12/18/2009

THIS MONTH’S MEMO

Due to some difficulties beyond my control, I was not able to get an update out for December, so I decided to combine the December update with January. As we approach the holiday season, we get busy buying presents, thinking about food etc. and sometimes forget about dancing in the rain. Jim Harless, a former MTAS consultant sent me the attachment above and I was so impressed with the story that I wanted to share it with you. We all have faced storms in our life and will face more, that is just part of living, but learning how to dance in the rain, can be an aid in facing those storms and simply make life better overall. I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did.

Having talked about storms, I wanted to share the following link with you. Tess provided this and it is a good illustration of the economic times America is working through. When you open the link, click on PLAY and watch what happens.


http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html



Update on New Initiatives and Programs:

Recruitments – Everything is completed on all three recruitments. As you know we have filled the Training Consultant position and P.J. Snodgrass started November 30. As we announced in an earlier email, Dana Deem and Stephanie Allen will start on Monday, January 4, 2010 (get use to the new number) in the positions of management consultant and legal consultant respectively.

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 the last week of December. 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) Becky has taken over the distribution of publications to consultants & cities. She is also serving as backup to Lisa for publication approvals within the IPS tracking system. Thanks to Becky for taking on this information distribution responsibility.

2) The trial of Meebo has ended and it has been removed from our website. Frances and Becky did a great job monitoring Meebo daily and were available immediately to chat with folks who used it to contact MTAS. We got some positive feedback on the service. Frances is compiling a usage report and will have that to the management team for evaluation of the service.

3) This could also fit under Kudos , but it is such a good example of teamwork, that I wanted to list it here. The following is the 2009 production numbers for the codes team comprised of Linda Winstead, Nancy Gibson, Doug Brown, Emily Keyser and Melissa Ashburn. It is impressive, especially when you consider their turnover in staff.

New codes: 23
Revisions: 15
Updates: 42



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


Mark Your Calendars:

- Project Reporting end of the year closings – Remember that we close the following requests effective December 31, 2009. They include MTAS Administration, MTAS Assistance to Others, MTAS Professional Development, and IPS Administration. You may close these after the first of the year, but be sure you use 12/31 as the closing date. Also refrain from opening a new 2010 project for these topics until you receive the go ahead from me.

- Travel – Probably not a mark your calendar, but in the future as you complete T-3 ‘s in the Object of Trip-list all of your destinations as your currently do, however in your detail listing show only the farthest destination and do not list the others. This will make completion of your travel request much easier and life a lot more pleasant for Tess. Also when listing parking expense, please list the name of the garage. Contact Tess if you have any questions.

- Transparency: Fulfilling the Promise of Open Government
January 27, 2010 | FREE webinar for TN cities
The Alliance for Innovation webinar Transparency: Fulfilling the Promise of Open Government will take an in depth look at the philosophy and decision-making involved in deciding to be transparent. We will look at tools used for financial transparency and hear from several local government case studies regarding the response to their transparency initiatives.
For more information visit:
http://www.transformgov.org/events.asp

- Resources Available to Your City: MTAS/Alliance for Innovation Webinar
MTAS and the Alliance for Innovation will conduct a webinar for a selected group of cities on the information resources available to cities in Tennessee through the MTAS/Alliance for innovation membership.

When: January 13, 2010 (Tuesday)
9:30 am – 10:30 am CST

Who: Toni Shope, Eastern Regional Director, Alliance for Innovation, Frances Adams-O’Brien, MTAS Librarian, and Ronnie Neill, MTAS Management Consultant are teaming up to review all of available resources for you and to answer any questions that you might have.


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


Staff Birthdays for November:

November 1 – Bonnie Curran
November 1 – Elaine Morrisey
November 16 – Gail Cook
November 16 – Kay Stegall
November 20- - Sarah Holley
November 27 - Emily Keyser ( I left Emily off of last month’s update, so she did not age this past year)

Staff Birthdays for December:
December 5 – John Chlarson
December 12 – Ronnie Neill
December 14 – Justin O’Hara
December 21 – Rick Whitehead
December 23 – Armintha Loveday
December 26 – William Haston
December 28 – Melanie Purcell
December 30 – Nancy Gibson

Staff Birthdays for January:
January 2 – PJ Snodgrass
January 9 – Dana Deem
January 12 – Doug Brown
January 21 – Pat Hardy

Kudos:
- To Becky for obtaining a Masters Degree in Instructional Technology from UT Knoxville, to Bonnie for obtaining a Masters Degree in Human Resource Development from Tusculum, to Sarah for obtaining a Masters Degree in Human Resource Management from UT Knoxville and to Jessyca for obtaining an Associates Degree from Pellissippi State. See photo of Becky and Sarah. Will be glad to publish photo of Bonnie and Jessyca if available.

- To David Angerer for working with the Northwest Development District and the Rural Development Authority to secure a grant to fund the tuition for elected officials to attend our Elected Officials Academy. He and Ronnie Neill will be conducting four academies in 2010 and hope to enroll between 80 and 100 elected officials in Northwest Tennessee.

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

October
Gail Cook 14
Ron Darden 284
Sharon Rollins 15
Steve Wyatt 25
William Haston 16

November
Gail Cook 4
Steve Wyatt 50
William Haston 16

December
Gary West 1
Kay Stegall 1
Melissa Ashburn 1


- To all the staff members who have participated in one or more of the IPS inter-agency committees. You have done this in addition to your regular workload and I thank you.

- To all Knoxville MTAS staff who were part in contributing $300 to Birchwood Village Subsidized Housing for the Elderly and Disabled in Pikeville, TN. This effort was coordinated by Linda, Warren and Mayor Greg Johnson of Pikeville. This money will be used to purchase a needed item for the Village’s community room. See photo above.



Please email me Kudos suggestions and I will make an effort to include them in future staff updates.

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

I hope Everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Mike