05/08/2006

I like to celebrate exceptional service in these Staff Updates from time to time. The last couple of weeks have been way beyond exceptional for our training team and everyone who pitched in to help.

TAMCAR - The TAMCAR (Tennessee Association of Municipal Clerks and Recorders) held April 26 - 28 at the Nashville Airport Marriott was one of the best ever. Kurt put together an excellent program and was ably supported by Yana and Carolyn with help from Sandy and Linda.

The program featured over half a dozen MTAS consultants and had a couple of innovative features. One was a four-hour presentation by Pat on "Lincoln on Leadership" which included several "actual" recordings of the former President's voice. We also had Ralph presenting a program on "Writing Specifications", Dick with "Unclaimed Property", and Izetta with "Professionalism".

Another unique feature was: "You Asked For It" which was a two hour session featuring a panel of MTAS consultants willing to answer questions about anything. The consultants Kurt cajoled into being on the panel were: Gary, Dennis, Ralph, RickS, and Rex. They referred several questions to the audience: a utility finance question to Bill and a couple of codes questions to Sandy and Linda. Here's a list of the questions that were asked. Check yourself and see how many you can answer. Remember our panel had to answer on stage with about 75 city recorders watching.

Kurt has already sent an email thanking everyone. Let me add that all of us appreciate the team effort in providing TAMCAR with an excellent conference.

IPMA- For some time RickS and the training staff have been anticipating the southern regional meeting of the International Personnel Management Association. This was held in Chattanooga at the Marriott Sunday, April 30 through Wednesday, May 3. It included 120 HR professionals from cities, counties, states, and private industries in the southeast. The states represented included: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. RickS was supported by Carolyn, Izetta, and Sally. Kurt and Jim staffed the MTAS booth. Everyone worked together to make sure the entire program was special for all the attendees. Special thanks goes to Carolyn who only had one day off between TAMCAR and IPMA. And, Jennifer deserves praise for setting up the conference website and handling all the technical particulars that made the conference a success.


And the keep the home fires burning award goes to - Armintha and Tess who kept the Knoxville office operating while almost everyone else was at some conference or the other. Armintha was also a big help to the training team by helping to put conference materials together at the last minute.