Transformation > Transition
Four mayors and eight city councils. That’s a career in most places but, with two-year terms, its fourteen years in Davenport, Iowa. No City Administrator had come close to a double-digit tenure in Davenport before, so fourteen years was plenty. Enough to get both kids through school and off to college before the end arrived.
The end began with the Mayor and me in Des Moines, receiving a $10.75 million allocation from the State of Iowa. That afternoon, a City Council meeting awaited back in Davenport with an agenda item to fire me and the City Attorney. Get $10 million in the morning. Get fired in the afternoon? In Davenport, you don’t have to make stuff like that up. The good news is the City Council boycotted the Friday afternoon meeting. Saturday morning, I met with a few Council representatives, and we all moved on.
“In transition” is the euphemism we’ve chosen as a profession. You’ll get a few calls, a very nice letter from ICMA staff and a collection of material that is, at turns, both helpful and dreadful. Having lived through it, I’ll try to add to the helpful, with some advice.
Always be ready for the end. It can come at any time, for any reason, or no reason at all. Continue your professional education. Invest in networking and skill-building. Be kind. Build a staff that can survive anything. Have a resume closer to the leading edge than trailing edge, and have a meaningful story for your career ready for whenever, however, the end arrives. Save money - every, single, paycheck - so you are not beholden to anyone or any pressing timeline.
As the end is swirling around you, the two most important things to do are to find peace and focus on the future. You’ll want to fight back. You’ll want to over-protect staff and advance projects that are meaningful to you. These are normal, natural reactions but they take time and energy away from what you need to do most in the very short amount of time you'll have – which is to get you and your family to a more peaceful and happier future. Leave with fondness, and a smile.
Once you separate, keep your bearings. Stay busy by consulting, volunteering and taking on projects. Keep moving forward. Take a class or two. Have a daily schedule and find time to exercise. Be positive and, though this sounds difficult, relax. You’ve been given a gift of freedom. Enjoy it. I did things I never could have done while advancing a city of 100,000. I built furniture for the kids. Spent evenings (any evening I wanted !) with my lovely wife. I went to Lalapalooza and a half dozen national parks. It was fantastic.
Was there some anxiety and uncertainty? Sure, but the truth in our profession is there’s no certainty to start with. That’s part of its charm. So while I could have continued consulting and coasted to a retirement if I wanted to, the allure of the profession is too strong. Working on the front lines of democracy and public policy is a calling, not a job to transition out of, or retire from just yet. So I’m trading the big muddy for the biggest blue, loading up the U-Haul in the second week of January, bound for Seaside, California.
I’m trying to arrive not just transitioned, but transformed. That’s what freedom allows, and professional growth requires. It’s a different world than the one we occupied in August of 2001 as I arrived in Davenport, and the recent break has provided perspective on what I need to do and who I need to be in this new time, and new place. Open, agile, impactful and friendly is the start.
Where it ends? Unknowable at the moment. That's part of the fun.
12/22/15
