Chamber Event

The other morning I was invited to attend a legislative breakfast hosted by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce.  I got there early and was able to get a seat at the table where Senate President elect, Andy Biggs was sitting.  The event was small, about 30 members from different business organizations were present and Representative Farnsworth, Rep. Petersen, and Steve Yarborough.  After breakfast and an informal ice-breaking activity at our individual tables, Senator Biggs, Rep. Farnsworth, and Rep. Petersen were introduced and brought up to the front where they had the chance to mention key issues that they will be addressing this upcoming legislative session. 

After that, some of the questions/issues that were discussed informally at our individual tables were presented to the legislators.  One of the major concerns was unemployment insurance benefits and whether or not there will be some reform come January.  There were a couple people from daycare facilities that expressed their concerns will rising licensing fees.  Aparently after the legislature gave state agencies the power to set their own fees, this fee went from $75 a year to $1700 a year.  It was interesting because this is the same problem that I had addressed with my main project regarding ADEQ fees.  State agencies were given this authority to compensate for cuts to their general funds, but the fee increases do not seem to be equitable or following the premise that they can only increase fees to what the actual cost for the service is.

Internship Coming to a Close - Final Thoughts

Well this is my last post on my internship, although I am staying in the Manager’s Office through the end of next week.  It’s crazy how quickly it has gone by and how much I have learned, how many people I’ve met, and how many valuable skills I have gained.  It really didn’t hit me how much I’ve actually done until last week.  I went to an interview that my manager helped me get with the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.  I didn’t have the supervisory experience required for the position, so it kind of turned into a meeting rather than an interview, but the lady I met with pointed out that I had made quite an impact on the Town in only a few short months from what my supervisor had told her.  I don’t know if I really did, all I know is that I have worked hard and put my best effort forth in any project I have been asked to work on.  I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to work here. 

This Town has a wonderful management team and is just a really positive and motivational environment.  I am so glad that I have the chance to stay on with the Town for at least a few more months, and in a paid capacity, yay!!  I can honestly say that this has been the best experience I have had; I know that I would have a terrible time finding employment even with my MPA because I didn’t have any municipal/public sector experience.  I will miss doing the policy based work and research that I have been doing, but I can still help out with some of those type of projects if I have some free time.  I was anticipating this last post to be a sad thing for me to write because I was going to miss the people that I’ve been working with the past several months, but instead I’m happy.  You just never know what opportunities you’ll be given or that will come out of a situation.  I’ve learned that as long as you hustle, put forth your best effort, and make a good impression, good things will probably happen. 

Career Services 2 - Job Searching

There was another aspect to the webinar career services even that I attended.  This was on job searching skills and tips.  They suggested that it is never too early to start searching for jobs, which is something I never followed.  Really though, it can be a long, arduous process, from the applications themselves, to hearing back (if you’re lucky enough to hear back), and then interviewing and finally accepting a position.  Having a good resume on hand and saving it in different formats can be helpful.  As for the search itself, you should use your network of family and friends, organization websites, book of lists, and newspapers ads (which I think is pretty irrelevant in today’s world).  One good site related to municipal positions is The AZ League of Cities and Towns website.  Networking and follow-ups are extremely important.  They also mentioned to submit your resume and cover letters in PDF format, which is something I don’t do unless asked.  I am definitely going to start doing this as my standard method.  The webinar also provided suggestions/guidelines for negotiation on after you get a job offer.  All really great, helpful stuff!

Collaboration

Last week I went down to Scottsdale’s Development Services to meet with a couple of their staff regarding their permit process.  Scottsdale does things differently than most other municipalities.  They have what they call the “One Stop Shop” where they provide over the counter service to customers.  We asked some questions regarding their process and any problems that they have encountered with it.  They gave us a little tour of the back offices so that we could get a sense of the full operation.  Basically we were kind of just seeing what they do so that we can figure out what works and what doesn’t in order to help restructure Gilbert’s DS as best as possible.  It’s nice to be able to have good relationships with other municipalities so that you can have these sort of meetings in order to increase efficiency. 

I have also started researching benchmarks.  I have been tasked with creating new, appropriate benchmarks for Development Services.  This is all so different than what I had been doing, more of the real management side rather than the political/policy side.  I LOVE what I was doing w/government relations, but I’m really glad that I am getting this other experience and building new skills.

Career Services 1 - Interviewing Webinar

My schedule did not allow me to attend career service events in person, but upon exploring the career services website I found out about the many webinars that they offer.  I decided to participate in the How Do I Successfully Interview webinar.  I had never participated in a webinar, but it was really easy.  I just entered my information and joined the webinar in about a minute.  The presenters posted a couple Power Point presentations for participants to follow along with.  As a participant you could either participate by talking, or typing into a text box on the left hand side.  The content of the presentation was about what to do for an interview.  First you should research the company and then consider the type of interview that it will be.  Because of technology, there are so many different ways to conduct an interview in today’s world.  There are in-person interviews, panel interviews, phone interviews, and even Skype interviews.  

The event then talked about the importance of first impressions, including dress and overall demeanor.  A useful method to use is the S.T.A.R. method.  Situation – problem, what’s going on?  Task – the goal, what was the task at hand?  Action – what did you do to complete the goal?  Result what did you learn from the outcome?  ASU also holds mock interviews if you really want to practice your interviewing skills.  These webinars are a great way to access some of the excellent resources that the Career Center has to offer.  I have gone to some of the career fairs and personally did not find them beneficial at all to where I am at in my career/education, so to actual get some useful information relevant to my situation, was awesome!

Development Services

My supervisor was out of town last month for a week, so while she was gone I volunteered to help out some of the managers.  One of the Assistants to the Town Manager, had several projects that he needed me to do some research on.  The research was on permit turnaround times.  I compared Gilbert’s to other local and national municipalities with similar populations.  After I completed this project and gave the information to Gabe, he asked if I would be willing to look into express and expedited permit review processes, which Gilbert currently doesn’t have.  I then scheduled a meeting with someone over in Development Services to talk to present my research to them and see what they think the direction Gilbert should go is.

That week, the Director of Development Services was let go and Gabe was appointed to serve as the Interim Director.  He asked me if I wanted to stay on with the Town, but working with him in Development Services continuing to do research and analysis.  I will be working directly with the Executive Team while continuing to work on my professional development for a maximum of 6 months.  I’m really excited because I can do this part-time and still get some time home with my son.  I’m also happy to be working in a different area, gaining more experience and knowledge of some other areas of local management.

Joie de Vivre

This directly means, "joy of living" in French.  Basically, enjoying life and capturing opportunities.  I'm doing just that at the end of January.  Family vacation to France, including my son who will be 7 months old by then.  I have done a lot of international travel, so I'm pretty confident in my abilitites to plan and have a successful trip, the only thing I'm nervous about is the flight.  It's probably going to get overwhelming at times with the baby, but hopefully he'll just sleep.  We were able to use some flight benefits that expire in January to get the airline tickets for free, so that's why I just couldn't pass up this opportunity!   I hope it all goes well.  I can't wait to tell the baby all about it when he's old enough! HA!

Christmas Madness!!

Okay, so the title may be a little bit of an exaggeration, I am not really going mad, but right now is hectic!  It always is, but throwing a baby into the mix makes it a little more difficult to get everything finished.  My husband, John’s, family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve, so since we have the little guy and finally a house big enough, I decided to host.  I have made it clear to John that we are still opening our gifts on Christmas morning, I refuse to give up my tradition, there’s something charming to me about waking up to the snow falling on Christmas…okay no snow, but I can pretend.  Anyway, I’ve decided not to actively commence in planning this party until after the 11^th when school’s out.  I think I’ll still have enough time.  Anyone have any good ideas from either Christmas parties they’ve hosted or attended that were super fun?

A Great, yet unfortunate, Opportunity

Gilbert operates so lean that it doesn't seem like there is going to be a permanent position for me here, which I have known from pretty much the get go.  Still I have enjoyed my work here so much and wish that there could be :(.  Anyway, my manager has been sending my resume out trying to help me find a permanent position somewhere.  I think I had written about a lunch a few weeks back with US Congressman Matt Salmon.  He ended up winning the election and last week my manager told me that she was speaking with his chief of staff who asked if I would be interested in joining his staff in D.C.  Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to do this because I would have roughly a month to move my husband and son!  If I didn't have a family I would jump at an opportunity like this, but hey, they're worth it!

Anyway, the point is that the networking aspect is soo soo important.  I made enough of an impression that they remembered me when looking for candidates to fill their positions, and in DC.  I'm confident that other opportunities will come up in the future.

Help End Hunger

So since it's the holiday season I wanted to share a couple sites that I think are pretty neat as far as being able to participate and donate to causes online.  One is completely free - Freerice.com  You can go to this site and play some word games, for every question you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated.  Kind of fun and for a good cause.  The second site is the hunger site where you can donate money to different charities varying from ending hunger, illiteracy, child healthcare and some others.  You can also participate for free by sending e-cards, signing e-petitions, and registering with the site on Facebook and Twitter.  They also have some pretty neat stuff for sale for which the proceeds go to charity.

TPT Taskforce

Last week my manager had me do some research regarding the Governor's TPT Taskforce meetings.  Specifically I was researching and synthesizing what has occurred at the contracting working groups meetings.  This is going to be a major issue this coming legislative session.  The Taskforce is made up of 4 different groups - a general one, one focused on retail tax, online tax, and contracting tax.  Arizona has a very different and complicated tax structure than many states.  Vendors and contractors are required to register with the state and follow different tax regulations for different cities.  This is why sometimes if you buy somthing in at a Gilbert stores and do an even exchange for the product at a Mesa store, you will get a little refund.

The major issue to towns and cities falls under the contracting taxes.  Contractors and service providers currently pay taxes directly to municipalities.  The proposed restructuring is to create a materials based tax that they are required to pay at the point of sale.  The worry is that municipalities will lose a major portion of their general fund that comes from taxes because building materials are not actually purchased in the city where the work is being done. 

After doing the research, I attended the last Contracting Working Group's meeting at the capitol.  It was pretty apparent that they were done discussing the issue at these meetings and had already agreed to move ahead with the proposed solution.  However, I think that a lot more discussion is going on behind closed doors.

Dose Locker and Limitless Ultimate Workout Necessities!!

So since we can post about anything we want for our personal entries, I am going to take a minute to plug my product.  My husband and I are into bodybuilding and all the supplements that go with it :)  Anyway, last year we developed a product that we call the Dose Locker.  It is a funnel/storage container for powdered supplements of any kind!  More information can be viewed at our website.  This product has done well; we have a contract with an industry distributor and are working on an agreement with GNC.  We recently developed the first supplement of our own, a pre-workout that we call Limitless, that from personal use, is pretty amazing!!  Both are for sale on Amazon - Dose Locker 2 Pack (also available individually) and Limitless

ADEQ Project Update

A couple weeks ago I finished up my research for my original project regarding the ADEQ fee assessment.  I created a formal report and have reached out to several individuals to get some feedback before finalizing it.  First, I contacted the budget director here at Gilbert to see if she had any recommendations.  I reached out to her because the impact of the fee increase is really centered around the budget because it means more money needed to the different departments.  She had a couple suggestions that I incorporated into my report.

Then I contacted the Deputy Director of AZ League of Cities and Towns since he is an expert in the field.  I was a little nervous to contact him, because I had not met him in person yet, but I went ahead and sent my report over to him.  He asked me when I wanted to chat, so I assumed we would be speaking on the phone, but this morning I had a voicemail letting me know that he could meet in person with me today.  I was so surprised.  He was nice enough to come down to Town Hall to meet with me and discuss my assessment.  It was a quick meeting because he thought I had done a good job on the report.  He did have one recommendation of something I could add content wise and told me I could e-mail him and he would get me the information I needed.  This is yet another example of how important relationship building is in public administration/government; people can be extraordinary resources!

Networking

A big part of what my internship has consisted of is networking.  The week before the election I went to a lunch with Congressman Matt Salmon down the street from Town Hall.  At the meeting was Matt Salmon, two of his campaign managers, the Gilbert Council, Mayor, Town Manager, Town Clerk, and the intergovs.  The lunch was actually open to the public, but only one member of the public, who is a reporter for AZ Central was in attendance.  The purpose of the meeting was to allow Matt Salmon to speak with the Council and basically show that he would like to work closely with Gilbert.

First the Mayor and Town Manager gave short updates on the Town and then Matt Salmon discussed some of the key issues that he plans on focusing on during his time in Congress.  Then each Council Member had a chance to talk about any concerns they had or issues that they wanted the Salmon to focus on.  I really enjoy attending these type of events, not only for the networking purposes, but also for the learning that I get out of it.  It really is an inside look at the political side of local government and how interactions between officials at the different levels occurs.

Citizen Surveys....

I haven't reported on my internship for a couple of weeks, but I've been busy!  I just came from an interesting meeting related to one of my major interests, civic engagment.  Over the past couple of years, Gilbert has undergone some major transformations in terms of management.  Every two years they conduct citizen surveys, but the polling company that usually conducts the survey is not able to do it this year.  Because of this and in light of organizational changes and town development, they are in the process of developing a new survey.  The basic question was whether or not to have a canned survey, one that is generic and used throughout other municipalities, or create a customized survey that was tailored to Gilbert and areas of concern. 

It was a little disconcerning to me to hear about what usually happens to the surveys.  Surveying should be a method of civic engagment, a way for the citizens to voice their desires.  Unfortunately, the surveys usually end up being useless, in part because of the generic questions.  Those generic or canned survey are still useful by providing a way to compare the town to other municipalities.  What the group decided on was to propose to executive managment was to utilize both types of surveys, but on an alternating basis.  So one year there would be a canned survey and the next year there would be a customized survey.  Of course cost is an issue so it will be interesting to see what the final decision is over the next couple of weeks.

Personal Note

This might not be interesting to many of you, but I'm going to share some of my experiences as a new mother.   My son is going to be 4 months old on October 20th and like everyone says, I can't believe how fast time is going by.  I had a rough time the first 4-6 weeks because I haven't really spent much time around babies, much less a newborn baby and then BAM!  It was nothing like I thought it was going to be, it was difficult, more difficult than any project, assignment, or task I've ever taken on in my life, but I was determined to get the little critter on a schedule.  Thankfully my husband was on board with the concept of getting Roman on a schedule/routine, some people don't believe in scheduling their babies day.  Why?  Because it's hard!  It takes discipline, but once the routine set in life is great!!  He knows when it's time to eat, play, nap, and go to bed at night.  He rarely cries and because of the schedule, if he is fussy, I tend to know why.  Everyday he is more fun to interact with, it's really amazing watching him grow up and develop his own little personality.

Book reccommendation to keep in mind in the case of a growing family....On Becoming Babywise: Giving your infant the gift of nighttime sleep

EV Manager's Meeting

Every month one of the east valley cities hosts an east valley manager's meeting in which all of the city managers, MAG executive director, AZ League of Towns and Cities director, and several others meet to get an update and discuss current issues.  This month Gilbert was responsible for hosting.  It was held at the Banner MD Anderson Gateway Medical Center.  I got there early to help set up the room and the food.  The meeting was relatively short.  I am beginning to identify certain topics that have been present at the different meetings I have attended and am understanding the roles that different individuals have in the policy process. 

Quick update on my project: last week I was able to get some great information from the accounts payable department so I started developing some charts and tables representing the fees paid and increases.  I feel like I'm starting to make some good progress.

MAG Mtgs, Ribbon Cuttings, and More!!

On Wednesday I attended the regional Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) meeting for all of the mayors in the valley.  Each town/city has members on numerous committees that meet downtown at the MAG offices.  Committee members discuss certain issues (transportation, water, waste, etc.) and develop agreements or policy suggestions on whatever the issue may be.  There are then two seperate regional meetings, one for the mayors and one for managers.  At the meeting, there were several speakers from outside departments and agencies that gave presentations.  The mayor voted on several agenda items.  The purpose of having all of the meetings before hand are to ensure that each issue/policy has been vetted by the appropriate staff and the city/town position is already agreed upon and known.  Here I met a few of the mayors as well as many of the intergovernmental mangagers across the valley.  Mayor Lewis of Gilbert was even kind enough to surprise me with a formal introduction prior to adjournment of the meeting.

After the MAG meeting downtown, the IG manger raced back to Gilbert to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony for a charter school that the Mayor spoke at.  I am definitely seeing all of the different aspects city officials/staff duties.

Last week I also attended a town council meeting.  What was interesting about the council meeting is that during the weeks prior, I was able to observe conversations and meetings that led to the agenda items for the meeting.  I will be attending another council meeting this Thursday night.

Learning Through Observance

As promised, I wanted to give an update on some of the events/meetings that I have been able to attend the past two weeks. 

Last week, the Town of Gilbert held a Mayor's Ambassador Forum on Economic Development.  I got there early to help sign people in and give them name tags, but was still able to watch some of the presenters and meet some of the attendees.  The purpose of this Forum was not only to provide an update on new developments in Gilbert, but also to allow for individuals in the business community to network with each other and with town officials.  The presenters were from all different areas of business; Luke AFB, Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, PHX-Mesa Gateway Airport, and some other private companies.

While I was standing in the back of the room (there were so many people in attendance the council chambers were filled up!) I saw a familiar face in the audience.  It was one of my high school teacher and mentor's, who I even took a school trip to Europe with, husband.  He is a retired city manager and now works for EVP, but still, small world, huh?  This led me to find out that there were two others who currently work for Gilbert that also had her as a teacher.  The next week, my direct boss for the internship mentioned that he spoke with her about me at the event.

What did I learn from this experience?  The importance of networking and building connections.

That same day, I went to the "Budget Kickoff".  Gilbert has an excellent budget team and a fresh and efficient methodology when it comes to developing their budget.  All of the managers and directors were in attendance, as well as any town staff that were interested.  Basically, they provided an overview of the entire budget process and directed individuals on how they can be a part of the process.  I really feel like I am learning so much about so many different areas of local governmenet; and maybe it's geeky, but it's really exciting for me!! ;)

Project Update!

This post might be a little boring, but I wanted to provide an update on my project and what I've have learned from simply undertaking it.

So far, I've broken down all of the data that I was given and determined that there has been an increase on fees paid to ADEQ.  Some of these increases were actually passed through AZ legislation because ADEQ made a case that since monies they receive from the general fund were cut they needed to generate other funds in order to sustain their services.  Today I met with a few individuals here at the town and got some contact information for individuals outside of the organizataion who might be able to help me gather more info.  My goal is to create statistical and graphical representation of the overall money paid to ADEQ and  increases and to present the policy implications that the increases have had on the town. 

Initially, I thought that the goal of my project would be to try and persuade an organization that the increase in fees is harmful to the town and therefore the citizens, however since I've been working on it, I realize that there are other purposes to this project.  The potential for getting these fees revoked is pretty slim, but there is an importance to having concrete facts and statistics on ADEQ  fees and municipalities.  When it comes time to address the legislature, town representatives can present the case (with representation) that they have already undergone a significant increase in fees that they pay to state departments.  Additionally, this research provides benefits to the town because they will have a better and more accurate understanding of the fees that they are required to pay and will be better able to incorporate this information into their budget.

I will post more later about some of the other meetings and events I attended last week, so stay tuned :)

My First Couple of Days

I officially started my internship on Monday, with the Manager's Office in the Town of Gilbert.  I went in Monday afternoon, got set up with my badge and was shown to my desk.  My cubicle is right across from the Deputy Town Manager and Town Manger's offices so I already met a lot of directors and managers who were going in to meetings with the Manager.

I was given my first project to start on immediately; from scratch.  My goal is to determine whether or not the fees the town pays to a state department have increased over the past several years, if so, is there any rationale or real reason behind the increase.  I was basically given a spreadsheet with some data regarding fees paid to a state department, some points of contact within the town, and left on my own to figure out what to do.  I'm excited and a little nervous to be working on this project on my own.

That was day one.  On Tuesday, I was able to attend the weekly Executive Staff Meeting where all of the department directors and managers get together to discuss current projects and agenda items for the upcoming Council Meetings.  This was a really interesting experience.  I think it's fantastic how Gilbert integrates the different departments and ensures that each one know what is going on throughout all the different areas of the town. 

Starting Tomorrow!

Well, tomorrow is the first day of my internship with the Town of Gilbert.  All I know so far is that I will be working with the Intergovernmental Relations Department and that they already have a project ready for me to work on.  I'm so excited for this opportunity because I grew up in Mesa, right next door to Gilbert and saw it undergo immense growth and development over the past 15 years.  I feel like I will be getting an inside perspective on how the town got to where it is today.  Can't wait for tomorrow to see more about what I'll be doing this semester and to get things underway.