Welcome to the Oregon City/County Management Association.  OCCMA strives to be the “go to place” for professional local government managers in Oregon for support, connections, professional development, information sharing, and fellowship.  OCCMA has been an important part of my life and career, providing me with a network of peers, opportunities to serve the profession, a code of ethics, new ideas about leadership, management, and public policy, and fun. 

It’s an honor to serve as your 2025 Association president alongside an amazing board of directors. The OCCMA Board has an ambitious agenda for 2025.  We want to provide value to our association and its members.  Here are some of the things you can look forward to:

• Excellent Professional Development.  I hope you’ll join us at the conferences and workshops we’ll be putting on next year. 
• The Northwest Regional Manager’s Conference is hosted by the Washington City/County Manager’s Association, March 18-21 in Vancouver.  This conference is always informative and fun.
• The League of Oregon Cities Spring Conference is in North Bend this year and will include an OCCMA workshop on May 1.
• Our Summer Conference is in Bend this year, and enjoy great training, informative tours, and outstanding social events. 
• And at LOC’s Annual Conference, we’ll have another workshop while we celebrate the League’s 100^th anniversary.
• Updated communications.  OCCMA has published its last printed newsletter, and our communications committee will be working to implement new tools.  How would you like the association to share information with you?  How do you want to share information with each other?  Our communications committee will also be developing a strategy to roll out our civic education toolkit.  This committee can use your help, so please share if you have ideas.
• Refreshed support for managers.  One of the board’s priorities this year is to make sure we’re all getting the support we need from OCCMA and from each other at every career stage.  We’re taking a look at how we welcome new members, provide mentoring (especially on specific topics and skills), have new manager meet-ups, and leverage the expertise and volunteer time of our Senior Advisors.
• Ethics Training and Support.  Our ethics committee will be celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the ICMA Code of Ethics by designing trainings that help us navigate the most difficult and most common dilemmas faced by our members
• Strengthening our Association.  The board is deeply committed to making sure we’re growing as an association and that all members feel welcome and a sense of belonging.

I hope you’ll be inspired this year to get involved with OCCMA and with each other.  We need your participation, energy, and ideas.  I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event or conference.