The nice thing about working in the public sector is a lot of us share information with each other. It's not proprietary. So maybe you can find another city or another department that's gone through a similar struggle and then ask them for advice

A couple that come to mind right away are two things that we're going through right now. One is the Central Park expansion and renovation, and that's being led by Michelle Okada, who is our Parks Recreation Director, and the other is our permanent water treatment plant expansion, which is being led by Mary Van Milligan our Public Works Director.

I think the biggest lesson that I've learned is to keep learning. If you stop learning, you stop growing.

I love to make lists and I like to do the old fashioned going of a handwritten list because there's a lot of satisfaction in crossing something off my list.

I think listening and caring, especially in the public sector, we have a lot of stakeholders... So really caring and being passionate about public service.

One thing I did specifically with my team is I schedule something called Stay Interviews... find out what's on their mind, what's working, what's not. What are their concerns. Get to know them personally so that I can, you know, make them feel like they're part of the team and not just another employee, but an actual colleague.

I took this job in the beginning of 2020, just as COVID was hitting. So that was it's not really a project, but it is certainly was a big obstacle. We had never been through anything like that before and I was a brand new leader in this role.

In Woodbury we have a lot of engagement strategies, and one of those that's probably unique from a lot of other communities is we require a neighborhood meeting for some of our development projects. And so it's a chance to get in front of a neighborhood and a little more casual, informal basis where the developers sort of showing here's what we're planning to do, get some early contact with those residents feedback and even time to maybe adjust things.

Leadership comes in all forms, and it starts at the informal level. So you don't have to be appointed as a supervisor or something. You know, the formal title of leader can do things by volunteering, by stepping up, stepping out of your comfort zone, asking to take on an assignment that's maybe a little more challenging, showing that you're interested in things by doing additional research or different types of activities that bring added value to the team.

I think the thing that I really enjoy most about this job is the variety that it offers. I've been with the city for 28 years, four years in this particular position, but 28 years overall. So back in 1996, Woodbury was a totally different community and so just to watch the evolution, watch things progress, new ideas, new business opportunities, even new types of housing, new initiatives that the city has given to us to work on has really been exciting and enjoyable.

I call it listening to understand so many times when somebody comes to you with a problem, find yourself listening and you want to respond... So it's really slowing down and listening, really listening to hear them and to understand them. And even in the end, if you don't agree with them and you come up with a solution that maybe isn't what they wanted, hopefully they feel heard and they feel like you took the time to really understand their perspective and where they were coming from.