City Manager in Three Countries: An Interview with Michael Willis

• Author: Evan Berman
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12710
• Published date: 01 May 2017
• Date: 01 May 2017

City Manager in Three Countries: An Interview with Michael Willis 447

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 77, Iss. 3, pp. 447–452. © 2016 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12710.

City Manager in Three Countries:

An Interview with Michael Willis

Evan Berman is professor of

public management and director of

internationalization for the School of

Government at Victoria University of

Wellington, New Zealand. He is recipient

of the Fred Riggs Award for Lifetime

Achievement in International and

Comparative Public Administration from the

American Society for Public Administration.

He has frequently published in

Public

Administration Review

and other journals

and is author of leading textbooks in

the field.

E-mail: evanmberman@gmail.com

Administrative

Prof‌i le

M ichael Willis is a New Zealand city manager

who has worked in three countries and

is a past president of the International

City/County Management Association (ICMA)

(2005–06). Held in high esteem in his profession,

Willis highlights the importance of public values

and has been chief executive of a number of

councils, including city manager in Palmerston

North (New Zealand), chief executive of the Surrey

Heath Borough Council (United Kingdom), and

general manager of Blue Mountains City Council

(Australia). He has helped many communities

grow and improve relations among residents and

leaders while implementing comprehensive reforms

that increased senior management performance

accountability, organizational change, strategic

financial management, and more.

Berman: How did you get into city management?

Willis: I got into city management by ambition and

accident. My degrees were in history and anthropology,

and I took a government job in the Department of

Internal Affairs in Wellington (New Zealand). I thought

I would be involved in historical research, but after 10

days, I got called into my boss ’ s office and was told that I

was being transferred to the Local Government Division.

Somewhat to my surprise, I found this new area totally

engrossing. I was drafting research papers, legislation,

responses to ministerial enquiries, occasionally attending

meetings of Parliament ’ s Local Bills Committee, and so

on. I was also encouraged to enroll in Victoria University

of Wellington ’ s master of public policy program—this

gave me a tremendous insight into the public sector

and allowed me to participate in

group discussions with leading

figures in the New Zealand public

service, including both a former

and a future prime minister.

Partway through my study,

my wife and I decided to take

a year out to engage in what

Kiwis (people from New Zealand) call OE (overseas

experience) in the United Kingdom. I returned to

my old job, but soon a position came up near my old

hometown for county clerk. For me, it was a wonderful

opportunity to lead a community-based organization

and get to grips with what it was like to be the chief

executive of a small county council, as opposed to

looking at local government from a national perspective.

In the Local Government Division, we labored away on

complex and sometimes turgid policy issues, never quite

sure whether we were making a difference to those we

ultimately served—the local citizenry. In my new job

as the Waihemo County clerk there was a difference,

by implementing the decisions of the council as well as

being a part of the local community.

And here ’ s where another accident piece comes in.

When I was a senior at high school, the father of

one of my classmates was a county manager. I can

remember thinking what an interesting job that would

be; little did I know what was in store for me!

Berman: What are some of your biggest achievements,

and why?

Willis: I tend to look at this in three ways—first,

things that provide better services to citizens; second,

improving the performance of one ’ s council or agency;

and third, my contribution to our profession.

City managers have so many opportunities to

improve services and build their communities, it ’ s

really hard to say what is the biggest. Sometimes it

is in small things, like improving bus services that

help people get to work more

easily, and sometimes it is

larger projects, like putting the

Blue Mountains City Council

on a firmer financial footing,

or building a new mixed-use

library that helped revitalize a

neighborhood. As a long-serving

city manager, I can see how the

W. Henry Lambright, Editor

Evan Berman

Victoria University of Wellington , New Zealand

As a long-serving city manager,

I can see how the systems and

structures that we put in place,

along with the ef‌f orts of many

dedicated local people, foster

better communities.