03/02/2010

THIS MONTH’S MEMO

This is my last staff update and I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for all you have done in supporting me as Director. It is your efforts that make MTAS run, it is your efforts that make the difference with and for Tennessee cities and any success I have had or the agency has had during my tenure as Director I attribute to each of you. As I said in last month’s update, it has been an honor to work with you in serving our fellow consultants and our customers, Tennessee cities.

My start date is March 1, but I will serve in a dual capacity until March 15, when Melanie will begin serving as the Interim Director until a new Director is selected. I know you will give to Melanie as Interim and also to the new Director the same support you have given me. As I stated earlier, that support is critical to the success of MTAS and its leadership.

THANK YOU


Update on New Initiatives and Programs:

New Training Initiative – The latest issue of the Newsletter highlighted a new delivery mechanism for our training programs. In the past we have relied basically on live sessions for our training delivery and this is still appropriate for our EOA and MMA programs, but is not a sufficient means of delivering our MAP programs. Starting out, we will supplement our live MAP sessions, by taping the last session (Knoxville) and then offering it as a video stream on our website. This will allow us to reach all cities and all city officials and employees that are interested. The approach will be to sell the video stream to the city at a very reasonable rate and they in turn can show it to everyone for that one price. Please see Gary Petree’s article in the February Newsletter and let us know if you have any questions. This has been released to the cities and the response is good. Some technical problems with Solution Point, but so far no negatives on the program. Please give this effort your support in encouraging cities to try it. If they will try it and use it, it will be a HUGE step in delivering information to Tennessee cities.

Information Initiative Review – Just a reminder this initiative is underway. Don’t forget to do your part. Deadline is March 31, 2010 .

Website – Again I would encourage you to visit our website. If there are items that should be on the website, please contact Frances with your suggestions. Encourage cities to use the website. Don’t forget to use the short info piece we provided last month.

Newsletter – The latest edition of the MTAS Municipal E-Newsletter will go out Monday, March 1 Just a reminder to be on the lookout for innovations and report them to Frances. It may be a small item or something huge, in either case it can be very beneficial to other cities, but they have to know about it and that is our job. As always, as you interact with your customers, ask them if they are getting the newsletter and if so are they reading it. If they are not getting it, let us know and we will add them to the list. If they are not reading it, encourage them to do so.

Events Calendar - Remember to check the Events Calendar and post upcoming events, if they are not posted. If you need assistance, please check with Lisa, Justin, Frances or Becky.

Teamwork:

1) Ray Crouch, Josh Jones, training consultants and staff and the staff of the Department of Commerce and Insurance for their work in developing the Energy Code class for March.

2) A repeat from last month , Josh and all the consultants that assist in the review of all legislation filed in this 2010 Legislative Session did an excellent job of providing a thorough and timely review.

3) To the Training and Business Teams for your hard work the last two months on getting through the Accounts Receivable backlog! We collected more than $6500 from the mail blast that went out in late December. This includes the MAP classes with a few EOA and CMFO.


Mark Your Calendars:

- Please save July 28 – 30 of 2010 for a possible MTAS retreat and IPS Conference. More details to follow.

Staff Birthdays for February
February 5 – Sandy Selvage
February 9 – Sharon Rollins
February 17 – Margaret Norris
February 21 – Stephanie Allen
February 23 – Leigh Lawson

Staff Birthdays for March
March 8 - Michelle Buckner
March 23 - Frances Adams-O’Brien



Kudos:


- To all staff for doing their project reporting on grants so we were able to achieve no effort certification exceptions for the past few months.

Also all procurement cards have met deadlines and reconciled for the past few months.

- To the following consultants and the number of documents they have reviewed in Knowledgebase.

Month	Name	Items reviewed
Oct-09	Becky Smeltzer	11
Oct-09	Becky Smeltzer (Originator)	1
Oct-09	Frances Adams	1
Oct-09	Gail Cook	14
Oct-09	Gail Cook (Originator)	1
Oct-09	Ron Darden	282
Oct-09	Ron Darden (Originator)	1
Oct-09	Sharon Rollins	14
Oct-09	Sharon Rollins (Originator)	3
Oct-09	Steve Wyatt	25
Oct-09	William Haston	16
Nov-09	Becky Smeltzer	11
Nov-09	Frances Adams	2
Nov-09	Gail Cook	4
Nov-09	Steve Wyatt	49
Nov-09	Steve Wyatt (Originator)	1
Nov-09	William Haston	16
Dec-09	Becky Smeltzer	15
Dec-09	Dennis Huffer	1
Dec-09	Don Darden	1
Dec-09	Frances Adams	6
Dec-09	Gail Cook	5
Dec-09	Gail Cook (Originator)	2
Dec-09	Gary West	1
Dec-09	Justin OHara	32
Dec-09	Justin OHara (Originator)	2
Dec-09	Kay Stegall	1
Dec-09	Kay Stegall (Originator)	1
Dec-09	Melissa Ashburn	2
Dec-09	Ron Darden	1
Jan-10	Becky Smeltzer	19
Jan-10	Frances Adams	15
Jan-10	Gail Cook	24
Jan-10	Gail Cook (Originator)	1
Jan-10	Gary West	1
Jan-10	John Chlarson	3
Jan-10	Kay Stegall	4
Jan-10	Kay Stegall (Originator)	3
Jan-10	Melissa Ashburn	1
Jan-10	Pat Hardy	102
Jan-10	Pat Hardy (Originator)	3
Jan-10	Richard Stokes	13
Jan-10	Richard Stokes (Originator)	1
Jan-10	Ron Darden	2
Jan-10	Sharon Rollins	105
Jan-10	Sharon Rollins (Originator)	7
Jan-10	Warren Nevad	6
Feb-10	Becky Smeltzer	16
Feb-10	Bonnie Jones	404
Feb-10	Dick Phebus	4
Feb-10	Frances Adams	14
Feb-10	Gail Cook	27
Feb-10	Kay Stegall	22
Feb-10	Lisa Shipley	1
Feb-10	Margaret Norris	2
Feb-10	Melissa Ashburn	1
Feb-10	Pat Hardy	4
Feb-10	Rex Barton	2
Feb-10	Richard Stokes	25
Feb-10	Richard Stokes (Originator)	1
Feb-10	Ron Darden	2
Feb-10	Warren Nevad	61
Total		1418

As always, thanks for all you do for MTAS and Tennessee cities.

Thanks

Mike