In September 2012, Thousand Oaks City Manager Scott Mitnick penned an op-ed piece for the Ventura County Star shining a light on mismanagement/ criminal conduct in several Los Angeles County cities. He then issued a call-to-action for California city governments to adhere to the highest level of ethics and managerial excellence.
For decades, California led the nation with more than 400 highly professional, ethical and transparent council-manager form of government cities.
Over the past few years, this form of government has experienced challenges in a few cities unparalleled in our state’s history. A series of articles have been written about what appears to be mismanagement and criminal conduct in a handful of southeast Los Angeles County cities. Those regarding the city of Cudahy are especially troubling.
While these articles represent a very small proportion all cities (less than 1 percent), they nevertheless reflect a serious failure of ethical and open local government.
The primary mission of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), and its California affiliate (Cal-ICMA), is to promote professional, ethical and transparent local government.