Transition

It is transition time again for this intern. I have been with the City of Peoria since early June. I have spent nearly all of the time since then housed in the budget office. This has been really good for me. Learning the budget was one of my top choices of how to spend my time as an intern. One great thing about the budget is its reach into all departments. After all, like any organization a city runs on money…

Being in the budget office has also allowed me to take on projects with different departments. Human resources, economic development, and coming soon… police department. Fundamentally this won’t change what I am working on but I am excited that I might be getting a public safety related project in the near future.

Council Meeting

Since starting with the City of Peoria I've tried to attend as many of the city council meetings as possible. Because I'm not required at these meetings some people think I'm crazy for attending as regularly as I do. I might not go so far as to say that I enjoy the meetings... but I do learn new things from them. I also like to get a better idea of the council's mindset, and see how they act.

Anyway, last night was council meeting. It was so frustrating. Maybe it was just my own mood or personal stress, but for whatever reason last nights meeting was the worst for me. The council ratified the city manager's choice for a new police chief, which was good. The vote was filled with political posturing though, and that made it so tiresome.

The next big issue(s) on the agenda was/were dealing with the new medical marijuana legislation. Now that the voters have approved medical marijuana on a state level cities are having to adjust. The conversation was so tedious last night it was driving me nuts! It really felt like everyone was talking in circles and the conversation would never end. Eventually it came to an end. All things must pass I suppose. I must say that last night I would have to agree with those people who call me crazy for attending meetings as I do... here's hoping the next meeting is better.

ACMA

Last week was the Arizona City/County Management Association (ACMA) winter conference, held every year in Sedona, AZ. Details can be found here. The experience is a nice complement to the intern experience. Meeting people and networking with managers from around the state is a big part of the experience. This year I felt I was particularly successful in that regard. I opted to go for quality of networking instead of quantity. Especially now there are so few managers that can hire if you find one you've got to work that connection even if it means meting less other people.

Anyway, prior to the conference I had accepted an invitation to a dinner (sponsored by SRP, thank you Patricia) at a restaurant down the hill from the hotel. This turned out to be a good decision both for food and for networking. The conference is also a chance to learn from some of the best managers around and see what they have found to be working in their organizations. I was fortunate to be involved in putting together a presentation that was used during the Thursday 3:15 session on "Achieving a prosperous tomorrow despite the challenges of today". ACMA really is a good opportunity for those interested in municipal management in Arizona; I really recommend it to those who can make the trip.

Introduction

I guess the best place to start is at the beginning. My name is Aaron Adams and I came to Arizona State University to start my masters in public administration in the Fall of 2009. Currently, I am an intern with the City of Peoria, Arizona. My internship started in June 2010 and will run until I graduate in May 2011, or until I accept a (full-time) job offer. While my internship started in the city manager's office I spend most of my time in the city's budget office and work on projects for several other city departments.

Before coming to Arizona I worked for the Texas Workforce Commission, a state agency, as a labor economist. I was in that job for about two years, and was living in the Austin area during that time. Before that I earned a bachelor of science in economics from Michigan State University. I was drawn to ASU for the Marvin Andrews Fellowship Program and my goal is become a city (or county) manager, and that is me in a nutshell.