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.