On Friday, July 15, 2011, the recruitment deadline closed for an interim city manager in Bell, California (35,500 population). Applications were counted up. They totaled zero. The Bell brand was definitely in trouble.

A little more than 18 months ago the local government management profession was rocked by the compensation scandal in Bell. Although there will always be isolated examples of members of the profession not meeting the demands of the ICMA Code of Ethics and the expectations of their communities, the extreme conduct in Bell, along with the intense media attention it generated, created challenges for the profession both in California and across the country.

While ICMA was already focused on efforts to better explain the role and value of professional management through its upcoming “Life, Well Run” campaign, one of the worst possible examples of our profession became the best-known city manager in the nation. The greatest impact of this scandal, however, was on the residents of Bell. It became their challenge to reclaim their local government.

Painful Impacts

Among the impacts of the Bell scandal was an intense interest in public sector compensation in both national and local media. The response of the profession, including ICMA, was to focus on communicating the reality of compensation in the public sector and to identify best practices. Increased efforts were undertaken in California and other parts of the nation to develop compensation guidelines.

While these efforts were under way, Bell’s citizens began the hard work of reclaiming their community. The city manager and other high-level staff members were removed from their positions, and some had criminal charges filed against them. By early 2011, the previous council had been recalled and a new council was in place. The new councilmembers faced daunting challenges.

The scandal revealed not only outrageous issues regarding compensation but also significant management and leadership deficiencies and major financial problems. Compounding the problems was that the new council found itself with a much-depleted leadership team and one not of its choosing.

Councilmembers were also continuing to deal with significant community distrust and an overwhelming number of serious and challenging issues. There also was a lack of experienced leadership on both elected and appointed levels. An additional challenge was that all this was played out in the glare of intense media scrutiny.

As the new councilmembers struggled to try to move the community forward, their aspirations were further impacted by the impression that government professionals were unwilling to become involved in such a negative, difficult, and demanding circumstance. By the summer of 2011, the news media were beginning to conclude that no one was willing to help the city.

Although there were a number of reasons for the challenges faced in obtaining professional assistance, clearly one was the stigma associated with the previous city leadership and its impacts. When it came to ICMA’s attention that Bell was having difficulty obtaining the professional assistance needed to reestablish effective governance and services, it was clear that action was necessary.

As painful an experience as Bell continued to be, it was time for our profession to offer help. The mayor and council immediately responded with enthusiasm to ICMA’s offer to assist them in finding professional interim leadership. Also responding quickly and positively to partner with ICMA and its California affiliate, Cal-ICMA, were the League of California Cities (LCC) and its City Manager’s Department and California City Management Foundation (CCMF).

The initial assistance consisted of contacting the membership of these organizations to request help. The challenge quickly became urgent when members of the new council determined they did not wish to extend the contract of the temporary chief administrative officer they had inherited from the previous governing body.

In lieu of the contract being extended, the mayor became the interim CAO, a circumstance that neither he nor his council colleagues wanted to continue any longer than absolutely necessary. ICMA, LCC, and CCMF needed to move quickly to identify professional interim leadership.

Ken Hampian’s Story

After some direct outreach by professional colleagues, Ken Hampian, ICMA member and the retired city manager of San Luis Obispo, California, offered his services for a 30-day period. This provided time for the recruitment of a longer-term interim manager.

Not only was Ken willing to change a number of personal plans for those first 30 days, but he also insisted that he serve without compensation. He did not want any questions raised regarding his motivation to assist.

Since retiring from city management in January 2010, Ken had not been interested in pursuing interim manager positions. He was enjoying other kinds of work and service and believed the city hall portion of his life was over. But, as Ken describes it, to his surprise he had a great urge to “answer the Bell.”

He viewed the opportunity as a mission and not a job and an opportunity for our profession to demonstrate what professional service and management are really about. He was also motivated by a strong desire to change the impression created by those who preceded him and claimed to be public servants.

Within five days of the vacancy occurring, Ken interviewed with the Bell council. Within 30 minutes of meeting Ken, councilmembers appointed him interim CAO, and he immediately found himself sitting in the CAO’s chair for a jam-packed council meeting. He provided advice and suggestions at the meeting that lasted until 2 a.m.

As Ken quickly found out, the challenge was much greater than helping the organization and community recover from the compensation scandal. He found an organization in shambles. Policies, processes, hierarchy, equipment, training—the normal accoutrements of organizational life—were nonexistent or severely withered.

There were no department heads or citizen advisory bodies. Ken found the remaining staff dedicated but skeletal and shouldering an overwhelming workload. He also found Bell entangled in a net of bad debts, bond levies, lawsuits, and grant violations.

Ken was immediately immersed in an almost overwhelming number of issues ranging from those having great significance to the mundane. Compounding the challenge was the absence of staff support in key areas and the complete lack of organizational infrastructure to address even the most routine of inquiries.

He also quickly discovered that, although this working-class community had accomplished through the recall process the initial recapture of their community, they were severely handicapped by a lack of governing experience and civic involvement. The community’s dignity and self-respect had also taken a serious hit, and trust was greatly lacking.

Although a dedicated, committed, and intelligent mayor and council had been elected, they were not experienced in local government and its services. It became apparent immediately that the challenges were so great that Ken needed some direct assistance. Within days, additional local government professionals offered their help.

Of particular note was the assistance of the city of Santa Monica (City Manager Rod Gould), which immediately freed up Deputy Police Chief Al Venegas to serve as a chief of staff to Ken and assist with addressing the overwhelming number of pending issues. Deputy Chief Venegas used two weeks of his personal vacation time to help out during this critical initial period.

While immediately prioritizing a wide array of serious issues and problems and providing stability to the provision of essential daily services, the management professionals realized that a major challenge was to find a highly qualified professional to replace Ken after his 30-day emergency assignment. Again, ICMA, CCMF, and the LCC joined together to advertise and review applicants for recommendation to the council.

A committee, under the leadership of retired city manager and Cal-ICMA member Kevin O’Rourke, ICMA-CM, sprang into action. The response to an extended deadline and additional professional outreach was gratifying. A strong group of candidates was identified, with three ultimately recommended to the council for interview.

Ken and other dedicated volunteers made great strides toward stabilizing the Bell organization and to help the council move the community forward during this initial period. Trust and confidence in professional management was already significantly restored after Ken’s time in Bell.

His service was greatly appreciated, and when he completed his 30 days of service the community graciously expressed its gratitude, not only to Ken but also to ICMA/Cal-ICMA, LCC, and CCMF.

Arne Croce’s Story

Arne Croce, ICMA-CM, ICMA Life Member, and the retired city manager of San Mateo, California, has had a number of professional adventures since leaving full-time city management in 2008. In addition to providing consultant assistance to several California public agencies, he also promoted professional local governance through service in Iraq and Kosovo.

Shortly after returning from Kosovo, he was encouraged by fellow local government professionals to consider the challenge of the long-term interim CAO assignment in Bell. He was one of the several highly qualified applicants solicited to apply and was one of three final candidates recommended to the council. He was subsequently interviewed and selected to replace Ken. The joint recruitment and selection process by ICMA, CCMF, and LCC was, amazingly, completed in less than three weeks.

Arne knew that this task would require him to be away from his home in northern California for at least nine months while working for less than would normally be expected for this type of interim assignment. He was drawn to this challenge by his desire to assist the community after it had been ravaged by an individual who claimed to be a member of the management profession. He also was drawn to the opportunity to work with elected officials who were committed to making things right again.

Although a great number of problems had been initially addressed by Ken and his team of volunteer professionals, the vast majority of problems still faced Arne. Among these were helping to establish effective community dialogues, including at council meetings, addressing the daunting financial and budget challenges, and hiring a team of department heads.

At the same time, Arne felt warmly welcomed to the Bell organization and community. He found the community positive and supportive. There was obvious appreciation for his willingness to join them in their efforts to restore the community. He also sensed their relief in having professional management that they could trust and that would provide good advice and day-to-day management to their organization. He found the employees receptive to new ideas and open to change.

Among Arne’s immediate priorities was to further expand the cadre of professional volunteers to help on a wide variety of projects and assignments. These included the development of an RFP process for a refuse collection contract, the need to create basic HR policies and procedures, and the necessity to address poorly maintained mobile home parks that he had discovered were owned by the city.

A major step forward was Arne’s ability to assemble a small but highly skilled and professional group of full-time interim department heads. Although they are compensated, they have been willing to serve for payment that’s below what they could otherwise earn; they have accepted their temporary jobs because of their belief in the important work being done. He has seen tremendous progress through the efforts of these dedicated professionals.

Arne has also greatly expanded the number of volunteer part-time professionals who provide valuable help on a wide variety of topics. Also, a number of professional associations including ICMA, the Alliance for Innovation, the Institute for Local Government, and the International Personnel Management Association have offered assistance in a variety of ways. Other cities, including San Mateo, California (City Manager Susan Loftus) and Beverly Hills, California (City Manager Jeff Kolin, ICMA-CM), have provided specific assistance in such areas as upgrading the technology infrastructure in city facilities.

Arne sees the organization moving in a positive direction, with the greatest achievements so far being the establishment of professional interim leadership in departments, triage of critical problems and issues, initiation of an effective budget process, and creation of an expectation for openness and transparency relating to all municipal business.

His overarching goals for his time in Bell include stabilizing the organization, establishing permanent professional staff, creating needed internal organizational infrastructure, and stabilizing the city’s financial condition. The bottom line for Arne is to have his time and the time of his fellow professionals demonstrate what can be expected from honest, open, and professional local government management.

Pam Easter’s Story

Pam Easter, a retired city manager, assistant city manager, and ICMA Senior Adviser, is one person in an extraordinary group of dedicated volunteer professionals who stepped in to support Ken and subsequently Arne and who is continuing to provide assistance to the Bell community. As she watched the compensation scandal unfold, she fully appreciated the negative impact it had on the Bell community and on our profession.

Immediately upon hearing of the challenges encountered by Ken Hampian, Pam volunteered to serve and subsequently undertook a long daily commute in order to help stabilize the organization. Like Ken and Arne, she wanted to be part of the effort to help Bell recover as well as demonstrate the positive impact that professional and ethical local government management can have on a community.

Pam found that the councilmembers and staff were dedicated to the difficult work of reforming and rebuilding the organization. Although greatly impacted by the actions of a few Bell leaders, the staff was committed to creating an organization and community of which they could be proud. Pam was encouraged to find that the new council understood the importance of professional and ethical management.

What had initially been an offer to assist Ken for the first few challenging days of his service turned into a much longer commitment. Pam provided critical support during Ken’s month as interim city administrator and then continued her service after Arne arrived. Pam has served in a variety of capacities ranging from interviewing employees to helping assess the organization, undertaking administrative analysis, and serving as acting interim city administrator and interim finance director.

She found a group of employees who were still committed to providing public services but who had suffered from the absence of professional and ethical leadership. Employees had also been severely impacted by the barrage of negative publicity and the constant negativity regarding all things related to Bell.

They also were operating in an atmosphere of great uncertainty on almost all levels, ranging from finances to organizational leadership. Pam was impressed to find that, after looking deeper than the now stereotypical view of what to expect in a “Bell employee,” she found a committed and concerned group of staff members doing their best to provide services under difficult circumstances.

Pam was able to help employees stay focused on their obligation to provide important and often vital public services. She also got great satisfaction from being able to serve as an example to the staff of how professional managers conducted themselves.

Working with Ken and Arne, she was able to demonstrate that organizational leaders can serve as role models and can work positively and constructively in a team environment with their fellow employees while providing support and encouragement.

Pam’s commitment and the commitment of many other volunteers to the management profession and all that it stands for is being demonstrated every day in Bell.

Conclusion to Date Is Positive

Ultimately, as is the case in all of the communities in which managers serve, the success of Bell and the Bell community is in the hands of its residents and council. Even with the great progress that has already been made, it could take years for the community to recover from the poor leadership and governance of the past.

Though the challenge is long term, the current budget development process is a clear example of progress. A community-involved budget process (totally lacking previously) is underway and will lead to clear city goals and priorities. The budget format is being revamped to include basic workload and performance measures. Progress against goals, priorities, and performance will be regularly monitored and reported. While these steps may appear basic for most communities, these are major steps forward for Bell.

With the help of professionals dedicated to the public interest, the elected officials in Bell and the community as a whole are working to reform and restore their community. Although the experience of Bell has been difficult for the local government management community, the story is changing and it is hoped that Bell can one day serve as a positive example for the profession.

The response to the call to assist by so many organizations and individual professionals has been a clear demonstration of what our profession and the individuals who compose it represent. Only a small fraction of the many offers of help could actually be accepted. All of us who are committed to good governance and effective and honest local government management owe all of these organizations and individuals our gratitude and appreciation.

While the negative example of the previous Bell leadership will be difficult to overcome, we can be grateful to the new community leaders and dedicated professionals who are striving every day to create a positive example of how effective local governments can function.

Professional local government management makes a significant difference in our communities. This is now being proven every day in the city of Bell.

Kevin Duggan, ICMA-CM, is ICMA West Coast regional director, Mountain View, California, and is former city manager of Mountain View (kduggan@icma.org).