bio_curran_markCCMF is grateful to Mark Curran for his 25 years of service on the CCMF Board of Trustees. For anyone who may have missed out on the privilege of working with him, we would like to share a brief interview from January of 2013:

When and how did you get involved with CCMF?

Curran: In 1987 Karen Smith (CCMF board member and then City Manager of Union City and Clark Goecker (League of Cities Senior Staff and Staff Liaison with CCMF) met with me to determine my interest in joining the CCMF board. Based on my commitment to supporting excellent city government and my background in the public sector, I was both honored and intrigued by the invitation and joined the board immediately. My initial focus was on both fundraising and increasing the visibility of CCMF.  Though I eventually helped with other tasks, I did continue with those two basic tasks for my 25 years with the foundation.

What was the organization like when you joined? How has it changed?

Curran: For my 25 years on the board the one consistent attribute for CCMF was the board membership – a team of highly motivated city managers who are truly dedicated to improving professional city management in California. While the focus of foundation has certainly broadened over the last 25 years, the basic focus of improving and strengthening the quality of the city management profession and effective city management has never changed. Over the last two decades CCMF has been able to broaden its efforts to work to improve practically all facets of the city management profession, from recruitment, evaluations, manager-council relations, promoting the strengths of the city manager form of governance and professional handling of transitions. The foundation has increasingly been able to broaden its support of all key facets of the profession as time and resource growth have made possible.

One of the most important changes has been the hiring of an Executive Director.  Bill Garrett has done a remarkable job as the first CCMF Executive Director and his efforts have really put a solid foundation under the day to day activities of CCMF.

What was your favorite part of working with CCMF?

Curran: The interaction with my fellow board members was, far and away, the major attraction of CCMF board membership. I met many of the board members for the first time when they joined the board and, to a one, found them to be dedicated, thoughtful and also very engaging to work with. Working through many different issues with them and observing how they all had unique ways of approaching challenges provided me with a much broader view of the workings of cities that was always rewarding.

One area of activity that I found particularly fascinating were our efforts to promote the basic city manager form of government. Having grown up and, while in college, worked for cities with strong mayor forms of government, when I first came to California I found the city manager form of government a breath of fresh air. I quickly decided that the city manager form of local government made better sense than any other vehicle. I truly enjoyed working on programs to help maintain this form of government when it was challenged. Further, I think the results in many of the cities that did shift away from a strong city manager form of government truly speak for themselves.

It was also delightful to note certain board members were expert at reviewing their meeting agenda packages at the meeting; obviously taking a ‘page from the agenda packet binder’ that was not dissimilar from certain city council members who occasionally evidenced the same level of preparation.

You’ve stepped down from the CCMF Board. What was you motivation and what are you up to these days?

Curran: After 25 years on the Board, it was certainly the right time move on.  Some might say I dawdled a decade or so too long.  In 25 years I was able to attend 99 of the 100 scheduled board meetings. CCMF is now a well established force for better local government in California and has a strongly positive national reputation.

As you can see from my tenure with CCMF, I am not the type of person to jump from one platform or focus to another.  I have worked with California cities on financial challenges since a week before the Proposition 13 election and continue to do so today.  I have also been with Piper Jaffray for 18 years working with California governments and expect to continue on doing that for quite a few more years. The financial challenges facing California cities are as great today as they have ever been and I like a good challenge.