(no subject)
I'm on my third week of work. At first, I was overwhelmed and didn't really know what to expect, but now, I've settled into the position. The actual "work" hasn't begun, so I'm anxious to get it started. Tomorrow I'm meeting with the City Manager to discuss creating 5 year fiscal projections and a project management tracking system similar to what I did in Kerrville. Well, I don't know how similar it will be.
The staff is small but great. It's easy for everyone else to remember my name since I am the "new guy" (even though like 5 people have come on staff since I came on board), but it is much harder to remember names the other way around. I only know names of the Directors and the people in Finance staff. My boss is an extremely intelligent woman who I professionaly respected before applying for this job. She worked for many years as the Finance Director for the City of Georgetown and just recently took the helm in Hutto. The City Manager is a Fightin' Texas Aggie class of '94 and was in the band while a student. He got his MPA (same thing that I am working on at Texas State) from Texas Tech. I also look forward to working with him. Hutto is trying to do a lot of the same things that Kerrville was doing while I was there such as upgrading software, increase customer service, and strategically plan for the future. This job will provide me with a lot of knowledge. While I don't have a financial background, at all, to this point, everyone on staff has been very patient with me as I have learned the system and concepts. Pretty much everyone on staff has only been with the City for a year or less, so the City Council is really receptive to new ideas/formats. The problem with the short longevity is that records have not been handled well. The Fiscal Year 2004 budget was supposedly 12 pages long, but nobody has seen a copy of it. I'm trying to establish franchise fee projections, but I've only been able to find about 25% of the City's franchise agreements. Hopefully all of this will change as trained professionals have moved into leadership positions and are taking charge. The City didn't really have a need to perfectly manage documents when the City was only 1,250 people (2000 Census). I think they have just been overwhelmed with the tremendous growth. The City's current population is over 14,000 (although the pop. sign still reads 1,250) making Hutto the second fastest growing City in the State of Texas and in the United States.
Wonder how Hutto became the Hutto Hippos? During the early part of the 20th Century, a carnival came through on the railroad tracks that lead to the creation of the town. While stopped, a hippo escaped from the carnival. A few days later, the hippo was discovered in a nearby creek where people in the carnival caught the creature, but not before it put up a good fight. The local townspeople liked the story and became the Hippos.
Let's see...what else is going on in my life? School is going well. I'll be taking all of my classes in Austin next semester. LESS THAN 7 MONTHS UNTIL THE WEDDING!!!!!! Extra emphasis was put on that for Mallory's sake, courtesy of her step-mother. :) It's going to be awesome though. And THEN, we'll spend a week in Costa Rica for FREE! Yes, it will be a great time. We are going to have to find a place to live though. I'll need to drive to Hutto everyday, and she will need to commute to Seguin. Southeast Austin maybe? We are open to ideas.
Speaking of Mallory, she surprised me last Friday night with a romantic meal of chicken parmegean. It was delicious! She also baked my father a mouth-watering chocolate pie because my mother won't. Sad day, I know. I'm very lucky to have her. Everything is falling into place. I was speaking to Charlotte (the new accounts payable lady who just started that I share an office with) about how blessed my life is. It's going to be good to be able to work with her too. She's very uplifting and spiritual.
This weekend i'm heading up to College Station to see A&M whip Nebraska. I don't really care if we lose to Nebraska as much as I hope we b.t.h.o.tu!
Hope everyone is doing well.
Cheers.
The staff is small but great. It's easy for everyone else to remember my name since I am the "new guy" (even though like 5 people have come on staff since I came on board), but it is much harder to remember names the other way around. I only know names of the Directors and the people in Finance staff. My boss is an extremely intelligent woman who I professionaly respected before applying for this job. She worked for many years as the Finance Director for the City of Georgetown and just recently took the helm in Hutto. The City Manager is a Fightin' Texas Aggie class of '94 and was in the band while a student. He got his MPA (same thing that I am working on at Texas State) from Texas Tech. I also look forward to working with him. Hutto is trying to do a lot of the same things that Kerrville was doing while I was there such as upgrading software, increase customer service, and strategically plan for the future. This job will provide me with a lot of knowledge. While I don't have a financial background, at all, to this point, everyone on staff has been very patient with me as I have learned the system and concepts. Pretty much everyone on staff has only been with the City for a year or less, so the City Council is really receptive to new ideas/formats. The problem with the short longevity is that records have not been handled well. The Fiscal Year 2004 budget was supposedly 12 pages long, but nobody has seen a copy of it. I'm trying to establish franchise fee projections, but I've only been able to find about 25% of the City's franchise agreements. Hopefully all of this will change as trained professionals have moved into leadership positions and are taking charge. The City didn't really have a need to perfectly manage documents when the City was only 1,250 people (2000 Census). I think they have just been overwhelmed with the tremendous growth. The City's current population is over 14,000 (although the pop. sign still reads 1,250) making Hutto the second fastest growing City in the State of Texas and in the United States.
Wonder how Hutto became the Hutto Hippos? During the early part of the 20th Century, a carnival came through on the railroad tracks that lead to the creation of the town. While stopped, a hippo escaped from the carnival. A few days later, the hippo was discovered in a nearby creek where people in the carnival caught the creature, but not before it put up a good fight. The local townspeople liked the story and became the Hippos.
Let's see...what else is going on in my life? School is going well. I'll be taking all of my classes in Austin next semester. LESS THAN 7 MONTHS UNTIL THE WEDDING!!!!!! Extra emphasis was put on that for Mallory's sake, courtesy of her step-mother. :) It's going to be awesome though. And THEN, we'll spend a week in Costa Rica for FREE! Yes, it will be a great time. We are going to have to find a place to live though. I'll need to drive to Hutto everyday, and she will need to commute to Seguin. Southeast Austin maybe? We are open to ideas.
Speaking of Mallory, she surprised me last Friday night with a romantic meal of chicken parmegean. It was delicious! She also baked my father a mouth-watering chocolate pie because my mother won't. Sad day, I know. I'm very lucky to have her. Everything is falling into place. I was speaking to Charlotte (the new accounts payable lady who just started that I share an office with) about how blessed my life is. It's going to be good to be able to work with her too. She's very uplifting and spiritual.
This weekend i'm heading up to College Station to see A&M whip Nebraska. I don't really care if we lose to Nebraska as much as I hope we b.t.h.o.tu!
Hope everyone is doing well.
Cheers.