Decatur City Manager Peggy Merriss has been appointed to chair the board of the International City Management Association Retirement Corporation. She’ll serve a two-year term that began on New Year’s Day.
She previously served as president of the Washington D.C.-based International City/County Management Association, the first woman president since that association was founded in 1914.
According to its website the ICMA-RC is a non-profit financial services corporation “focused on providing retirement plans and related services for over a million public sector participant accounts … . [and to help] lessen the burdens of local and state government by helping public sector employees build retirement security.”
Merriss has worked for the city since 1983, and next month celebrates her 25th anniversary as city manager.
It’s a position neither synonymous with longevity — the average national lifespan is 5 to 7 years per city — nor with women. She is Decatur’s only woman city manager since the city adopted the council management model in 1924. Nationwide only about 15 percent holding comparable positions are women.
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