Thursday, October 30, 2025
Dr. Cathy Randall delivered the commencement speech to graduates at the 2025 CMO Graduation Ceremony.
MONTGOMERY, AL – The Alabama League of Municipalities hosted its annual graduation and awards ceremonies on October 30, 2025, at the Montgomery Renaissance Hotel. Over 50 municipal officials graduated and received awards from participating in the Certified Municipal Official (CMO) program.
In accordance with the Alabama Municipal Official Training Act, which took effect on January 1, 2025, all mayors and councilmembers are required to complete 10 hours of training annually during their first term in office. All elected local officials will be required to receive five hours of training credits annually after receiving the 40 hours required for ALM’s basic CMO certification.
“A major component of the League’s mission for the past 90 years is to train and prepare our new and veteran, municipal officials with the skills and resources needed to help them best serve their communities,” ALM Executive Director Greg Cochran said. “We are excited that this year we have partnered with the Alabama Community College System to provide enhanced online courses through their training platform, which some of the graduates have been able to utilize when they could not attend our events.”
Throughout the year, officials receive formal classroom training, in-person and through online courses, in foundational government operations and best practices to abide by state laws. Municipal officials have the incentive of obtaining three different levels of CMO certification after completing 40, 80 and 120 credit hours of training as well as graduating. This year’s event featured six certified municipal officials, 27 advanced certified municipal officials and nine CMO emeriti, along with five CMO Tier II honorees that have received more than 120 credit hours of training.
ALM also presented Certified Municipal Achievement (CMA) Awards to 15 municipalities, the most since its inception. The CMA Awards were created in 2018 to honor municipalities where the municipality’s mayor and full council obtain at least 40 credit hours individually, if not more, within a year.
“We are pleased to partner with the Alabama League of Municipalities to modernize their online training to better assist municipal officials with staying up-to-date on the best practices and resources for their roles as public servants,” ACCS Chancellor Jimmy Baker said. “The ACCS and ALM teams have worked tirelessly the past year to roll out this updated training, and we look forward to continuing to build on this initiative together through our Innovation Center.”
The ACCS Innovation Center’s Skills for Success program is a division of the Alabama Community College System that brings together the state’s community colleges, business and industry, and community partners to deliver rapid, industry-recognized non-credit training within some of the state’s most in-demand career fields.
As of graduation, more than 5,200 municipal officials have participated in the League’s training in municipal government since its inception 31 years ago.
View the full list of 2025 CMO graduates and CMA Awards here.