05/01/2009

THIS MONTH’S MEMO

Update on New Initiatives and Programs:

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.

Newsletter – The latest edition of the MTAS Municipal E-Newsletter is attached. Keep it in mind during the course of your work and recommend items to Frances as you encounter them. The success of the newsletter depends on each of you . We will be emailing this to the cities on Friday, May 1.

60 ^th Anniversary – The Nashville open house has been canceled and will probably be rescheduled in the fall. We are receiving a lot of resolutions celebrating MTAS’s 60 ^th . I am sending each city a thank you letter and the resolution is being posted on the website. I would encourage you to visit and review.

New Hire – I am pleased to announce that we have hired Karen Beyke as our new part time court clerk consultant. Karen’s email address is
Karen.beyke@tennessee.edu . Please email her and welcome her aboard.

Teamwork:

Examples of teamwork. If I missed an example you think should be noted, please let me know.

1. Compliments to Josh, Dennis and the other consultants for their work in bill review for TML and Fiscal Review. This has become especially hectic as amendments are introduced and the time frame to respond is shortened. They are truly making a difference with this effort.

2. Compliments to Management Consultants and Training Consultants and Sandy for working together to insure that we continue to offer the Elected Officials Academy to our elected officials. This takes a lot of work on everyone’s part, but the return is worth the effort. Our stakeholders in EOA is increasing each and every year.


Mark Your Calendars:

1. We are tentatively scheduling an agency wide conference call for Monday, May 18 at 2 pm eastern, 1 pm central. The purpose will be to review and discuss the MTAS budget. I will make a short presentation and then take questions. Please try to attend and participate.



Staff Birthdays for April:

April 5 - Don Darden
April 5 - Ron Darden (Amazing, it is the same day as Don)
April 7 – David Angerer
April 14 – Ralph Cross
April 22 – Ken Cox

Staff Birthdays for May :
May 4 – Becky Smeltzer
May 13 – Izetta Slade
May 17 – Steve Wyatt
May 18 – Al Major


Kudos:

1. To Rex Barton, Melissa Ashburn and Sarah Holley for a very successful Municipal Court Clerk’s Conference. The turnout was exceptional which is reflective of the quality work these three are doing.

2. To Richard Stokes and Bonnie Curran for a very successful Tennessee Personnel Managers Association conference.

3. To David Angerer for a very successful Tennessee City Managers Conference. David was able to develop a strong agenda with great presenters.

4. To Gary West for the Homeland Security exercise on the Knoxville Campus. This was a “campus shooter” simulation and Gary was a central figure in developing and managing the program at the request of Homeland Security.

5. To Frances Adams-O’Brien and all contributors to the first edition of the MTAS Municipal E-News letter. The transmittal email was sent to over 1500 recipients and was opened by 665 (42.9%), of those 404 (60.8%) opened the newsletter. That was a great result for the first edition.

This past month has been a tough month for many members of the MTAS family. Please keep each of them in your thoughts and prayers as many of them continue to deal with personal challenges and challenges within their families.

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

Mike