THURSDAY PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS-2024

KEYNOTE
8:30 am – 9:30 am 

Devereaux Room

Leading Democratically: Fostering Management Innovation, Advancing Public Trust, and Building Resilient Communities
Valerie Lemmie, Senior Advisor, Kettering Foundation

Valerie Lemmie is senior advisor for state and local government at the Kettering Foundation. An
adept strategic thinker and local government thought leader, Lemmie is a distinguished
pracademic with over 40 years of experience solving public problems and controversial issues in
governmental organizations; leading research on democratic practices and public engagement;
and advising communities across the United States on innovative and effective strategies for
advancing multiculturalism. Currently, Lemmie is coproducing, encouraging, and supporting
strategies, programs and policies that strengthen democracy, foster inclusion, and advance public
accountability, transparency, and collaboration.

While the council-manager form of government has proven to be resilient, adaptable, and
relevant, two decades into the twenty-first century, today’s public managers face new leadership
challenges, none more important than leading democratically. In this interactive session
participants will explore current and emerging challenges and responsibilities confronting local
government managers as they lead democratically, including (1) fostering management
innovation, (2) cultivating public trust, and (3) building resilient communities.

THURSDAY PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
10:00 am – 10:45 am

Devereaux Room

Funding Opportunities for Affordable Housing and Proposition 123
Andrew Paredes, Director of Housing Finance and Sustainability, DOH; Andy Hill, Community Development Office Director, DLG; Hillary Cooper, Director of Innovative Funding and Housing Programs, OEIDT

Funding agencies will highlight current and upcoming funding opportunities for affordable housing, followed by a preview from DOLA on compliance guidance coming soon on Proposition 123 (including Fast Track and general tracking and counting of units).

Roosevelt Room

Cultivating Community Connection: Harnessing the Power of Effective Survey Research for Local Governments
David Flaherty, Magellan Strategies and Jenn Ooton, City of Aspen

David Flaherty is the founder of Magellan Strategies, a public opinion survey research firm serving Colorado local governments, school districts, special districts, and public policy organizations. He has spent his 30-year career designing and managing hundreds of survey research projects measuring public and voter opinion. In addition, he is an expert public opinion pollster, focus group moderator, and ballot measure consultant. 

Jenn Ooton is the Senior Project Manager in the City Manager’s Office at the City of Aspen. She is a strong operations professional skilled in Organizational Development, Community Development, Community Outreach, Media Relations, and Regionalism. Ms. Ooton holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado Denver, and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder. She has 14 years of experience in local government, including working on affordable housing policy, resiliency, and with property owners and developers on redevelopment and infill projects. She is the former Assistant City Manager for Glenwood Springs.

Join us for an enlightening session led by David Flaherty of Magellan Strategies, where we delve into the transformative potential of survey research methods for local governments. Discover how these methods can empower governments to engage, communicate, and gain deeper insights into the communities they serve. Throughout the session, we will explore the spectrum of survey data collection methods, distinguishing between effective strategies that harness the power of data and technology, and less impactful approaches. Gain valuable insights into how to leverage these methods to enhance resident engagement and understanding. Drawing from real-world examples, we will showcase the tangible impact of survey projects on government organizations. Learn how strategic survey initiatives have elevated image ratings, boosted job approval, and elevated overall resident satisfaction. Don’t miss this opportunity to unlock the full potential of survey research for your government organization

Colorado Room

Winning Change: The Synergy of Communication and Self-Leadership
Amber Blake, CEO and Founder, of Amber Blake Consulting 

Amber Blake has over seventeen years of local government experience, CEO and Founder, of Amber Blake Consulting a boutique consultancy focusing on leadership, organizational development, and Strategic Planning. Amber is a speaker, trainer, executive coach, and facilitator.

Embracing change is a hallmark of successful leadership.  Join us as we delve into the art of change management, where effective communication and self-leadership take center stage. In this session, we will explore the nuances of communication and leadership that lead to transformation.

THURSDAY PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
11:00 am – 11:45 am

Devereaux Room

If…. Then…. Population Trends and Impacts in Colorado
Elizabeth Garner, State Demographer

Elizabeth Garner is the Colorado State Demographer with the Department of Local Affairs, an agency focused on strengthening the capacity of Colorado’s communities and local governments. She leads the State Demography Office, which produces population and economic estimates and forecasts for use by state agencies and local governments. Elizabeth has over 25 years of experience analyzing population and economic trends in the state, and her current areas of research include aging in Colorado, characteristics of migration, and poverty. Elizabeth is an economist and received her B.A. in Business at the University of San Diego, her masters in Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University.  She is also a Colorado native, something only 43% of the state’s current population can claim.

Roosevelt Room

Who the heck is Gen Z
Kyle Clemons and Melissa McDuffey, American Fidelity 

Prior to joining American Fidelity, Melissa McDuffey worked at a large Oklahoma law firm with a specific focus on labor and employment law. In that role, Melissa gained experience in litigation and advising employers of all sizes about labor and employment issues, including state and federal leave laws. After leaving the practice of law to become an HR/Benefit Consultant at American Fidelity, Melissa draws on her prior background to help us better serve customers through employee and employer education.

Gen Z will soon take over a third of the work force. This presentation helps employers understand how to meet the needs of this generation.

Colorado Room

Leadership Development on a Budget
 Alice Huang, City of Thornton

Alice Huang is a Senior Management Analyst at the City of Thornton, and has been managing the city’s leadership programs for the past 3 years. She has expanded the program over the years with positive feedback from participants and developed the curriculum for the program. She has also led the city’s internal DEI and employee engagement efforts.

It can be cost-prohibitive to send all of your promising employees to leadership programs, and it may not be within your organization’s capacity to develop your own internal academy. One solution? Develop an internal cohort program to build leaders within the organization, from existing supervisors, division managers, and frontline employees. By leveraging your employees own experiences and skills, employees can learn from each other in a facilitated setting, gain insight, and develop their skills from each other.

CWLG TICKETED EVENT KEYNOTE
11:45 am – 1:00 pm

(note: attendance by prearranged ticket only) 

Devereaux Room

On Your Own Terms: Making Your Mark and Leaving Your Legacy
Nicole Lance, Author and Executive Coach

Nicole Lance is a well-known executive coach and internationally certified life coach best known for working with individuals and teams who are ready to make courageous transformations. Having spent almost 13 years in the trenches of local government including work in budget and long-range financial planning and serving as Parks & Recreation Director and Public Works Director before wrapping up her career as an Assistant City Manager, Nicole now spends her time facilitating, speaking, training, and coaching. She is a co-founder of Arizona Women Leading Government and the Sustainable Cities Network in partnership with Arizona State University along with serving as a coach with the International City/County Management Association. Nicole spends her free time trying not to step on the Legos her daughter leaves dangerously hidden in the carpet.

Making your mark and leaving a legacy is about more than just change – it’s about impact. And in order to do so, you’ve got to be fully fueled and ready to rock. This fast-paced session will equip you with tools and strategies to make exactly the kind of mark you want to make and create exactly the sort of legacy you want to leave behind…without sacrificing yourself to do so. We’ll workshop ways to sustain yourself, lead with authenticity so you can move from ideas to actions, create productive disruption without destruction when necessary, and make meaningful change that fulfills your goals. You’ll leave feeling empowered and equipped to continue cultivating a career and life on your own terms. 

THURSDAY PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm

Devereaux Room

Recruiting Trends For Cities and Counties:  Tips to Attract and Retain Top Talent
Melissa Barker, Vice President Practice Development, Duffy Group, Inc. and Michael Penny, City Manager Castle Pines

Melissa Barker’s extensive experience in multiple facets of organizational management makes her an invaluable asset to Duffy Group. With more than 20 years of experience managing teams, directing operations and creating strategies for multiple organizations, she understands the value of finding just the right candidate Skilled at creative sourcing and attracting passive candidates, she places a wide range of candidates, from high-level executives to supervisors, across various industries including government, construction, gaming, healthcare and non-profit. Since joining Duffy Group, Melissa has built a strong foundation within the government sector. She understands that connecting candidates with a passion for public service is as crucial as her clients’ specified requirements. Her relationships with top-tier talent in government are the framework for her success.

For more than two decades, Michael Penny has exemplified the ideals of leadership, collaboration, partnership, and teamwork as the administrative manager for both large and small municipalities across Colorado.  His passion and dedication to building robust communities that address the critical needs of citizens, businesses, and industry is evidenced by the strong footprint Michael has left in each community he has touched. Michael’s career path is marked with success through significant contributions to local government as a municipal manager, consultant, and private sector strategist. Michael currently serves as the City Manager for the City of Castle Pines. His prior experience includes roles as the Vice President of Client Services for Brown and Caldwell (2016 to 2017), City Manager for the City of Littleton, Colorado (2011 to 2016), Town Manager for the Town of Frisco, Colorado (2004 to 2011) and City Manager for the City of Ouray, Colorado (2002 to 2004).

Roosevelt Room

Cost Trends Affecting Your Public Entity Insurance
Tami Tanoue, CIRSA Executive Director, and Sam Light, CIRSA Deputy Executive Director/General Counse

Tami Tanoue has been CIRSA’s Executive Director since August, 2018. Her previous positions with CIRSA include General Counsel/Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel/Claims Manager. She was previously in private practice with the law firm of Griffiths, Tanoue, Light, Harrington & Dawes, where she served CIRSA as its contract General Counsel for 12 years, and was City or Town Attorney for several Colorado municipalities. Prior to that, she was Staff Attorney for the Colorado Municipal League, where she represented the collective interests of Colorado municipalities. Tami is a regular speaker on local government liability topics, and has written several publications on liability issues.

Sam Light is Deputy Executive Director/General Counsel for CIRSA. Prior to joining CIRSA in 2018, he was a partner with the Denver law firm of Light | Kelly, P.C., specializing in municipal and other public entity law, insurance law, and defense of public entities and elected officials.  Sam has over 25 years of experience serving as general or special counsel to several Colorado cities, towns, self-insurance pools, and other public entities, and he is a frequent speaker on public entity risk issues

This presentation will discuss recent loss trends that are driving the increasing costs of public entity insurance, and overview some strategies being implemented to address these trends.

Colorado Room

Reimagining Policing in the City of Boulder
Wendy Schwartz and Stephen Redfearn, City of Boulder

Wendy Schwartz is Human Services Policy Director for the City of Boulder and served as Project Manager for the Reimagine Policing Project (Police Department Strategic Plan). Stephen Redfearn is Deputy Police Chief at the Boulder Police Department.

In the midst of challenging conversations about police reform and equity, local safety concerns, a staffing shortage and tragic mass shooting; the City of Boulder embarked on the task of updating its Police Department Master Plan. The project, which became known as Reimagine Policing, is being discussed as a possible national model in police reform and broke new ground for the city in community engagement and planning.

THURSDAY PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm

Devereaux Room

Ethics Discussion on Tenets 8 (Professional Development) and 10 (Job Encroachment)
Jessica Cowles, ICMA & Pam Davis, ICMA/City of Boulder

Jessica Cowles joined the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) in May 2018 and is
the organization’s Ethics Director. Her role involves proactively discussing ethics issues with members,
offering training, reviewing the Code of Ethics with membership, and staffing the ICMA Committee on
Professional Conduct, a subcommittee of ICMA’s Executive Board. Prior to ICMA, Jessica served as the Town Manager in Berwyn Heights, Maryland, a small full-service community located near Washington, D.C. for four years. One of her accomplishments in Berwyn
Heights was implementing the governing body’s decision to adopt a council-manager form of
government. Her first position in local government was in Maryland’s capital city of Annapolis as a
legislative and policy analyst.
Jessica started her career as a staffer on Capitol Hill then worked in government relations and
management consulting for nearly 10 years before completing her MPA. She received a bachelor’s
degree in Political Theory.

For her entire career, Pam Davis has worked on behalf of communities to promote inclusion, partnership, and innovation. Pam is currently Assistant City Manager for the City of Boulder, Colorado. Prior to Boulder, she has served in four other cities: Sierra Vista and Goodyear, Arizona, and Fort Collins and Estes Park, Colorado. She is also currently the Mountain Plains Regional Vice President for the International City/County Management Association executive board and Chair of CivicPRIDE, a professional association dedicated to advancing LGBTQIA+ leadership in local government. Leading CivicPRIDE is her effort to be the person she needed when she was younger.

Pam holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Smith College and a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Urban Management from Arizona State University, where was honored to be a Marvin Andrews Fellow.

In 2013, the ICMA Executive Board approved a plan to engage the membership in a structured review of the Code of Ethics (Code). The Code celebrates 100 years of guiding the membership in 2024, and this approach ensures its continued relevance for those working in service to local government. Only Tenets 8 and 10 remain for review and feedback in this effort. The history and discussion questions in this session will provide feedback for ICMA’s Committee on Professional Conduct to consider in potential revisions to the language in Tenets 8 and 10.

Roosevelt Room

Picking the Right Tool for the Job – Options for Funding Your Capital Plan
Dalton Kelley, Butler Snow

Dalton Kelley is an attorney at Butler Snow LLP who represents governmental entities in public finance transactions and economic development matters. Dalton has served as bond counsel, special counsel and disclosure counsel for a variety of financings, including general obligation bonds, user fee revenue bonds, excise tax revenue bonds, lease purchase financings, tax increment financings and private activity bonds. Dalton has served as special counsel to several governmental entities in connection with the negotiation of public private partnerships and the related public finance agreements. Dalton also advises and represents clients in connection with election matters, including drafting ballot questions for TABOR elections, helping governmental entities prepare notices and meet election deadlines, and advising clients on compliance with the Fair Campaign Practices Act. Dalton also advises and represents clients in connection with the formation of quasi-municipal entities and other political subdivisions and the adoption of governing plans, including forming water authorities, urban renewal authorities and downtown development authorities, and drafting model service plans and service plan review for governmental entities in connection with the formation of metropolitan districts.

This session will discuss the various financing options available to Colorado municipalities and counties to fund their capital projects including the types of available obligations, formation of special financing entities, implications of TABOR, and key factors to keep in mind throughout the planning process. The presentation will focus on how long term financial obligations can fit into a governmental entity’s overall capital program and key factors to keep in mind when evaluating options.

Colorado Room

Teamwork and Overcoming Workplace Productivity Challenges
Drew Sanders, City of Cortez

Current City Manager in Cortez.  Former adjunct professor at the University of Utah; 14 years experience teaching undergrad and professional education courses.  Delivered instruction to various private and public organizations around the U.S.

Attendees will learn the five stages of organizational decline and how teamwork dysfunction can perpetuate decline.

THURSDAY PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
3:30 pm – 4:15 pm

Devereaux Room

Putting People First: A We-Centric Approach to Change Management
Misty Janks, MSIO, Chapman Foundation for Caring Communities

Misty Janks, an organizational psychologist and strategic leader, serves as CEO of the Chapman Foundation for Caring Communities. Misty has over 20 years of experience in executive leadership and is skilled at creating holistic business approaches that unleash the power and potential of people inside the organization. Misty has a proven track record for shifting organizational cultures and aligning strategies to increase engagement, commitment, performance, and results.

Misty’s real-world experience in executive leadership, combined with her master’s in industrial and organizational psychology, helps her appreciate and drive leadership responsibility in setting organizational culture. In a true “D” behavioral tendency style, Misty values your time and will help you return to your organization with a complete toolbox with immediate actionable items.

Roosevelt Room

Building a Positive Organizational Culture
Shawn Lewis, City of Englewood

Since 2019, City Manager Shawn Lewis and Deputy City Manager Tim Dodd have developed employee surveys, action teams, organizational improvement plans, staff training programs and ongoing communication tools for City of Englewood staff that are building a positive organizational culture.

Covid, inflation, and the great resignation forced organizations to adjust pay and benefits and provide flex and telework options, but research shows that a positive organizational culture has a far greater impact on staff retention and satisfaction, not to mention recruitment. This session will serve as a how-to guide for improving organizational culture based on best practices and five years of trial and error at the City of Englewood.

Colorado Room

Cultivating Diversity in City Leadership: Journeys, Insights and Strategies

Panelists: Jennifer Hoffman, City and County Manager, City and County Manager of Broomfield; Raymond Lee, City Manager, City of Greeley; Denzel Maxwell, Assistant City Manager, City of Fort Collins; and, Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde, City of Boulder
Moderator: Scott Trainor, City Manager, City of Fountain

One of the gaps in Colorado’s city management landscape is the lack of diversity at the top levels. Our impressive panel will share with the audience their own leadership journeys, and insights and strategies on how others can recruit and cultivate diverse talent.