA-SCP will participate in a community "meet and greet" on the 26th. The Brentwood-Franklin suburbs of Nashville is a phenomenal area making this gig one of the more attractive ones in the country. And with that -- the housing is super expensive. My wife and I visited the region in September and I am not even sure we could afford to buy the driveway for some of the homes we saw. They are competing against three other candidates for the position. - JT ------ We are reopening up for membership very soon. If you would like to get on the AAME waiting list, take 90 seconds to fill out this form and we will make sure you get notified: https://lnkd.in/eBp-qm4t

Attention Aspiring City Managers! An AAME founding member has launched a new podcast. It is called Local Government Careers and you can find it on all major podcast platforms. As an aspiring city manager -- this is an excellent opportunity to market yourself for future employers and create some good Google/SEO footprint juice when it comes to personal reputation management. Take the time to really think about how you want to position yourself and market your skill sets and accomplishments. Share those results! But don't be afraid to share what you have learned about yourself along your journey, how you have learned from mistakes, and how you are constantly engaged in self-improvement and professional development. I would encourage you to leave a comment expressing interest in the AAME community thread here: https://lnkd.in/eKQFCpz7 You can also reach out to Shawn Metcalf, ICMA-CMC, MPA, SPHR, IPMA-SCP on LinkedIn. Let him know if you are an AAME member. I would highly encourage you to take the initiative and get a decent external microphone for sound quality. I personally use and recommend the Samson Q2U. You can find it here: https://lnkd.in/eGEQu-D2 Take action -- you never know what benefits will come and what doors will open from a podcast interview. - JT

Make sure you check out the AAME job board -- the only job board that is exclusively focused on senior and executive level local government recruitments. NC: Carrboro is seeking a planning director with top of salary range at $122,000 OK: Tracy Roles is looking for an HR director in Ada with top of salary range at $124,000 CO: KRW is doing the recruitment for the Minturn town manager with salary range of $125-200K FL: S. Renée Narloch & Associates seeks a city clerk in St. Pete Beach IL: Arndt Municipal Support Inc. is doing the city manager search in Mattoon Developmental Associates, LLC is searching for two city manager vacancies in North Carolina: Kings Mountain and Goldsboro. They are also looking for a CFO in Statesville. All those in more over at the AAME job board. -------------- Conference registration is now open for founding members in the AAME community.

Another recruiter has registered and started posting jobs on the AAME job board. WBCP, Inc is looking for a city manager in Tillamook, Oregon and a city manager in Parlier, CA. They join the following firms using the AAME job board: Clear Career Professionals Colin Baenziger & Associates Peckham & McKenney Developmental Associates, LLC Arndt Municipal Support Inc. Hinson Consulting, LLC Pracademic Partners Ralph Andersen & Associates Pivot Group Municipal Services S. Renée Narloch & Associates Imperium Consulting, LLC DDA Human Resources, Inc. Yeo & Yeo HR Advisory Solutions (Amy Cell Talent) KRW Associates League of Kansas Municipalities

Recent job postings over at the AAME job board: Kendal Francis, ICMA-CM, CPM in Jamaica Beach, Texas is looking for a police chief. Millersville, Tennessee is looking for a city manager. Imperium Consulting, LLC is looking for a borough manager in Sellersville, PA. Geneva, IL is looking for a finance director. Andrew Patton - CMFO, PSHRA-SCP is looking for an assistant finance director in La Vergne, TN Odessa, TX is looking for a city manager

Exciting news! We're launching a mentor cohort soon, and our founding members are collaborating with AAME leadership to build a program that will provide lasting benefits for years to come. This is a fantastic opportunity to shape the future of mentorship within American Association of Municipal Executives Want to be part of this inaugural cohort? Join our waitlist! We'll be opening memberships soon, and waitlist members will get priority access. Sign up now to be among the first to know when registration opens! #mentorship #AAME #leadership #community #professionaldevelopment