Al Vanderberg | Experience Committee Chair
The Experience Committee unanimously approved the submission of William Baldridge for ICMA’s Distinguished Service Award (DSA) consideration. Mr. Baldridge had a long and distinguished city management career—including service as both MME president and ICMA president.
Baldridge received his undergraduate degree from Missouri State University. After he graduated, he served as an administrative assistant in Durham, North Carolina for about a year before starting in the role of assistant to the city manager in Des Moines, Iowa, which he held for four years until 1968. He then moved to our beautiful state of Michigan and began his duties as Norton Shores’ city administrator—the role he held until 1975 when he moved to the east side of the state to take over as city manager of Royal Oak. He served as city manager of Royal Oak until his retirement from full-time city management work in 1994.
Bill served as an original member of the Fund for Professional Development (Endowment Fund) which was created to advocate and support the council/manager form of government. After his service as president of ICMA, Bill served as one of the original members of the Credentialing Advisory Board that created and launched the ICMA Credentialing Program. Bill was involved in numerous other initiatives at the state and local level through MME and ICMA.
Bill also has a great sense of humor. I received an ICMA scholarship to attend my first ICMA conference in San Diego the same year that Bill was president-elect of ICMA. He wore a 10-gallon hat to hype the following year’s conference in Fort Worth, Texas, and I remember thinking that the hat looked very large on him.
The Experience Committee is hopeful that Bill receives the ICMA Distinguished Service Award, but either way he is an icon in our Michigan Municipal Executives community. He will always be remembered as a person of high integrity, accomplishment, humility, and humor. We should all strive to be more like Bill!
Al Vanderberg
Chair, Experience Committee
Administrator/Controller, Kent County
Al Vanderberg serves as county administrator/controller of Kent County since August 2021. Previously, Al served as county administrator of Ottawa County; deputy county administrator/controller of Kent County; city manager of South Haven; and assistant city manager of Greenville. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan and Master of Public Administration from Michigan State University. Al served as president of the Michigan Municipal Executives and Michigan Association of County Administrative Officials (MACAO), chair of the Grand Valley Metropolitan Council (GVMC) Board of Directors, and chair of the former West Michigan Strategic Alliance. He was appointed by Governor Snyder to the Michigan Municipal Services Authority Board of Directors and Executive Committee and was appointed by Governor Snyder and reappointed by Governor Whitmer to the Michigan Child Lead Exposure Elimination Commission. Al is a member of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights Council for Government and Education on Equity and Inclusion, the NACo DEI Advisory Group, and the National Association of County Administrators Board of Directors. He is a member of the adjunct faculty of Grand Valley State University where he teaches in the undergraduate and master’s programs. He also writes and speaks frequently on local government management topics and issues. He can be reached at al.vanderberg@kentcountymi.gov.