A day in the life of an intern...

The Town of Gilbert

The Town of Gilbert was founded in 1891 and incorporated in 1920. As of 2008, the Town's population was estimated around 206,000, with population levels expected to exceed 280,000 by year 2020. The Town is one of the top-five employers for the community, with approximately 1,270 staff members. Local governments are in the business of providing services to residents and businesses that include public safety (police & fire services), utility services, trash and recycling collection, licensing and permitting services, recreation activities, library services, and other neighborhood programs, to name a few.

Throughout my internship, I will be placed in the Town Manager's Office, which is tasked with overseeing the daily operations and administrative functions of the Town. Gilbert has one Town Manager, one Deputy Town Manager, and three Assistant to the Town Manager positions (ATM's). My immediate supervisor will be one of the ATM's and most of my work will pertain to the Manager's Office or ancillary departments. Currently, Gilbert is allowing me to choose most of my projects, and therefore, I will have the opportunity to develop a well-rounded resume by diversifying my experience with various departments. During my time at Gilbert, I hope to gain more experience with local government finance, particularly budgetary functions, as well as a general understanding of the functions of three major departments: Public Works, HR, and Economic Development.

Current Projects

One of my current projects is to assist with Gilbert's Performance Management initiative. This initiative is being spearheaded by the Budget Department, but requires involvement and participation from all departments. One aspect of performance management is to create performance measures for each department in an effort to assess whether each department is meeting their stated goals and objectives, as well as measure outputs and efficiency. Benchmarking is one tool used in performance measurement and it allows Gilbert to compare itself to other communities that are similar in size and scope. Currently, I am conducting research on benchmarks established for the Communications Department to ascertain how Gilbert's Communications efforts compare to other communities. Specific measures include social media use, press releases, public involvement, newsletters, mobile applications, and manager/mayor communication. The results of my work will be sent to the Budget Department to assess Gilbert's communications efforts, specifically what the department is doing well, what needs to be improved, and options to explore.

Although there is no 'typical day' at this internship, it is likely that I will be attending anywhere from 1 to 4 meetings each day. The topic of each meeting varies, but every week I attend Executive Team meetings, as well as monthly ATM meetings, and Long Range Infrastructure Planning Meetings. Additionally, there are also Council Study Sessions and bi-weekly Town Council Meetings; however, for the most part, I spend my days working on my current project list. Recently, Gilbert switched to a four-10's schedule, where staff works Monday-Thursday, from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm. Although the days can be long, I have found that I am able to be more productive with the extended hours. Since people are working more hours in a day, commuting delays, lunch breaks, and other time commitments have less of an impact on the work day. Lunch hours start at 11:00 am and typically go until 1:30 pm. For a normal 8 to 5 schedule, the lunch hours reduce the work day to  5.5-6 hours; however, when you work extended hours, you are still left with 8 full work hours even after the lunch break.

 

Travel to Boston - ICMA 99th Annual Conference

Next weekend I will be traveling with my supervisor and a few other Gilbert staff members to Boston for the annual ICMA conference. The International City Managers Association is the professional and educational association for local government administrators. They are an international organization that is well respected in the community of local government management. Last year, the conference was held in Phoenix and I was able to attend sessions in between classes. The conference drew thousands of local government professionals and vendors, and was a highly valuable experience. I have not visited Boston in several years, so I am looking forward to rediscovering the city, as well as all of the networking and learning opportunities that will be provided through the conference.