Kurt Bressner, City Manager
City of Boynton Beach
100 E. Boynton Beach Blvd.
P.O. Box 310
Boynton Beach, FL 33425-0310
561-742-6010
561-742-6011 (fax)
Office Hours (M-F): 7:00a - 5:30p
email: bressnerk@ci.boynton-beach.fl.us

Kurt Bressner is City Manager of Boynton Beach, Florida a coastal community of 67,071 located in Palm Beach County between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.   Boynton Beach is the third largest city in Palm Beach County and 32nd in the state of Florida.  He was appointed City Manager of Boynton Beach in April 2000. Prior to his coming to the City of Boynton Beach he served as Village Manager of Bensenville, Illinois; Village Manager of the Village of Downers Grove, Illinois; City Manager of Wood Dale, Illinois; and Assistant to the Village Manager of Naperville, Illinois, which is where he started his career in 1974.

In addition, he currently is Vice-President of the Palm Beach County City Manager's Association, Vice-Chair of the Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Level of Service Committee and is a member of the 2007-2008 class of Leadership Palm Beach.

While serving as City Manager for Boynton Beach, Mr. Bressner has been involved in the following:

Fiscal Planning -- Introduced five-year capital and operational financial planning to the City organization.  This has assisted the City Commission identify and assess community priorities in a more comprehensive manner than in the past. 

Strategic Planning -- Worked with the City Commission and Senior Staff to identify and establish 55 strategic long and short-term initiatives for the City.  These serve to augment and reinforce the Visions 20/20 work initiated by a former City Commission. In 2006, the Community embarked on a new strategic plan called the Boynton Beach Assembly.  The final recommendations from the community-based program are being presented to the City Commission in December 2007.

Staff Recruitment -- Developed a different staff recruitment process to engage and involve line-staff in the interview process.  This was implemented with the recruitment of the new Public Works and Recreation Directors with representatives of the blue-collar union or division supervisors working with the City Manager, HR Director and Assistant City Managers on the interview and selection of the successful candidate.

Labor Relations -- In the area of labor relations, the City has finished multi-year labor contracts with the police, fire and blue and white collar bargaining units.  The labor contracts features an improved grievance system and participation by the employees in the development of a performance based evaluation system.  This system has been developed and will be implemented for these bargaining units and for non-bargaining unit personnel.

Image of the City -- Based on recommendations of the Image Task Force, developed overall strategy and marketing focus to improve the image of Boynton Beach in the media and in City publications and web page.  The re-vamped City Visions Newsletter has received very positive comments from citizens and businesses.  In addition, an internal employee newsletter has been developed and has been distributed in an effort to improve internal communication and collaboration.  We have been marketing Boynton Beach from the vantage point of "30 Second Updates on Cable TV.  The new revamped City web page at: www.boynton-beach.org contains new information and services.   Finally, in 2007, the City launched BBTV on Comcast Cable Channel 18.   All three of these information mediums feature shared information for our citizens.

Internal Efficiencies -- Developed organization re-structuring that has provided consolidated administration and management of capital construction projects, re-alignment of neighborhood programs to the City Manager's office and integration of GIS into our Information Technology Services Department.   An ongoing program of productivity analysis was initiated in 2002 with identification and evaluation of 640 City activity areas.  This program was repeated in 2007 with the identification and cost analysis of 689 programs.

Chamber of Commerce Relationship --Developed a collaborative working relationship with the Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce by participating in events and in working with the Board of Directors and the President of the Chamber. 

Corridors of Opportunity -- Worked with staff to complete the "Heart of Boynton Study" and the Federal Highway Corridor Plan.  Both of these studies provide definitive direction and guidance for the redevelopment of both corridors.

Work on School Boundary Issues – This was a team effort by the Educational Advisory Board, the Commission and staff, which resulted in better school boundaries for the City. 

Resolution of Marina Dispute – City Manager was involved in getting the parties together to resolve the outstanding issues related to the development of the Marina Property.  The project was on hold for many years. The Marina project has been completed and other re-development along the Intracoastal Waterway is now under construction.

Implementation of Storm Water Capital Improvement Funding Package -- Reviewed and presented to the City Commission an alternative funding program for needed storm water capital improvements that eliminated need to borrow $13.1 M in bonds by analyzing internal funding capabilities of the City Utilities.  The overall interest cost for a 20-year bond issue as originally proposed by the City's consultant as a result of this work was $8.8 M.  By funding the program internally, these costs were saved.   The City Commission approved a storm water priority process by resolution.

Fire Station Improvements -- Established Fire service improvement program to provide improved fire service to the community.  The plan is to provide fire service from four strategically located fire stations featuring a four-minute response time.  Two of the three stations planned for this program have been completed and are in service.

Management Style – City Manager serves the City as an "Agent of Democracy" by getting out into the community and working with organizations and individual citizens.  The City Manager's personal style is to make house calls and to get out of the office to meet with people and City employees in the workplace.  Staff is emulating this style.

Community Engagement – During his tenure at Boynton Beach, homeowner associations have emerged either as new organizations or new ones.  Recognizing Civic Infrastructure as being important to physical improvements, the City Manager has encouraged the creation of and sustenance of homeowner or neighborhood associations as a method of delivering City services in a cost-effective manner.

During his tenure at Downers Grove, Illinois the community won national awards for the economic development web site and economic development publications, an award from the Civic Federation for the Downers Grove's Community Policing initiative and an award for the planning process used for the community's central business district revitalization.  Downers Grove has received delegations from Thailand, Germany, Sweden, Australia and Peoples Republic of China to review the strategic planning and goals process used by the Village.

Mr. Bressner received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Illinois and a Masters Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from Northern Illinois University.

Mr. Bressner has continued to work on citizen engagement strategies and community based local government programs.  He has presented materials on community based government to many groups including the International City/County Management Association, National Civic League, the Iowa Municipal Institute, the Nebraska League of Municipalities, Transforming Local Government Conferences in Norfolk, Virginia and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Illinois Chiefs of Police Association, Illinois Fire Chiefs Association, and a special Carolinas Innovation Group workshop on this topic held in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Mr. Bressner also publishes an extensive resource guide on citizen engagement that is available upon request.

In 2001, the City of Boynton Beach received the Technical Innovations Award for large Cities from the Florida City/County Management Association.  The award was given to the City for developing a web enabled citizen inquiry system.  In addition, the City has received annual recognition from the Government Finance Officers Association for the City's financial report and for the City's Budget.  The City's Police Department has been accredited in 2001 with the renewal of accreditation in 2006.  Also in 2006, the City's Recreation Department received national accreditation.

Mr. Bressner and members of the staff team have presented the City's unique grants process to the International City/County Management Association and to the Innovation Groups national conferences.  This process has tripled the grant revenue to the City.

Mr. Bressner has also team taught graduate level public administration courses with other practitioners at Northern Illinois University.  Mr. Bressner periodically teaches public administration courses at Barry University.  In addition, Mr. Bressner currently serves on the American Heart Walk Executive Committee.

Mr. Bressner is a resident of Boynton Beach, Florida and resides there with his wife, Diane who teaches English, literature and humanities at a community college.  They have one daughter who is married and lives in Vero Beach, Florida.

Contact Information

Kurt Bressner
City Manager
City of Boynton Beach
100 E. Boynton Beach Blvd.
P.O. Box 310
Boynton Beach, FL 33425-0310
 561-742-6010
 561-742-6011 (fax)
 bressnerk@ci.boynton-beach.fl.us

KB: 09/03, 03/04,10/07