Joe Brehm's Summer Internship at Oro Valley

Final Post

2009-07-01T21:28:00.001-07:00

Fro my last post I am going to summarize my time here in Oro Valley even though I still have another month down here. I started back on May 14th and I have grown by leaps and bounds. My knowledge from class has been the foundation of my experiences here. I have learned every minute that I have been at work. I come home mentally exhausted every day and come back for more. There truly is a lot to learn in the Public Administration field. I see now how people can spend a lifetime working in this field and still learn new things.
I am still hoping to one day be an assistant city manager. I enjoy working with the Town staff a little more than working with elected officials. I might one day wish to become a city manager, but for now I am setting my sights for the assistant.
The staff here has been so wonderful. I owe much to my supervisor. She has been instrumental in breaking my police habits that don’t serve my position well. She has a ton of experience with interns and it shows. I only wish I had more time to study under her. I honestly wish I had another couple of months here. I know that I still need a lot of work, but I am off to a good start. For that, I thank you Oro Valley.

New Person

2009-07-01T21:18:00.001-07:00

Moving can be a real pain, especially in hot AZ summer. You never really know how much stuff you have and don’t need until you have to move it all. I moved to Oro Valley from Scottsdale. Despite the time of packing, driving and unpacking I have enjoyed my time down here. There is something to be said for relocating. It is like you are starting a new life. You can be a whole new person. You get a clean slate. I personally have formed new habits that I probably could not have stuck with back in Scottsdale. Relocating forces you to redefine and start new things. Who will you be when you move next?

Hobby Video

2009-07-01T21:12:00.001-07:00

For one of my Fluff posts I am putting a link to one of my hobbies, airsoft. I played, filmed and edited this game. It was one of the best ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exqTIK4qAdE

Being New

2009-07-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

One cool thing about being new is that everyone is so nice to you. I have been at the town for exactly a month and a half and people are still super nice to me. I am getting invited to retirement parties and ice-cream socials and other end of the year stuff. In fact, the town’s library director used to have her own catering business. She retired and wrote a cook book. I was fascinated by this and she left the pizza party for a few minutes. She returned with a copy of her book and she signed it for me.
Its little things like that which make a big difference in the over all experience of the organization. I hope you all have had similar experiences and also try to make experiences like these for new people when you are part of your future work.

Free Time

2009-07-01T20:42:00.001-07:00

Another observation I have had about work actually relates to my personal life. I have noticed that after working 40+ hours a week I really appreciate the things I do in my free time. They seem to have more of an impact on my mood and motivation for the week. I am involved in a sport and my team has always been cool. I enjoyed their company, but recently I have been truly enjoying our time. It is knowing that our time is fleeting and work will start again that makes the time I have so important. The same applies to my girlfriend. Going to the movies means more now than it did during my undergrad. I feel now as if I took all of those time for granted. I know that we all want more vacation, and that would be nice. I am reminded of the example of eating ice-cream everyday would make the ice-cream not taste as good eventually. I take comfort in knowing that a tough week will only make the free time that much sweeter.

Déjà Vu

2009-07-01T20:35:00.000-07:00

Have you wanted to impress a boss so bad that you find yourself obsessing over your work? Work is different from class because if you work hard on a paper and know that it can still be better but are tired you start to add up the points in the class. You start to weight the costs and benefits of ending now versus putting the extra effort to get the points that you may not need.
Work is different because you see this person for more than a few hours each week. The stakes are higher. The rewards are better. When the person you respect and look up to acknowledges your work, it is such a relief. Therein lies the question.
Do you know if your boss realizes the power they have? Do they know that their words can make or break your day depending on the work you did? The real question is, will you remember these days when you are the boss and you are reviewing someone else’s work? I wonder if we will have that déjà vu moment of role reversal.

4th of July Plans

2009-07-01T20:25:00.001-07:00

This weekend is the big 4th of July weekend. I hope you all have some good plans ahead. I am taking an early day on Thursday to get up to Flagstaff for the weekend. I am looking forward to the mid 70 degree weather and scattered rain showers. I love the rain. Being Arizona born and raised I have come to appreciate water. I am hoping to dine at a few new restaurants up there. I really enjoy trying new places to eat.
I am hoping to get to a Thai place in the downtown area. My girlfriend loves Pineapple fried rice. It is a mixture of sweet and spice and very good with chicken, tofu or mock duck. My girlfriend is vegetarian, so that makes me half vegetarian.
The other place I am hoping we get to go to is a German restaurant. I love German food the most. It is hearty with full, bold flavors. The sauces that accompany each dish compliment each item on that dish. A gravy will go well with the protein and pasta. Another sauce will be good on potatoes and dumplings. There are not many German restaurants around and they can be a little pricey. For special occasions they are a wonderful treat.

Offering Services

2009-07-01T20:17:00.001-07:00

One comment that is always brought up when people are talking about a new service is, “It’s harder to stop offering a service than it is to start.” Take for example a transit service for handicapped citizens. There is no requirement for a town or city to offer this service. Most places do of course, but they don’t have to. Most of the time those programs have a budget that costs the jurisdiction hundreds of thousands of dollars. On average fares collected from riders only make up about 10-15% of the total cost of offering the service. Can you imagine being in a position where you might have to consider taking something like that away.
Let me be clear though, this is merely an example. Oro Valley’s transit is doing very well and is highly supported. One remarkable thing to note is the volunteers that are working for the service Oro Valley offers.
Oro Valley has a program called Coyote Run. This is a system of buses that is available only for the elderly and disabled citizens of Oro Valley. The busses pickup the citizen and take them anywhere they need to go. As you can imagine there is no private Taxi service in Oro Valley. The program has several drivers that work part and full time. Now they have added volunteers to help with the workload. The amazing thing I discovered was that a few of the volunteers made it clear that they would only volunteer as long as they would not be replacing a paid employee. Thankfully that is not the case. The volunteers are to help with an 11% increase in demand and to allow the paid staff to start taking time off. The message is this, if you are going to think about offering a service that is going to be valued but costly, make sure that you can fund it in good times and tough times. Because I can tell you if you try to take away Coyote Run there would be hundreds of disappointed people.

Coworkers

2009-07-01T19:44:00.001-07:00

I am sure that you have all heard at some point or another someone in your organization saying, “I have worked with other people before and this group is the best group I have ever worked with.” I hear that often at the town. Right now moral and tension can be felt because of the budget issues. This can make everyone look around and really appreciate the people around them.
For me, what makes people special is the personal touch that makes people you work with kind of like family. I have not been here long enough to experience that, but I see it. I want to work for an organization where I can do that. In all of my previous jobs that sort of thing was frowned upon. I enjoy people who have a good sense of humor and do not make a big deal out of everything. When someone exaggerates about something it makes me wonder what else have they inflated and why should I take them seriously?
What makes coworkers family to you? What qualities do hope for? What do you dread?

James Bond

2009-07-01T19:26:00.001-07:00

For one of my non-work related posts I will talk about the original James Bond movies. I have decided to watch all of the old ones in succession. I might get through 3 week. I finished Thunderball last night. So far Sean Connery has been the only Bond, but the days of Roger Moore are fast approaching. I know that the old ones have humorous special effects and can be quite cheesy. I enjoy them though. The story lines are original and the Bond actors have class.
I really enjoy the new Bond movies also. I don’t care what anyone says I like Daniel Craig and I loved Casino Royale! My friends all complained that there were not enough explosions but I disagreed. The acting was superb, it did not need that much pyro. I also loved my favorite Danish actor play the lead bad guy. Quantum of Solace was good, but I am a huge fan of the first one. Are you a Bond fan?

Public Speaking Class

2009-07-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

I had a bit of irony this week. 3 days after my first ever Council presentation I was invited to a public speaking presentation for our planning department. No, this was not a hint from my coworkers about my speaking ability. This was recommended because this was going to be one of the last presentations the town was going to attend for a little while. The presenter knew a few of the town staff and she catered the all day event for us.
Our class only went from 9-3 but it could have been a 2 day class easy. We made video recordings to critique ourselves and see the improvements. It was plain to see that the later recordings showed less nervous and making jokes while working on our weakness. I was given a packet of information that I will keep with me wherever I go. I have a feeling that I will be needing it in the future.
I learned a few valuable lessons about breathing techniques that make you speak louder and clearer. I enjoyed the experience and I think it will help in the future. I wonder if any of you guys have had to give presentations for work in front of 30 or more people? What kinds of advice were you given before hand? What tips help you cope with the nervousness and focus?

Storm Water

2009-07-01T19:08:00.001-07:00

I spent today shadowing a worker who specializes in Storm Water. I met with him at 5am to go out and check the mosquito traps he set the night before. The town traps and tests mosquitoes weekly. The purpose to is determine if any of the species of mosquitoes in the town carry West Nile or any other viruses that could harm people. The town has never had a single case. The town next to us had a case of West Nile because a resident purchased a plant from Africa over the internet. The plant was shipped with mosquito eggs already laid on the plant. When she watered it they began to grow. She kept wondering where all of the bugs came from because she never noticed them outside. The doctors figured out it was the plant she kept inside the house.
Mosquitoes are only one part of his job. He drafts and oversees the towns numerous storm water infrastructure. This infrastructure can be culverts than run under roads to channel water or grates on the side of the road that water flows into. They have excellent software that maps out each location and shows a picture of the infrastructure. They also have a guy who is on call who comes back to work if there is a severe storm or flood.
The funding for this department is very unique considering what they do. The water department in many other communities is actually a utility. They meter and bill citizens based off of usage, exactly like a power plant. Storm water is also categorized as a utility that gets inserted with the Water bill but is separate from everything else. The rate everyone pays is the same because the service the storm guys provide makes sure that roads, washes and all other property stay clean and clear from debris and dirt before, during and after storms. Everyone pays about $6.50 quarterly.
This funding is plenty for the Storm departments vehicles, equipment and people. The best thing about having Storm as a utility is that the revue they generate can only be used by them. Their budgets don’t face cuts when sales tax revenue falls. This is good because even though the economy is slow and people are shopping less does not mean there is less flooding and rain.

Learning from the Different Levels

2009-07-01T18:53:00.001-07:00

I have had the opportunity to spend some time with the workers from the Public Works Department. These guys do things like new road construction, pavement maintenance, inspections, permits, transit and storm water. I have had a great time getting out of the cubicle and onto the street. I put on a reflective vest and a hard hat and shadowed some cool guys. It is always interesting learning the experiences of workers from different levels of the organization. I learn about the organization from the top end perspective where large decisions are made.
I made sure not to try to explain the rationale of why those decisions are made to the street level guys. I honestly don’t fully understand all of the reasons those decisions were made. There are also some politics floating around the decisions that I don’t grasp as well. Rather I just tried to explain how things are taught at ASU. So this allowed me to share a perspective from a manager’s point of view from an academic stand point. Sometimes decisions with unpleasant outcomes are blamed on the manager, both by staff and council. That’s fine because only the Council can get rid of the Manager with a majority vote. Council may not blame the manager openly, but difficult solutions are left to him to propose to make him the bad guy for bringing them up.
Sometimes workers within an organization don’t fully understand the big picture, most times they do. I enjoyed listening to the Public Works guys because they are the no nonsense type and have a good sense of humor. A couple of them have told me to come have lunch with them before I leave. I was pleased to hear that and I will most certainly take them up on that.

Big Project Update

2009-07-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

I finally had my presentation. I was a bit nervous as it was my first time in front of council, however I had complete trust in my supervisor. I have learned to trust her and my fellow intern implicitly. When I am organizing or writing something they often have structural comments to change the order of information I present. At first I felt a little uncomfortable changing the form of my writing, but I had to remember that they have been doing this for years.
After several practice sessions and revisions I had a powerpoint presentation that lasted 7 minutes. I video recorded it with my camera so I can study it for corrections and to look back on. The presentation itself went well. There were no technical difficulties and I did not make too many speech errors. It was the questions afterwards that were the tough part.
I gave my presentation in seven minutes; my topic was not finished for another hours and fifteen minutes. I stood for quite a while taking a fair amount of heat. The thing about answering questions from Council is knowing what is a question and what is a statement.
Council members will often say things that sound like questions, but rather are statements for or against the topic for the public and other Council members to hear.
Another aspect to keep in mind is answering the question they ask. If you answer the question in a way that makes them feel like you are talking down to them, god help you. When Council is in session they are in the hot seat. They are being judged by everything they say and do. I respect that, and understanding that it is all part of the system makes it easy to take what feels like heat from them.
The topic I presented had some followers both for and against in the public. Council members were also for and against. Those against had to discuss why my research and results could not be supported. My fellow workers felt for me and I appreciated it. Afterwards a few Council members even came up to me and told me that I did a good job. Even the ones who grilled me were saying that it was nothing personal. So, my trust in my friends paid off and the structure did a good job presenting the information in a clear debatable format. I don’t think I have a project that requires me to present in front of Council again while I am here. I have a feeling that this will not be the last council presentation I do.

Secrets of the Trade

2009-06-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

I have noticed that there are workers here who are exceptional when dealing with the general public. They are outgoing and friendly. I enjoy talking with people and trying to understand their perspective and see the Town from their shoes. I am going to try to spend dome time with these very talented workers during my internship.

One of the people works as the Constituent Services Coordinator. She is the person who fields all of the communications from citizens to the Town. These communications come in the form of in person, Email, and phone calls. They can cover any topic about the Town from water quality to the Police and everything in between. Often times when you see people who are customer service reps you think of the people who work at the DMV. I have always had the DMV worker who looked like they just wanted to go home. One unique thing about our staff is that they do not seem to be “Burnt out”. Each case to them is a new challenge and opportunity to have a citizen satisfied with the Town.

I offer this for discussion, are you one of those types who loves to work with the general public? Do you have that drive to be extra friendly and tolerable to people with criticism for your organization? How would you recommend that I learn the secrets of this skill from our current staff?

My First Real Project Continued

2009-06-15T11:08:00.001-07:00

To continue the progress update with my first real project I am happy to report that I will get to present my project in front of Council in less than two weeks. I have been working on my PowerPoint and today I will do a mock presentation. I am excited to present. This will be my first time standing before a Council.

I don’t have any particular hopes or expectations for the decision about my project. This project is a topic that has been presented before and I am merely showing the research I have done thus far to see if more is warranted. I have come to truly understand that even though I may be doing the research and have this information; I am only there to present it the best I can. I have removed myself emotionally from the project. If Council chooses to move forward authorizing continued research then great, if not that’s ok too and I will get started on the next thing. The good thing about this kind of work is that there is no shortage of these kinds of projects. This is a great thing because I will not be doing the same thing everyday. Plus, after a career of doing this I will have a small “jack of all trades” kind of knowledge.

My question to you all is have you ever needed to separate yourself from a project that you have spent hours, days, weeks or longer working on? I know that working on something that you are passionate about is a great feeling, but has that feeling ever caused you trouble?

To speak or not to speak

2009-06-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

I have had an observation that I was wondering if you guys could relate to. It is knowing when to be quiet. By this I mean knowing when you can and cannot share information between people, both inside and outside the organization. When is it ok to share information you heard in a meeting with someone inside your organization. When is it ok for outside the organization? How do you deal with an inquisitive person at work that your supervisor told you to say nothing to?

While you may not be working for a government you might have experience with this subject. I have been finding myself trying to cope with the desire to share information to others who have interest in the subject. I recently sat in a meeting with two council members and the director of our Parks and Rec department. There was a discussion about other options to offer parks during the summer. Because of the budget cuts the Town was unable to begin construction on a new park and the entire project has been shelved. Recognizing that the Town still needs to offer additional park space for the summer, the idea of contracting with local schools to use their fields was discussed. The idea was to have the Town pay for the operation and maintenance of the fields and the school would essentially allow their fields to be used as a park for the public. It is an idea that several other municipalities have already done and we were going to start making calls to see if we could establish a similar program.

A few days later I stopped by a fund raising car wash. When I got out of my car I was greeted by the coach of a local girl’s youth soccer team raising funds to go to competitions and for new uniforms. I told the coach that I was an intern for the Town and I asked “What can the Town do to help you?” He replied that they are having trouble finding locations to play. The team had to rotate places to practice as the fields they played on required to be rested. The coach told me that he was disappointed to hear that the park idea was shelved, as that was going to be their new field to practice and play.

Naturally, I wanted to tell him “Hey we are on top of this. We know that there are not enough parks in Town. We are sorry that we had to hold off on the new park, but we are working on getting you a replacement. We are going to get all of our schools to open to the public and you can play wherever you want.” But instead I made my comments more vague. I told him that we have a couple of council members working on just that very issue. I cannot go into details but if you give me your contact information I can update you with the progress. He gave me his name and number and I gave him mine. I could tell he was a little disappointed with the fact that I could tell him specifics. I feel that it is so important to tell the people everything we are working on to show how hard we are working. I want people to know that local government is far more responsive than they think. When we respond to problems a lot of consideration goes into presentations to Council and the execution of programs. However, I held back and now I wait until the parks information becomes “declassified”.

Regional Transit Meeting

2009-06-08T11:07:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday June 3rd I joined the Town Engineer to Tucson for the Pima Association of Governments (PAG) and Regional Transit Authority (RTA) conference. The subject of the conference was the affects of the upcoming federal stimulus and the State budget as well as updating the 5 year plan. On the car ride over the Engineer Craig, and I talked about the new trends in transit. One comment that I had brought up was that there is going to be an increase in population and cars using the roads, representing an increase in usage and demand for roads. A gas tax of $0.184 for Federal and $0.18 for state equals $0.364 total. This rate remains constant whether the price for gasoline is $1 or $4 per gallon. The point I brought up was the fact that federal mandates are requiring new vehicles to have increasing fuel economy ratings. I cannot remember the exact years or numbers, but the point was that cars will become more fuel efficient thus having the possible effect of lowering the amount of tax revenue from the sale of gasoline. This of course depends on the increase in the number of vehicles driving as well as other factors. Craig said it was a valid point of concern. He agreed with me and thought that the increase in the number of cars driving would not be enough to counteract the increasing MPG rating. He also pointed out that if alternative fuel becomes more popular that could also have an effect.
Craig is the Vice Chair for the Transportation Finance Subcommittee. There were about 20 or so people attending this meeting. Many concerns were expressed about the highway and other transportation funds for the future. If some funds did not receive a federal deposit they would be bankrupt in a year or so. When the Chair of the committee asked for any other concerns Craig brought up my point about the increasing MPG theory. The Chair immediately said that it was a great point to bring up and a 20 minute discussion on the topic ensued.
Being a new intern means that I am invited to almost every meeting that is held. Often times I have nothing to contribute except for questions clarifying things. It was a nice change to have one of my ideas discussed among engineers from across the different municipalities who have been working in the field since before I was born.
On the car ride back to town Craig and I talked about the idea of changing the source of revenue away from the gas tax. The funds from the gas tax are used to pay for road improvement, maintenance and expansion. Rather than have the revenue be based off of the gas tax, it might be more efficient to get a form of tax closer to the actual usage of the roads. Perhaps a millage tax run through the DMV would be an option. It would be difficult to determine on which roads the millage was actually used. But the specific idea is not what is important now. The main idea is to determine a way to have revenue match usage so that citizens do not overpay for roads or drive on underfunded roads.

My first real project

2009-06-08T10:00:00.001-07:00

I encountered my first real challenge about a week into my internship. The challenge was my writing style. After years of working for police departments and writing incident reports my style of “Just the facts ma’m” writing is not the best style used for writing a council communication. I normally write the facts in sequential order with no story or filler. I reported the facts and only facts. For my first large project however, I needed to change that. My first draft went to the Management Analyst who is my mentor, to whom I report to daily. She said it was a fine first attempt and that all of the information needed was there, but it needed to flow better. She explained that although council has been presented this project before I needed more background information and why staff is looking at the situation again.
Because Council members are very busy information is better conveyed when it flows like a good story. This is a difficult balance between presenting options for them to consider while maintaining a flowing structure. I had to try to step back from the information (which I had spent a week gathering and knew by heart), and think to myself “If I was being presented with this for the first time how would I think about it? In what order would questions come?” I tried to think of what kinds of questions might come to mind first, and then I tried to answer those questions in the writing as quickly as possible.
After several revisions and much help from my mentor and another intern who has been here for about a year and a half, I had an acceptable draft to present the Town Manager. To be honest I was nervous sitting across from him. I have never had my writing analyzed by a manager professionally. I have had my writing graded academically by teachers who had been city managers previously, but this is my first time working for a city/town and thus this was my first formal review of my work. He sat across from me and my mentor next to me. He had a silver metal pen to scan the pages. My mentor told me he has a reputation for editing communications repeatedly. I could not follow along reading on my own page as I was far more concerned watching his pen glide over my words. I could hear him mumble the sentences as he turned the first page. I had made it through an entire page without any corrections. One down, two to go I thought to myself. He finished another page with no marks. With the final page finished he sat back and looked at me. I knew that his next words would carry a lot of weight.
My mentor had previously warned me that he did not give many “atta boys” and neither did she. She said that if I did my work and I did not hear anything back from them, it meant I was doing well. As I sat breathlessly waiting for his report he looked at me and said, “It’s good. Here’s what we are going to do. You have a lot of good information and you obviously did your research. We are going to remove a few paragraphs and then present it to Council. This communication still has more questions that require more research, so we are going to give the Council the general information and let them take it from there. Rather than spend another week gathering small details I want to know if this project is something they want to pursue further. Since you have done so much research on this already if the Council does choose to move forward half of your work is already done.”
I was relieved. I had struggled with constantly revising my words and it passed the first test. I admit I had a lot on help from my mentor and fellow intern. I have learned my first real world lesson and I look forward to mastering the best writing style for Councils. However this is just the beginning for this project. If Council moves forward then not only will I have more writing and researching to do, but I will also have to present it. I will keep you posted.

About Me

2009-06-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

I am Joseph Brehm, an Arizona native. I graduate in December this year. I have my undergraduate degree in Justice Studies with a minor in Communications. I was introduced to public service when I was 18 and I joined the Mesa Police Explorers. I spent 3 years with them and donated over 1,000 hours of service to the city of Mesa. I started my undergrad at ASU and began work with the ASU Police Department in a student security position. I worked for the department for 4 years. I had every intention of going from ASU to a police academy when I met Dr. Vanacour while I was on duty.

He was teaching a weekend class when he needed me to open a copy room for him. While we were waiting 5 minutes for the ancient copier was he talked to me about the MPA program. Those 5 minutes in a small copy room at the Mercado building changed my life. I started thinking about what other career options were out there. I knew that the private sector never had interested me. I did some research into the MPA and it sounded very interesting to me. I realized that the academy would always be there, so I enrolled and was accepted into the program. It has been an exciting ride ever since.

I applied for the 2009 Marvin Andrews Scholarship which was hosted by the ACMA. This scholarship paid a local city or town with a population of 50,000 or less or county with a population of 100,000 or less to host the recipient as a paid summer intern. I was fortunate enough to be awarded this scholarship and now I am here in Oro Valley. It is a town just a few miles north of Tucson. It started off as a bedroom community for people wanting to live just outside the city. Now it hosts an international biomedical company called Ventana. With a population of just over 41,000 the community has grown 500% from 1990. I have never interned for a city or town before. I am working with the Town Manager and reporting to the Management Assistant.

There is so much to learn here. In addition to getting used to a 9-5 schedule I have to keep up with the jargon, slang and abbreviations for everything. My entire first week I was going to bed at 8 because I was so mentally exhausted. I am learning an incredible amount, and while the education from the classes set the foundation, I highly recommend an internship to see how everything we learn comes into play. I have had some interesting experiences so far and I look forward to reading yours. Thanks for reading.

Joe