When a City Government Faces Challenges, ‘You Either Rise to the Occasion or You Don’t’

The following article originally appeared in "What's Next in Local Government," a new, free eBook we published in conjunction with the International City/County Management Association.

In it we examine how jurisdictions around the U.S. are addressing everything from finance to data-based decision-making through case studies and profiles of local officials.

ICMA's 101st annual conference in Seattle, Washington, may have wrapped, but Route Fifty will expand on our coverage in the coming weeks and months.

For now, check out the eBook here.

Tanisha Briley’s ascent to the city managership of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, is a testament to how confidence-building fellowships can help diversify the ranks of local government.

Lacking exposure to the council-manager government system prevalent in other parts of the nation, the 36-year-old Cleveland native didn’t learn about city managers until after earning her master’s degree from Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs.

As a fellow in the International City/County Management Association’s 2006 Local Government Management program, Briley would cut her teeth juggling large assignments for layoff-stricken Davenport City Hall in eastern Iowa. There she’d gain the experience needed to self-assuredly climb the public administration ladder—unlike many of her colleagues.

“There’s a crisis at the top, where city managers are not retiring, and their assistants are not moving up,” Briley told Route Fifty in an interview. “The process doesn’t work if no one moves to the next level, but many are afraid and self-doubt is clogging up the pipeline.”

Growing up in Cleveland’s housing projects, Briley’s impoverished family depended on city and county programs like field trips hosted by the local recreation center. Although she wouldn’t realize just how instrumental they were to her development until after college—she was the first in her family to graduate with a college degree—Briley said she was always service-oriented and civic-minded. 

As a high school junior, Briley organized a protest of then-Mayor Michael White, who she felt was prioritizing the construction of the Jacobs Field ballpark to the detriment of schools. Some of her textbooks at the time dated back to the 1970s.

During her undergraduate years at The Ohio State University, Briley intended on pursuing business. 

But during a study abroad program in South Africa, she was surprised to find citizens wrestled with similar problems: access to quality housing and education, as well poverty. She returned to Columbus and finished her business degree but then became a staffer for state Sen. Mark Mallory.

“My life has always been touched and shaped by programs run by public administration,” Briley said. “I loved working one-on-one with constituents and helping them access services. All of the issues I wanted to affect were at the local level.” 

After a stint as an OSU recruiter for a minority scholarship program, Briley returned to school at Cleveland State University to get her master’s in public administration.

In 2006, she applied for ICMA’s fellowship on a whim after graduation and was two months into a job with OSU’s ACCESS Collaborative, when she heard back from Davenport.

Briley said she was struck by longtime City Administrator Craig Malin’s passion for his profession, in spite of Davenport’s significant economic challenges, which impacted the city government. The city was missing an entire layer of middle management due to staff cuts that created what Briley called a “perfect storm.”

“Being able to come into an organization and take on challenging projects at a pivotal time—the economic recession hit while I was there—you either rise to the occasion or you don’t,” she said. 

Briley rose.

Within her first year she was promoted to budget manager, prepping the administration on the more than $200 million at its disposal, advocating for particular departmental programs and learning to think outside the box when approaching the city’s finances. With the budget being the primary policy statement of any community, Briley had to parse the needs and wants of the community with the available resources, all while navigating the complex decision-making process.

“There is no better way to learn how to manage a city than through the budget process,” Briley said.

Without ICMA’s fellowship, Briley said she might never have gotten the chance, and within three years she had earned the assistant city administratorship.

On one particular Thursday, Malin came to Briley—overworked and preparing for her younger brother’s high school graduation—and asked her to complete a federal grant request due the following Tuesday. She told him she didn’t think she could do the job well.

“He said, ‘No, I’m sure you’ll do a great job because it’s important to the community,’ and I did. I got it done,” Briley said. “We did not get the grant but I got it done, and it was a lot to do with him and how he managed to push me beyond my limits, even beyond maybe where he thought I could go.” 

In the Cleveland area, there are only two city manager positions in all of Cuyahoga County’s 59 communities, so when Briley saw that Cleveland Heights was searching for one in late 2012, she didn’t bother applying. Briley said felt she was a long shot for a too-good-to-be-true opening so close to where she grew up.

All Briley needed was one more push. A search firm called her in May 2013 about the position, though she still doesn’t know how they got her name. 

“Like a lot of young professionals—especially, unfortunately, women—we discount we’re ready for the next step in our careers,” Briley said.

In August, she marked two years in the position. 

Like Davenport, Cleveland Heights faces its own set of challenges. The Environmental Protection Agency is concerned with the city’s aging sewer system and leaders are considering whether to turn the fiscally ailing water utility over to another public or private entity.

Add to that a four-year budget deficit resulting from the combination of Great Recession home foreclosures and population decline. Briley and the city government she helps lead have their hands full. 

Members of the City Council are pushing a .25-percent income tax increase on the November ballot.

“I don’t think anyone understood the magnitude of the situation. This used to be an affluent community, but it’s seen demographic shifts.” Briley said. “I’m helping the community and organization adjust to the new reality while navigating who we were with who we want to be.” Fortunately, Briley also inherited a talented team of senior department directors with 25 to 40 years of service in the city. She’s had the chance to fill a few executive-level positions herself.

Briley said her management style is inclusive while still holding departments accountable. Without micromanaging, she makes expectations clear.

And she makes no bones about being a rarity among city managers at conferences, exuding the poise she’s gained through years of experience—all starting with an ICMA fellowship.

“You don’t see many people my age, who look like me, but it’s always been about knowing the job. I’ve never encountered issues as a young woman and person of color,” she said. “I know walking into a room there may be lower expectations of what I have to offer, but when I open my mouth all that is put to rest.”