Institute Director

First, I want to thank CCMFOA for underwriting my participation in the IIMC International Conference and Institute Directors’ Colloquium in Chicago in May. It was a great experience and will translate into stronger educational programming opportunities for Kansas municipal clerks and finance officers as I refer to my session notes, handouts and networking conversations!

In addition to conference programming, I attended two days of meetings specifically designed for Institute Directors and Education Chairs. Thirty-five of the 47 institute programs were represented including an Institute Director from Bulgaria.

Institute directors were asked to review the work of the association’s Strategic Planning process as it relates to education and the work underway by IIMC’s Program Review and Certification Committee. Institute directors from Colorado and Iowa are serving on the committee.

The deadline to summarize committee recommendations is September 1, 2009 for a report due October 1, 2009, to the IIMC board of directors.

Current discussion includes proposals to eliminate the pre-approval process requirement for both the Institutes and the State Associations; reduce the number of hours of education required for the CMC, increase points awarded for State Association training (to be comparable to points awarded at Institute training), and review the concept of awarding points for City Clerks teaching at Clerk Institutes and Conferences.

IIMC Executive Director Chris Shalby announced the IIMC Education and Research Director position was vacated in mid-May, 2009 and a search will be conducted in 2010. Support staff is now handling the CMC and MMC applications.

IIMC staff throughout the conference encouraged institute directors and clerks to feel comfortable contacting and communicating with them. Rebuilding trust with the IIMC headquarters and giving state programs more flexibility were underlying themes of the association business and committee meetings in Chicago.

On the home front, the CCMFOA Education Committee, chaired by Vice President Marian Cook, met at WSU in June and developed programming concepts for the November 2009 Institute and Academy and the March 2010 Spring Conference. Records management will be the theme for the Fall Academy and a 60th anniversary of CCMFOA celebration will be part of the Spring Conference!