M Focus on: Municipal Management
Atlantic City cultivates a solid management team
By BETH ANNE BRINK-COX | The Municipal
Many layers are required to ensure city operations run efficiently — from the city clerk, city solicitor, planning and development to public safety, public works and so on. Each department requires not only the initial education and training but periodic updating as times change. There is always room for improvement. Regular education basis is a necessary asset, and Atlantic City, N.J., knows that. City supervisors’ participation in the Certified Public Manager program was a direct result of the Atlantic City Transition Report in September 2018. This report provided a framework for returning the city to local control. The state report led to a recommendation about the CPM. The program’s primary goal is to improve the performance of public sector managers and the organizational performance of state, local and federal governments, helping to build the capacity of city government. Fifteen supervisory-level city employees graduated in May 2020 — the first class, but not the last — making them better suited as 18 THE MUNICIPAL | DECEMBER 2021
professionals and better fitted to tackle the day-to-day challenges as the capacity for city government grows. CPM is all about specialized management training, and the designation is awarded to public sector middle managers who have completed the required 300 hours of study through an accredited program. Atlantic City’s 15 employees completed their coursework, all while maintaining their full-time jobs. CPM programs are sponsored and operated by a public sector agency or university in a state or other political jurisdiction. The Institute of Certified Professional Managers is a nonprofit educational institute
ABOVE: The Atlantic City Transition Report in September 2018 recommended CPM training as part of the framework for returning the city to local control (Racheal Grazias/Shutterstock.com)
and certification body, established in 1974 through a grant from George R. Brown Foundation. The institute was formed to enhance recognition of management as a profession and to provide direction in the study of management. Two organizations founded ICPM: the International Management Council and the National Management Association. ICPM is a U.S.based, nonprofit educational institute and certification body affiliated with the James Madison University College of Business. In Atlantic City, the program was administered by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission and was delivered by Rutgers University-Newark’s School of Public Affairs and Administration. The city employees attended once a week for about 10 months, with a summer break of two months. The courses included case studies,
