Executive News
___________________________________________________________________________
03/09/2011
________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you, Armintha.
As Armintha mentions, we are moving some of the Knoxville staff around to cover shortages and to give help where we need it most. I need the business office to be perfect, for example, and for the past few years and for a number of reasons it has not been, and is not. I have started by asking that Summer provide support. Until we get this office up to speed there may be others as well that are called on to pitch in.
As we review progress with different programs there will be other changes as well – as the CMFO program gets into more of a maintenance mode, for example, we’ll be asking the staff to either take on new programs or help strengthen existing programs. I have asked that Doug Brown help with admin support while we concentrate on the business office. This may slow some of our work with Codes as we make this change, but this will be an issue that we will track with Stephanie and her staff. My agreement with Armintha is that admin support staff can be scheduled through her, and while Doug is helping out “up front” I suggest that you still ask for admin support for projects through Armintha.
As an organization our focus has been to use every ounce of effort in direct service to the cities and towns of this state, but there are limits to how lean we can be in support, or as they say in the military, in the tooth to tail ratio. We also have to manage back office operations, our system of support, and the services and plans for the future. If you have questions, see me – I’m in my or in the offices across the state most of the time, and always available to discuss and hear any concerns. My suggestion to every member of MTAS is to consider how we can best use the strengths in our staff to both be better and to shore up our weaknesses.
Steve
Steven T. Thompson
Executive Director
Municipal Technical Advisory Service
University of Tennessee
120 Conference Center Building
Knoxville, TN 37996-4105
(865) 974-9856 Office
(865) 974-0423 Fax
Date