Retired Brookings City Manager Gary Milliman was recognized for 45 years of service and was named a Life Member of his professional organization, the International City/County Management Association, at their annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee, last week. Milliman has also been named a Senior Advisor with the Oregon City/County Management Association (OCCMA), the state affiliate of ICMA.
Life memberships are conferred upon the International City/County Management Association members who have long-standing and distinguished service to the city management profession. “Overseeing and improving the day-to-day operations in local government requires vision, patience and dedication, and the contributions Gary made during his time in public service are remarkable,” International City/County Management Association Executive Director Marc Ott said. “Gary has undoubtedly enhanced the quality of life and the effectiveness of each of the communities he served, and his accomplishments will have a lasting impact on residents, stakeholders and constituents. ”Milliman received the 2013 Career Excellence Award from the 9,000 member ICMA. He is an International City/County Management Association Credentialed City Manager and received the International City/County Management Association Management Innovation Award in 1976. The International City/County Management Association is the world’s leading association of professional city and county managers.
Founded in 1914, the International City/County Management Association advances professional local government through leadership, management, innovation and ethics. The International City/County Management Association’s members are the professional managers appointed by elected officials to oversee the day-to-day operation of their community government.
“There are always new professional and personal challenges facing local government managers and I am happy to help my colleagues still serving in dealing with those challenges,” Milliman said. “Serving as a city manager can be an all-consuming, high stress yet rewarding career. My role is to serve as a resource for whatever need arises.” Milliman’s Senior Advisor role will include serving as a resource for public administration students at Portland State University, where he also serves as a Senior Fellow with the Mark Hatfield School of Government, and on the Advisory Committee for the School of Public Administration. Milliman will work with the PSU International City/County Management Association student chapter and individual students in providing career guidance.“Developing the next generation of local government managers is a major goal of he International City/County Management Association and I am happy to be a part of this effort,” Milliman said.
He has been appointed to the Advisory Committee for the Portland State University Public Administration Department, which is nationally recognized as having one of the top public affairs graduate programs in the United States. Upon his retirement in 2018, Milliman was named “City Manager Emeritus” by the Brookings City Council. Since that time he has pursued a number of interests and currently serves as Municipal Court Judge for the Cities of Port Orford and Powers, and as Truancy Court Judge in Brookings.
He was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Oregon Municipal Judges Association. Milliman serves as Chair of the tri-county South West Area Commission on Transportation, as the Brookings representative to the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority and on the National Advisory Council for the Boy Scouts of America. “After exploring a number of options I think I have found my post-retirement niche as an advisor within my profession, working with public administration students and in serving in the community justice program,” Milliman said. “It is quite a mix of mostly volunteer service and has pretty much filled-out my calendar, and I am enjoying having more personal time at home.” Just last month, Milliman was the recipient of the 2019 Herman Kehrli Award for outstanding public service from the League of Oregon Cities, the highest honor that the League confers upon a city employee. Milliman also reflected upon his selection as Brookings Harbor Azalea Festival Grand Marshall last year noting that “Being recognized in your home community is really the greatest honor that can be received by a City Manager.”
The Brookings City Council has named the City’s Emergency Operations Center in his honor in recognition of his efforts to improve the City’s emergency preparedness.
