ABSTRACT
Positioned between elected political leaders and municipal employees, municipal managers face the difficult challenge of converting political desires into community realities. The difficulty of being a municipal manager is exceeded only by the importance of the job. Municipal managers have both direct and indirect impact on what a local government decides to do and its success in getting it done. Evaluating the capability of municipal managers involves an examination of their competence; their motivation; the adequacy of the resources at their disposal; the quality of the management tools they use; and the balance between the exercise of union rights and management prerogatives. The chapter examines the two areas: competence and motivation. The will to manage depends on one critical factor: a manager who views himself as a manager. Many managers did not view themselves as professionals, distinct from the employees they supervised and responsible to the City Council for using available resources to achieve community objectives.
