After the Four Day Weekend

Don't get me wrong, having a four day weekend has been wonderful.  It has been great to spend time with my family, have some fun, and get things done around the house.  Unfortunately, the weekend came right before some work deadlines; therefore, enjoying the weekend will result in a busy week starting tomorrow.

Interestingly this fall my finals occurred earlier in the semester; therefore, this is the first time where work responsibilities outweigh school ones as we approach winter break.  It is an interesting and welcoming feeling. Though work remains very busy, I am looking forward to enjoying the holidays earlier in December than in past years.  I want to wish my best to all of my peers still working on finals; hang in there, winter break is almost here.

Thanksgiving

For the first time my family adopted a family for Thanksgiving.  This past Sunday we went out shopping for their dinner including all of their requests.  We then delivered it to their house.  It felt great to see their reaction upon the delivery and interact with their six young children.  The cutest thing was when the oldest girl asked if we wanted a soda before we left.  It made me remember a theme from one of John Steinbeck's novels that those who have the least can be the most generous. I admire families that seek help on the holidays because it takes strength to admit that you need help to provide a Thanksgiving dinner or toys for your children on Christmas. Whether it's adopting a family or inviting family, friends, or even strangers to your home, the spirit of Thanksgiving is about being thankful for the opportunity to be together and share great food and memories.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Work Leading Up to Council Presentation

The idea behind developing a scholarship program stemmed from this year's budget discussions.  City Council supported a scholarship program by including it in their strategic plan and allocating $10,000 in the current budget.  Preliminary research by staff indicated that the City is restricted in its ability to offer direct scholarships to students; therefore, recommending the development of a scholarship match program with local non-profits.  When I began my internship this summer, I was tasked with researching other cities' scholarship match programs.  I then presented this research to a council sub-committee.  Incorporating the research and feedback from the committee, I drafted a program description and application.  These too where vetted through the subcommittee and staff.

Two weeks ago, I became aware that the program would be considered by the full City Council for approval.  The last two weeks were busy with all of the required preparations.  I drafted a staff report that summarized the program for the Council and vetted it through staff.  I then submitted the staff report, program description, and application to the City Clerk for inclusion in the Council's meeting packet.  Finally, I developed the power point presentation.  By this point, I had spent so much time and thought on this project, it created challenges in effectively communicating it to people who knew little of it.  I am grateful for one of my co-workers who knew little about the program and was able to give me valuable suggestions for better communicating to the City Council and citizens.  Once completed, my power point slides were vetted by staff the day before the Council meeting.  I practiced my presentation to my supervisor and co-worker prior to giving it to Council.  I realize that having so many people vet the program throughout the process along with practicing the presentation helped me build confidence for my first presentation before the Council.


All in all I learned first hand how much staff reports and materials are worked and reworked before they ultimately reach discussion and action in a Council meeting.

Presentation to City Council

Tonight I gave my first presentation before the full City Council to request their approval of an Academic Scholarship Match program.  In summary, the program would enable the City to provide a dollar for dollar match with local non-profits to provide academic scholarships to high school students pursuing higher education. After waiting three hours through a work session and first agenda items of the regular meeting, it was finally my time to present.  Those hours of waiting in anticipation were filled with excitement and nervousness.   My supervisor introduced me and the council member who championed the idea gave a few words.  With that I went into my presentation regarding the specifics of the program.  The presentation was not perfect, but it was clear and concise.  I then answered Council's questions when posed to me and listened as they conversed amongst themselves in anticipation for more questions.  Ultimately the Council voted to approve the program, and from this point forward I will be working with my colleagues to implement it.  I will leave this implementation task for tomorrow, tonight I will continue to take in the moment!


Refer to the next blog post to read about the months of work that lead up to tonight's presentation.

Police Ride Along

This week has been crazy busy; therefore, I am just now able to post about an interesting experience that occurred on Monday of this week.  I rode along with the Maricopa Police Department from 5-9:30 pm on Monday night.  It was fascinating the go on calls and enforce traffic laws throughout the evening.  I started my ride along with a Sergeant who gave me a tour of the Police Headquarters and showed me the computer technology they use in the police vehicles to determine where to go on calls and how they run license plates.  After about an hour, we met up with the patrol officer whom I would shadow for the remainder of the evening.  We went on multiple calls ranging from a potential home entry to a vehicle sited as going the wrong direction on SR  347.  Perhaps the most interesting part of the night dealt with enforcing traffic laws.  We sat at a four way stop and near road closure barricades along with venturing up and down SR 347 on patrol.  I was surprised that we pulled several cars over yet many of them consisted of just a warning.  Police officers are so often perceived negatively, yet from my experience on the ride along, it became clear as to the judgment calls they make every day.  Regardless of the negativity associated around them by carrying guns and arresting people, ultimately they work toward making our communities safer, and that should never be forgotten.

Citizen Engagement

This past Thursday I attended a Public Action thru Civic Engagement (PACE) conference in Peoria on the topic of Authentic Public Participation.  The conference began with an overview of the theories behind public participation from Dr. Anne Udall and Dr. Marty Rozelle.  We learned about the spectrum of public participation that extends from Informing citizens to empowering them and which techniques achieve each level of the spectrum.  We broke into two sessions in the morning and afternoon that enabled us to learn about and directly participate in the techniques.  I participated in the Samoan Circles and Interactive-Decision making technology.  I liked the approach during these breakout sessions to allow participants to learn by doing and ask questions throughout the process in order to anticipate any issues that might arise when replicating the techniques in our communities.  The only unfortunate part of this conference was that it covered seven different techniques, yet each participant could only partake in two of them during the two breakout sessions.  Hopefully I can gain a better understanding of the other techniques from my City of Maricopa colleagues that attend the other breakouts. 

Parks Maintenance

On Monday I shadowed the Parks Maintenance Division.  Since the division consists of just two people, the experience was more hands on than shadowing Public Works.  Though there is only one city operated park, there was an event over the weekend that created a lot of maintenance work to make the facility ready for the adult softball leagues that night.  I started the day at 6 am helping inspect vehicles and equipment that would be used over the course of the day.  My first task was to use the leaf blower to clear off the sidewalks, basketball courts, and tennis courts.  It took over an hour to do this with all of the displaced gravel and trash from the weekend.  The rest of the morning was spent watering and grading the softball diamonds which I found to be more enjoyable.  I found myself appreciating my undergraduate and graduate education and the opportunities they will bring, especially while leaf blowing.  Furthermore, I have renewed respect and appreciation for parks maintenance personnel after this experience.