02/04/2004

Press Clipping - Here's a report from David: "This article appeared in the latest edition of the Humboldt Chronicle concerning Mayor Barker's graduation. I think MTAS should have provided caps and gowns for this ritual -- and I should have been awarded an honorary doctorate for giving the commencement address. The theme of my address? "How about them 'Huskers!!!""

http://humboldtchronicle.com/archives_page/2004/january/news5_01-28-04.html (I've copied this URL back and forth so much, it's no longer active. But if you copy it into your browser, you'll see the article. Or, if you prefer, you could just look at the art.

Training Program - Beginning this week, Sally has reduced her hours each month to 83%. She will generally work Tuesday through Friday plus any special training programs. This will give her more time to spend with her other family (the one that's not the training team). Sharon will assume management of the training program. Sally will concentrate on getting courses CEU approved, teaching some classes, and making sure we keep a high quality level for all the courses we deliver.


Missing handtrucks! - We have several small portable handtrucks we bought to move training materials in and out of buildings and cars and motels and whatever. That is we used to have them. Now, we're missing a couple of them. If you have one (or you happen to notice one in your trunk), please let Jennifer know. Thanks.
Intern - Corey Johns is working about 10 hours a week in the Knoxville office. He is an MPA student at UTK. One of the first projects I've given him is to help design a program for MPA students to find internships with Tennessee cities. He's also checking with cities to see if we can expand the number of email addresses we have on file. Since I don't have an intern program funded this year, Corey is volunteering his time.

Elected Officials Academy - Jennifer and Kurt did a great job facilitating the Elected Officials Academy in Nashville a couple of weekends ago. AND, they have 26 registered for this weekend in Knoxville. This includes the entire Smyrna city council, administrator, and attorney. They couldn't get to the Nashville class so they are driving to the Knoxville class. Oh, and, our EOA instructors are continuing their excellent job.


Police Customer Satisfaction - Speaking of instructors, Rex and Margaret went beyond the call of duty in teaching a customer satisfaction class to the ENTIRE Smyrna Police Department. It was so large, it was split in two sections. That also allowed some officers to be on duty while others were in class. Some of the officers were not all that happy to be in class and it made for several challenging training opportunities. But Rex and Margaret persevered.