Category: Administration

The notes from Wednesday’s DLM Meeting, at which CVB Director, Brad VanDommelen, presented, follow.

CLICK HERE to view Brad’s presentation.

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Summary of May 24^th Department Leadership Meeting

• Dave Hansen opened the meeting with a plea for support of the American Red Cross Blood Drive and the 20^th Annual Mayor’s Cup Challenge
• City’s operating budget passed two weeks ago which included our raises. Dave indicated the CIP Budget “looks for a balanced solution”, especially with regard to storm water management. He said, “Climate change is real. Storms are more intense. Sea level rise is happening. The engineered systems we have will someday be overcome.”
• Dave gave credit for Tom Nichols work on developing 7 options for the replacement of City Hall Building 1. There will be a number of public meetings over the next few months.
• Acting Chief Dave Hutcheson announced that 90 firefighters representing 40 teams competed in the Fire Fighter Challenge at Mt. Trashmore last week.
• Police representative showed a video clip from the documentary “Fallen” about police officers killed in the line of duty. Virginia Beach will be the third City showing this film. Friday May 26, VA Aquarium theater. 5:30 & 7:30 showings.
• EMS Chief Ed Brazle noted that this is EMS week and hoped everyone has seen television commercials and mailings and other ads.
• Deputy Chief thanked several agencies for their assistance in cleaning up the fuel spill from Oceana’s fuel farm. The collection phase should be complete this week followed by the remediation phase next week. Note – VBCC long time RV Show promotor Susie Dodd was featured in this morning’s Pilot. Property around her island home was severely impacted.
• Donna Mickley – Member Survey Coordinator discussed a number of action items as a result of the member survey, including,
  • Inclusion and Diversity training will be required of new hires and 5 year updates for everyone
  • Consider pay increases for employees in the early part of the budget planning, not the end
  • Deputy City Managers and Directors are conducting sensing sessions annually to see what’s working in their departments and what’s not.
  • Re-evaluate 360 degree evaluations of managers
  • Emphasize we are a learning organization – be innovated, learn from mistakes
  • Investigate internal postings for jobs
  • Further develop citywide mentorship program
  • Be honest & transparent – Explain the “why” behind decisions. Then think about how we deliver the message.
• Brad presented CVB 101 – What his department does
  • Explained what a destination marketing organization (DMO) is, and does
  • Defined travel industry as an export industry, sustainable and renewable (people can’t take the beach with them, so the product doesn’t diminish), and that it needs community support
  • 4 million visitors to VB annually
  • $1.4 billion in visitor related spending
  • $122 million collected in state and local taxes
  • 12,900 jobs
  • Showed the following videos: Advocacy, French Canadian visitor commercial, and other commercials.

CLICK HERE to check out the latest on this year’s REd Cross Blood Drive, which kicks off on June 1!

Rhonda Powell and her supervisor Susan Riley celebrating Rhonda’s recent successful completion of a Writing Essentials course at the Adult Learning Center.

 

Please join us in congratulating Rhonda!

Susan Riley, Jill Sabourin and Karen Ovalle attended the annual 2017 Williamsburg Fraud Conference

Some of the presentations at the conference were:

“Prevention & Detection of Fraud in Small Business” – discussed the Fraud Triangle in detail, the importance of Perception of Detection and the effect of management’s tone at the top of the organization – which are relevant topics for all businesses

“Conflict Management Strategies for Improved Communication” addressed the need to check all sides of the issue before assuming you know the answer and also the importance of listening to hear and not listening to speak (How True is that?)

“Ethical Behavior – It’s a Matter of Choice” – went into detail on how certain things could be legal and permissible but not necessarily ethical

“Fraud, Money Laundering and More” – discussed the need to think like a Fraudster in setting up internal controls

And a fascinating presentation on how words in emails, journal entries and other supporting documents can be analyzed for risk assessment or possible fraud. Usually Auditors and Accounting folks only look at the numbers. Looking at text is something relatively new in this field.

 This is a great local conference for our folks on the front line of the accounting process to attend since we are the ones to recommend and come up with new or revised internal controls.

Strawberry season is almost here!  Some farms are open now; others will open later next week, with the rest opening around May 1^st. 

Check out the Virginia Beach Strawberry Guide.  Copies of the guide will be available at Virginia Beach libraries by Friday.  

For additional information please contact Jill Wright at jwright@vbgov.com or (757) 385-8316.

Check out this great picture with our 2017 “Official for a Day” students.

The event took place April 4th in conjunction with VBPS and the City of Virginia Beach.  

Our students were (left to right):

Jenkey Datuin (Junior, Salem High School)

Heather Tarkenton (Sophmore, Bayside High School)

Tyian Johnson (Junior, Renaissance Academy).

After a breakfast program, the students were treated to a VIP tour of our facilities including staff introductions.  

The future is bright!

Department Leadership Meeting

January 25, 2017

·        City Manager Dave Hansen opened the meeting with his usual passion for the organization

o   Special thanks to the Finance Department and PALS for making a successful transition to bi-weekly payroll

o   Reminder for everyone to keep up the good work on the Striving for Excellence Report and the yearend report to Council. This isn’t only about the money. It’s about being creative and working smarter.

o   Keep a list of your initiatives and keep it current

o   Be engaged with staff, get in the trenches

o   Thanks to everyone who supported the snow storm preparation and recovery efforts

·        Patti Greer (HR Dept.) spoke about the Middle Managers Development Program. Applications for the 2017 program are available now. Not everyone gets into this annual opportunity which requires one day per month for 10 months. To be considered, seek approval from your supervisor and complete the application at www.surveymonkey.com/r/2017MMDP A letter of recommendation from your supervisor or director is also required.

·         Shelby Goldsmith (HR Dept.) presented the City of Virginia Beach Mentoring Program, a pilot of which was recently completed. The program pairs seasoned City employees with more junior members who are interested in advancing in the organization. sgoldsmith@vbgov.com for more information or Ext 5793.

·        Member Survey – City Communications Manager Donna Mickley presented summary findings for the bi-annual employee surveys which were completed last fall. The City’s overall score dropped from 3.9 to 3.8, the first decline since 2004. Brad will share the findings of our Department, which remained unchanged at 3.8, during our Department Staff Meeting 1:30 p.m. February 3 at VBCC.

·        The Police Chief shared to short videos they are using for recruiting new officers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCVQL2kpG3Q

Here are our 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place individual and group winners for last week’s door decorating contest!

Individual

 

Group

 

Great job, everyone!

Every city department has been asked to focus on increasing participation in the weekly newsletter to City Council (City Manager’s Update). Examples of the news the content team in City Hall is looking for and deadline info follows:

Submissions:         Send all submissions to Stories@vbgov.com

Deadlines:           The deadline for submitting content is 5 pm each Wednesday

 Content:              As has been the case in the past, items submitted for the CMU may be edited and while not all submissions may end up in the Update, please send materials City Council will find informative and useful. They use the front cover for a feature story or two since that’s prime real estate. We encourage you to pitch good stories that should be on the front.

Bi-weekly, the front cover is a fun facts piece about Virginia Beach called “Who Knew?” Any fun facts for that is always welcome.

The remainder of the Update is separated into categories and you can direct submissions to one of these sections:

• Awards and Recognition
• City Improvements/Closures
• New and Noteworthy
• Upcoming Events
• Attachments

Please contact Teresa Diaz with any questions.