Week 3

             Monday ~ The week started off with a 9:00 telephone conference meeting with Alan Shark of PTI to discuss integration and improvements to the city's IT system.  Attendees included:  Lunda and Tim (the Assistant City Managers); Brenda (our IT guru that everyone loves); and me.  You can imagine my surprise when I received the e-mail from the Alliance for Innovation entitled “Cloud Computing for Local Government,” which Mr. Shark will be speaking at.  Mr. Shark is an adjunct professor at Rutgers and made a slightly disparing comment about ASU when Lunda mentioned they an intern from ASU (so Alliance interns, set him straight when you see him).  From the conversation during and after the telephone conference, I believe the city will use PTI’s services to update and improve their existing systems.  PTI sends out a team to evaluate the current systems and make recommendations for improvements.  In addition to the obvious goals, key selling points included that the city will gain accessibility to a national network and that PTI does not sell anything so one can expect the recommendations to be unbiased towards a product or vendor.  Following the meeting, I started on creating bar graphs (2008-2011 and 2011 budget) and pie charts (current year) detailing revenues and expenditures.  Lunda is starting to accumulate financial data for presentation to the City Countil.  The city expects to complete its year-end close out of the books by January 31^st as mandated by Kansas law.

           Tuesday ~ The day began with a meeting of the department heads.  Barbara Burns and Erin McDaniel recently attended a seminar in which the Bleiker Model of Communicating Decisions was presented.  They shared what they had learned at this with the rest of the department heads.  Erin is the Director of Communications and Barbara is the Director of Community Advancement.  The following is their mission statement:  “Communications & Advancement oversees the initiation, implementation, and quality control of the following:  Public Information – grants and outside funding – Special projects that further the positive growth of the community.”  There are a number of steps to the Bleiker Method (if interested, http://www.ipmp.com/) which has the goal of creating Informed Consent instead of Consensus with the thought that there are usually winners and losers in many civic situations, so you explain why certain actions must to be taken.  I will be happy to scan and send the 2-page document to anyone who is interested.  The other topic of interest was the presentation to the City Council later that evening regarding the safety remodel of the first floor of City Hall with an explanation to show it is reasonable, sensible, and responsible.  Newton used to be a hub for the Santa Fe Railroad and City Hall is housed in their historic building and as such does not have many of the security measures seen in many more modern city halls.  Sometimes people are angry because of their water bill.  City Hall is also home to the City Attorney, City Prosecutor, and Municipal Court…and attendees are usually rather colorful.  These are for the more minor cases as higher level crime cases are held in the District Court in the Courthouse (4 blocks away…remember, this is Small Town U.S.A.).  In the afternoon, I started on a new project for Lunda involving longevity pay. 

Tuesday night ~ City Council meeting.  Last time, there was only one main topic to be considered, but this night was different.  Approvals for the Slate Creek commercial Addition Final Plat and the Presbyterian Manor Planned Unit Development were approved in the blink of an eye.  Similarly, an agreement for a road renovation project and the awarding of a contract for a new outdoor warning system were presented and approved.  All of these items represented major investments by the city and were approved in a matter of minutes.  What took up most of the time that night? ... discussion regarding an ordinance setting the dates and times for fireworks sales and discharge for July 4, 2012!  This even brought the public out – a fireworks vendor and the editor of the local newspaper.  Newton licenses fireworks vendors and receives $2,500. from each stand so it has an interest in making sure the vendors make money and keep coming back.  The editor of the newspaper came as a resident who has two small children and would like to see the times more restricted.  Having been in Newton on the 4^th, I can say that some local residents pay little attention to the ordinance which requires them to stop shooting off fireworks at midnight on July 4^th, but many stop.  This is very difficult to enforce as by the time the police get there, it is either over or they have moved to another location.  The Council did cut off sales at 10:00 p.m. instead of midnight as was previously done.  Surprisingly, both individuals came away feeling okay with that compromise.

Wednesday ~ The day started with a breakfast meeting led by City Councilman Willis Heck who is on the Governor’s Committee regarding proposed changes to the State tax revenue structure.  For those of you who might not have read this earlier, it was planned to be 1/3 property tax, 1/3 sales tax, and 1/3 income tax.  This was the same presentation I attended last week, but this meeting had different attendees…and what a difference that made.  The attendees at this meeting were all city and county administrators with much more in-depth knowledge of the tax structure and what it takes to keep their organizations running.  The caliber of the discussion was most impressive!  I will provide more details on this when I get the minutes of the meeting.  Later it was back to comparing Newton’s longevity pay with that of other Kansas communities of similar size.  Originally, it was thought this could be graphed, but I don’t think that it is possible after receiving information from about 15 communities.  Some cities have discontinued it altogether, some give it only to the police, and some cities give it only to those employees who were there for five or more years prior to December 31, 1998.   There were other variables too, but I think you get the idea that it is impossible to create a graph.  Next, I was to review the Executive Summary of the current Budget Book to use as a guideline for comparing the 2010 and 2011 actual revenues and expenditures for the General Fund only in a written format. (Thank you Dr. Miller!!)

Thursday ~ Most of the day was divided between the longevity pay project and determining how to put together the latest project involving the Budget Book.  However, I attended a 10:00 Finance and Human Resources meeting.  Assistant City Manager Lunda oversees both of these departments.  Much of the discussion centered on the logistics of moving the Finance Department and the Water Billing Department around due to the planned safety renovation of their areas.  We were all given copies of the 2012 Safety & Professional Development Training calendar.   Monthly, starting in February, there are training opportunities dealing with safety (of course), conflict resolution, hiring, communication, and leadership.  Some are rather job specific and attendance is required if it impacts those duties within your job description and other topics are geared for those in a management position.  I believe everyone must attend “Ensuring a Harassment-Free Workplace.”  As I was preparing to leave at the end of the day, Suzanne (the City Engineer & Director of Public Works) gave me a pile of data on fluoridation to look into when I had time.  Newton puts fluoride in the city water as most cities do, but she questions the benefits.  Fluoride is very corrosive to the city equipment and so one might wonder what it does to the body.  I am also wondering if it is bio-accumulative.  As I have just briefly looked over the data I was presented, I have my doubts also.  There will be more on this topic when I have had a chance to more thoroughly review the stack of papers given me.  However, it is an interesting topic to look into.  Randy Riggs, the City Manager, sent out an e-mail to all city employees (and me) urging them to take time to reflect on all of the city’s accomplishments over the past year…and the accomplishments he listed were 2 pages long…very impressive.  He is a great guy and a wonderful leader…he has his MPA from KU.

Friday ~ Well, for those of you who have made it this far, today was not spent at the City.  I left early this morning for KU to meet with Dr. Stacey Swearingen-White to work on research.  She has set out a program for me to follow-up on the progress small communities (under 100,000) have made on the NPDES, Phase II program.  NPDES stands National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.  The EPA mandated this of the states and the states passed it onto the cities without guidance or funding.  Dr. White has published two papers on this and my research will be a follow-up to those.

End note:  This week I worked 27.5 hours on my internship for a total thus far of 84.25 hours.

Week 2

City Hall was closed on Monday for Martin Luther King’s birthday so this week was a short one.  On Tuesday morning I attended a meeting of the department heads to discuss items for the agenda for next Tuesday night’s City Council.  At this time there was still no news regarding the funding for the Victims of Domestic Violence Program (discussed in last week’s blog).  Other issues touched upon include the need to hire one or two employees in the water billing and finance departments.    Following this meeting I attended a meeting downtown (2 blocks away) which was also attended by the City Manager and both of the Assistant City Managers.  Barbara Burns, Newton’s Community Advancement Coordinator, has taken me under her wing this week.  A retired teacher, she is quite a dynamo and a very positive, upbeat individual.  This meeting was led by Willis Heck, a member of the City Council, who is participating on a State panel looking into changing the tax structure.  Originally it was intended that tax revenues would be derived equally (1/3 each) from property tax, sales tax, and income tax.  A special panel appointed by the governor is reviewing this structure with the intent of making Kansas more favorable to attract businesses and industry.  Other members at this meeting included local bankers, representatives of the local school district, Harvey county officials, Bethel college administrators, and city officials from North Newton (a small, but separate community).  Councilman Heck chaired roundtable sessions which reviewed several proposed plans and sought suggestions to take back to Topeka.  Immediately, following this meeting was a meeting of the Downtown Newton Development Corp (DNDC) which has been recently reorganized.  Some of the members from the previous meeting took part in this meeting.  George Krivens, a local architect, led the meeting and is eager to see the DNDC take action.  Areas discussed dealt with development - financial, property, retail, and streetscape.  The Historic Fox Theatre is the main project at this time (this is quite an undertaking).  Well this was my Tuesday. 

On Wednesday I met with Assistant City Manager Lunda Asmani to discuss my involvement in upcoming projects.  He then took me on a tour of the city’s water billing and finance departments.  In the afternoon, I went with Barbara to attend a meeting of the county’s Health Initiative Task Force.  This was led by Jo Miller, Harvey County Director of Health Services.  The county is implementing a program called MAPP or Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnership.  The focus appeared to be for at-risk children without warm clothing and hungry.  There were numerous non-profit groups present as well as city and county officials.  Although cordial, it was apparent to me that these groups do not view the problem similarly, but time will tell.

Thursday was spent with the police department.  I was given a complete tour of the facilities by Police Chief Daily.  Lieutenant Murphy took me through the evidence room, where I saw meth, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana.  In the property room I saw unclaimed property (bicycles and guns) that had been recovered.  There were only four bicycles as they held an auction last month.  It saddened me to see that drugs and alcohol have become a problem in what I have always pictured as an idyllic community.  Detective Brad Celestin, a pleasant scholarly-looking young man, splits his time between the police department and the FBI.  His specialties are cyberspace crime and internet child pornography.  Adult pornography is not illegal under the amendment protecting freedom of speech.  For those of you who post videos on YouTube, I found out that the police frequently view these.  This happened when I was here with four officers viewing a fight in a public park.  As this is a small town, they had no difficulty in identifying the participants.  I am not sure whether they planned to follow-up on the incident.  My day with the police was capped off with riding with Master Patrol Officer Rousseau for several hours in the afternoon.  He was amazing!  He can spot body language that I did not even notice.  In that short time, we (he) handled two accidents and stopped two vehicles.  I learned that you can’t search a vehicle without probable cause.  He believes in trusting his gut instinct. 

This morning (Friday) I attended a Chamber of Commerce breakfast at the Meridian Center (owned by Newton) along with most of the city and county officials.  The program focused on endowments and stewardship for the Central Kansas Community Foundation.  As of December 2011, the foundation has over $12 million in assets.  The Central Kansas Community Foundations serves several counties and small communities.  Later in the morning I went with Barbara to meet Patrick Johnson and Mrs. Hague at the Historic Fox Theatre to discuss the restoration needs.  As a person who is not very artistic, it was quite an education in listening to these pros discuss architecture, colors, and textures.  There is so much work to be done on this.  I learned a valuable lesson as I was listening to them…contacts are very important!!  Someone who could donate materials, someone who could supervise volunteers, someone who could lend their name to the project, someone who might provide substantial financing for the project…and the list goes on and on.  The day was capped off with a short meeting with Lunda.  I will be attending a meeting at 9:00 on Monday to discuss the coordination and integration of the city’s IT communication equipment.  This is the same thing that many of the communities in the Metro-Phoenix area are in the process of doing…eliminate the silos! 

            End note:  It is 24 degrees here today and windy, but no snow.  Thought I might document that I worked 26.25 hours this week and 30.5 hours last week for a total thus far of 56.75 hours.  Chief Daily told me today that Newton was awarded the grant funding for Victims of Domestic Violence.  Hooray!

Week 1

        Even though this is my home town, starting this internship was like starting a new job, resulting in a major case of nerves. These fears were soon allayed by a sea of welcoming faces and warm handshakes. Newton is a town of approximately 20,000 about 30 miles north of Wichita in America’s heartland. Newton is a very conservative community with a progressive leadership. Randy Riggs, the City Manager, arranged this internship for me. Assistant City Managers Lunda Asmani and Tim Johnson spent the good part of a day (each) driving me around to facilities that they oversee. One of the most dynamic members of the management team is Suzanne Loomis, the Director of Public Works and the City Engineer. This first week has been a whirlwind of tours though numerous public facilities.

        I met the Supervisors and received guided tours of the facilities housing the Streets & Sanitation Department (Randy Jackson); the Wastewater Treatment plant (Ed Bonham); and the Mission Water Plant complete with 20 wells (also Ed). Tim drove me around to see each of the municipal parks and the airport which is rapidly expanding. We were given guided tours of the world-class Sandcreek Station Golf course and the new Meridian Conference Center. Suzanne took me out to the Kansas Logistics Park which is under construction. She pointed out land they have acquired and other that they have options on. She provided me with maps showing expansion plans complete with added railroad tracks/spurs, new roads, future plans for additional electrical service and to increase water pressure, modifications to the roads to accommodate heavy trucks; and much, much more. The Kansas Logistics Park will house several manufacturers of wind turbine parts in addition to other manufacturers. It is anticipated that these new industries will provide over 1,000 well-paying jobs for local residents. Newton has been successful in receiving millions of dollars in federal and state grant monies for this and other projects. The afternoon was spent with Fire Chief Gary Denny not only took me to each of the three fire stations, but explained to me the collaborations with other smaller communities in the area and the county. Chief Denny is also in charge of Emergency Services and Homeland Security for the area. Fire Station #3 is a new facility that was funded entirely by grant money. To a man (or woman) each of these expressed appreciation and confidence in their staffs.

        Previously (Day 2 of my internship), I attended a City Council meeting in the evening. There was discussion of several minor issues, but the primary issue dealt with a problem in the funding of a program assisting victims of domestic violence. The City of Newton and Harvey County jointly sponsor this program which was previously supported by grant funding. The continuance of that funding appears to be very uncertain. The City Councilmen are very caring and concerned individuals and they discussed options to find money to fund the program. Unfortunately, that looks rather bleak at this point.

        Newton supports the Kansas Leadership Center and Assistant City Manager Tim Johnson has suggested that I attend the three leadership sessions and the City will pay my registration fees. So I am planning on attending those in Fedbruary. Lest I forget to mention, tomorrow I go to see the City Attorney, Robert Myers, to learn about the Municipal Court. I understand that I will start working on projects next week. This has been a wonderful experience thus far and I imagine that I have already experienced more than some may during their entire internship experience. THANKS NEWTON!

        End note: It turned quite cold and windy here today. I had to clear the snow off of my windshield when I left City Hall tonight. Another benefit of my internship is that it is only six blocks from my house to City Hall.  I have struggled with setting up this blog, but thanks to the City's fabulous IT lady, Brenda Ternes, I made it!!