Master Academy Curriculum - 2013

Monday, July 29

7:30 Registration

8:30 Athenian Leadership Dialogue:
Parlor Politics by Catherine Allgor

Community Resilience: The Closest Your Community Can Get to “Disaster Proofing Itself”
New Orleans, Louisiana. San Francisco, California. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Fukushima, Japan. Joplin, Missouri. Why do some communities falter in the wake of an extreme event, while other communities bounce back, regaining or even surpassing their former glory? This session starts by asking participants to imagine an extreme event in their locale (municipality, county). Nature, people, or both may cause the extreme event. Participants will explore what happens after the extreme event – from the immediate aftermath to potential recovery. Participants will also learn how the degree and form of a community’s resilience affects a community’s potential for recovery from an extreme event. Throughout the session, participants will consider the lessons learned from extreme events within and outside the United States, especially in the last two decades.

Instructor: Lucy A. Arendt, Ph.D., is the Associate Dean of the College of Professional Studies and Director of the Austin E. Cofrin School of Business at UW-Green Bay. Her recent research focuses on community resilience and recovery in the wake of disasters. She is the coauthor of Natural Hazard Mitigation Policy: Implementation, Organizational Choice, and Contextual Dynamics and coauthor of Managing for Long-Term Recovery in the Aftermath of Disaster.

 

Tuesday, July 30

7:30 Registration

8:30 Wages, Hours and Overtime
This session will address the similarities and differences between state and federal wage and hour laws, including defining who is an exempt employee and who is a volunteer, overtime calculations, and special rules on breaks, training time, travel time, on-call pay and other issues.

Instructor: Nancy Pirkey is an Attorney with Buelow Vetter Buikema Olson & Vliet, LLC. Pirkey specializes in all aspects of labor and employment issues facing employers today in the public and private sector.

Change is Hard, But Not Changing is Harder
As hard as it is for public organizations to change, not changing may lead to organizational dysfunction, inefficient use of resources, and an effective service provision. In this session, you will confront and discuss issues of organizational change, particularly in municipal settings, and learn how to lead a planned change in your workplace.

Instructor: Karen N. King, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and chair of the Department of Public Administration at the UW-Oshkosh. The courses she teaches include public sector human resources management, organization theory and application, program evaluation, and nonprofit management. She also serves as the Chancellor’s Fellow in the UW-Oshkosh’s Office of Equity and Affirmative Action.

12:45 SVRS Database Report Writing
A unique opportunity to learn hands-on the SVRS Reports taught by the G.A.B. This course will utilize G.A.B. laptops connected to a training server and internet. The curriculum will cover: absentee ballot log, voter listing, voter participation, vote count by voting method, G.A.B. 190 data, data quality reports and SVRS modernization. This class is limited to SVRS providers and self-provider municipal clerks. Class Limit: 36.

Instructors: Colleen Adams is an Election Specialist at the Government Accountability Board. Her core duties include SVRS assistance to clerks, SVRS training, SVRS modernization and Section 203 compliance. Colleen earned her MA in Political Science from UW-Milwaukee.
Brian Bell is the Election Data Manager at the Government Accountability Board. Brian has worked as a poll worker and Special Registration Deputy in the Cities of Whitewater and Middleton. Brian also has been serving in the Army Reserve since 2000. Brian earned his Master in Public Affairs from UW-Madison.

Legal Update on Employment Discrimination and Harassment
The number of discrimination cases filed with state and federal agencies continues to increase from year to year. This program will address the similarities and differences in state and federal discrimination laws, provide an update on recent court decisions, and the development of policies and practices on discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

Instructor: Nancy Pirkey is an Attorney with Buelow Vetter Buikema Olson & Vliet, LLC. Pirkey specializes in all aspects of labor and employment issues facing employers today in the public and private sector.

Smart Savings - How and Where to Save Your Municipality Money
Local governments across Wisconsin are struggling to maintain current levels of services which their citizens have come to expect. Municipalities face declining shared revenues and levy limits, rising costs related to infrastructure maintenance, increased demand for services and volatile energy markets. This presentation will focus on practical cost-saving measures smaller communities can take to improve their bottom line.

Instructors: Andrew Dane, AICP, ENV SP, is a project manager and planner with Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH) in Appleton, WI. SEH is an engineering, architecture, and planning firm with 10 offices across Wisconsin. Mr. Dane specializes in helping communities lower costs by maximizing grant and loan funding, implementing energy efficiency measures, and identifying opportunities for communities to partner together to achieve greater programmatic savings. He has over 15 years’ experience working within municipal government as a public employee and as a consultant.
Scott Beduhn, PE, is a licensed engineer with Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH). He specializes in water systems, helping communities identify cost savings through more efficient operations and technology. Mr. Beduhn has conducted water audits and performed a variety of feasibility studies for clients throughout Wisconsin interested in improving water quality and reducing operational costs.

3:00 Cyber Security
Banks, credit card companies, the Federal Government have all had cyber break-ins. It is a worry for every organization and community. How safe is my confidential information? In this course you will:
• Identify current threats to information assets.
• Understand the key areas to evaluate in looking at an organization’s information security environment.
• Understand the importance of good password policies.
• Identify the methods and tools hackers use to compromise their targeted networks.

Instructor: Jeff Lemmermann, CPA, CITP, CISA, CEH, IT Security Senior Manager, has more than 22 years of business experience. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer/Chief Information Officer for Precision Plus Inc., a manufacturer of precision turned components in Elkhorn. Prior to joining Precision Plus, he was the Wisconsin Practice Manager for Risk Services at Clifton Larson Allen. Jeff’s specialties include assisting businesses with assessing and auditing information systems, the performance of SSAE16/SAS 70 audits, PCI compliance consulting and general information system security.

 

Wednesday, July 31

7:30 Registration

8:30 Beyond Board of Review: Assessments, Claims and Appeals!
Declining property values have caused property owners to investigate the avenues available for appeal beyond Board of Review resulting in increased claims and appeals filed. This course, Beyond Board of Review: Assessments, Claims and Appeals, will take a closer look at the assessment process and Clerk's duties throughout the year including handling assessor errors, rescinded tax, omitted tax, preparing corrected tax bills, claims for excessive assessment, and handling changes in assessment due to Section 70.85 appeals to the Department of Revenue.

Instructor: Cathy Hasslinger serves as Clerk/Treasurer and Business Manager for the Town of Dunn and has 12 years of experience in municipal finance and 18 years of experience in private sector financial management. She earned her Master’s in Business Management from Cardinal Stritch University.

Optimizing Performance and Service Delivery: New Thinking for New Times
This workshop examines the concept of optimizing work that is performed in local government – from the renewed focus on shared services, consolidation and alternative service delivery to the process improvement concept known as “Lean Thinking.” The current state of practice on the subject of “service optimization” will be presented including real world examples and program templates. Through interactive discussion and group exercises, participants will be challenged to consider whether old models really work, what’s truly effective, and whether there are things that government should stop doing, or be doing much differently.

Instructor: Craig Rapp is the President of Craig Rapp, LLC. based in Chicago, IL, where he does organizational development consulting. He just recently left ICMA, where he was the Director of Consulting. Craig is a former city manager.

12:45 Advanced Alcohol Beverage Licensing
Advanced Alcohol Beverage Licensing will be a great opportunity to ask the complicated questions you run into on the job. We will use the League of Municipalities Alcohol Beverage manual as a guide, but we will also review the Department of Revenue Wisconsin Alcohol Beverage and Tobacco Laws for Retailers Manual that Roger Johnson references when answering questions.

Instructor: John Macy is an Attorney at Law for the law firm of Arnez, Molter, Macy & Riffle, S.C. in Waukesha, WI. Macy’s primary practice and specialty field is municipal law.

Building Effective Council-Staff Relationships: Understanding, Establishing and Maintaining the Proper Roles and Responsibilities
Developing and maintaining effective relationships between the chief administrator, elected officials and staff is perhaps the most important and most difficult task that faces local government executives. The variety and ever changing nature of personal, political and organizational dynamics can challenge even the most experienced leader. Managers must have a sound personal foundation, as well as effective organizational and governance systems and practices in place to ensure the best chance for the leadership team to function effectively. This workshop will explore the challenges that face local government leadership teams, the importance of role definition, the use of governance models, and the approaches that managers can employ to address leadership team dysfunction.

Instructor: Craig Rapp is the President of Craig Rapp, LLC. based in Chicago, IL, where he does organizational development consulting. He just recently left ICMA, where he was the Director of Consulting. Craig is a former city manager.

 

Thursday, August 1

7:30 Registration

8:30 Legislative Relations
The law-making process is one that public managers should be involved in from the beginning. This session will analyze the public manager’s role in the legislative process and provide training for effective participation in this process. Be proactive in legislation, not reactive!

Instructor: Mordecai Lee is a UW-Milwaukee professor of Governmental Affairs at its School of Continuing Education. He has also served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly and two terms as a State Senator. Mordecai has written about the importance of external communication in public administration including reflections on his experiences in the legislature.

Techniques for Training Poll Workers
Training poll workers can be a very daunting task, as well as discouraging at times. This hands-on interactive workshop will provide ideas of strategies and techniques to effectively train your poll workers.

Instructor: Maribeth Witzel-Behl is the City Clerk for the City of Madison.

Strengthening Local Democracy through Citizen Engagement
Among all the complexities and challenges in local governments, demands by citizens to be more involved in framing and determining public policy may be one of the most topical issues facing managers today. The City and County of Eau Claire utilized a unique approach to involve citizens in civic problem solving and strengthening democracy within the greater Eau Claire community. This session will provide you with background information and definitions regarding citizen engagement and discuss why local government should be involved in this endeavor. The session will also review the citizen engagement model and process utilized in the Eau Claire community, provide hands on training for use of the model, and share the results and lessons learned during implementation of the citizen engagement model in the Eau Claire community.

Instructor: Thomas McCarty, MPA, ICMA-CM, is the County Administrator for Eau Claire County.