Video: ELGL & SGR Present The Legacy of LP Cookingham

Posted on September 12, 2014


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ELGL and SGR Present

The Legacy of LP Cookingham

with Bruno Rumbelow, Grapevine, TX City Manager

Cookingham’s Guideposts for City Management – Pt.1 from SGR on Vimeo.

Note: The second part of the series will be released in November.

In this 100th year anniversary of ICMASGR and ELGL are partnering to help pass on the unique cultural DNA of the city management profession to the next generation of leaders.

Kent and Kirsten Wyatt, the founders of ELGL interviewed Bruno Rumbelow, Grapevine, TX city manager and the foremost authority on LP Cookingham in the city and county management profession today.

The Cookingham Connection

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In recent weeks we took the 22 City Management Guideposts of legendary city manager LP Cookingham and each week a veteran city manager shared their thoughts about that Guidepost in a blog posting.  Then an emerging leader responded to the veteran city manager’s perspectives regarding that particular Guidepost.  Each of these blog postings were published simultaneously on the ELGL and on the SGR blog.

Guidepost #8 – David Ammons
Guidepost #7 – Allen Barnes & Anthony Hooper
Guidepost #6 – Kevin Duggan & Ben Kittelson
Guidepost #5 – Scott Lazenby & Jenifer Della Valle
Guidepost #4 – Cal Horton & Ashley Graff
Guidepost #3 – Roger Kemp & Noel Bernal
Guidepost #2 – Frank Robinson & Rafael Baptista
Guidepost #1 – Chris Jordan & Emily Leuning

Quick Take from Ron Holifield, SGR

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City and county management is unlike any other profession – no other has as much impact on people’s lives day in and day out.  It is what the Dallas Morning News called in an editorial a number of years ago, “the toughest job in public service” and it truly takes a sense of calling to thrive in the current political environment.

Nothing captures this unique sense of calling of like this quote from Harry Aubrey Tomlinson’s 1915 book – “The City Manager – a New Profession”.

CITY GOVERNMENT IS EXPERIENCING A CIVIC REVOLUTION.  WE HAVE RUN SUDDENLY UPON A NOVEL AGE WHERE TRIED FORMULAS ARE NIL, WHERE OLD LANDMARKS ARE TRANSFORMED INTO STRANGE BEACON LIGHTS AND THE NEW ANCHORAGE IS YET AFAR OFF.  REVOLUTION IN MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT IS BUT ONE OF OUR VENTURES INTO THE VIRGIN LAND OF UNTRIED THINGS.  THE SEEKING OF THE TRUER, CLEANER AND THE FINER, OF THE LESS WASTEFUL AND MORE EFFICIENT IS THE ADVERTISEMENT OF OUR NATIONAL RESTLESSNESS.

 THE FAILURE OF THE OLD HAS STUNG OUR PRIDE INTO A PILGRIMAGE TO FIND SOMETHING NEWER, NOBLER, AND MORE SATISFYING THAN THAT WHICH THE OLD GOVERNMENT COULD GIVE, WITH ITS’ INCOMPETENCE, ITS’ SLOTH, ITS’ EXTRAVAGANCE.  FROM THIS GENESIS, THE NEW ORDER SPRANG.  THE CITY MANAGER PLAN IS PART OF THIS MORE MODERN TREND OF THOUGHT.

I hope you will take the time to view the video and then visit the ELGL or SGR blogs and use the insights and resources to engage your emerging leaders in a meaningful conversation about the unique cultural DNA of the city management profession.   It is critical that each of us be willing to invest in developing emerging leaders who are passionately committed to the city/county management profession.

Zuercher Connection

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