2007-2008 Career Management Task Force
Current Minutes

March 13, 2008

TCMA Career Management Task Force
March 13, 2008
Conference Call

Members of the task force present were: Chair: Michael Ross, City Manager, West University Place; Vice Chair: Bill Keffler, City Manager, Richardson; Jim Jeffers, City Manager, Nacogdoches; James Thurmond, Retired, Missouri City; Bob Miller, Principal, Consultant in Public Administration, Cibolo; Charmelle Garrett, Deputy City Manager, Victoria; Gabriel Gonzalez, Assistant City Manager, Harlingen; Denny Arnold, Retired, Victoria; Clay Phillips, Deputy City Manager, Coppell

TML Staff: Kim Pendergraft

Michael Ross called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m., welcoming and thanking committee members in attendance for their support.

1. Internship Applicants: Bob Miller made a motion that all applications be approved and submitted to the TCMA Board for approval. Charmelle Garrett seconded the motion and the task force approved. Members of the task force were concerned that the applicants not be left in limbo during the approval process. Michael asked Kim Pendergraft to inform the applicants that their applications passed the first phase of approval and that final approval will be made by the TCMA Board on June 26.

2. Application: Clay Phillips suggested that the application be available in a PDF to allow applicants to avoid hand written applications. Currently it is available in a hard copy Word document and a downloadable PDF online. The application will be edited for future use to reflect that only typed applications should be submitted. Kim Pendergraft will research to see what other options are available.

James Thurmond and Bob Miller proposed that the application timeline be modified to provide summer internships. It was also suggested that the internship program be moved under the TCMA Membership Committee and coincide with the Ridley and CPM scholarship programs. This would enable the committee to make application recommendations to the TCMA Board by the March board meeting. In addition, it was agreed that the call for city participation be made in advance. This will allow applicants to have a list of Texas cities interested in participating in the program. A recommendation will be made to the Board to modify the deadline for applications and move the program under the Membership Committee.

James Thurmond discussed ways to streamline the application process as well as establish an effective means of marketing the program. James stated that, at this time, TCMA is doing all it can to market the program. He suggested that having a personal contact at universities would help get the word out. Another suggestion is to delegate more authority to the TCMA committee responsible for reviewing the applications. If the Board delegates the responsibility of final approval to the committee overseeing the program, the applications process would go more quickly. He also suggested that TCMA could provide the funding and the criteria, but allow cities to be responsible for the entire processing, cutting out the TCMA overseeing committee as the middle man. The cities would sign off on an agreement that they meet the criteria to hire an intern through the program. James suggested this might generate more applications while acquiring high quality internships in city management and improving the quality of the profession in the future. The task force recommended that streamlining the process should be brought to the Boards’ attention.

Clay Phillips asked if there was a way to find out which Texas colleges and universities offer internship programs; this would help provide an internship pool. Kim Pendergraft suggested that this be a project for the next committee responsible for the program.

Michael Ross asked for discussion regarding students participating in current internships and whether they should be considered as viable applicants to help extend their internship. The task force agreed that they would be considered only after those without an internship are considered and only if funds were available.

3. Review of Intern/TCMA Agreement Form: The task force agreed this should be reviewed by the committee chosen to oversee the program.

The meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m.