Senior Advisor Program

The Senior Advisors Program, formerly known as Range Riders, is a partnership program between the Texas City Management Association (TCMA) and ICMA to make the counsel, experience, and support of respected, retired managers of the profession available to individual members. The program is designed to help with personal and professional issues, but does not provide any form of technical assistance nor to solve substantive problems in a local government.

Senior Advisors are available to meet periodically with members to discuss the profession and concerns of members. Discussion topics range from problems with mayors and councils, overall management questions, relations with ICMA, responses to local controversies such as referenda on the council-manager plan, to career development counseling.

Confidentiality

All discussions are confidential. Senior Advisors are friends, colleagues, and counselors to the profession—not consultants. The Senior Advisor program is designed to help with personal and professional issues, not to provide technical assistance or solve substantive problems in a local government. Senior Advisors also help communities interested in adopting or retaining council-manager government. 

However, Senior Advisors may consult with local governments as individuals, on a part-time basis, as long as the consulting does not impair the effectiveness of the Senior Advisor. Senior Advisor guidelines contain advice for Senior Advisors who do part-time consulting.

Compensation & Selection

Senior Advisors are not compensated and the program is designed to expect from the Senior Advisors only the time they feel comfortable donating to the profession—usually a few days per month. Only expenses are reimbursed.

Senior Advisors are selected jointly by the ICMA Executive Director and the managers’ state association. Expenses are shared by ICMA and the sponsoring state organization. The amount of expenses allocated depends on the size of the state, the number of Senior Advisors, and funds available from the sponsors.

For more information, please visit the ICMA Senior Advisor Program website or contact Kim Pendergraft.