CITY LINK Intranet: lsnet | No. 71
August 2013
City Manager Message
I
am pleased to announce the selection of Christal Kliewer Weber to the assistant city manager position with responsibility for the City’s Administrative Services Departments, LS360 Implementation and budget adoption. The selection of Christal comes after a national search, which began in May 2013, followed by a competitive selection process involving a highly qualified group of more than 120 applicants from across the country. Christal, who begins on Sept. 3, said the following about her new appointment: “My family and I our excited to make Lee’s Summit our home. It is an honor to have the opportunity to serve this vibrant community and join a well-respected leadership team.’ ‘Lee’s Summit’s pride, citizen involvement, and sense of shared civic responsibility are inspiring. I look forward to working with our dedicated employees and volunteers to provide the best possible service to the community.” continued on the back
Water Utilities Dept. has a new quarterly newsletter to share information and to create a forum for employees to learn about and celebrate accomplishments. The newsletters will be posted on the Intranet.
Human Resource Update The Human Resource Department is updating several of its documents to enhance work processes and an understanding of the direction of the organization. The following are among some of the most recent enhancements.
program for directors and supervisors was implemented by Human Resource Department Director Daren Fristoe to provide training to managers in the following areas: Interviewing Techniques, Communication, Coaching, Performance Management, Collaborative Management, Conflict Resolution and Employment applications are now available Termination. on the City’s website in a format that can be completed online by job applicants and Department directors should contact the submitted electronically to Human Resource. Human Resource Department to inquire about scheduling a training session for your The department’s staff also developed a management personnel. new orientation program for new employees to become familiar with the roles of City In January, the department will debut a departments as well as to gain an revised Human Resource policy manual and understanding about the City’s policies, handbook for employees. procedures and vision for the future. To learn more about these initiatives, A seven-week management training please contact Daren Fristoe at Ext. 1026.
Thank You! The community-wide blood drive was a huge success! Forty-eight people were successful blood donors and nine were not able to donate blood because they didn’t meet qualifications. The next blood drive is Nov. 18 in front of City Hall. Register at www.esavealifenow.org and enter the code cityleessummit. For information, call Stephanie Walters at Ext. 1890.
Don’t forget to complete the Activities & Recreation Committee survey! www.surveymonkey.com/s/JFMTV6V
CITY LINK
City Manager Message
continued from front page
Her leadership skills and experience in public administration will truly be an asset to our organization as we continue to work toward fiscal stability and provide excellent reliable services to the Lee’s Summit community. Prior to accepting the position in Lee’s Summit, she was the assistant city manager of the City of Tomball, Texas since 2009. Among her duties in this progressive Texas community were overseeing Public Works and Utilities, Engineering and Planning, Permits and Inspections, Code Enforcement, Municipal Court, Information Technology and Community Center departments. She also worked with City Council and board support, communications, policy development and budgeting. Christal is a former assistant to the city manager for the cities of Grand Prairie and Friendswood, Texas as well as a previous L.P. Cookingham Management Fellow for the City of Kansas City, Mo. She brings an impressive wealth of progressively responsible public sector experience, including developing strategic plans and performance measures, cultivating relationships and providing leadership to city departments. Christal has a Master of Public Affairs in Urban Management from Indiana University School of Public & Environmental Affairs and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Psychology from Texas Christian University. She is a graduate of the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia-Cooper Center for Public Service and the Leadership ICMA Program of the International City/County Management Association. She and her husband, Dustin, have a 9 year-old daughter. Please help us make Christal and her family feel welcome in our community.
City Manager Stephen Arbo
Performance Excellence Focus Areas Update The Performance Excellence process has only been underway for a short period of time, but each of the focus areas are off to a great start. See the progress of each goal area in the chart below. Along with these efforts, several other employees offered input into the creation of the City’s mission statement during small group sessions in July and August hosted by City Manager Arbo and Organizational Development Director Barbara Moberg. Goal
Objective
Strategy
Progress
Customer Focus
Ensure customer engagement
Understand the elements of an engaged Citizen survey is planned for roll out in customer and conduct citizen survey mid-October.
Delivery of Services
Ensure delivery of the right services at Develop and implement a systematic A questionnaire will be sent to internal the right time to customers life cycle approach to sustainable infra- customers in September to ask about structure life cycle replacement policies and procedures and/or strategic plans to identify best practices to improve the development and maintenance of infrastructure planning.
Fiscal Accountability
Ensure financial resources are available Maintain and develop strong fiscal Additional fiscal policies to meet strategic and daily operational policies to ensure long-term financial developed and implemented needs effectively and efficiently health of the City.
Communications
Maximize employee effectiveness Develop and implement standardized Reviewing departmental uses for the through internal communications approach to internal communications Intranet and will recommend improvements as well as policies.
Workforce
Employee satisfaction and engagement
will
Develop and implement systematic The survey will be sent in January. engagement survey process to collect employee level of engagement
be