CSMFO Magazine 2019 - Conference Edition

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

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CALIFORNIA SOCIETY OF MUNICIPAL FINANCE OFFICERS

M A G A Z I N E

POWERFUL SOLUTIONS, PROVEN RESULTS

2019-20 Board of Directors Joan Michaels Aguilar, President, City of Dixon Steve Heide, President-Elect, Chino Valley Fire District Margaret Moggia, Past President, West Basin Municipal Water District Scott Catlett, Director, City of Yorba Linda Carrie Corder, Director, Cucamonga Valley Water District Will Fuentes, Director, City of Milpitas Richard Lee, Director, City of San Mateo Ernie Reyna, Director, City of Eastvale Jennifer Wakeman, Director, City of Lafayette

Delivering Revenue, Insight and Efficiency to Local Government Since 1983

OUR SERVICES Sales Tax

Executive Director Melissa Dixon, MBA, CAE

Property Tax

Editorial Designer Dayna Dixon

Business Tax

Cover Photo David Blue Garrison

Lodging Tax

Conference Photographer Tim Przybyla

Short Term Rental Compliance

Editors Marcus Pimentel, City of Santa Cruz David Cain, Retired Ernie Reyna, City of Eastvale Wing-See Fox, Urban Futures Inc.

Economic Solutions • • • • • •

Business Attraction Support Trade Area and Void Analysis Site Selection Assistance Economic Development Action Plans Community Profiles Financial Analysis and Revenue Projections

Communication Committee Chair- Marcus Pimentel, City of Santa Cruz Vice Chair- James Russell-Field, City of Thousand Oaks Vice Chair- Karla Campos, City of La Quinta Senior Advisor- David Cain, Retired Board Liaison- Ernie Reyna, City of Eastvale Andrew Ruiz, Western Riverside Council of Governments Carol Williams, City of Ontario Darrylenn Prudholme-Brockington, Riverside County Flood Control &

Water Conservation District Janna Bogue, City of Thousand Oaks Maria Blanco, City of Ontario Matt Schenk, March Joint Powers Authority Nitish Sharma, City of West Sacramento Pamela Arends -King, South Coast Water District Wing-See Fox, Urban Futures Inc.

Cannabis Regulation • • • • • •

Regulatory and Tax Ordinances Application Processing Cost Recovery and Fiscal Analysis Revenue Modeling Financial Audits Compliance Inspections

Additional Photography Pexels, Pixabay, Stocksnap, and Unsplash

And More

Thank you to all the authors in this issue for sharing with us their time and expertise. If you have an idea for a future article, please contact Melissa Dixon at the CSMFO office at melissa.dixon@staff.csmfo.org.

CONTACT US 714.879.5000 info@hdlcompanies.com www.hdlcompanies.com

For more information on CSMFO or this Magazine, please contact the CSMFO office at 916.231.2137 or visit the website at www.csmfo.org.

The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CSMFO. 6

CONTENTS

CONFERENCE EDITION 38 THE 2019 PRESIDENT’S DINNER 42 FROM THE CIA TO THE MIH (PART II) 46 MEMORIES FROM THE CONFERENCE 48 GOLF GUARDIANS AT MISSION HILLS!!

50 INTERGALACTIC SPEED COACHING 51 GAME, SET, MATCH! 53 A COSMIC CASINO AND MORE 57 NIGHT WITH ROWAN THE ENJOYER! 59 PREFLIGHT SESSIONS 62 OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS’ 66 FRAUD HOT LINES 68 JOB OPPORTUNITIES 72 NEW MAGAZINE FORMAT ANNOUNCEMENT 14 MEMORIES FROM THE CONFERENCE

8 PRESIDENT’S LETTER 12 EDITOR’S ALLEY 15 PRESIDENT ELECT’S LETTER 16 ANOTHER SELLOUT AT THE EXHIBIT HALL! 18 HARBORING HAPPINESS IN THE WORKPLACE 20 BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS 23 TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN THE CSMFO GALAXY 24 SPONSORED ARTICLE THE BENEFITS OF SHORT- TERM INVESTING 26 2019 DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARDEE JOHN ADAMS 28 2018 INNOVATION OF THE YEAR AWARD 30 2018 VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR 33 PROMOTIONS AND RETIREMENTS 36 MAKE IT HAPPEN WITH YOUR CSMFO MEMBER BENEFITS

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

President’s Letter

Joan Michaels Aguilar

Ringing in the New Year – Palm Springs Style As I write this, I am still contemplating the amazing “Guardians of the Finance Galaxy” January conference in Palm Springs. For those of you that had the opportunity to attend, I hope that the educational options met your expectations with the gallery of excellent concurrent sessions, stellar keynote speakers, pre-conference opportunities for even more CPE credits, plus a bit of galactic merriment with Rocket’s Cosmic Casino and Cinema and after-party dance at Hotel Zoso!

Aside from hearing that many of our breakout session rooms were SRO (standing room only), resulting in the need to accommodate the large crowds by switching rooms, the overall comments I have received have been overwhelmingly favorable. I had a colleague note that ‘it was even better than Disneyland’. While it is hard for me, as an avid Disney fan, to go along with that heresy, I think the spirit of the comment pays tribute to the great networking that took place between our municipal members, the wonderful exhibit hall showcasing our great commercial members who support CSMFO, as well as some special out-of-state guests. Throughout this issue you will see many articles showcasing the conference highlights in words and photos, so I won’t cover everything in this message.

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My adventure started on Tuesday with a check-in on how the pre-conference session registration was going and seeing our SMA staff and Harriet Commons taking care of business. Next up, a trip to the Mission Hills Golf Course to greet golfers at this event. While participants on the course were mostly vendors, there was a mix of municipal members on what turned out to be a beautiful day. I had the good fortune to have this event championed by Bobby Young of HdL Companies and Brad Rockabrand at Vavrinek, Trine, Day & Co., LLP, who “volunteered” as Host Committee members for this tough assignment. I promised the indefatigable Lily Ng from Bank of the West that I would come check out the tennis tournament; and wouldn’t you know it, Lily put me on the schedule for a photo opportunity. This fantastic event had the added benefit of one of the premier venues in the country, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Fun fact: the 16,100-capacity Stadium 1 is the largest stadium at the complex and the 2nd largest tennis stadium in the world after the Arthur Ashe stadium at the US Open. To my knowledge, I am the first President to show up at each of our Tuesday extracurricular activities!

Our VIP event of the President’s Dinner at Eight4Nine honored our past, present, and future with many past presidents in attendance and recognized by a past president himself, Mr. Bob Biery. I knew from the group in attendance that we will draw many future Board Members and Presidents to lead CSMFO as we move forward.

On Wednesday morning, I was thrilled to be part of the “Make it Happen with your CSMFO Member Benefits” session, along with my Executive Committee colleagues Margaret Moggia and Steve Heide, with Marcus Pimentel serving as Moderator. This session was spearheaded by our Membership Benefits Chair and Volunteer of the Year Grace Castaneda (City of San Mateo), and the attendance exceeded all of our expectations. Marcus led us in a series of questions focusing on our experience with CSMFO and specific benefits we value, advice to new members, as well as what CSMFO career moment still brings out a smile or a chuckle. It is my hope that perhaps some members may have been inspired to get involved in CSMFO leadership and volunteer to join a committee.

I have to say that planning the Thursday night event is one of the best parts of conference planning; and to that end, I must give a shout out to former past president Drew Corbett. He took the lead on the Host Committee in envisioning a casino night (which finance people seem to enjoy), followed by an afterparty dance location and the added bonus of showing the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films. Seeing it all in person, as well as various folks dressed up as characters from the movie, was AMAZING!!

Judging by the crowd on the dance floor at Hotel Zoso, I think we could have gone for another two hours if the DJ hadn’t made it known our time had reached an end.

The keynote speakers, Ross Shafer, Connie Podesta, and Alex Sheen, brought their brand of humor, style, and motivational message for us to consider with their respective talks. We had the ever-popular Phil Bertolini tell us why “Numbers are my Friend – Why do I Need to Talk about Them?” during a General Session on Thursday afternoon. I was also pleased to confer the Distinguished Service award to past president and very active CSMFO member John Adams. I have known John since I became involved in CSMFO many moons ago, and he has always been a champion and ambassador of CSMFO within our state organizations and at the national level with GFOA. He made a newbie feel welcome to CSMFO, and admittedly it was kind of cool to see him nearly speechless when presented with the honor.

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

As I conclude, I am so appreciative of the efforts by the outstanding Host and Program Committees who helped “Make It Happen” at the annual conference from January 8 – 11, 2019, in Palm Springs. The conference process is an amazing learning experience, and I was lucky to have the veteran experience of Smith Moore & Associates and Meeting and Association Management Services for their guidance, including helping me navigate the use of a teleprompter! I want to take a moment to send a shout out to Melissa Dixon, our Executive Director, and congratulate her on 10 years with CSMFO. I think we can all agree that there have been tremendous changes in terms of the professionalism of our organization and our membership growth. It is great having her and the Smith Moore team guide our merry band of volunteers. I know our PresidentElect Steve Heide has his team in place, and wish him well as his efforts are underway for CSMFO 2020, “Yesterday, Tomorrow and Finance” in Anaheim.

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Joan Michaels Aguilar

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

Editor’s Alley Marcus Pimentel

A Preview of This Month’s Edition How many ways can you spell Wow? For nearly four weeks, like many of you, we continue to live on the high of what was an amazing 2019 conference in Palm Springs. Hats off to President Joan Michaels Aguilar, Past President Margaret Moggia, the staff at M&AMS and SMA, and the 2019 Host Committee and Program Committee as they completed our 59th annual conference.

Wow! What an experience to remember.

A Cosmic Balance Delayed or cancelled flights from San Francisco were no match for conference attendees determined to make it to sunny Palm Springs. Plan B forced some to choose between arriving nearly nine hours later than expected or enjoy an unplanned five-to-seven hour drive.

Fortunately, by the end of the conference, most felt the swing of the cosmic pendulum back to the center due to the exuberance of the conference. In short, their joy, comradery, and knowledge attained helped bring their week back into a cosmic balance.

As we asked others to explain why they so enjoyed this particular conference, we would get different types of answers. They varied from the positive vibe of other attendees to how they enjoyed the keynote speakers and their great stories. Some reflected on how much easier it was to register, and certainly not worrying about swiping green for CPE credit. Others talked about the fun they had on their Wednesday night excursion (from the vendor reception, to dinner with friends), while some really embraced the fun conference theme or were so thankful for the amazing staff. Or it could have been those who were around to see how a game of pool resulted in a cell phone ending up four stories down on another roof.

As you can see, that’s a lot of “Whys” and we haven’t even talked much about either Thursday or Friday of the conference yet! Boy I wished I had paid attention at how my 8th grade friends built those origami paper, fortune teller, folding finger game thingamajigs. Surely picking the right number and color combo would yield the correct answer right?

Why? Just as Phil Bertolini challenged us to always begin with “WHY” we do what we do (from his preconference session “Art of Public Speaking for Finance Officers…”), we keep asking ourselves “Why” this conference was so amazing.

Was it because of the instant reunion of friends who chose to travel to Palm Springs and spend the week together? Or, might it have been the new friends we made, near (Palm Springs) and far (Washington, Alaska, Oregon, and South Carolina)? That sure seems like it.

Maybe it was the great weather and the ability to take a walk, jog, run, or bike ride in nearly any direction and experience something different? Maybe it was as simple as a break in the routine day job, or the fun one gets when they try out a different name for the day? Or was it being so close to the famous Indian Wells Tennis Garden, or actually joining in the Tennis and Golf experiences? It could have been that moment when a pool hustler gets hustled himself?

Maybe it was closing down the dance party surround by friends, laughing and having a fun time together? Maybe it was seeing over a thousand people instantly connected by the fun or powerful messages of our keynote speakers? Or was it seeing Michael Coleman’s socks?

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Um (sorry Phil), perhaps it was all those and so much more. Perhaps it was as simple as a great theme subconsciously driven by an aurora of a cosmic balance.

But as much as it would be fun to attribute the conference’s success to an idea like a “Cosmic Balance,” thus creating a classic and smart sounding solution that tied into our Guardians theme, I realized I was pushing too hard. The “Why” was sitting right across from my desk (no, not literally). It was as simple as that moment when Groot leaned down to share a flower with a young girl.

Our entire Communication Committee has been hard at work chronicling the many facets of our 2019 conference.

We hope you enjoy seeing the conference through the eyes of our many authors, and hopefully these articles will help remind you “Why” this conference was so meaningful.

Find the answer in yourself.

Why was this conference so great? Because of YOU. You volunteered to join the CSFMO host committee, you chose to work at SMA or M&AMS and put your heart into your “job” with CSMFO, you told your colleagues to book a room and register for the conference many months ago, or you filled out your travel request and convinced your supervisor it was worth you attending. You spent time in the exhibit hall talking to vendors and thanking them for their expertise, or you spent time behind the vendor table watching someone eye your company’s tchotchkes and you welcomed them over without an overwhelming sales pitch. And it was you who volunteered to work at or serve as an expert at the CSMFO booth.

Your CSMFO Communication Committee

Editor’s note on the 59th and upcoming 60th annual conference. You might be asking yourself if this is Groundhog Day all over again. Nope! CSMFO will be celebrating its 60th Annual “Conference” in Anaheim next year. This is NOT to be confused with the CSFMO organization celebrating its “60th Birthday” in 2017.

Although we were founded in 1957, we didn’t hold our first conference until years later in 1961.

It was also you who unselfishly ran for a CSMFO office for all the right reasons, it was you who volunteered to be a coach and support the Coaching Program, and it was you who smiled to others and said hello as you walked down the walkways or sat next to someone new in a session. It was you who embraced being a Chapter Chair and connecting so many to CSMFO. And it was you who grabbed your friends and made sure they joined your green screen photo op with the Guardians or pulled them into the world’s biggest foosball game. And it was you who asked the simple questions to the panelists that others wanted to ask but didn’t or it was you who volunteered to be a panelist, session moderator or session room monitor.

This conference, like CSMFO, is only as good as what you put into it. Fortunately for all of us, many of you continue to put so much into CSMFO not for any other reason than, at some point in time, you said you would (and you did).

The new ‘Editor’s Alley’ will feature a message from the CSMFO Magazine Editor Marcus Pimentel to give you an idea of what you can expect from each issue.

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

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PRESIDENT ELECT’S LETTER Steve Heide

Celebrate Yesterday while Looking to Tomorrow CSMFO’s annual conferences are at the very top of my list of professional training and networking opportunities for government finance officers. I hope you feel the same way. Our 59th Annual Conference, was, by all accounts, a smashing success. President Joan Michaels Aguilar and her dedicated conference planning team are to be commended for putting on a fantastic annual conference in sunny Palm Springs. Together, they along with the program committee volunteers, as well as the dedicated staff members from Smith, Moore & Associates, and Meeting and Association Management, set the highest of conference standards for future annual conferences.

On a different note, I’d like to say that I’m humbled to serve as your president elect for 2019 and I look forward to the year ahead.

For those of you who may not be aware, the president elect’s main role is to lead the planning efforts for the following year’s annual conference. For my small part at this year’s conference, I announced at the end of the Friday closing session that our 60th Annual Conference will be held at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, January 28-31, 2020. Inspired by a bronze plaque mounted over the train tunnel in Disneyland as you enter into the town square area, our conference theme for 2020 will be Yesterday, Tomorrow and Finance.

There’s a reason why our annual conferences in Anaheim are historically among the best attended CSMFO conferences. In anticipation of CSMFO’s quadrennial return to Anaheim, the early buzz I’m hearing is how excited our members are about the great mix of valuable educational content that will no doubt be offered again next year, combined with the fantastic networking opportunities as well as all of the outstanding family-oriented entertainment options available at the Disney properties in Anaheim. Speaking of Disney, at our last Anaheim conference in 2016, we were able to host a private, after-hours Thursday evening event at Disneyland. So, you might ask, what do we have planned for 2020? It’s too soon to know but I’m confident that it will be fantastic, whatever it is, so stay tuned and we’ll provide additional details as our planning comes together for the 2020 annual conference.

For now, be sure to mark your calendar for CSMFO’s 60th Annual Conference – Yesterday, Tomorrow and Finance – January 28-31, 2020. According to Walt Disney, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” On that note, I better get to doing.

Steve Heide

Taking place in the shadows of the Happiest Place on Earth, planning has already begun for the 2020 conference and I’m very excited about the magical possibilities for next year’s conference.

The program committee is responsible for arranging for all of the engaging educational content of the conference, including the great breakout sessions, and the host committee is responsible for coordinating our general session speakers and everything else conference-related. The program and host committees work closely together to ensure the best possible conference experience for our attendees, and I’m sure 2020 will be no exception.

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

INSIDE CSMFO

Another Sellout at the Exhibit Hall!

Written By Wing-See Fox, Managing Principal

Wing-See Fox, Managing Principal, UFI

It’s true. Every year, we commercial members agonize over the perfect selection of tchotchkes to display at our booths in order to draw you into our orbit. Your kids have come to expect new trinkets every time you’re away at a work conference? No problem.

You forgot your ChapStick? No problem. You just shook someone’s hand and you’re pretty sure you saw them coughing earlier? No problem— reach for that hand sanitizer. You’re determined to never have to actually pay for post-its? No problem. Thumb drive? Charger for any device imaginable? Silly iPhone holder?

We’ve got it all.

Please, just please come by our booth and make eye contact with us so that we don’t have to stand awkwardly adjusting and readjusting the post-it pad pyramid!

In all seriousness, many of the vendors are accustomed to attending multiple conferences each year; and after some events, we question whether our sore feet and exhaustion from having to figure out how to set up those backdrops (even though we’ve done it 100 times) is all worth it at the end of the day. I have to say though, that our firm never questions the value of sponsoring the CSMFO Annual Conference, and I’m confident that many other commercial members feel the same. The quality of the conference itself and the caliber of municipal finance officer attendees are second to none.

This year was no different at the “Guardians of the Finance Galaxy” conference where, once again, the Exhibit Hall was sold out. I could feel the excitement in the air as my UFI colleagues and I rolled our equipment and displays into the Palm Springs Convention Center. And we weren’t disappointed during the breakfast, coffee breaks, and reception when you all rushed in like salmon towards the refreshments and we tried to fish you out of the river for a quick conversation about how our services might be beneficial to your municipality.

None of the freebies are good enough?

How about a raffle prize of higher value in exchange for your business card?

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We, like a few other firms, also had the honor of participating in the “Ask the Expert” sessions held at the CSMFO booth in the Exhibit Hall—the purpose of which was to offer the opportunity to discuss directly with the experts in the field various financerelated topics that may have been of interest to you.

perspective

GAINED

On behalf of all of the commercial members, thank you for stopping by the Exhibit Hall to learn more about how we may serve you. Not only do we find the conversations we have very worthwhile, but we can also count on the sessions being educational and the Thursday night event bringing the house down.

See you next year!

As local governments modernize their business processes and technology, the resulting changes can profoundly affect the entire organization. Gaining an objective perspective at key phases of these initiatives can help calibrate efforts to stay on track.

Wing-See Fox is a Managing Director at Urban Futures, Inc., a municipal consulting firm advising public agencies on debt issuances, post-debt issuance compliance, strategic financial forecasts, fiscal restructuring plans, process improvements, performance management, and economic development. Prior to joining Urban Futures, Wing-See was a Vice President with Raymond James as a public finance banker.

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

INSIDE CSMFO

Harboring Happiness in the Workplace Written By Michelle Collett and Aaron Beanan

Michelle Collett, Senior Accountant, City of Escondido

The San Diego Chapter hosted their holiday luncheon at the Bali Hai on December 13th, 2018. Banner Bank, Prudential and Fiduciary Experts generously sponsored the event. The weather was perfect; a sunny Southern California day and fresh outdoor breeze surrounded with a beautiful backdrop of the San Diego Harbor.

To get into the holiday spirit, we hosted a toy drive for the Toys for Tots foundation. The box provided by two Marines was overflowing with toys that went to local underprivileged children this holiday season.

Aaron Beanan, Finance Manager, City of Carlsbad

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After indulging in the buffet of Hawaiian food, the group was inspired by speaker Devin Hughes with his topic of “Third Wave: The Future of Work, Engagement, Well-Being and Happiness.�

The interactive speaker talked about the importance of gratitude and happiness; not only to us personally, but also to us professionally. For example, he provided research that demonstrated the business case for happiness. Happy people demonstrate higher levels of productivity, change jobs less, and show up to work more often, among other things. The room was full of laughter and the group walked away with some homework to bring these concepts back to their work environment.

Don’t miss out on the many great local chapter meetings coming to you in 2019. Chapter meetings provide yearround education, motivation, and promote local inter-agency communication. Visit the CSMFO website to find your next local chapter meeting.

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Co-Chair Aaron Beanan, Finance Manager from the City of Carlsbad, is currently responsible for leading the financial accounting/reporting group and accounts payable group, as well as managing the enterprise activities and special financing district debt portfolio. He has been with the City of Carlsbad since 2006 where he began as an accountant. He is currently studying for the CPA exams.

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

INSIDE CSMFO

Breakfast of Champions

Written By James Russell-Field CSMFO’s Chapter Chairs met for breakfast at the 2019 Annual Conference. The breakfast was an opportunity for Chapter Chairs to network, share ideas, and discuss goals and challenges for the upcoming year.

How did you become a Chapter Chair?

“And the story goes like “I became a Chapter Chair by chance…” but as I reflect on it, nothing really happens by chance. In a way, becoming a Chapter Chair has been quite the rewarding experience (personally and professionally). I am surrounded by a network of professionals willing to learn and share their expertise. I am supported by the CSMFO Leadership through guidance and collaboration. And best of all, I am encouraged and inspired by fellow members willing to make a difference through volunteerism!”

James Russell-Field, Senior Accountant, City of Thousand Oaks We wanted to showcase some of

CSMFO’s Chapter Chairs and find out how they became Chapter Chairs, what they find exciting about leading a chapter, what their favorite meeting was in 2018, and why members should be involved in their local chapter.

See below for some insight from some of CSMFO’s leaders!

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-Vanessa Portillo, City of Lathrop, Central Valley Chapter Chair

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

“After attending a couple of Peninsula Chapter meetings and meeting some excellent people, I was impressed with the Chapter events and members. After experiencing this, I decided that, as part of my long-term career plan, I should strive to become a chapter chair or vice chair someday (not anytime soon). When Richard Lee was elected to the CSMFO Board, I called him to congratulate him. Little did I realize that, by the end of our phone call, I would volunteer to be either the vice chair or chair of the peninsula Chapter. The rest is history, as I attempt to continue Richard’s legacy of having a very strong chapter, both financially and in regard to memberships. I look forward to working with Tim Kirby to continue the success of the chapter.”

What’s most exciting about leading a chapter?

-Derek Rampone, Peninsula Chapter Chair, City of Redwood City

What was one of your favorite meetings this last year and why?

What’s most exciting about leading a chapter?

“Last year our Holiday Luncheon was held at the Mamba Sports Academy. Mambo Sports Academy is a 100,000 squarefoot facility that operates five basketball courts, five volleyball courts, two beach volleyball courts, and a turf field. We participated in team building exercises such as dodge ball and freeze tag with nerf guns. It was a unique and fun experience.”

“One aspect that I find exciting about leading a chapter is finding topics that resonate with the members. The November chapter meeting included a panel of finance directors discussing their journey with passing a transaction and use tax.

Very informative and relatable.”

-June Overholt, San Gabriel Valley Chapter Chair, City of Glendora

“I think the most exciting thing about leading a chapter is meeting new people! It’s been fun watching our ideas for the meetings come to fruition as well!”

-Angela Saccareccia, Channel Counties Chapter Chair, Las Virgenes Municipal Water District

-Michelle Collett, San Diego County Chapter Chair, City of Escondido

Why should members be involved in their local chapter, and how can they become more involved?

James Russel-Field relocated from Salt Lake City, Utah to become a Senior Accountant with the City of Thousand Oaks. He misses his towering mountains, but loves the Southern California sunshine!

“Members who attend local CSMFO chapter meetings stay upto-date with regulatory requirements, become inspired to keep improving processes, develop lasting relationships with other local leaders, and earn CPE credits all while enjoying a great lunch. Members can host events, suggest topics for upcoming meetings, or help with setting up and welcoming guests.

Chapter Chairs always welcome and appreciate your help to make each event even more enjoyable.”

-Karla Campos, Coachella Valley Chapter Chair, City of La Quinta 22

INSIDE CSMFO

Technological advances in the CSMFO Galaxy If Star-lord can change from his cassette player to an MP3 player, CSMFO too can adapt.

Written By Matt Pressey

Matt Pressey, Technology Committee Chair Finance Director, City of Salinas

Technology, when planned and executed well, can really improve our annual conference experience. I am pleased to report on the success of new and continued use of technology for our 2019 conference by SMA and M&AMs (our CSMFO partners). Together we implemented some cool new tech while building on prior tech successes. And they really worked great once again!

You may have noticed the faster, easier, and smoother conference registration check-in. It was amazingly fast and easy. SMA, through their experience at other conferences, saw new technology being used and took the leadership to bring it to us. It is a nice technology package by Cvent that includes serially imbedded RFID chips (radio frequency identification) into blank name tag paper that runs through a printer and associates the name of the registrant to the chip’s serial number. Genius! The efficiency of the tapping a few pieces of information into the kiosk and then it printing your name tag on the spot worked great! CPE credit was tracked without you tapping in at the door. Neat stuff!

Secondly, I want to call out and celebrate the healthy 70% adoption rate and the increase in the use of the Guidebook app features. This app was successfully first implemented at the Monterey conference in 2015, which was, again, from the leadership and sharp technology staff with SMA. This is the 5th year of using Guidebook. This year, we saw a 34% increase in the Personal Scheduler Views from 3,636 to 4,872 and a 41% increase in our conference Schedule Views, from 5,238 to 7,362! The personal schedule is very handy and very nicely integrated with the full conference schedule. Of the uploaded conference pictures, there was as an increase in Photo Views by 28% from 252 views to 322. Great interaction!

This is all great stuff that makes for a more smooth, meaningful, and fun conference. Thank you SMA and we appreciate all you do!

Matt Pressey has over 27 years of experience in local government, including 8-½ years working for a CPA firm providing auditing, accounting and consulting services to local government. He is a licensed CPA and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics with an emphasis in Accounting from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Mr. Pressey has worked for the City of Pasadena, City of Costa Mesa, City of Lake Elsinore, and is now serving as Finance Director for the City of Salinas. In that capacity, he took a leadership role in successfully spearheading important changes in the City’s utility users’ tax (UUT) ordinance.

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

Sponsored Article

The Benefits of Short-Term Investing When Rates Rise Interview with: Jeffrey Rowe An interview and Q&A discussion with Jeffrey Rowe, CFA . A Portfolio Manager for the California Asset Management Program (CAMP) . Managing Director at PFM Asset Management LLC (PFM)

Jeffrey Rowe, CFA

be reinvested at higher rates more quickly. If the Fed continues on the path of gradually increasing interest rates, short-term investors should continue to quickly see the benefits of higher rates due to this portfolio turnover dynamic.

Question: Portfolio managers frequently reference “spreads” when talking about investment types beyond U.S. Treasuries, such as credit instruments. How is that important in a rising interest rate environment?

In 2018, ultra-short-term, fixed-income investors reaped the benefit of an effective federal funds rate of more than 2% for the first time in a decade.

In this Q&A, Jeffrey Rowe, CFA, one of California Asset Management Program’s (CAMP’s) portfolio managers and a managing director at PFM, discusses why short-term or cash reserve investments (i.e., liquidity investments with maturities 12 months or less) typically do well in a rising rate environment.

Short-term credit instruments such as commercial paper (CP), certificates of deposit (CD), and corporate notes can offer yield advantages over U.S. Treasury securities. However, the relative relationship, or “spread” differential, between Treasuries and credit with similar maturities (e.g., 6 months) is constantly changing and is therefore typically monitored closely by portfolio managers in the short-term market. Even over the past year, which was an environment characterized by strong credit fundamentals, we’ve seen short-term credit spreads range from as tight as 10 basis points (0.10%) to as wide as 50 basis points (0.50%). This evolving relationship between Treasuries and credit is often driven by supply and demand variables, such as when CP issuers need to seek funding and which other choices short-term investors have in the market at that time. When spreads narrow or decrease between Treasuries and credit, investors may opt to wait for a better opportunity.

Question: Why did shortterm investments do well in 2018?

Jeff: The short-term part of the yield curve (fixed-income investments under one year held by local government investment pools such as CAMP) benefitted from Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate normalization in 2018.

These types of investment vehicles typically have a short weighted average maturity (WAM), which is an expression of interest rate risk and indicates how long it would take for the portfolio to turnover on average. In a rising rate environment like we experienced in 2018, maintaining a low WAM (or duration) means these portfolios can

Question: Are my funds better off in cash when interest rates are rising?

Jeff: When short-term rates are on the rise, it may be enticing to question why you’d want to stay invested in longer duration strategies. But, it’s important to maintain a bigger picture perspective. During periods of Fed normalization (i.e., when the Fed raises its target range for the federal funds rate to more

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normal levels and gradually reduces its securities holdings), it makes sense that the yields of shorter-term maturities react faster to rising rates – the shorter WAM allows the portfolio to roll over and be reinvested at those higher rates more quickly.

However, a longer duration portfolio is, by design, intended to perform and grow throughout interest rate cycles, and turns over at a slower pace. Trying to get in and out of longer-term investments is akin to trying to time the market. Further, in order for timing the market to be an effective strategy, you’d have to get it right twice: first, you’d have to know when to go all in cash and, second, when to go back into longer-term investments.

This is not a strategy that we believe can be successful over full market and interest rate cycles. Instead, we believe a better strategy is to use cash flow analyses to continually identify which funds need to be kept available in short-term investments and which can be used for longer-term strategies.

This information is for institutional investor use only, not for further distribution to retail investors, and does not represent an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any fund or other security. Investors should consider the Trust’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses before investing in the Trust. This and other information about the Trust is available in the Trust’s current Information Statement, which should be read carefully before investing. A copy of the Trust’s Information Statement may be obtained by calling 1-800-729-7665 or is available on the Trust’s website at www.camponline.com. While the Trust seeks to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share, it is possible to lose money investing in the Trust. An investment in the Trust is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Shares of the Trust are distributed by PFM Fund Distributors, Inc., member Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) (www.finra.org) and Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) (www.sipc.org). PFM Fund Distributors, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of PFM Asset Management LLC. i

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Jeff is one of CAMP’s portfolio managers and a managing director at PFM where he co-leads the short-term portfolio management team that oversees more than $25 billion in assets for public entities (as of September 30, 2018). He graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Finance and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. Jeff has 13 years of experience in the industry and is a member of PFM’s fixed income credit and investment committees.

L O S A N G E L E S | 213.489.4075 S A N F R A N C I S CO | 415.982.5544 pfm.com

About CAMP: CAMP is a California Joint Powers Authority established in 1989 to provide California public agencies with professional investment services. The CAMP Pool is a permitted investment for all local agencies under California Government Code Section 53601(p).

For important disclosure information please go to pfm.com/disclosures

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

INSIDE CSMFO

2019 Distinguished Service Awardee John Adams The Distinguished Service Award is conveyed by CSMFO to an individual in recognition for outstanding service over a period of years in the field of municipal finance. This is CSMFO’s most exclusive award and is only awarded on worthy occasions and not annually.

Careful consideration was given for this year’s recipient who, in his own words, echoes the mantra of most CSMFO volunteers, “I believe my involvement in CSMFO and experiences at past conferences have actually kept me in the field and helped me grow as a municipal finance professional,” John Adams, CSMFO Past President, Chief Financial Officer, The State Bar of California and newest addition to CSMFO’s Distinguished Service Award list.

John was given this prestigious award by CSMFO President Joan Michaels Aguilar and CSMFO Past President (1984) Bob Biery. Joan commented just how much “she was honored to be the President to recognize John’s passion for CSMFO, especially since I have had the pleasure of knowing John since 2001.” “John was there for me when I became involved in CSMFO, although we first met at the 1996 conference.”

Roll the clock forward to Thursday, January 10, 2019 at the Palm Springs Conference. While there were a few seriously anxious moments between Joan and SMA’s Melissa Dixon where John could not be found, in retrospect it was just the type of awkward stress that John was a master at defusing, as he did this time arriving seconds before Joan was to take the stage.

John Adams John joined CSMFO in 1996 and in over two decades has been responsible for many firsts within the CSMFO organization, while also creating a culture that welcomes new members and their ideas, and acts thoughtfully with a healthy dose of self-deprecation.

In John’s very first year as a member, he was “volun-told” to serve on the conference Host Committee. How you might ask? He just happen to be wearing a coat and tie that day – and his boss noticed and got him to go along for the CSFMO Host meeting, thus beginning his ongoing CSMFO volunteer efforts. It was on this Host Committee that John oversaw one of the first conferences featuring an Exhibit Hall showcasing our commercial members (Pasadena, 2000).

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More recently, John was our President (2016) when we transitioned from the old Mini-News into this new magazine for our members. And, it was in the March 2016 inaugural issues, that John became the first President to have an official message in the magazine. In his own words in that column, he noted that he has been involved in planning six conferences since 2000 and that while he values the premier training event, the best part of each conference is the networking with his peers.

Over these past two decades, John has been active at so many levels. Whether it was instigating or being engaged in any conversation to better CSMFO, being elected to the Board in 2010 and later elected as our 2016 President, leading or supporting so many committees (currently the Technology committee), asking questions on any board recommendation, or forming new committees (hello PPAC!), John continues to be an honored and dedicated ambassador for CSMFO. More importantly, as you would see from how he worked with his own chapter in the Channel Counties, he connects with people.

He has kept CSMFO moving forward and fosters positive relationships. He is the one you will see in the Exhibit Hall thanking the Exhibitors for their continued support of CSMFO. It is just this that has set him apart in his distinguished CSMFO career.

His career has now taken him to a position with State Bar of California, after his most recent stint as a 12-year leader within the City of Thousand Oaks and his time in the City of West Hollywood. In the end, it was Bob Biery’s words that perhaps summed up John the best, “I’m proud of his dedication to the municipal finance profession and good humor. But John may be best recognized as someone that you can count on to uphold the highest standards.”

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

INSIDE CSMFO

2018 Innovation of the Year Award – City of Santa Cruz City Goal: Find internal solutions to balance our FY 2018/2019 Budget and support the Fiscal 2023 Sustainability plan.

Time frame: Present recommendations in 10 weeks Budget: Zero Dedicated staffing resources: Zero Outcomes: Balanced the FY 2018/2019 Budget using some of the 67 concepts identified by staff; created budget ambassadors throughout the City; supported the development of leadership skills by Finance staff; identified solutions that can last through FY 2022/2023.

What started as a daunting challenge, may end up as a defining leadership moment for the City of Santa Cruz, as well as the City’s Finance Department staff. I’m pleased to share our story and show just how easy it can be to replicate or improve on these outcomes in your agency.

With a goal to adopt a balanced FY 2018/2019 operating budget without the use of any one-time transfers or other one-time resources, the City of Santa Cruz embarked in 2018 on a different organizational approach to develop budget balancing alternatives. Like many other cities, the City of Santa Cruz’s long-term General Fund forecast indicated growing deficits through FY 2022/2023, giving rise to the development of the City’s Fiscal 2023 Sustainability plan. However, certain components of this plan still relied on some level of yet to be identified budget balancing solutions.

In the past, the City has used different approaches to identify solutions to bridge budget gaps. These included typical models such as: individual departments identifying budget solutions based on assigned reduction targets or other prompts; using group and community brain storming sessions; resorting to union contract reopeners and furloughs; or contracting with external industry experts to identify alternate solutions.

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However, this time, our Finance Department pitched an “action” lab concept based on the premise of engaging supervisors and managers across the entire City into action orientated teams within this “lab” framework. Based on past outreach efforts, Finance staff felt there was sufficient support, knowledge, and interest by staff across the City to make this effort sustainable and to do so without any cost to the City. We also felt (and heard) that it was critical that we “act” on the recommendations and utilize them into the near future.

The City Manager approved the idea and the “Santa Cruz Fiscal Sustainability Action Lab” was founded. The City’s Action Lab model was comprised of three components: a learning lab; a testing lab; and small, purposefully diverse interdepartmental task force teams that provided further research and recommendations.

The Action Lab proved to be successful with the development of 67 conceptual alternatives, of which several went into immediate development for a June 2018 budget adoption. The action lab results are estimated to have at least a three year shelf life, to support solving future budget year gaps.

In my opinion, the biggest achievement was City leadership engagement and development of fiscal champions across the City. Together, the labs created a peer network of over sixty fiscal champions, who developed strong working relationships with other staff across the City. And, for some participants, the Action Labs created opportunities to demonstrate their leadership skills to senior leadership, including several Finance Department staff.

Like any other new endeavor, success is entirely dependent on those leading the way. This certainly was the case for Santa Cruz. There was a very small group of leaders within our Finance Department who believed in the vision for the Action Labs and committed to taking on yet another duty for the greater good. They accepted leadership roles for the first time in our City, they helped frame the full Action Lab model, and when our plans had to change, they adapted in ways that looked to everyone else like it had been our plan all along.

I’m so very grateful to our Finance staff’s commitment to the project, their extra work, their willingness to push beyond their comfort levels, and their loyalty and patience when times became stressful or challenging.

So, it is with the utmost sincerity that I dedicate this Innovation of the Year award to the collective efforts of the City’s Finance staff. I am humbled that we are now included with past winners of the Innovation of the Year award with cities like the City and County of San Francisco, City of Beverly Hills, City of Palo Alto, City of New Port Beach, City of Huntington Beach, and the West Basin Municipal Water District.

The 2018 Action Labs were led by the following Finance Department team members, shown with their job titles during these labs: Elizabeth Millwee, Action Lab project lead (Buyer II) Tracy Cole, Action Lab Team Facilitator (Accountant II) Michael Manno, Action Lab Team Facilitator (Accountant) Jason McCluskey, Action Lab Team Facilitator (Management Analyst) Jillian Morales, Action Lab Team Facilitator (Accounting Services Supervisor) Denise Reid, Action Lab Team Facilitator (Accounting Services Supervisor) Jessie Soto, Action Lab Team Facilitator (Administrative Assistant III) As a credit to the success of the 2018 Action Labs, nearly all the prior action lab participants, facilitators, and subject matter experts have volunteered to re-up and support the next research phase of our Action Lab. 29

CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

INSIDE CSMFO

Grace Castaneda – CSMFO’S 2018 Volunteer of the Year Annually, the CSMFO Executive Committee accepts nominations from CSMFO leadership for our Volunteer of the Year award. This committee (consisting of our then President Margaret Moggia, President-Elect Joan Michaels Aguilar, Past President Drew Corbett, and our Executive Director Melissa Dixon) evaluates and selects the candidate.

In order to deliver the value that you have come to expect from CSMFO, we depend on a large cohort of dedicated volunteers who share our vision and have successfully made CSFMO into “the preeminent resource for promoting excellence in government finance.“ And while there continue to be so many worthy candidates from our volunteer Board of Directors, to Chapter Chairs, to Committee Chairs, and all those actively involved in so many levels, this year one stood alone and embodied the “Make It Happen” spirit of CSMFO, Grace Castaneda, Budget Manager with the City of San Mateo.

Grace was acknowledged for how she “exudes CSMFO enthusiasm” and her way of “bringing people together, albeit only in her 2 plus years of involvement in CSMFO.” It has been remarkable how quickly Grace has positively impacted CSMFO in such a short time. But this wasn’t a surprise as she quickly distinguished herself as being a tireless volunteer and someone who will get it done with a smile. So she became a natural fit, and the right leader at the right time, to assume the Chair for CSMFO’s Membership Committee. Ironically, in this role she genuinely and enthusiastically embraced the succession development task to find and engage those earlier in their careers to support their own development. While doing so, Grace herself became a success story of CSFMO’s internal succession development plan.

Under Grace’s “big picture” but detail orientated leadership, CSMFO is proud of the many successes the Membership Committee has already achieved. They took on the controversial topic of fees and dues and developed an added value, board-approved outcome of waiving student membership fees, waiving fees for CPE on webinars, and provided a new member benefit. They supported the development of our college outreach plan and led the development of promotional banners to display at chapter meetings. And, again supporting why this year’s award was a natural fit, she was also personally very active in leading CSMFO’s volunteer recognition efforts.

Grace also led the CSFMO conference booth staffing of the “Ask the Expert” sessions and the general staffing by CSFMO’s leadership.

But what CSMFO will always cherish is Grace’s role in the 2018 development, planning, and implementation of the wildly successful and groundbreaking “First Time Attendee Reception” at the Riverside Conference. Many who attended were instantly welcomed into the CSFMO supportive culture, in large part due to Grace’s “persistence” and gentle pushing to get CSMFO leadership to attend and mix and mingle with guests rather than stay grouped together.

CSFMO is proud to acknowledge Grace for these efforts, for creating a culture that welcomes new members, and for making CSMFO and all our volunteers look so good.

We hope you enjoy this brief Q & A with Grace and what it meant in her own words to receive this award.

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What is it like to get acknowledged by your peers?

I am still in disbelief that someone (they didn’t tell me who) took their time to nominate me, and I am tremendously humbled to be selected by 2018 President Margaret Moggia and the Executive Committee. But I really cannot take this credit alone. Everyone I’ve worked with is a volunteer like me. And just like myself, each has dedicated their time and effort to CSMFO, to enhance the experience for its members. I am so proud of the things I got to be a part of this past year, and together with my fellow CSMFO volunteers, we accomplished a lot. Some highlights included creating the chapter banners that you see during our Palm Springs conference and in your chapter meetings, representing CSMFO in college campuses for student outreach, and, perhaps what I am most proud of, introducing new benefits to our members. Continuing Education for webinars are now free of charge, and if you are a new member, you get to choose either a free chapter meeting or half off the cost of an in-person introductory course. These new benefits are all implemented without raising membership dues!

What has it been like being involved in CSMFO? CSMFO continues to give me more than I can ever repay. I cannot even begin to describe the change in myself after getting involved in CSMFO. To be frank, when I first got involved, I thought of it more as a chore. On top of that, I was terrified and intimated, because I was just an analyst amongst volunteers who are mostly directors. I felt like I did not deserve to be there. What I experienced, however, was everyone genuinely welcoming me and valuing my ideas, even if I was just an analyst. I found that people care deeply about bringing the best to our profession of municipal finance and continually improving CSMFO to provide the best resources for its members. Seeing them care encouraged me to care, to also bring out my best. Being involved in CSMFO grew my confidence, gave me public speaking and leadership skills, and perhaps most importantly, connected me with people from all aspects of local government around the State. I am so happy I get to be a part of such a prestigious organization consisting of such a high caliber of individuals.

What was the moment like when you found out you are the Volunteer of the Year?

I was stunned, and overwhelmed. I did not know who was nominated or who submitted the nominations. So, like everyone else, I found out when Margaret called my name. Now that I had some time to reflect, I feel mostly grateful.

Grateful to Margaret and the Executive Team who gave me this honor, grateful to the Board who continually supports initiatives to better the organization and the member experience, grateful to my committee and everyone who I’ve worked with this past year. What a great 2018 it has been to collaborate, innovate, and achieve. I look forward to another amazing year. Let’s make it happen!

Grace Castaneda is the Budget Manager at the City of San Mateo and has been in local government for the past ten years. During her time in telling San Mateo’s budget story, Grace helped revamp her City’s budget document, which resulted in winning the GFOA budget award for the first time in the City’s history. After having her second child, Grace started running to preserve her sanity. Grace is a UCLA Bruin with a degree in Business Economics. She serves as the Chair of the CSMFO Membership Committee, serves on the CSMFO Host Committee, and supports several subcommittees.

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

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See the story from Tracy Vesely on PAGE 46 about Six Essential Proficiencies for Finance Directors — insight for directors at any stage of their career.

INSIDE CSMFO

Celebrating CSMFO Promotions and Retirements Each edition we celebrate those CSMFO members who have served our member agencies and CSMFO, recognizing those who are moving along their career paths, and those who paved the paths before us and are now transitioning into their retirement lives. This month we honor those who contacted us with their news of a promotion or retirement since November 2018, we ex tend our sincere congratulations and best wishes to them all, and are glad to highlight Brent Mason’s retirement and his over three decades of support for CSMFO. Retired…but not gone - Brent Mason, Retired Finance Director, Consultant, Vavrinek Trine Day & Co, LLP When Marcus Pimentel found out I was retiring at the end of 2018, he was excited for both me and himself – me for the obvious reasons, but also for himself as he had found another author to generate content for the next CSMFO magazine!  It is true, effective December 31, 2018 I became a PERS retiree!! Both exciting and sad at the same time… it brings an end to over 30 years of being involved with CSMFO, the last 15 of which have been with the leadership team. Being a part of CSMFO leadership has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career, as it has provided the opportunity to give back to the municipal finance industry which has provided me such a wonderful career.

My decision came after several months of discussion and number crunching with my wife (I did the number crunching ) about whether we could swing having me retire earlier than planned (I’m only 53) to be more available to assist with the myriad of tasks we have at home associated with caring for the kids we’ve adopted over the last two decades – there are still eight at home!!

Discussions ensued, external conversations had, and VOILA, the answer presented itself – I am now retired from PERS but working three days a week providing accounting services work through Vavrinek Trine Day & Co. out of their Rancho Cucamonga office.

This blend of more time at home but still giving stimulation to the brain cells each week became the perfect answer to my search.

When I began regularly attending CSMFO functions, I was in my late 20’s and it was the early 90’s. I was a bit in awe of the folks that were then in the top leadership roles, one of which was the woman who hired me in Riverside in 1994, Barbara Steckel. There were many others. It’s been special to have Mary Bradley and Bob Biery remain so connected to the organization all these years and continue to mentor young finance leaders even today. The “family” and camaraderie are what I will miss the most!!

Fortunately I do NOT have to miss out on Disneyland in 2020. In my part-time role with VTD I have the opportunity to continue my connection to CSMFO, but now as a vendor. I’m looking forward to focusing my professional efforts on helping cities and special districts with their accounting and other special project tasks, staying within the industry and as a part of CSMFO.

continues on next page

Brent’s Family Photo - “Nine of my ten girls and one of the three boys – plus my wife (Jill)…a pretty good showing! Though don’t be fooled by all the smiles – folks were wanting to go but Dad wanted to take a picture of everyone…mayhem!! They survived the “ordeal” and the photo lives on…”

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

I’m proud of the work I’ve done first in Rialto for 3 years, then in Riverside for 22 years and finally in San Bernardino for the last 3 years. Each of those venues has been a success in the things accomplished. The unique opportunities to work on various projects, issue bonds or assemble other financing sources to fund projects, and the “final act,” helping the City of San Bernardino wind down its bankruptcy proceedings, have made for a fascinating career. The best part, however, has been the amazing people I’ve been able to work with over the years. Enjoying the people and serving/supporting them as they do their jobs has been the most rewarding; the relationships made it “fun” to go to work every day and see your “friends.”

My last thought is to recognize the obligation we all share to one degree or another relative to succession planning within our beloved industry. As I’ve looked back, that may be one of my most significant contributions…I’ve had the opportunity to have seven different finance leaders work “for me” over the years, that have “left me” to become a Finance Director in a different agency.

I want to thank Joe Aguilar that hired me in Rialto when I really probably wasn’t qualified but told me that “what I did know is exactly what he needed, and the rest, he could teach me.” Also to Barbara Steckel for the opportunity to work in Riverside, one of the greatest cities; to Paul Sundeen for his mentoring over the many years; to Mark Scott for giving me the San Bernardino opportunity when I needed it the most; and lastly, to Scott Catlett for being a great friend and so supportive, making Riverside such an exceptional place to work for so many years!

See you all in Anaheim!

Brent Brent graduated from Biola University with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting. He spent four years in public accounting, primarily with Price Waterhouse Coopers. He has worked for the City of Rialto as the Assistant Finance Director, the City of Riverside for 22 years starting as Controller and ultimately Finance Director/Treasurer. In 2016, Brent transitioned to the City of San Bernardino as the Director of Finance and retired from there in December 2018. Brent now works three days a week with Vavrinek Trine Day & Co, LLP providing accounting advisory services to municipal and special district clients and spends more time at home joining his wife in caring for their special needs children. Brent has been married for 30 years and is the father of 13 children, 9 of which have been adopted. He and his wife advocate for adoption – particularly children with special needs.

Promotions and Retirements

City Ani Keshishian

City of Beverly Hills

Budget and Financial Analyst

Kim Sitton

City of Corona

Finance Manager III

Jennifer Schaefer

City of Corona

Finance Manager III

Angela Courter

City of Cotati

Acting Director of Administrative Services

Michelle Collett

City of Escondido

Senior Accountant

Dennis Kauffman

City of Roseville

Chief Financial Officer

Mary Lagasca

City of Salinas

Accounting Manager

Drew Corbett

City of San Mateo

City Manager

Richard Lee

City of San Mateo

Finance Director

Denise Reid

City of Santa Cruz

Principal Management Analyst

Jaime Boscarino

City of Thousand Oaks

Finance Director

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County Karen Clower County of Humboldt Deputy County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes County of Humboldt Deputy County Administrative Officer Sean Quincey County of Humboldt Deputy County Administrative Officer

Districts Alberto Preciado Citrus Heights Water District Accounting Supervisor Teri Vorster

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

INSIDE CSMFO

Make It Happen With Your CSMFO Member Benefits (with a little dash of Mission: Possible)

Written By Marcus Pimentel In order to make this year’s Member Benefits session “happen”, we had to borrow a quick dash of Mission Possible style collaboration and innovation to achieve success.

Marcus Pimentel, Finance Director, City of Santa Cruz

Major Successes The right audience! This session was designed to provide insights to newer members, while still offering tips to season veterans. And, based on a quick hands up quiz by our moderator Marcus Pimentel, the session had its target audience with nearly half of the attendees indicating they were relatively new to CSMFO.

Before we highlight this event, we want to thank all our nearly 250 attendees and appreciated their patience as we had to quickly innovate to accommodate four times our expected capacity. What started as plan for a more intimate, interactive session, became quickly overwhelmed as the 100 capacity Smoke Tree room turned into standing room only. After a quick 30 second chat, CSMFO and the Palm Springs Conference staff engaged a plan to move into the neighboring 170 capacity Ventura room. However, as our guests started to enter the Ventura room, a quick head count revealed we needed to once again relocate to a bigger room, this time the Renaissance Hotel’s 350 seat Grand Ball room.

Tips for CSMFO involvement and career advice! This session began with an all-star Q&A panel of CSMFO veterans who share a common “how can we help” attitude. Together, President Joan Michaels Aguilar, Past President Margaret Moggia, and President Elect Steve Heide provided insights to all attendees from how to enhance their career, how to support CSFMO, and how getting involved in CSMFO can provide more than they ever expected.

Bonus insights into CSFMO Committee’s and leadership. This session was also setup to allow attendees to learn about CSFMO committees and CSMFO leaders. At the end of the CSMFO leadership panel, over 80 attendees stayed around to learn more from other CSMFO leaders grouped into three areas: Training; Networking; and Career Development.

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Key Takeaways Use and archive CSMFO’s listserve for quick answers and research high level topics. To start, send your question to “members@csmfo.org” and send your results back to the group.

Staying involved in your local chapter is the best and fastest way to grow your career.

Stay tuned into CSFMO Career Development opportunities, and pay special attention to the annual weekend training session. This session sells out quickly every year.

Statewide Resources

Free registration for host agencies. If you host any of CSMFO’s live training sessions, not only do you reduce your travel costs, but your agency gets two free registrations.

Focused on YOU

CSMFO now offers free CPE to its members for all webinars.

All new CSMFO Members get one free chapter chair registration or can choose half off their first Intro to Governmental Accounting course or their first Investment Accounting course.

Orange County | Sacramento

Formal and informal coaching and mentoring programs, including the annual conference’s Speed Coaching session.

Expand your skills by learning a new skill on any of CSMFO’s diverse committees; from technology to communications, from career development to membership, from the administration committee to the recognition or program committees.

“Get Involved” section of CSMFO’s website, enter you contact information, and check the boxes that you are interested in.

Marcus Pimentel is the Finance Director of the City of Santa Cruz.

Marcus has over 20 years of municipal finance experience in the Monterey Bay area and is an active member of CSFMO, having participated in CSFMO’s early coaching program, served as a longtime Chapter Chair, on various CSMFO committees, and as a former Board Member. Marcus is currently the Chair of the Communications Committee and a member of the 2019 Host Committee and Membership Committee.

Audit | Advisory | Education | Accounting/Financial Reporting

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Who Can Ask for Anything More The 2019 President’s Dinner Written By Ernie Reyna

Ernie Reyna, CSMFO Board of Director, Finance Director, City of Eastvale

The 2019 President’s “Pink” Dinner was as elegant as it was welcoming in how it honored CSMFO’s past presidents and recognized all the current, wonderful volunteers. CSMFO President Joan Michaels Aguilar hosted this Tuesday night event (January 8th) in the fashionable, Palm Springs uptown district at the Eight4Nine Restaurant & Lounge.

The night began around 5:45 PM out on the patio with some networking opportunities, drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and a slide show from previous conferences on the outside wall. Pink was the official color of the Eight4Nine restaurant and really stood out amongst the guests that chose to wear the color that evening. Just before 7:00 PM, President Michaels Aguilar welcomed and thanked everyone in attendance. The night is all about honoring those who have dedicated their time to make CSMFO the great organization it is, and we were all very fortunate that 21 past presidents were in attendance to help pump up the crowd, including Jack Crist who served as CSMFO’s president back in 1981!

The President’s Dinner is the unofficial kick-off to the annual conference. It takes many months of planning and hours from the special individuals who dedicated their time and efforts to locate a restaurant that can capture the essence of CSMFO. Eight4Nine was right on point. The dinner was made possible by four commercial sponsors: UFI, MGO, LSL and Keenan. These sponsors helped to make sure the night was memorable for the 125 guests by supporting the fine drinks, good food, and wonderful entertainment.

After the past presidents were recognized and honored, it was time for CSMFO Board Members, Committee Chairs & Vice Chairs, Chapter Chairs and their guests to head inside the restaurant where guests could admire the eclectic use of the color pink throughout the entire restaurant. Guests were treated to their pre-selected food options which consisted of four mouth-watering items: beef tenderloin, fried chicken, Chilean sea-bass, and smoked portobello mushroom pappardelle.

While guests waited on their food, there was ample opportunity to continue to network or take advantage of the photo shoot to take silly photos and create long-lasting memories using any of the provided costume accessories.

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After guests finished up their dinner, everyone migrated towards a different part of the restaurant that contained an assortment of dessert items to satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth. The night continued on with lots of discussion, more photo opportunities, dancing, and visits to the bar for cocktails. And those that stayed for last call were treated to a beautiful rendition of “I Got Rhythm” by our own Melissa Dixon of SMA.

CONNECTED COMMUNITIES ARE VIBRANT COMMUNITIES

The last shuttle back to the Renaissance Hotel from Eight4Nine began to pick up guests around 10:00 PM, and the talk of the evening was how amazing the night was and what was going to be in store for next year’s President’s Dinner in Anaheim.

President-Elect Steve Heide summarized the night perfectly, “I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend a number of CSMFO President’s Dinners over the years. I always walk away feeling inspired to have spent a nice evening in the company of such dedicated CSMFO volunteer leaders, past and present.

Palm Springs was no exception. Great food, great company, great venue.”

For anyone wanting to experience a President’s Dinner, the key is to become involved either on a committee as a Chair or Vice Chair or on the chapter level as Chair. CSMFO is always looking for new names and faces to assist, and the rewards are so very worth it. Who knows, maybe we’ll see you at the next President’s Dinner!

Ernie Reyna has been with the City of Eastvale since June of 2018 and serves as their Finance Director and City Treasurer. Ernie was recently elected to the CSMFO Board of Directors after serving in various roles including the Chair of the Administration and Membership Committees, Vice Chair of the Communication Committee, and Chapter Chair of the Inland Empire for two years.

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INSIDE CSMFO

From the CIA to the MIH (Part II) Written By Marcus Pimentel Welcome back to part two of our featured interview with CSMFO President Joan Michaels Aguilar and CSMFO Past President Margaret Moggia.

Marcus Pimentel, Finance Director, City of Santa Cruz

Joan Michaels Aguilar, President, City of Dixon

Margaret Moggia, Past President, West Basin Municipal Water District

Since CSFMO’s start in 1958, there had only been two years with back to back woman presidents before now.

So the Communication Committee wanted to take a pause and spend some more time with our 2019 President and 2018 Past President. We hope you’ll find this revealing Q&A as interesting as we did. And it affirmed what we already knew, that CSMFO continues to be in very good hands.

In this second part, we explore the efforts behind the annual conference and the development of their mission philosophy’s; Margaret’s Collaborate, Innovate, Achieve (CIA) and Joan’s Make It Happen (MIH). We also explored what it means to be a woman president in these times, and what advice they can share to tomorrow’s leaders.

[Editor] How did you approach the opportunity of selecting your conference theme to be enjoyed by 1,300+ of your friends?

[Margaret] Selecting a conference theme seems simple – just a few words to express a general idea to be conveyed for the conference week.

But, I wanted a theme that could carry throughout the year not just the three days we were gathered in Riverside.

I mean, we placed a lot of energy towards coming up with a theme so why not find meaning and focus for the remainder of the year.

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My annual conference host committee was very helpful to come up with ideas that would recognize Riverside and the Inland Empire. Lots of ideas were given but when we were discussing about locations around Riverside, we looked out of the window and there stood the Mission Inn in the background. It became clear that the mission should be incorporated. I don’t recall specifically where Mission Possible started – I like to say that I just watched a Mission Impossible movie, regardless; I feel that what we do is POSSIBLE. But planning a conference with the myriad of decisions creates opportunities for us to ensure we maximize the conference experience for all attendees. Also, the Riverside location had some challenges because the conference attendance had grown from 800 to 1300 over a 4 year period, and we needed to find a way to still have a place for the general session, the exhibit hall, and all the concurrent session rooms. The conference format had to be changed and while some of it was challenging, I am excited of the new opportunities created from First Time Attendee Reception and Chapters connecting over lunch. Overcoming these logistical challenges was a MISSION Possible.

I am a strong believer of mission statements and the strategic plans that are developed to support them, and so the theme MISSION Possible is relevant here too. Pursuing our mission can be personal, can relate to our work, and certainly it can be how CSMFO can continue to deliver on its mission to provide continuing education and professional development and readying ourselves to prepare the next generation. I feel that we can all get to our MISSION Possible when we collaborate and innovate so that we can achieve whatever challenge is ahead of us. A great example of this is the Board initiatives of increasing the member experience through chapters or developing a program to reach out to college students and get them excited about public service. Or what about looking at continued ways to provide value to our members through exploring a certification program or our own app. And, finally how can we make the association stronger so we looked at ways to clarify our roles in advocacy and on our own standing communities. Each of these efforts required us to come together (collaborate) and share ideas and come up with solutions (innovate) and make progress on achieving our goals.

[Joan] I was conflicted as I knew even though the conference I would serve as President wouldn’t be at the Happiest Place on Earth, I wanted to have a Disney vibe. At one point, I know I must have sent some ideas over to our Executive Director, Melissa Dixon. I really wanted to have a theme to unveil at the Riverside conference to build some excitement for the conference in Palm Springs. It also reminded me of the days many moons ago that the printed conference program included the reveal of the next year’s conference theme. I thought about all that we as finance professionals have responsibility for, are entrusted with in this era of more transparency – and the Guardians of the Finance Galaxy just worked for me. Once I ran it by a few people that were on the Host Committee, they seemed to like it. Of course, it also helped that I had some Disney/Marvel fans in the mix as well.

[Editor] What were some newer ideas or features that you enjoyed having within your conference?

[Margaret] Because of the logistical challenges of outgrowing the conference site before we got there, we were able to create some new conference offerings that can continue to be improved upon at future conferences. Also, I thoroughly enjoyed introducing the Mission Inn to the conference attendees and showcase this amazing location with the food and entertainment to match. I loved the flamenco dancers and the taiko drummers, and as always the band was amazing.

[Joan] I don’t know that I could necessarily say that there were newer ideas that come to mind with the Palm Springs conference, but seeing the CSMFO booth at this year’s Exhibit Hall was pretty amazing. With the Ask the Experts option, and our promotion of the 2020 conference with lunch bags for Anaheim gave us an opportunity to build excitement for the happiest place on earth. I think Grace Castaneda and her team did a great job continuing the tradition of a New Member Benefits Session on Wednesday morning with over 240 people in attendance. The response was so overwhelming we had to move rooms (twice)! Having the Q & A session, although that style had been used previously, with the Executive Committee brought a breadth of experience to be shared with those attending. The ability for members to mingle with leadership and ask questions on specific areas afterward I think was a cool option. Of course, the Thursday night event, I would be remiss if I didn’t state the fact that we showed both Guardians of the Galaxy films I thought gave members a unique experience. If you didn’t feel like casino style or other gaming options available or moving on to the after party at Hotel Zoso, we had you covered with movie style concessions and a cinema experience.

On Friday, we tried taking the chapter experience a step farther with the option to sit with your chapter at breakfast.

While perhaps, not as many people were at breakfast (late Thursday night??), it was very cool to see chapters taking their banners and posing for pictures on stage or getting some type of group photo.

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[Joan] Part of the inspiration came from wanting to make a difference. I don’t think I would have ever attempted to become a Finance Director had I not become involved in CSMFO leadership as part of the Budget Awards Committee back in the day. It wasn’t a driving need to be in the spotlight, I am more of a behind the scenes person. I consider myself fortunate to have been elected as a Northern California Board Member, I had been unsuccessful a couple of times in Southern California, and that the folks that served on the Nominating Committee thought well of me and my abilities to put my name forward for Board Member and as President.

My attitude is everything happens for a reason, so I can say that I did not have doubt about running for this position. I knew that the year that Drew was elected President, that CSMFO was lucky to have him in that leadership role.

[Editor] Were there any unexpected “blessings” that turned obstacles into fun conference successes?

At the 2018 Annual Conference in Riverside [Margaret] As mentioned, we overcame some of the challenges by creating new conference offerings from a first time attendee reception to connecting chapter members over lunch. The positive comments and outcomes from these two activities make me happy to know that we found a way to connect people. For instance, we had two chapters who met at the annual conference and because of this meeting they actually had their first chapter luncheon after years of no activity. Thank you to the members and chapter leadership that took the time to make it happen.

[Joan] For those that have known me through the years, people will attest that I enjoy my music and dancing. Some years, the dance floor has not been very crowded. While early in the night at Hotel Zoso, there was plenty of room to dance, by the end of the evening, it was standing room only and everyone there seemed to genuinely be having a great time. I consider this a very fun event and successful result that I am pretty pleased to have witnessed.

[Editor] What resonates with you about the future of women in government leadership?

[Margaret] Leadership needs to come from all places and people to allow for diversity of thought. Through this diversity this allows ideas to flourish and result to happen. But I would say that just being a woman is not the sole reason to become a leader. Be prepared to work hard, study hard and participate freely. Celebrate that you are a leader because you make the time to make it happen. And in this role, be sure to ask others to get involved in whatever capacity that fills their schedule.

This engagement builds community.

[Editor] As a father of two girls myself, I’m proud to be in CSMFO during this time to cherish that you are now the third back-to-back woman CSMFO Presidents. What inspired you to run for CSMFO’s President? Did you ever have any doubt about running for this position?

[Joan] As I have attended CSMFO conferences through the years, I have seen the balance shift in terms of the number of women attending. I have my ex-boss and former CSMFO President Derek Hanway to thank for having me become a member of CSMFO, as well as getting me involved in leadership.

Many years ago, he was a strong proponent of getting more women involved in leadership roles within CSMFO. As a side note, I know Marcus has commented that having Margaret and I serve as back-to-back CSMFO Presidents is a rather unusual accomplishment within our organization.

[Margaret] I wanted to give back and make a difference.

I love CSMFO as it has given me confidence and a voice to those who do not have time or unaware of the many resources that CSMFO has to offer. I had hoped to serve as a Board member and President, but my first time for both was not successful. So, that gives you a little doubt. If I had not been successful, I would still want to serve. For me, it is about the work, not the title.

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I do face challenges as a woman in the finance profession. I have seen my male colleagues throughout my career indicate that financial resources aren’t available with “the answer is no” and there is a modicum of respect. Yet when I have asserted myself presenting an accurate financial picture, i.e. we don’t have the funds for a project, I have been told I am edgy (as a criticism, not that I am doing my job) or other uncomplimentary name. “I’m sure you can find the money” I have been told on more than one occasion by more than one boss.

Integrity and credibility are very important to me, and that is something you do not sacrifice no matter what pressure you may get from your male colleagues. I will say having an education such as a Masters Degree in Public Administration helps and I would advise pursuing this level of education through one of the many programs available to professionals.

Many of us in leadership have mentored others, and encouraged them to become active in CSMFO by volunteering. This can range from putting an educational session forward for the next CSMFO conference – you get the added benefit of serving on a panel and getting public speaking experience – to being a budget reviewer – to actually being a volunteer on a committee. Try and learn more at your own agency, get outside your lane. I was bored in the Treasurer’s Office, and my experience helping audit the Northridge Quake and FEMA records ultimately got me hired in the budget office by assisting another department.

Marcus Pimentel is the Finance Director of the City of Santa Cruz.

Marcus has over 20 years of municipal finance experience in the Monterey Bay area and is an active member of CSFMO, having participated in CSFMO’s early coaching program, served as a longtime Chapter Chair, on various CSMFO committees, and as a former Board Member. Marcus is currently the Chair of the Communications Committee and a member of the 2019 Host Committee and Membership Committee.

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Memories From The Conference

Memories From The Conference

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INSIDE CSMFO

Golf Guardians at Mission Hills!!

Written By Bobby Young

Bobby Young, Principal, HDL Companies

This year, CSMFO Guardians journeyed to one of the most prestigious private clubs in the Coachella Valley, home to the LPGA ANA Inspiration Golf Tournament – Mission Hills Country Club. Thank you to all the participants who were able to join us for a beautiful day of clear skies and amazing views.

Vavrinek Trine Day & Co, LLP

With morning networking achieved, players ventured out to lush green fairways and a challenging Pete Dye course setup. Upon completion of the round, we graced the upper terrace for appetizers and drinks to share stories of birdies, eagles and long drives.

Trane Energy Services

HDL Companies Rogers, Anderson, Malody & Scott, LLP Hilltop Securities Public Agency Retirement Services (PARS)

And a special thank you to CSMFO President Joan Michael Aguilar, whose leadership and desire to provide the players with a first-class event at a first-class club gave everyone an energic experience in advance of the conference!

For those who missed out on this year tournament, be sure to mark January 28, 2020 on your calendars for next year’s conference Golf tournament in Anaheim.

Congratulations to this year’s winning team, who achieved a final team score of 60. They included Gary Leong (Coachella Valley Association of Governments), Ben Mullally (Alamo Capital), Doug Walker and Reggie Ingram (Trane Energy Services).

While not everyone got a chance to earn a trophy, everyone had a great time with their colleagues.

We want to give special recognition to the corporate sponsors who helped put on this special event:

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Mr. Young has over 20 year of local government experience.

Currently he is advising clients, providing long range sales tax forecasts and ensuring revenue enhancements as a Principal with the HDL Companies. Prior to joining HDL, he served as Finance Director for the City of Costa Mesa. During the majority of his tenure, he led the City’s strategic financial planning and decision making through the Great Recession. Mr. Young also has a background in external auditing of governments and non-profits as well as preparation and review of Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs) and annual municipal budgets through both Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) and California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO) award programs.

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INSIDE CSMFO

Intergalactic Speed Coaching Written By Karla Campos This year, CSMFO Guardians journeyed Like technical financial skills, leadership is learned and developed thru experiences.

Whether you are starting off as a new supervisor or wanting to improve an Karla Campos, aspect of leadership, we are all lifetime Finance Director, City learners. of La Quinta Imagine 13 expert coaches in one room all at your fingertips; each well versed in government finance thriving in leadership positions throughout California ready to answer questions, provide tips, tell you secrets, or direct you to the correct resource. This is exactly what approximately 80 speed coaching participants experienced to kick of their 2019 CSMFO conference experience on Wednesday morning.

The room was fully of energy, passion, and excitement for the conference and upcoming year. Ideas were flowing, and laughter was abundant as participants received 10 to 15 minute laser focused speed coaching sessions in pods of 5 to 10 participants. No intimidation here, only welcoming discussions and real conversations.

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Participants discussed their past experiences and where they envisioned themselves in the future. In return coaches provided helpful tips on how to achieve their goals, become an effective leader, find work life balance, strengthen technical skills, and tap available resources. Participants who connected with a particular coach can engage in further mentorship afterward by exchanging contact information.

The session continues to increase in popularity each year. A special thank you to Don Maruska for facilitating and to the numerous coaches for generously sharing your time and wisdom.

Karla Campos, Finance Director and Treasurer for the City of La Quinta is responsible for financial planning, reporting, and recordkeeping. In addition, Mrs. Campos is the Chair for the Coachella Valley CSMFO Chapter. Ms. Campos has 20 years of combined public and private financial experience in the public and private sectors. She has earned both a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Business Administration degree in Business Administration.

INSIDE CSMFO

Game, Set, Match!

Bank of the West 8th Annual Tennis Mixer Written By James Russell-Field The Bank of the West helped kick off the CSMFO Annual Conference with their 8th Annual Tennis Mixer at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Indian Wells Tennis Garden is a premier

James Russell-Field, tennis venue, so this year’s tennis mixer Senior Accountant, City of Thousand Oaks was a special event for everyone who had

the opportunity to attend! Indian Wells Tennis Garden hosts the BNP Paribas Open, which brings approximately 450,000 people through the facilities each year. Stadium 1 is the second largest outdoor tennis venue in the world!

The tournament was organized by Lily Ng, Director and Government Banking Manager for Bank of the West. Lily did a fantastic job organizing the event, which included a last second scramble for replacements after a few players had to drop out. There were 24 spots for the mixer, which filled quickly after registration opened. Lily offered players who missed the first registration to be added to the wait list. Lily’s expert tip is to “bring your racket to the conference just in case, because you never know when a spot could open up!”

Tuesday in Palm Springs was sunny and clear, a perfect day for some tennis. The group started the day with a light lunch, followed by an amazing VIP tour of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden by our guide, George. George walked the group through the inside of Stadium 1, which included some great photo opportunities in the press room and on the balcony overlooking Stadium 1’s court.

After the tour, everyone was treated to a group clinic with the Tennis Pros. After the pros helped warm up everyone’s forehands, backhands, volleys, and serves, the round robin mixer kicked off.

At the end of the friendly mixer, the winners were announced:

1st 2nd 3rd

FLIGHT A Eric McKean, Stifel Curt de Crinis, CM de Crinis & Co. Roger Wang, Ventura Police Department

Hardest Worker Best Effort

1st 2nd 3rd

Brian Buchanan, Wilmington Trust Linda Scholink, City of Sand City

FLIGHT B James Russell-Field, City of Thousand Oaks Scott Gorzeman, Wells Fargo Ellen Clark, PFM Asset Management

Hardest Worker Best Effort

Tim Seufert, NBS Donna Ventura, City of Oxnard

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After the conclusion of the tournament, Lily scheduled “free play” on three courts for an additional hour and a half. In total, attendees at this year’s mixer were able to play about 5 hours of tennis at one of the “best in class” facilities in the world. It was a unique experience!

“Lily does such a great job organizing and putting together the mixer and she makes absolutely sure everyone has a great time.” Scott Gorzeman said. “Playing tennis at Indian Wells is pretty much a dream for all tennis players. Our dreams came true with an absolutely beautiful day, in a wonderful setting, it really doesn’t get much better than that!”

Eric McKean commented: “The CSMFO tennis mixer was incredible! This was my first time playing at the annual conference, and I really enjoyed connecting with other CSMFO tennis players. Playing at Indian Wells was surreal.

Thank you so much to Lily Ng, Ellen Clark, and Bank of the West for this experience!”

The tennis mixer was terrific!” Donna Ventura said. “Being new to the public sector and CSMFO, it was a great way to meet new people and have fun. The Indian Wells stadium is an amazing facility, and it was a privilege to be able to play there and participate in clinics with three of the Pros. I look forward to playing again next year!”

A huge thanks to Lily for organizing another successful tennis mixer! Her dedication and behind the scenes work makes the event a smashing success. CSMFO would also like to thank the sponsors of the mixer: Host - Bank of the West, Trophy Oracle, and Lunch - LSL CPAs.

James Russel-Field relocated from Salt Lake City, Utah to become a Senior Accountant with the City of Thousand Oaks. He misses his towering mountains, but loves the Southern California sunshine!

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INSIDE CSMFO

A Cosmic Casino and More Written By Janna Bogue and Steve Heide

Janna Bogue, CSMFO Communication Committee Member, City of Thousand Oaks

The Galactic, Thursday night social offered something for everyone. From the space aged cosmic casino and cinema at the Palm Springs Convention Center to the hopping after party at the hip Hotel Zoso, there was plenty of food, drink, entertainment, and networking options for everyone’s taste.

The Main Event

From 6pm to 10pm in the spacious Primrose Ballroom and adjacent foyer, guests were provided a welcome break from the conference’s daytime sessions (not that there’s anything wrong with sessions on GASB, pensions, and Steve Heide, CSMFO financial trends). As they entered the ballroom, they were immediately treated President-Elect, to shouts of joy as fellow CSMFOers Finance Director, were playing 8 on 8 foosball challenges Chino Valley Fire or battling old school space invaders, District while others were greeted by Yondu, leader of the Ravengers, and Thanos’ personal assassin Gamora. Most succumbed, ready to turn off their brains and let loose the fun that only finance people can have.

As you entered the foyer there were casino games such as blackjack, roulette and poker. It was so entertaining to watch the pro gamblers teach the amateurs how to play, and to see the competitions at the blackjack tables (where everyone took aim at beating the dealer)! And, the best part was there was no real money to be lost. Personally, that made it fun for most, because if we lost, we could just laugh it off.

With the Guardians of the Galaxy I & II movies playing in the theater area, attendees were able to mix and mingle in a fun and festive atmosphere with endless supplies of popcorn, root beer floats, and ‘get em while they were there’ Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars.

For those traditionalists who wanted dinner before desserts, there was also plenty of other foods to enjoy at any of the buffet bars or very generous salad bar. And of course there was a bar where you could find a line of people waiting to put their drink tickets to use. While waiting in lines people were mingling and catching up from the past conference. There were so many old and new faces and everyone really seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The strangest sounds came from the back of the theater room, where there was the green screen photo booth. At the photo booth area, groups large and small, new friends and old acquaintances, eagerly gathered to take pictures set to the backdrop of the Guardians movie franchise.

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In all, the wide variety of food and drink kept people pleasingly nourished, while blackjack, roulette, and poker provided the opportunity for gamblers to experience the thrill of going all in and winning the mythical jackpot. “I truly enjoyed the coming together of the Guardians of the Finance Galaxy at the casino night with all the activities offered by CSMFO. As a second time attendee, it was great to see some familiar faces and have the opportunity to meet so many new ones,” commented Jason Huk, Director of Sales, from Govinvest. “Whether it was having conversations in line at the photo booth with first time attendees, having a drink with corporate sponsors and partners or introducing customers to new friends and colleagues at the tables, everyone played their best hand in making the night fun, engaging and memorable!”

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And did we mention the roving Guardian inspired cosmic aliens, complete with full professional make-up, who were serving theatre-style candy and popcorn snacks to attendees. It was a shame that SMA’s David Garrison and Amanda Rae Smith took the night off, they would have loved Yondu and Gamora.

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The Encore.

PUBLIC FINANCE

Once we got our fill of popcorn, movies, and gambling, it was time to board the bus to Hotel Zoso, formerly The Hard Rock Café. Walking into the swanky resort, we couldn’t help but notice the beautiful red drapes and art deco style chandeliers hanging, it really set the mood for the rest of the night. Walking through the foyer, there was a lounge that allowed networking and socializing (if you were looking for something a little quieter).

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But the grand finale took place in another lounge where the DJ was playing the tunes of Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake and Rihanna (to name a few). The dancefloor was jammed with dancers and the tables on either side of the dancefloor were filled with colleagues and vendors trying to take a break and kick up their feet for a while. And for those who worked up an appetite while dancing their shoes off (and setting “step” records), you could find a variety of small appetizers lined up by the bar.

But the clock struck midnight and we all had to leave the fun to prepare for our journey home the next day. We had to say goodbye to old and new friends, pass out business cards, shake hands and give hugs. Until next year CSMFO!

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Janna Bogue has been the Senior Accountant with the City of Thousand Oaks since November of 2016. She is also a member of the CSMFO Communication Committee. When she isn’t working on Capital, CAFR’s and Budget she enjoys spending her time outdoors hiking, snowboarding, wakeboarding and paddle boarding.

Our team of experienced professionals work hand-in-hand with issuers across a wide array of debt structures and pricing analyses that are tailored to the unique needs of each issuer.

Steve Heide is the Finance Director for the Chino Valley Fire District, located in Chino Hills, California. Steve has been an active CSMFO member for nearly fifteen years. He is a member of the CSMFO Board of Directors and has served as the Inland Empire chapter chair. He has also held a number of leadership positions on various CSMFO committees. Steve has over thirty years of professional finance experience, having earned his CPA certificate in public accounting and having worked in various positions in private industry and nonprofits prior to joining the Fire District in 2004. Steve is a frequent contributor to the CSMFO Magazine and enjoys traveling, spending time with family and friends, and following Los Angeles Kings hockey in his off time.

As a fiduciary, our advisors are dedicated to providing issuers with the tools and education necessary to navigate the ever-changing climate of the public finance sector.

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...Call The Baker Group at 844.213.0485

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844.213.0485 | Member: FINRA and SIPC | www.GoBaker.com

INSIDE CSMFO

Oh, what a night with Rowan the Enjoyer!

Written By Marcus Pimentel At this year’s conference, you might have rubbed shoulders with one of our honored guests from GFOA (President Steven Gibson, Deputy City Manager, City of Rock Hill, South Carolina), Alaska GFOA Marcus Pimentel, (President Joan Miller, Controller, City of Finance Director, City Wasilla), Oregon GFOA (President Lisa of Santa Cruz Young, Finance Director, City of Sandy), Washington Finance Officers Association (President Craig Warner, Financial Services Director, Yakima County), or California Municipal Treasurer’s Association (President Dan Matusiewicz, Finance Director, City of Newport Beach).

I was fortunate to spend some time with most of them and was once again reminded of just how small our galaxy is, how similar we are, and how much value we get when we push ourselves beyond our social comfort levels.

Over just a few days, we found ourselves learning from each other about the very similar housing and homelessness challenges facing our cities, how Yakima and my hometown had similar farming backgrounds as well as demographic challenges, and how deep baseball meant to both of us. We even seemed to share the “always happy to help” approach to life, as Lisa Young (Oregon GFOA) slyly shared with me how Craig happened to get his new homeless project assignment.

A night at the Rowan Wednesday evening’s VIP dinner at the Rowan in Palm Springs was hosted by President Joan Michaels Aguilar. It was a night of comradery, full of optimism and joy for the year ahead, appreciation for the thousands of miles our guests had traveled, and of course great food and laughter. We were all thankful to have been at the Rowan and not with Ronan the Accuser (sorryshameless Dad humor).

This dinner perfectly represented how thousands of miles of separation is not all that far. GFOA President Steven Gibson, who flew nearly 2,350 miles to Palm Springs, talked about similar pressures and experiences as the rest of us. For example, his My path first crossed with Craig Warner “volunteer” role as GFOA President was on top of his full-time from Yakima County in Washington, and primary job as Deputy City Manager of the City of Rock Hill in later I was introduced to his lovely wife South Carolina. He too has had to balance representing GFOA Tina who traveled with him. I was perhaps and fulfilling the expectations and responsibilities of his new role too quick to say “yes” to being CSMFO with remaining fully engaged and supportive of the community he liaison to Craig and his wife (after all, how has served for nearly 30 years. can anyone say “no” to Melissa Dixon or President Joan Michaels Aguilar) as I Presidents Lisa Young (Oregon) and Joan Miller (Alaska) and later faced the anxiety over how I would CMTA President Dan Matusiewicz also fit in seamlessly with make them feel at home. Those that know CSMFO representatives, sharing common stories, learning me well know that I’m not the greatest about each other’s experiences, and generally looking for at casual conversations since all the ways to learn from each other to better serve our respective storytelling and quick wit DNA somehow associations and communities. ended up in my brother Steve.

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We finished the night with some fun impromptu pictures and gathered together for a group picture. Fortunately, that was just the beginning of our time together as we all seemed to somehow keep crossing paths for lunch, at a concurrent session, or just walking around the exhibit hall.

A little fun too While our VIP guests valued the content and connections they built, they also were quick to embrace the fun side of CSMFO. So, it shouldn’t have surprised me when our friends from the north (Lisa Young, Joan Miller, and Craig and Tina Warner) literally pulled Margaret Moggia and me into their Guardian of the Galaxy green screen photo. While our superhero pose was pretty cool (or so I thought), we were immediately humbled by the creativity Joan Miller and Lisa Young displayed in setting up their cameos with the hunky Chris Pratt.

Joan Miller (Alaska) shared her thoughts about CSMFO and our time together, “CSMFO offers quite a conference where every detail is top shelf. The VIP dinner was no exception with the Rowan Hotel delivering that swanky Palm Springs venue, a delicious spread and the perfect opportunity to meet some fun and amazing people. It was a pleasure to be included in a simply awesome evening.”

Lessons Learned, Friendships Built Ironically, after wasting so much time worrying about being a CSMFO liaison, I once again was reminded of the value of connecting with other peers, of how much more we all gained from our association partners, and just how lucky we are to be a part of our respective associations.

As we all expected, our guests were regularly seen around the conference maximizing their time and soaking up as many sessions as possible, generally enjoying the amazing vibe of this particular conference. GFOA President Steven Gibson, Deputy City Manager, City of Rock Hill, South Carolina, appreciated how “the CSMFO Membership was very well represented, and they brought tons of energy! It was a pleasure to attend this very professional and informative event! Further, the CSMFO leadership extended such a warm welcome to me and other guests. At the GFOA, we value our partnership and our friendship with the CSMFO!” He continued with a warm welcome to all CSMFO members for GFOA’s conference this May, “we are looking forward to returning to California for our 113th Annual Conference in Los Angeles!”

Marcus Pimentel is the Finance Director of the City of Santa Cruz.

Marcus has over 20 years of municipal finance experience in the Monterey Bay area and is an active member of CSFMO, having participated in CSFMO’s early coaching program, served as a longtime Chapter Chair, on various CSMFO committees, and as a former Board Member. Marcus is currently the Chair of the Communications Committee and a member of the 2019 Host Committee and Membership Committee.

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INSIDE CSMFO

Hot takeaways from the Conference “Pre-Flight” sessions Written By Pamela Arends-King

Pamela ArendsKing, CSMFO Past President, Chief Financial Officer, South Coast Water District

Kudos to the 122 members who were in any of our conference pre-flight sessions and were exposed to timely and valuable career and professional tips. We’re including a recap of the key takeaways of these sessions.

First, high praise to the CSMFO Program Committee for arranging three excellent preconference sessions. I want to give special thanks to Harriet Commons as she was the preconference “go to” person that helped make the sessions happen, and extra special thanks to our excellent presenters.

She also was glad they were able to take a deeper dive into trending information and county comparisons of the median home price recovery after the last recession and the values restored in the major counties due to Proposition 8 was presented.

They were able to consolidate this information to apply it into budget forecasting and the elements that are necessary to develop a better educated and informed forecast.”

Lloyd de Llamas was proud of who “this session went through the entire subject of sales, use and transactions tax including administration, budgeting and how to maximize those revenues.”

He also was intrigued by the following items that seemed to provoke the most reaction: • Voter approved transactions tax overrides are a separate tax that follow the buyer rather than the seller and go to the jurisdiction where the buyer first consumes, takes delivery or registers the purchase.

• Economist predictions and data are becoming increasingly irrelevant in projecting sales tax revenues because the data largely includes non-taxable elements and national, state and regional data bases don’t normally reflect an individual jurisdictions’ basket of goods.

• The structure of sales tax no longer reflects how we consume or do business in this century’s economy. As a result, the tax on an extremely narrow basket of goods has grown to a regressive high of as much as 10 ¼% in some jurisdictions while the acceleration in online shopping has moved the revenues away from dozens and often hundreds of taxpayer jurisdictions to countywide pools or to just one or two in-state warehouses or order desks.

Our attendees were treated to three preconference sessions: “Fundamentals of Municipal Revenues: Taxes”; “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Bonds (but Were Afraid to Ask)”; and the surprisingly fun “The Art of Public Speaking for Finance Officers: Can You Hear Me Now?” Fundamentals of Municipal Revenues: Taxes Michael Coleman, Fiscal Policy Advisor, CSMFO and League of California Cities, Paula Cone, President, Hdl Coren & Cone, and Lloyd de Llamas, Executive Chairman, Hinderliter de Llamas and Associates, presented this session covering the various revenues agencies receive such as property tax and sales tax.

From Paula’s perspective, her takeaways were the diversity of what they were able to cover. “From the property tax point of view: We covered the history of Proposition 13, the tax rolls that contribute to property tax revenues, what is taxed. We discussed how property taxes are apportioned, and how the annual factors are calculated.”

“The session was great”, complimented Carol Molina-Espinoza, Finance Manager – Budget, City of Huntington Beach, “It provided a good base on sources of revenues and historical perspective from Michael Coleman regarding the impact of the State and local agency revenues. Also, it was a great refresher course and great for entry level employees new to local government.”

Tae Rhee, Finance Director, City of Bellflower, commented that learning from the best experts in the field of municipal finance about the history of certain revenues, the technical details of each type, how to project revenues, and what to do and what not to do concerning the implementation and management of certain revenues is simply essential in doing our job right and effectively.

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The Art of Public Speaking for Finance Officers: Can You Hear Me Now?

Many attendees had similar feelings, and no one expected to have as much fun as everyone did. Phil was masterful at creating a safe space for everyone. Here are some of the major takeaways from this session:

Phil Bertolini’s preconference session “The Art of Public Speaking for Finance Officers: Can you hear me now?” was a more in-depth version of the Thursday afternoon general session some of you attended.

• It’s important to embrace whether you are an introvert or an extrovert. Once you do, you’ll find easier ways to reprogram how you present (like “letting go” of your grip on the podium or chair, don’t hind behind furniture, be mindful of your body language and how you use your hands) • Pay attention or ask others to comment on you voice when you speak and how it impacts those listening, especially the volume, diction, pace, clarity and pitch.

• Know your dreaded pause/filler words (um, like, ah, etc.) and try this trick to eliminate it by writing it on a post it note where you can see it while you are talking. You’ll subconsciously know it’s there and therefore not say it as often.

• Appearances matter. Your posture, movements and gestures all talk more than your words • Understand the WHY of my speech will help me speak with passion Remember that you are the subject matter expert and you “must believe” that you are more knowledgeable than your audience. Trust you knowledge and research and you’ll reduce your anxiety. It’s your speech.

• Avoid complex words and consider the presentation length versus the level of detail.

• Practice in front of a mirror with your presentation voice.

Really, it works.

• Channel the adrenaline rush that is masked as fear. Your body pushes adrenaline that we interpret as fear.

• Don’t be afraid to use self-deprecating humor and have fun. Publically acknowledge your speaking weaknesses or challenges to your audience.

• Rotate your eye contact. Try picking supportive faces in different sections of your audience to come back to.

• Lastly, push yourself into opportunities to speak. The more you do it, the better you’ll get.

Phil is the Deputy County Executive/CIO for Oakland County Michigan, who presents sessions on speaking throughout the United States and overseas. This 6-hour session explored the vast nuances of public speaking with an opportunity for all attendees to deliver their 3-minute elevator pitch in front of their peers, and provided solid and simple examples of how to turn fears into opportunities while being a successful speaker and communicator.

Phil stated, “As an instructor, I dissected the intricacies of how to give a solid speech while breaking down the anxiety many feel when they stand in front of people. The fears of being embarrassed and looking foolish were debunked. After many years of speaking in public I provided the attendees specific “tips and tricks” that will help them become a better public speaker. I especially emphasized the need to eliminate filler words that simply fill gaps in thoughts and reminding themselves that they always know more than their audience because the “speaker prepares the speech!”

Mary Carey, Finance Controller, South Orange County Wastewater Authority, stated “the session was excellent.” She and two of her new employees attended the session because she wanted her employees to learn how to present financial information. She said all three of them spoke and Phil gave excellent advice on how to project your voice while you are speaking so people can hear you and understand what you are saying and how to ensure you are engaging your audience. Mary went on to share that “I get very nervous when I speak, so his advice to remember that the audience does not know what you are presenting, even if you think they know more than you do really helped me from getting nervous and boosted my confidence when Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Bonds I was speaking at two of the conference sessions.” (but Were Afraid to Ask) Tracy Cole, Principal Management Analyst, City of Santa Cruz shared how she “was a little apprehensive about taking the class because as a public speaking class, I was sure we were going to have to speak at some point. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Within the first 2 hours of the class, everyone was asked to give an “elevator speech” about themselves (that’s a short intro about yourself, similar to what you would say in an elevator ride with someone). And to make it even more awkward/awesome, Phil then critiqued your speech and gave you pointers to make it better.”

“As someone who does not work with bonds every day, I found the information from the preconference session to be incredibly valuable. The presenters were very knowledgeable, explaining the process in detail from the roles and responsibilities of team members, the types of debt, to continuing disclosures. I especially enjoyed the section about the debt service structure considerations.

It was very interesting to learn about the cause and effects to choosing between fixed and variable rate debt and the term of debt. I’ll definitely be using the resources given on my upcoming CPFO test.” - Nick Gong, Accountant II, City of Santa Cruz

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The session presenters were Debby Cherney, Chief Executive Officer, San Bernardino County Employees’ Retirement Association, Tyler R. Old, Director, PFM Financial Advisors, LLC, and Cyrus Torabi, Shareholder/Bond Counsel, Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth.

WILMINGTON TRUST RENOWNED EXPERIENCE MUNICIPAL BOND

Cyrus Torabi stated the session covered the pros and cons of issuing bonds compared to other financing methods, explained the roles of various team members on a bond financing, described the types of bonds that can be issued and the legal and disclosure documents that are required in a bond deal.

The session also explained the credit rating process and the bond sale process and discussed post-issuance continuing disclosure obligations.

Wendy Nakamura, CPA, Senior Accountant, West Basin Municipal Water District, said “Debt issuance is a complicated process, it is hard for me to understand why so many consultants are involved in each process. I particularly appreciated the slide the presenters included int their presentation and explained each consultant’s role in issuing debt. Now if the Board members at my district ask me why we must pay so many consultants to get the deal done, I have the answer ready to respond. This was the best session I attended during the past conference!”

BRIAN BUCHANAN bbuchanan@ wilmingtontrust.com 714.384.4152

CYNTHIA CERDA ccerda@ wilmingtontrust.com 714.384.4172

DOMINIC DO ddo1 @wilmingtontrust.com 714.384.4159

JEANIE MAR jmar@ wilmingtontrust.com 714.384.4153

JOHN DELERAY jdeleray@ wilmingtontrust.com 714.384.4154

DAVID MCGUIRE dmcguire@ wilmingtontrust.com 714.384.4179

Karin Schnaider, Finance Director, City of Tracy said the key “take away” from this session was how comprehensive it was. “I know I am not alone when I say many agencies may understand the concepts of bonds, but they don’t understand the process to put together a bond offering, from evaluation of what type of bond to having the right team around you.”

AIMEE TABOR atabor2@ wilmingtontrust.com 714.384.4177

Michael Manno, Accountant, City of Santa Cruz also said, “I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend the PreConference session on bonds. It was a great way to learn about the details of a bond transaction in an unintimidating and friendly way. The panel members not only discussed each step of a bond transaction but also discussed the key players involved in each step.

I appreciated the way the panel members explained key concepts in simple, everyday terms, without the use of bond jargon. I highly recommend this session to those who are new to bonds and even to those who need a refresher on bonds and disclosure requirements!”

Experience is your greatest advantage for corporate trust services MUNICIPAL BOND TRUSTEE | ESCROW AGENT M&A ADMINISTRATION | SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE INSTITUTIONAL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT | CUSTODY | DEFAULT TRUSTEE ADMINISTRATION |

Pamela Arends-King is a Past CSMFO President (2014) and is currently the Chief Financial Officer for South Coast Water District in Laguna Beach, CA. Prior to working for South Coast Water District, she was the Business Services Manager and the Chief Financial Officer for Union Sanitary District and the Finance Director/Treasurer for the City of Tustin. She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in public administration with a minor in urban planning from the University of Missouri, St. Louis; completed post graduate work in accounting at California State University, Dominguez Hills; and in 2009, obtained her MBA from the University of California, Irvine.

Pamela also worked as an auditor with Moreland and Associates.

STUDENT LOAN ADMINISTRATION | PAYING AGENT

Wilmington Trust is a registered service mark. Wilmington Trust Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of M&T Bank Corporation. Wilmington Trust Company, operating in Delaware only, Wilmington Trust, N.A., M&T Bank and certain other affiliates, provide various fiduciary and non-fiduciary services, including trustee, custodial, agency, investment management and other services. International corporate and institutional services are offered through Wilmington Trust Corporation’s international affiliates. Loans, credit cards, retail and business deposits, and other business and personal banking services and products are offered by M&T Bank, member FDIC. ©2018 Wilmington Trust Corporation and its affiliates. All rights reserved. 14084 (12/2018)

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INSIDE CSMFO

Taking Us Back in to Our Keynote Speakers’ Finance Galaxy

Written By David Cain

David Cain, Member of the 2020 Annual Conference Host Committee & Senior Advisor Communications Committee. Retired Director of Finance – Adjunct Professor CSUN & CSULB

All three of our keynote speakers provided us with some practical advice that we have been able to take back to our own finance galaxy at work. Ross Shafer talked about Future Proofing Our Organizations, Connie Podesta explored Leadership in a Deeper Way, and Alex Sheen emotionally brought home our need to follow through on our promises made. So here is a brief review of our time together as we revisit our Guardians of the Finance Galaxy.

First, we need to know where we can find the inspiration to keep exploring new worlds in our organizations. We need to be willing to try anything as demonstrated by Ross’s dad who showed that we can fly as long as we have a plan and don’t let fear be the enemy of our success. We will come up with new ideas if we are willing to “crash the wrong meetings”. Take some time and go to someone else’s convention and attend several of their breakout sessions. It will give you a new perspective.

Ross reminded us that we don’t need to WOW our customers (both external and internal); we just need to eliminate the POW moments.

One POW (negative experience) erases five WOW’s (positive customer experience outcome)! We need to focus on respecting the customer’s time and their convenience. We need to help them solve their problems quickly and easily. We need to empower our line staff to perform on-the-spot fixes and have our agencies strive for “friction-free”.

ROSS SHAFER I have to admit that I have been trying to learn how to peel a potato with the grinder I have in my garage, but it keeps exploding. So, I guess for now I will just have to focus on how we can all make our organizations better based on Ross’s captivating presentation.

Sometimes we don’t see that WE are the problem. We should not trust our self-imposed limitations. We need to reverse self-obsessed with “other-focused” by paying extreme attention to others. We need to be professionally curious. This will lead to new ideas and solutions to our financial challenges.

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We must offer ongoing encouragement to our team members.

Don’t take any relationship for granted. Listen, no I said Really Listen to what others have to say. Be interested in them and their stories. Elevate our superstars quickly and promote ongoing encouragement.

Triangles: • • • • •

Attract and retain talented young people. The millennials are not the problem. Don’t mentor them, provide them with quick wins. They are the next generation of finance professional managers and directors.

Learn to tell emotional stories that “move” people to Act. We need to do a better job of this in the finance arena of our organizations.

For more tips, Ross gave us a link so we could download two e-books at rossshafer.com.

CONNIE PODESTA It was exciting to have Connie return to CSMFO, get a refresher on personality shapes, and then build from there to learn how our unique personalities shape how we view and handle money. But, back to the personality shapes . . . . Some helpful tips for each Circle, Square, Triangle and Squiggle: Squares: • • • • •

Let go and have a bit more fun Let people know what you want and what you need Be more open to change Try being more spontaneous Smile!

Circles: • • • •

You are responsible TO people, not FOR people Learn to say “no” without guilt Hold others accountable Remember you can’t always please everyone

RELAX once in awhile Slow down and give people a chance to get onboard Multi-tasking may keep you from finishing your projects Give others a chance to lead Realize that you are not always right

Squiggles: • SLOW DOWN – Otherwise, you may miss necessary details • Listen rather than plan on what you’re saying next • Some situations require seriousness rather than fun • Focus on the topic at hand About 200 of us got to engage with Connie in a more intimate setting in the afternoon breakout session on “Standout Leadership . . . . Leading Like We Mean It!” In a perfect world, all employees would be: high achieving, self-motivated, engaging, team players who see the big picture and always strive to do their best to get the job done without complaining. Does this sound like something from another galaxy?

We learned that in the real world, many employees simply “meet expectations,” lack initiative, bring their personal life to work, stress over every change and whine about having to WORK . . . on the job. Many attendees in the room got to try to demonstrate how they would deal with the “meets expectation” employee. It sounded easy, but we quickly learned that instead we tend to have “parent/ child” conversations about the employee’s poor performance issues. None of the demonstrations ended where we wanted the conversation to go. It took about eight or ten tries from audience members before Connie shared how we can have a true “adult to adult” conversation that focused on the performance issues and not the personality role of the “parent” or the “child” relationship. It was an amazing difference with a true adult conversation dealing with the work-related issues.

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Connie then made herself available to talk one-on-one with many of our attendees at the Thursday evening event. Later that evening, some small group discussions were held in the hotel lounge, where for the small price of a drink, Connie gave some very specific help, guidance and direction to several groups. The final capstone was Connie joining one of the Orange County Chapter breakfast tables where she was able to give some very direct and powerful counseling and specific guidance to several of our Orange County members who were challenged with having to manage several marginal employees. The takeaway for those members will always be remembered. Connie was truly our “therapist” for two days. Connie also gave us a link to more of her information via Guidebooks.

To close off the final general session our President-Elect Steve Heide told us that he was “going to Disneyland in 2020”! Please put January 28-31, 2020 on your calendars as we look forward to “Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Finance” at the Disneyland Hotel and Convention Center.

David Cain – Recently retired Director of Finance from City of Fountain Valley, San Bernardino, Chino and Sierra Madre.

Currently Senior Advisor to the CSMFO Communications Committee and member of the 2019 Palm Springs Annual Conference Host Committee. Active as an adjunct Professor for the MPA programs at CSUN, CSULB and Cal Poly Pomona – (Mentoring, teaching and influencing the next generation).

ALEX SHEEN Can I just say . . . . Emotional! I saw not a dry eye in the room.

Alex really brought home to each of us the importance of people relationships and following through on promises made. Several nuggets from hearing Alex share about how “Because I Said I Would” got started.

• Do what you can with what you have • It’s OK to think you can’t do it • You can pretend to show care, but you can’t pretend to show up. (George Bell) Too often, we say things like “I’ll get to it” and “tomorrow”. One day there is no tomorrow. The promises we make and keep and those we choose to dishonor define us and this world. Have you made a promise at work or to a co-worker that you have yet to keep? This is your opportunity to implement the Promise, the Trade, the Post, the Goodbye, or the Calendar. If you have not already done so, take one of the “Because I Said I Would’ cards and share your promise. In fact, take all ten and write out your promise and share a photo. A single promise can change a life forever. And every promise has a story. What is yours?

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INSIDE CSMFO

Professional Standards Committee topic spotlight

Fraud Hotlines (CSMFO’s Professional Standards Committee proudly kicks off their new “topic spotlight” feature for our members. Their Committee’s goal is to promote the development and use of professional standards in government accounting and reporting, as well as recognize outstanding efforts in these categories. Which this new feature, they will highlight the best practices to support all our members.)

Did you know that 40% of fraud is initially detected by tips, which is by far the most common means of detection? According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner’s (“ACFE”) 2018 Report to the Nations, tips are the most common method for detecting fraud with approximately 53% of tips provided by employees within the organization. With that in mind, a fraud hotline can be an effective facilitator for such reporting by employees.

Based on the ACFE’s findings, corruption is the most prevalent type of fraud in the government sector compared to other types of fraud such as asset misappropriation and financial statement fraud. Corruption schemes such as bribery and bid rigging typically involve collusion. Segregation of duties is a key tenant to internal control; however, approximately 49% percent of fraud schemes involve multiple perpetrators. One likely explanation is that many anti-fraud controls work on the principles of segregation of duties. However, when multiple perpetrators conspire in a fraud scheme, they can circumvent the system of internal control.

The Government Finance Officers Association recommends that every government establish practical mechanisms (such as a fraud hotline) to permit the confidential, anonymous reporting of concerns about fraud or abuse.

For additional information on this topic, read the GFOA Best Practice on Whistleblowing, which can be found at http://www. gfoa.org/whistleblowing. You can also review our May 2016 CSMFO Magazine Article “Stop Thief” by former FBI Agent Ernie Cooper.

If you have questions regarding this topic, contact Jason Al-Imam, Chair of the Professional Standards Committee at standards.chair@csmfo.org.

*** The Professional Standards Committee operates as a technical resource to CSMFO members. The Committee is comprised of municipal and commercial members whose mission is to keep members informed of emerging issues and best practices.

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Helping California Thrive J.P. Morgan Government Banking is proud to support CSMFO and its dedication to financial management excellence.

For more information on how J.P. Morgan can meet your financial needs, please contact: George Hausler, Executive Director, (213) 621-8174 or george.v.hausler@jpmorgan.com

© 2018 JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. “Chase” is a marketing name for certain businesses of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and its subsidiaries (collectively, “JPMC”).

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JOB OPPORTUNITIES Administrative and Fiscal Services Manager, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District Salary: $127000/yearly Application Deadline: 04/24/2019

Accountant, City of Port Hueneme Salary: $37.52/hourly Application Deadline: 03/03/2019

Administrative Services Director, Ben Franklin Transit Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/25/2019

Accountant, City of Santa Paula Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 03/18/2019

Assistant Auditor-Controller, County of Monterey Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 02/26/2019

Accountant, City of Rialto Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/14/2019

Assistant Finance Director, City of Benicia Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/12/2019

Accountant, City of Napa Salary: $91712/yearly Application Deadline: 05/16/2019

Budget Analyst Senior, Douglas County Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 03/18/2019

Accountant - Payroll & AP, City of Rolling Hills Estates Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/07/2019

Business Analyst II, City of Oakland Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/22/2019

ACCOUNTANT (FULL-TIME; NON-EXEMPT AND AT-WILL), City of Laguna Woods Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/16/2019

Buyer, Mesa Water District Salary: $7965/monthly Application Deadline: 05/09/2019

Accountant I/II, City of Chino Hills Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/10/2019 ACCOUNTANT I/II -Recruitment #18-S65-002, City of Ventura Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/08/2019

Chief Financial Officer, Community Development Commission/Housing Authority (CDC/HACoLA) Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 02/28/2019

Accountant III, Metropolitan Transportation Commission Salary: $98674.99/yearly Application Deadline: 05/01/2019

Chief Financial Officer, Housing Authority of San Buenaventura Salary: $8419.04/monthly Application Deadline: 02/25/2019

Accounting Manager, City of El Monte Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/08/2019

City Manager, City of Indian Wells, CA Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/26/2019

Accounting Manager, City of Galt Salary: $84084/yearly Application Deadline: 04/17/2019

Controller - Treasurer, County of Santa Clara Salary: $230493/yearly Application Deadline: 04/07/2019

Accounting Manager, City of South Pasadena Salary: $6612/monthly Application Deadline: 02/27/2019

County Debt Officer, Sacramento County Salary: $143892/yearly Application Deadline: 04/08/2019

Accounting Manager, City of Brentwood Salary: $-9422.01/monthly Application Deadline: 03/06/2019

Customer Billing Supervisor, Coachella Valley Water District Salary: $6761/monthly Application Deadline: 03/20/2019

Accounting Manager, City of Mountain View Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/13/2019

Customer Services and Systems Manager, Alameda County Water District Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/16/2019

Accounting Supervisor, Desert Water Agency Salary: $7629/monthly Application Deadline: 05/16/2019

Deputy Finance Director, City of Clovis Salary: $123900/yearly Application Deadline: 03/20/2019

Accounting Supervisor, San Diego County Water Authority Salary: $8107/monthly Application Deadline: 04/09/2019

Deputy Finance Director, City of Thousand Oaks Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/18/2019

ACCOUNTING TECHNICIAN II (PAYROLL), City of San Carlos Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 03/03/2019

Director of Business Services, Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District, California Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/08/2019

ACCOUNTING TECHNICIAN Recruitment #18-G36-001, City of Ventura Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/15/2019

Director of Finance, Housing Authority of the City of Alameda Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/14/2019 68

Director of Finance, City of Redding Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 02/26/2019 Director of Finance & Administrative Services, City of Hughson Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/07/2019

helping communities fund tomorrow

Director of Finance and Administration, Truckee Tahoe Airport District Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/02/2019 Director of Finance and Budget, Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission Salary: $11044/monthly Application Deadline: 04/15/2019 Finance & Performance Audit Manager, South Bay Regional Public Communications Authority Salary: $11829.01/monthly Application Deadline: 02/24/2019 Finance Analyst I/II, City of Encinitas Salary: $7158/monthly Application Deadline: 05/01/2019 Finance and Technology Director, City of Ventura, CA Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/24/2019

Difference #8 - Knowledge Transfer As industry leaders, we have a unique set of qualifications and experience in the work we perform. In that regard, we have published four booklets on related industry topics:

Finance Director, City of Campbell Salary: $12844/monthly Application Deadline: 04/23/2019 Finance Director, City of Los Alamitos Salary: $11509/monthly Application Deadline: 04/15/2019

• • • •

Finance Director, City of South San Francisco, CA Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/11/2019

Special Financing Districts Rates, Fees and Charges Compendium Community Facilities Districts Stormwater: A Ten-Step Funding Plan

Finance Director, City of Lincoln Salary: $143855/yearly Application Deadline: 04/11/2019 Finance Director, City of Bothell, WA Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/07/2019 Finance Director, City of San Bernardino Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/09/2019 Finance Manager, North Bay Schools Insurance Authority Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/07/2019

These booklets can be downloaded at no charge at www.nbsgov.com/publications

Finance Manager, City of Vista Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/21/2019

nbsgov.com | 800.676.7516 Serving CSMFO members for more than 22 years

Finance Manager, CA-NV Section, American Water Works Association Salary: $85000/yearly Application Deadline: 03/21/2019

Special Tax, Fee & Assessment Districts  Development

Finance Manager, Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (CCCSD) Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 03/12/2019

Impact Fees  Cost Allocation Plans  User and Regulatory Fee Studies Utility Rate Studies: Water, Recycled Water, 

Stormwater, Sewer, Solid Waste  Fiscal Funding and Consulting 

Finance Manager, City of Richmond Salary: $8296/monthly Application Deadline: 03/14/2019

Proposition 218 Compliance  Feasibility and Financial Studies  Bond Disclosure  Cost of Services Studies

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

Finance Manager, City of South Pasadena Salary: $6612/monthly Application Deadline: 02/27/2019

Program Manager (Utility Billing Manager)-Department of Finance, City of San Jose Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/22/2019

Finance Manager, Delta Diablo Salary: $13542.03/yearly Application Deadline: 05/02/2019

Program Manager III - Economic Development, City of Stockton Salary: $7015.91/monthly Application Deadline: 04/28/2019

Finance Manager, City of Poway Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/30/2019

Purchasing Supervisor, City of Costa Mesa Salary: $8815/monthly Application Deadline: 03/20/2019

FINANCE OFFICER, City of Laguna Beach Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 02/25/2019

Revenue Development Supervisor, City of Berkeley Salary: $46.32/hourly Application Deadline: 04/22/2019

Finance Supervisor (Payroll Office), East Bay Regional Park District Salary: $6810.38/monthly Application Deadline: 05/07/2019

Senior Accountant, City of Santa Ana Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/23/2019

Finance/Accounting Manager, City of Camarillo Salary: $7541/monthly Application Deadline: 04/23/2019

Senior Accountant, Vallecitos Water District Salary: $69624/yearly Application Deadline: 03/26/2019

Financial Analyst, City of Big Bear Lake - Department of Water Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/03/2019

Senior Accountant, City of Sausalito Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 03/26/2019

Financial Services Manager, City of Yakima Salary: $7347.6/monthly Application Deadline: 04/16/2019

Senior Accountant, City of Riverside Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 03/20/2019

Financial Services Manager, City of Alameda Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/08/2019

Senior Accountant, City of Pasadena Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 02/25/2019

Financial Services Manager/Treasurer, City of Arcadia Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/09/2019

Senior Accountant/Accountant, City of Thousand Oaks Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/20/2019

Fiscal Services Manager, Full-time, City of Chino Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 02/27/2019

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL LEDGER Recruitment #18-Q04-001, City of Ventura Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/08/2019

Health Services Chief Financial Officer – County of Sonoma, County of Sonoma Salary: $8585/monthly Application Deadline: 05/10/2019

SENIOR BUDGET ANALYST, City of Santa Monica Salary: $117828/yearly Application Deadline: 4/11/2019

Information Systems Administrator II (Business Analyst), East Bay Municipal Utility District Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 04/28/2019

Senior Financial Analyst, City of Placentia Salary: $43.95/hourly Application Deadline: 02/25/2019

Investment and Debt Officer, County of Sonoma Salary: $8223/monthly Application Deadline: 03/17/2019

Senior Investigator Collector -Department of Finance, City of San Jose Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 05/15/2019

MANAGER, TRANSPORTATION PLANNING (STRATEGIC FINANCIAL PLANNING & ANALYSIS), LA METRO Salary: $136219/yearly Application Deadline: 02/24/2019

Senior Management Analyst-Finance, City Of Reno Salary: $85118.08/yearly Application Deadline: 03/21/2019 Utilities Revenue Supervisor, City of Garden Grove Salary: $5528/monthly Application Deadline: 05/05/2019

Payroll Technician III, City of Sunnyvale Salary: $88623.3/yearly Application Deadline: 03/11/2019 Principal Accountant, City of Hemet Salary: See Posting Application Deadline: 03/18/2019 Principal Accountant, City of Pasadena Salary: $-97658.91/yearly Application Deadline: 04/11/2019

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Cover Photo Blooper with Melissa Dixon and Zach Seals

A leader in public finance.

Since 2000, we have represented more than 750 California local agencies. Our singular focus enables us to provide you with the expertise you need to make your project a reality.

475 Sansome Street, Suite 1700 San Francisco, CA 94111 415.391.5780 tel 415. 276.2088 fax info@joneshall.com www.joneshall.com 71

CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

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2019 CSMFO ANNUAL CONFERENCE

SEE THE MAGIC IN 2020

January 28-31, 2020 73

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Memories From The Conference

Thank You, Tim!

r e h p a r g o t o h P CE

N E R E F N O C

For bringing the amazing memories from this year’s conference home and capturing the spirit of CSMFO! - The Guardians of the finance galaxy

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019

Coming soon to CSMFO members everywhere...

Since early 2018, the Communication Committee has been evaluating how to provide more timely content, create more interactive articles, and to produce a sustainable magazine.

The Answer: An online information and news platform.

Why? CSMFO’s goal is to promote excellence for our members through: Innovation & Collaboration Continuing Education Professional Development Yet, the design of our current magazine as primarily a hard-copy edition limits our ability to have interactive content or timely publication of urgent articles and updates.

When?

CSMFO News will go live this spring.

Love The Conference Edition?

Don’t worry!

Each year CSMFO will create the Annual Conference Edition which will be available on issuu.com.

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Memories From The Conference

Memories From The Conference

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CSMFO MAGAZINE CONFERENCE EDITION 2019