Vote for the Community Food Bank

The Community Food Bank in Marana is up to win some fruit trees from Dreyer's! Please cast your vote for the Food Bank and help them gain some valuable resources for our community. It just takes a second to register and then you can vote one time per day. We are in the top 5 right now, and voting ends today! Only those within the top 5 receive trees! Follow the link below.

Marana Community Food Bank

And the Beat Goes On

I have been working hard the past few days! This document management project has really grown into something much bigger than I had anticipated. I have had to get access to several programs and systems that have made it so much easier however, thanks to the Technical Services team.

I am learning how to use SharePoint and its a really amazing system. Really dynamic and powerful for working on projects. I have finished the documents I currently had access to, and will start the files from the utilities department on Thursday. That's the day of my big meeting! I have asked to have a brain storming-esque meeting to talk to the folks that are going to be using this program much more often to get their input in how they currently use it, and what changes they would like to see. I am a bit nervous since its some heavy hitters within the Town, but everyone is so nice that it will be great. I have been working trying to get through the files so I have a better understanding of what is currently there and how it is setup so I can change it to fit the new system.

I was able to go to the Open House for the Legacy Apartments today to see their ribbon cutting ceremony. It was really exciting for the developer, the development services department and the Town. Two council members, the town manager, the deputy town manager, the mayor, the Director of development services, and the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce were all there. It was really great to see the civic support for local businesses, just reinforcing the focus on being business friendly.

Tomorrow I have my last rotation, HR. I'm looking forward to it. Our HR course in school was not the best, so I am excited to get more hands on experiences. I think I am going to put together a skills survey, which will be really cool. I have done this before so I am excited to get to put some more of my skills to use here!

Documents have become my life!

So, this project could not be more perfect for me and my hyper attention to detail. Now you might be thinking to youself "self, why would a young girl be so interested in document management?"

Well, I'll tell you....
This has turned into something much more than just filing documents. I am, essentially, reorganizing the entire storage system the Town has for the wastewater fight. There are legal briefs, memos from PAG/CAAG meetings, emails between contractors and Town employees, everything the Town needs to keep up the battle with Pima County. Preserving these documents is important not only for the retention requirements of the state, but when the dust finally settles, there will be a place to find all the materials needed to begin the process of managing the Town's wastewater system.

I'm really excited to be working on something that has such long term connotations. As I have stated before, I am a huge government nerd and being able to see the files that provide the background for some of the things I have been reading/learning about for years is a really great treat for me, yeah, yeah...I know....I'm a dork....

As far as technical things, I have been working on searching on a new program that I have never used before, SharePoint, which has been an interesting experience. There is so much that I have only been able to go through and see what is duplicated and where things are located. My goal is that by the end of next week I can have the folders and hierarachy completed so we can start scanning and updating the database.

I am working on some standard operating procedures to make the transition from planning to implementation that much simpler. I hope its works out! I am nervous and excited at the same time!! Well maybe 60% nervous and 40% excited...or the other way around.

Documents Everywhere I Look!

On Friday, I started work on my summer long project. I knew all along it was going to involve the waste water situation. I am now responsible for organizing the documents into our internal system. Keeping records is vital to the strenght of the Town and the waste water fight. Making sure that all messages, resolutions and legal correspondance is properly stored makes the future much more accessible. There are plans for how the Town will grow and what has been done in the past.

There is a great need for this update. The average most recent update was in 2009. Seeing as this issue has begun to come more and more to a head, the need for this record keeping is that much more important. I have been tasked with creating an updated system for storing and recording any documents that are relevant to the waste water issue. This can be legal correspondance between the Town Attorney and those that are representing the Town, frequently asked questions, press releases and news paper articles that have run regarding the issue. There was some work done on this in the past, and the intern before me created the whole system.

There are some changes that I think I am going to have to implement. Currently, there are not enough folders or details for my taste. It would seem like creating a more user friendly system will increase the ease of searching for a specific document. It is a little overwhelming since there is so much to deal with. There are two systems and I am going to pare down to just one system that has access to both. At least that is the plan. We all know what happens to the best laid plans....

So far I am just trying to get an understanding of what documents exist, what they are labeled and what has is still in hard copy format. I am a super organized person and this project is going to test my abilities greatly! There is so much that I am not sure where to start. I am just going to take it one day at a time and see where that leads me. Wish me luck!

Water water everywhere and not a drop to recharge...

Yesterday I spent the day with the staff of the Utilities Department and their Director Dorothy O'Brien.

Utilities are and enterprise department, meaning the fees and rates they charge cover the expenses for the department. The Town's Utilities does exactly that. They give portions back to the Town's General Fund for the services the Town provides for the whole organization; human resources, purchasing, legal etc..

Water is billed per 1,000 gallons used, and I was able to go around with the Superintendent and see what the meter looks like and how it is read. They use a radial system where the technician can gather 3,500 radio signals in about 4 hours. There are two billing cycles and one guy goes out during these times to gather the water readings for all 5,500 meters within the Town's water service. The two cycles are divided up into north and south, essentially, and the online system charges the rates based on the water used by that structure. Its a really sleek and efficient system.

I chatted with Dorothy in the morning about her goals for the department and what the Town would like to accomplish. It was a lot of discussion about becoming more autonomous and having more control over their own growth, planning and essentially, destiny. This included the water infrastructure that is currently located within the Town that is served by Tucson Water or another water provider, as well as the fight for the control over the effluent that comes from recharged waste water. Dorothy would like to build up a reserve fund, much like the Town's general fund, for any upcoming projects (cough cough new waste water facility cough cough). These reserves will allow the Utilities Department to generate a bond rating that is unique from the Town and then be able to issue bonds for capital improvements.

Since Dorothy is the Director, we attended the Emergency Management Systems meeting. This was the planning stages for what should happen if a terrible disaster hit the Town. There were 15 areas, and each was assigned to the appropriate department for coordination. These coordinating agencies then will figure out how they are going to work with the other departments to make sure nothing is missed. There was a test scenario regarding a fire in Marana, which seemed to be very applicable to the times. There was discussion about how to plan for an evacuation and what steps needed to be taken to make sure people were safe and the Town continued to function.

As I said above, I was able to get a tour of some of the water facilities within the Town's system. There are several distinct systems that serve specific areas of town. It seems like the goal is to reduce the amount of systems and eliminate redundancy throughout the whole infrastrcuture. There was one system that was a "float" system where it was operated by gravity and that saved a TON of money from the Town's electric bill. I was able to see where they were working on connecting one system to another on Hartman Road. What I learned is that this was not just to serve customers, but it also opened up the capability for the shopping plaza to entice other types of businesses. The way it was currently set up, there was not enough water or pressure for a furniture store, for example, to go into that shopping center. Now that they have connected those lines they fire capacity is much greater. Something as small as that is nothing I would have thought would be a huge deal regarding development and growth. But obviously, it is and should be paid close attention to. This makes the battle for waste water that much more important.

Waste Water....where to start. I am still a little unclear about the entire process, but from what I understand after water has been recharged the Town is able to use those water credits and it does not have to go out and buy additional water credits. Example, the Town needs 1,500 acre feet. If they had access to the recharged effluent of 500 credits they would only have to find or buy 1,000 acre feet. So it saves the Town money and enables them to have more negotiation power. There are some places that have more wet water than they can handle, but need more water on paper. There is also the stipulation from law that whatever water you take out of the ground you have to put the same amount back in. This is not literal, but the credit system helps meet this requirement. So now that I have thoroughly confused you...

This was my last rotation. Well, not technically, I still have HR in two weeks, but it is the end of the month long trip through each department. I have really enjoyed meeting the staff in each department, everyone was open and friendly and I felt that I could ask them any question in the future. I am so grateful to them all for taking the time out of their days to talk with me and answer my, potentially, silly questions. It was a great experience and knowing that I can go back if I need is really comforting. Thanks so much to everyone!

The Power of the Red Tie

When Jack Welch was the Vice President of the Manufacturing division of GE, he made everyone wear a white shirt. Those that were below a certain management level could not wear a red tie. He believed that you had to earn the right to wear a power color like red.

This is just one of the lessons I learned from my time spent with Orville Saling. He is the Director of Operations and Management and Public Works. He also is in charge of the Marana Regional Airport. We spent most of the day just talking about what O&M does and the responsibilities of the airport.

O&M is responsible for all the maintenance of the facilities and public infrastructure in the Town. This means roads, sidewalks, landscaping, signs and signals, and even homeless camps. The maintenance crews fill potholes and replace broken sidewalks, stripe the roads, place or repair signs and signals, and landscape the medians and sides of the roads. These guys even do the landscaping on the interstate to increase the standard. They get some of their work orders from citizen calls of potholes or other things. Sometimes these are issues that the HOA takes care of, so if you have a complaint call them first.

I was curious how the whole process works, and when the maintenance department takes over on a project. Orville told me that when a project is being developed the Town and the developer agree on a warranty time for the project. This is usually 2 years. Meaning that during the first 2 years, once the project is completed, the developer will take care of any of the maintenance issues that may arise. There are dedicated inspectors that go out and see where potential problems may occur and keep those things in mind when anticipating the warranty turning over.

Repairs are done based on a priority system based on what is in the best interest of the Town. A small pothole on a residential street is important and will be fixed, but if there is something that is blocking traffic or causing serious accidents that will be fixed first. Roads that have schools or hospitals or fire stations all have a higher priority than those that do not.

We then went out to the airport. It is primarily a business and recreational airport. There are hangars for personal planes and capabilities for jets to refuel. When anyone famous/wealthy comes in they fly to the Marana airport, and are then limo-ed to their destination. Oprah, John Travolta, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Ted Turner have all flown into the Marana Airport. There are special accommodations made by the catering companies and airport personnel when these high profile people come down. Seeing the dirt road the limos pulled up on was pretty impressive. Only Oprah could make a municipality put in a new dirt path. In all seriousness, the airport is really cool. It is an outlet for people who are recreational flyers to spend time in the air. It is run by a Fixed Based Operator that manages the planes and the buildings, while the Town collected a percentage of the gross from the company and the fuel, as well as money from the lease. The Town does maintain the runways and taxiways. There is a master plan to expand this airport to include more room for hangars and business flights, but there is no desire to bring in commercial jet liners.

I also went through the signs and signals (see Vickie's picture of how big the street sign is) and learned about how they acquire street signs and the standards that are upheld for any sign in the Town. I also talked with Fleet technicians about how they fit into the whole department, by keeping up on the maintenance of any vehicle in the Town. They were working on a police motorcycle when I was in the shop.

My favorite part of the day was talking with Orville about his time with Jack Welch. They both started at GE at the same time and Orville worked with him for years. Orville was one of the first people to conduct a GE workout for problem solving, one of the most renowned methods in management! Learning about management from someone like Jack Welch is invaluable. Orville has taken Jack's hardline style and relaxed it quite a bit for his own career. Orville still believes in the 10-80-10 theory that 10% of people are with you and should be nurtured, 80% are meh about anything, and 10% should be eliminated because they can cause problems within an organziation. These are things that I have studied and chatting with someone who was there on the front lines was amazing!

Orville has done a lot of stuff with environmental auditing and was even a co-writer of Title IV of the EPA!! Part of the Clean Air Act. We are talking some serious talent here.

Lessons: make sure to eliminate muda (waste) in your organization and make your processes poke yoke (mistake proof). Problem solve in the immediate future and try to be predictive for the long term management of your organization.

Here is a quick PPT on GE and the tools they use for management.

From Traffic to Tangerine

Yesterday was my day with the Engineering Department. This is a division of Development Services and is supervised by the Town Engineer, Keith Brann.

I started out the morning with Keith discussing the flood plain map, which will go into effect on Thursday June 16! Citizens have been informed that their land might be in the new flood plain, but the changes only affected 3 square miles. This came out of a vigorous debate with FEMA in order to determine an adequate and fair flood plain distinction. FEMA wanted to just assign a broad swath of land without the specific distinctions and the Town was able to fight to get the best representation of what the water might actually do. It seems like that action set a precedent for other jurisdictions to be able to negotiate their flood plain assignments with their own survey and study data. There is a lot of water issues that the Town has to worry about and the flood plains and watersheds are very important. These can impact the homeowner’s insurance and FEMA collects new flood insurance premiums. There are some thing the Town is working on to get some areas of out the flood plain, like the wall around San Lucas. 

I went with Keith to the Development Engineering Staff meeting early in the morning. In that meeting I felt that I got a good overview of what responsibilities the department has. They focus on drainage, the Tangerine expansion, private construction, grading, environmental issues, traffic issues and plans review. The development engineers work with a project from the beginning, remember those development coordinators and pre-application meetings, these engineers are involved in those as well. They provide their best engineering judgement when it comes to plan reviews and new development. These guys are involved in any type of building from residential to commercial. The environmental engineers make sure that development is compliant with any federal regulations. Things like USDA, Army Corps of Engineers, and Endangered Species lists. These engineers look more at the big picture rather than at an individual residence. They also work as the liaison for CIP and the Federal government.

The final area is Traffic Engineering, and I spent some time with Fernando Prol, the division manager. He gave me a great overview of what his division does and how it fits in with the rest of the organization. He and his team put together studies of traffic trips and the impact that those travelers have on the roads. They make recommendations for new infrastructure for private developments and subdivisions. The traffic engineering does this same process for capital improvement/public projects. They also respond the citizen reports and conduct studies on speed zones, traffic circles, school zones, and multi-way stops. There are so many variables and different ways that these reports can be interpreted, so usually the engineer sticks to what was originally agreed upon in the plans review. Fernando gave me a map of how the traffic was re-routed after the Twin Peaks Interchange was completed. Traffic was reduced on Cortaro by almost 10,000 trips!

The second half of the afternoon I spent in a design meeting for the Tangerine Corridor that mainly dealt with drainage and the movement of the road, once the project gets initiated. This meeting has representatives from Oro Valley, RTA/PAG, the Pima County Flood District, and the consultant hired to conduct the engineering study. This was very technical and some of it went over my head, but they are worried about the huge watersheds that will run right over the road. There is concern about what to do when these have a 100 year flood. There was discussion about the size and materials needed for the culverts and how to best get animals across the road. 

These were some of the most impressive people I have met (everyone here is crazy smart). Determining flood plain and culvert dimensions for all different scenarios was extremely detailed and the ladies and gentlemen in the engineering department know it all. What I gained from this is that reinforced concrete (steel encased in concrete) is the best material to use, and a 100 year flood is a probability of rainfall during the current year, not that a flood like that will happen every 100 years. Lesson learned.