Conviction

Plan, organize, direct, and control - the four basic pillars of management.  Both art and science.

Next comes staff motivation and training, followed by personal time-management and self-management skills.

Master all that, and you'll be on your way.

And while on that journey, keep in mind the 80/20 rule - that 20% of the work (the first and final 10%) takes 80% of the effort.  So start and end a project, task or assignment with conviction - and the desired outcomes will surely result.

Remarkable

Another great employee ended her stellar career with the city the other day.

Jan Detrick, Community Development Specialist, was honored at a retirement celebration in the City Hall Annex.

Friends and peers from near and far attended to wish Jan farewell and to recognize her for outstanding contributions to Bristol and the region.

She ably supported local housing programs and made life better for hundreds of residents in Northeast Tennessee.

Thanks Jan for all you did - it was remarkable.

Life-long

Spent several days in training last week with other city managers across the state.

The takeaways were many as learning is a life-long process.

No grades were given - but I suspect all would pass.

Pinball Wizard

The monthly breakfast meeting with a select number of city employees took place this morning.

In addition to talking about the proposed budget, ongoing economic development projects, and upcoming city capital projects - we talked about music.

Specifically - favorite musicians.  No reason was asked why; just who.

And no, the English rock band of the 1960's and 1970's -The Who - were not named by a single person.

So who was?  The Eagles, Chet Atkins, The Eagles (again), Willie Nelson, Alicia Keys, Hank Williams Sr, Kiss, Jason Aldean, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and George Jones.

Why did we talk about musicians?  Because we could....it just started the day off right.

Pinball anybody?

Preparation

Seneca, Roman philosopher
(ca. 4 BC - AD 65)

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity - Seneca

Are you preparing to be lucky?

Election

Springtime in Bristol has arrived.  The trees are blooming, the grass is greening, and the birds are chirping earlier and earlier each morning.

Election signs are popping out in large numbers this Spring too.  Every May in odd-numbered years a city election is held to select our governing board.  This year the three district seats are being contested.  And the prize - a four-year term on City Council.

Serving the community as a member of City Council is the highest level of community service for which we thank all of the candidates in advance.

And by the way, I passed 26 election signs on my way into the office today - of all sizes and colors.  And all were all properly placed off the public right-of-way - now that is also a beautiful sight.

Career

Are you interested in a career in law enforcement?  How about with the best municipal police department in Tennessee?

If so - now is your opportunity.

The city is accepting applications for police officer through 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 19.

Applications may be obtained in the Department of Human Resources, 801 Anderson Street, Room 204, during normal office hours or may be downloaded at bristoltn.org/ApplyingforaJob.cfm

The time remaining to apply is short - so act now if interested.  We'd love to have you join us.

Tunnel

Have you ever looked down at your feet and wondered what was below?  I mean really below?

Well, if you were to tunnel through the center of the earth from Bristol you would end up with a wet welcome  on the other side - the Indian Ocean, southwest of Perth Australia.

Not so surprising as the Indian is the third largest ocean covering approximately 20% of the Earth's surface - so you had a 1 in 5 chance of ending there.  
Now the million dollar question:  would you end up feet first or head first?  Ponder that one for awhile.

Customer service

The city recently commissioned a survey to ascertain public opinion on services and community characteristics in order to identify strengths and weaknesses which ultimately will lead to improved services, a better quality of life, and more civic engagement.

Included in the satisfaction levels measured were interactions with city employees.  This is important as the front line staff - those who provide information, assist with bill paying, collect trash, fight fires and crime, and even give traffic tickets - are the collective face of the city. 

When asked to indicate overall how satisfied they were with the employee in the most recent contact, city employees were rated highly: 71% of respondents rated their overall impression as "excellent" or "good."

In addition to the overall impression rating, employees scored 75% "excellent" or "good" for knowledge, 71% "excellent" or "good" for responsiveness, and 75% "excellent" or "good" for courtesy.

While overall staff scored well, each of the ratings were below comparison benchmarks.  So we have much yet to do and will focus more on customer service in the future.

Being a public employee is an honor and with it comes great responsibility in serving those who depend on us - our residents and visitors.  And the better we can serve them with knowledge, courteousness, and responsiveness - the better off they will be.

City Management 101

When grilling the perfect steak, the key is to flip it only once - let it cook on one side and finish on the other.

Same holds true for public policy making and implementation - figure it out once, and stick with it.

The consistency of this practice will be appreciated in the community as much - if not more - than a good Kansas City Strip.

1 Gigabit Community

Bristol is a 1 gigabit community, thanks to our own municipal electric utility - BTES.

So what's the big deal about one gig service?   A lot.

With 1 gigabit-per-second Internet speed, you can download about two hours of video or 200 songs in just seconds.  One gig service is 200 times faster than the average broadband performance today, and is 10 times faster than the FCC’s National Broadband Plan calling for 100 Mpbs speeds for 100 million households nationwide by 2020.

BTES offers this ultra-high speed fiber optic connection to all 33,000 homes and business in its service area.

Major businesses benefit from the power of this technology - and so can you.  For more information please click on the following link:    http://www.btes.net/

Temperate

After what seems to be forever, warmer weather showed up this weekend and is staying for awhile.

Goods news for all who have been awaiting anxiously for bright sunny skies and temperate conditions.

And with the warmer weather comes the mowing and trimming of grass in parks and along roadways, keeping city crews busy with this springtime rite.

But it's better than snow and ice removal - by quite a mile.

Rigor

Back on March 7 I blogged about the new partnership of the city, industrial development board, and school system to share the cost of AP exams for Tennessee High School students.

With AP exams right around the corner, Director of Schools Gary Lilly reports the results of the first year of this initiative - which is exciting.

Last year 27 students took a total of 38 exams.  This year 153 students will sit for a total of 232 exams.  A significant increase by every measure.

The initiative seems to be achieving its end - to increase academic rigor and the push to build a culture of high academic achievement in our schools.

Now what could be better than that?

Splat

First Place poster by Jadyn Chapdelaine

Each year the Police Department and school system promote traffic safety by conducting a Traffic Safety Ambassador Program.

Included in those efforts is a poster contest by students of Vance Middle School.

The winning posters this year were drawn by Jadyn Chapdelaine (first), Emily Horne (second), and Tristen Bourassa (third).

Congratulations to all.

Toponymy

The scientific field of toponymy reveals 27 populated places named Bristol in the U.S.

These 27 cities, towns, or villages are located in 25 states (Louisiana and Ohio are reported to have a set each).

While Bristol is our favorite place name, do you know the most prolific of them all?

Riverside comes in first in 46 states, followed by Centerville (45), Fairview (43), Franklin (42), Midway (40), and Fairfield, Pleasant Valley, and Troy (39).