Final Thoughts on Slovakia

As I sit home in Santa Paula having returned from Europe last night, I can't help but be so proud of the accomplishments of our meetings in Bratislava. It has been among the goals of the International Committee to increase involvement at our Spring meeting and with having representatives from twelve countries, we accomplished that. The dialogue among these representatives showed that ICMA is making substantial progress to partner with our international affiliates in a variety of areas rather than talk at them. With the new energy of UDiTE, ICMA has an opportunity to be stronger partner than ever in Europe.

This meeting will also be known for moving forward the international work of ICMA as the committee has charted a course in its new 2009/10 workplan for better integration of our affiliates working through the goals identified in the ICMA Strategic Plan. ICMA's international work can't be just through USAID contracts in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, but has to be global working on good governance issues throughout the world.

In talking with the managers present, it is almost spooky how similar our work lives can be throughout the world. We face so many similar challenges with budget, providing municipal services and working with elected officials. It was great to see the Slovaks in particular have a mature city manager's association working on these issues together with managers throughout the Slovak Republic.

The bottom line to all this is that ICMA can be, should be and will be the facilitator of knowledge base exchange among local government managers throughout the world. Good ideas and real best practices culled from the work of talented managers around the world being used to help their colleagues from Bratislava to Santa Paula.