Navigator Award Finalist: Robert Green, City Manager, Auburndale, Fla.
This municipal leader has a solid track record of fostering the next generation of local government managers.
This is the 33rd in a series of profiles on the 50 finalists for Route Fifty’s Navigator Awards program. The first 10 finalists were from the Government Allies and Cross-Sector Partners category. Finalists 11-20 were from the Agency and Department Leadership category. Finalists 21-30 were from the Executive Leadership category. Finalists 31-40 were from the Next Generation category. Finalists 41-50 are from the Data and IT Innovators category. Explore our complete list of 50 finalists.
When Robert Green, the city manager in Auburndale, Florida, and current president of the Florida City / County Management Association, delivered the closing remarks at a gathering earlier this year, he shared a story about a member of the city council who was curious about his leadership style. The council member had privately asked a department head whether Green had a problem keeping assistant city managers on staff.
Since 1991, when Green became Auburndale’s city manager, there’s been a succession of assistant managers. The multitude of deputies over the years may seem like a management failure to some, but, as a Route Fifty Navigator Award nomination submission had detailed, it’s actually somewhat intentional:
He has made it a personal mission to identify, prepare, and “send out” local government managers, developing them from his staff and encouraging them out to successfully manage other communities.
Auburndale’s municipal government, led by Green, has been an incubator of city and county management talent.
So while it may seem odd to include a veteran city manager like Green in the Next Generation category for a Navigator Awards, his work to foster future government managers makes him an excellent finalist pick.
The nomination submission continues:
Is it a new idea? No. Is it innovative? Only in the sense that no one else is doing it as much or as successfully as Bobby Green, and has been as consistent and committed for more than two decades. Some develop bench strength for their organizations. Bobby Green is developing the bench for a profession.
Route Fifty agrees with that sentiment and we’re happy to include Green as a Navigator Award finalist.
Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Government Executive’s Route Fifty and is based in Seattle.
NEXT STORY: DC revs up smart-city project