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and, finally, he met with law enforce- ment and school representatives to discuss school security. "When I first got in this business, the chief administrative officer dealt more with the technical skills that he brought to the job, whether they be finance or engineering or whatever the background that he might have had," says O'Neill, who was city man- ager for Hampton, Va., for 13 years prior to becoming county executive last year. "The major transformation that I've seen is that the role of the county executive has become more that of a broker." "We opemte in a competitive envi- ronment," says Frank Benest, city manager for Brea, Calif., and former city manager for Colton, Calif. "We compete with other communities for resident.s, businesses, visitors, service users, discretionary income, attention and political support. We compete for everything. To be successful, you have to be very conscious of your cus- tomers, how you're involving them and what you're doing to make sure they support you." NAVIGATING NEW BOUNDARIES Although the role of Manager as Broker takes many managers outside the government organization, it has equal importance internally, Renest notes. "It's expected that the city manager is a strong leader," he says. "That's externally, in terms of other governmental agencies and in engag- ing citizens and business people, and internally, in terms of staff and departments." More than ever, manager's offices are being tapped to coordinate inter- departmental projects. "Most cities are organized as silos, with the police department doing its thing; develop- ment services doing its thing; and so forth," Benest says. "But the big issues of the day cut across the silos." For example, he notes that recre- ation and community services devart- ments are working more closely to provide "a more human service- oriented approach to recreation - Tlis :fl./"\.j<;;) f,b,fi:h;.;r J1 IJJL)::{;'IJ IIJq;) J<.:: AMERICAN CITY & COUNTY CTT1/COPNTY M~NAGEMENT Labor guide is available Public officials with questions about the minimum wage, overtime com- pensation, child labor and other employment issues can find answers in "1998 Fair Labor St.andards Act; A Public Sector Compliance ('JUide."Pub- lished by Los Angeles-based law firm Liebert, Cassidy & Frierson, the manual trclIllilates statutory and legal terminology into layman's terms; illustrates how to apply laws and regulations; cites up-to-date court decisions and Depart- ment of Labor administrative letter tulings and regulations; includes sample policies and forms; and more. The cost is $95 each for two guides and $85 each for three or more. For more information, contact Jay Dover at 310-645-6492. -t.r not just balls and bats anymore." Police departments are moving from strict enforcement to community- oriented policing; and development services and community development department$ are muulally involved in neighborhood revitalization. "You have to find ways of having different departments work in a collaborative fashion," he says. In addition to coordinating their own departments, managers also are building relationships that allow their local governments to extend their services to other localities and to enlist help in delivery. For example, Fairfax County recently began work- ing with not-far-profit groups to meet the service demands of a growing and increasingly diverse population. (The county's population is 940,000, and, as the general purpose local govern- ment, Fairfax County radler tllan dle cities within its borders is responsible for providing all public services except transportation. ) "We've had huge immigration into tile county from tile Far East, SOUdl America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East," O'Neill says, noting that more than 100 languages are spo- ken in the county's school system. "We need to have enormous language capabilities in our service delivery component, and we've got to under- stand not only the language issues but, in many cases, the cultural differ- ences," he explains. "lAs a result], we have to do more in teams, and we ~ ..()l);f9 flftJfj L;,J,.::i:.tJ .(,D have to do it in pMtnerships with not-far-profit groups that may have more knowledge about the cultural basis for many of these communities." The chief executive can have a sig- nificant impact on how smootbly local government departments adjust to changing demands, O'Neill says. He estimates that he spends as much time building consensus internally as he does externally. "I try to create an environment where we can change our organization and be responsive to what the new reality is," he says. "That means work- ing with employees and explaining the changing dynamics, helping them understand how tllose will affect dlem and engaging them to have some influence on that." THE ESSENTIAL MANAGER City and county managers come in a variety of packages, including Administrator, Executive, Director, General Manager, Community Man- ager and Executive Secretary. Regard- less of dleir titles, however, tile skills needed to succeed are the same. "The ideal manager would be some- one who is respected by his or her employees and can deal well in the political realm of the city council and community leaders," King says. "That's a hard thing to gauge, but, if you could ~'.>'; i)\1),i"},',:).-;),j"7c-3,1;, /,$ ,.. '~"~~.;'.l~.,...,.,(.....j..t.:...-..:....,.',,"..:,..:.:......t....'.........._.~.~.......~.............".r ,- -', >""'," -. -'~ .."...co..... ,- \ I ;;/;~ J.t)-;:;} ';":;./J"~:J '/' iiJ!fJg October 1998 29