WASHINGTON MUNICIPAL CLERKS ASSOCIATION                                             July 2008 Executive Committee Monthly Report

ALLISON "ALI" SPIETZ

WMCA PRESIDENT

CITY CLERK - CITY OF MERCER ISLAND

Hello WMCA!!!

I hope you all survived the heat wave and you are gearing up for a relaxing summer!  I’ve been traveling quite a bit these last few months and I just want to give you a quick update on the conferences I have attended.

In April, I went to Bakersfield, CA for the City Clerks Association of California conference.  The theme was PAL – Promote Education, Advocate Integrity, Leave a Legacy.  The keynote speaker Deb Sofield gave a great session The UnSpoken Rules of the Game - 5 Habits That Will Change Your Life which was very inspiring…we hope to have her as an academy speaker in the future!  We also had a very interesting dinner at a local Basque restaurant…pickled tongue was the delicacy…yuck…not for me!  The all-conference event was at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace with a great dinner and dancing. The annual banquet summed up the conference with awards given to some pretty amazing clerks.  It made me realize that our profession has some of the most hard-working and humble people in it.

In May, I traveled to Atlanta, GA for the International Institute of Municipal Clerks conference.  It was very special to carry the Washington State flag and to represent our state during the opening ceremonies.  And even more exciting we were treated to American Idol’s Reuben Studdard singing Georgia on My Mind to kick off the conference. We had 13 clerks from Washington State who attended some excellent educational sessions, a great Region IX roundtable and fun activities.  We also helped Region IX Director Collen Nicol kick-off her campaign for IIMC Vice-Presidency.  The IIMC conference continues to be a great place to learn new things and meet great people.

In June, I attend the Northwest Clerks Institute Master Academy (PD IV) at the University of Puget Sound.  Dr. Michael Shadow presented an excellent seminar on Persuasive Communication.  While I learned so much about public speaking and persuasion, I realized that I will have to spend more time on writing my speeches…I was doing everything wrong! J  Please see Kammy Hill’s article further down in the Monthly Report for more details on this wonderful class.

Three days after Master Academy, I traipsed way up north to Prince George British Columbia for the Local Government Management Association (LGMA) conference.  Over 250 City Administrators, City Managers, Finance Officers, City Clerks, Deputy Clerks and other municipal employees throughout BC attended the conference as well as representatives from the United States (WMCA), New Zealand and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Ontario (it was very cool to have the national anthem of the United States sung just for me J).  I spent a great deal of time talking with delegates about the differences between our organizations as well as the variations in our governments. LGMA puts on a very professional conference with great general sessions as well as breakout sessions. I think this connection between WMCA and LGMA will continue to benefit both of our organizations in the future.

It has been a wonderful experience to represent WMCA over the last few months as your President.  In seeing how others do what we do, I am convinced that while there are areas we can grow and change in, our fundamental mission to promote professional and education standards for clerks and to provide improved local governmental services in Washington State is strong.

I look forward to working with the Education and Conference Planning Committee to put together a great conference in March 2009 at the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino in Ocean Shores.  The theme is “X Marks the Spot…X-perience, X-cellence, X-traordinary.  I hope you can all make it!

Enjoy your Fourth of July weekend!

Ali