Interview with Dr. Lavern Diggs

I would like to be a City manager. This occupation is a powerful one in which you are over all city policies and projects in the city. The position has a lot of power you are not in the spotlight, how many city managers do you know? City managers work with city council, city, and state government on a daily basis. I was tasked with finding a person in the position I want to be in and interview them about the position. I so happen to find a person that had held the position right here at ASU.

Dr. Lavern Diggs is a faculty associate for ASU that has held the position of assistant city manager for the City of Norfolk. Norfolk is a small naval town in Virginia. I sought out Dr. Diggs to interview her for the position she held. We had communicated through email then on the phone until we were able to get an interview. I was excited because Dr. Diggs has vast amounts of experience. She was not only an assistant city manager, but she also worked as she also served as the Director of Human Resources and Organizational Development for the City of Glendale, Arizona.

I started the interview with the question of what was her main responsibilities as an assistant city manager for the city of Norfolk? She responded that her responsibilities included, she directed the administration of an entire city from the supervision of management employees to interact with citizens. She also ensured that each municipal department operates effectively and Develop strategies to meet strategic goals and oversee the projects through to completion. She also Participated in the creation of the city budget and allocate funding for the upcoming year. I then asked her how she choose her career? She stated she realized early in her career that she wanted to be involved with making a difference in the local community and that making a difference does not necessarily happen through the elected officials.  It is the education, skill and ability of the city management staff responsible for the implementation, and oversight of the policies and programs decided by the elected officials. Dr. Diggs stated that you need to have at least have a master’s degree and have taken some leadership courses as a perquisite for a city manager position. When asked about trends she noticed in her the city manager field. Dr. Diggs elaborated that she noticed Shared Services was a new trend, shared services is state and local governments collaborating to combine technologies or solutions.  This concept would help contribute to the overall financial cost. Dr. Diggs stated many state and local officials have begun to explore new collaborative relationships with neighboring public sector entities. I thanked her for her time and ended the interview.

Dr. Diggs is a trailblazer in the Public Administration field that has a lot of experience and I was glad she could share with me.