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.

Valley Citizens League

On Thursday I attended a luncheon sponsored by Valley Citizens League. The league is a non-partisan organization that facilitates a healthy discourse regarding the issues and politics facing Arizona.  During lunch we listened to a panel discuss the role of social media in politics, particularly as it regards the current election cycle.  The panel consisted of Dennis Welch from The Arizona Guardian, Doug MacEachern of The Arizona Republic, Donna Gratehouse author of the Democratic Diva Blog, and David Lebowitz.  Listening to the panel discussion I felt like I was experiencing a live episode of one of the local political talk shows like Horizon or Sunday Square Off.  Generally, it was great to  be in a room of Intergovernmental Directors from Cities and interest groups, representatives from the media, and Republican and Democratic elected officials having an interesting conversation about social media and politics.  It provided a welcoming contrast to the negativity inundating this election cycle.

Public Works

Today I shadowed the personnel in the Public Works Division.  I woke up at 4am to join them when they start work at 6:30 am.  Florescent green vest in hand, I rode along to the park where they needed to move sign twenty feet away from where they located it a week prior.  It was interesting to see the small front loader tractor excavate the sign and an auger dig the new hole for the sign.  We then ventured to one of the neighborhoods that consisted of one way streets that need better signage to help citizens comply.  We dug another hole for a "One Way" sign, but this time they let me help direct the auger into the grass and dirt and back out again.  It was interesting to note that it is surprisingly more difficult to dig into grass with the auger than dirt.  Perhaps the moisture from watering the grass compacts the dirt making it more difficult to penetrate?  Once the second sign was in place, I got to see them use a new tool for banding the "Do Not Enter" sign to an existing light pole.  The guys used a tool called a Band It that enables them to place two bands around the pole with attached brackets where the sign can be bolted in on the top and bottom.


After the experience of installing street signs, I rode along in a water truck.  We drove up and down one of the sixteen remaining dirt roads in town to help the other staff member grade it.  It was interesting to see how the water truck was filled by literally sucking the water from a nearby canal through a hose and it took fifteen minutes to fill it up.  My last ride along was with a street sweeper.  I was fascinated to learn how it worked.  Apparently the little brooms on each side of the truck sweep the trash inward where it is caught up by the big broom in the back.  From there the trash is elevated into a holding tank located just behind the driver and passenger seats.  I just looked behind me through Plexiglas to see what the truck collected.  The last job before lunch was to fill the sweeper with water.  It was cool to see the sweeper get filled with water from a nearby hydrant.

Generally it was great to have this opportunity to ask a bunch of questions and experience a glimpse of the work done in Public Works.  It was also great to spend the morning with seven guys who really like their jobs.  Their tasks change daily depending on the needs of the City.  The morning I shadowed was focused on maintaining dirt roads and installing street signs.  When need arises other days they may repair traffic signals, put out traffic barricades, or clean up the right of ways.  The guys seem to be just as interested in my job with the City as I was with theirs.  I think this experience developed a better mutual understanding. 

Strategic Plan

The strategic plan represents one of the guiding documents for the City of Maricopa.  It includes the City Council's broad priorities and more specific objectives in the areas of Economic Sustainability, Quality of Life, Transportation Connectivity, Public Safety, and Managing the Future.  Annually the City Council meets to make updates to the plan and determine which priorities and objectives will be the focus of the year, in turn, what associated action items staff should develop and accomplish.  Given the establishment of priorities, the strategic plan document and retreat provides the foundation for the upcoming budget cycle as well.

This past Friday and Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the Maricopa City Council's strategic planning retreat.  In attendance was the City Council, the media, City Manager, City Manager's Office staff, and Department Heads.  The retreat was moderated by a third party to make sure the time was being used efficiently.  Friday was spent reviewing the previous year's action items and determining which ones were completed and which would need to be incorporated in this year's plan.  Corresponding staff members provided the City Council with updates on action items which helped them work through this process.  On Saturday the City Council ultimately decided which objectives they want the City to focus on this year. It was interesting to see the advisory role the City Manager and City staff played with the council.  The next step is for City staff to develop specific action items before final approval by the City Council by January.

During the MPA program we read and learn about the strategic planning process and the interaction between the City Manager and City Council; however, it is even more interesting to see it in action.