Public Works Department Meeting

Last Friday the 15th, I attended a staff meeting for the entire Public Works Department. Public Works includes not only Solid Waste, where I work, but also Fleet Services and Facilities Management. Neil Mann, the director of Public Works, MC'ed the meeting. This was an especially exciting meeting because Acting City Manager Ed Zuercher came to speak to us. He has only been in the position for about a month, and he explained that he is trying to go to as many staff meetings as possible and meet as many City of Phoenix employees as he can. He made a political kind of speech about the direction of the City in general and then took questions from employees. He reassured employees regarding their pensions.

Here in Phoenix we have a council-manager form of government, which means that the City Manager is actually much more powerful than the Mayor, who is basically just a city council member. Former manager David Cavazos left the City of Phoenix for Santa Ana, which is why Ed Zuercher is the Acting Manager. He has a lot of control over how the City is run. So it is great for the employees to get the opportunity to ask him questions about whatever they wish.

I also got introduced, along with other recent hires to the department. There were a couple of presentations, including one about the new Solid Waste Programs I have been working on.

Overall, the whole department is full of friendly, highly-experienced employees. I really like the working atmosphere of the City as I have experienced it so far.