Leadership Osceola 2011: June 2011

I can only start this entry by giving a HUGE shoutout to our classmate Veronica Miller at the City of St. Cloud who worked SO hard on making our day possible and then ended up being sick and unable to make it. We had a BLAST and I wish she would have been able to share it with us! With that...off we go!

We kicked off the morning with a fabulous breakfast of sausage, eggs, biscuits...I know, I know...but sometimes...it's worth it. :) I had some fruit to justify my nutritious breakfast! We had to start the agenda with I'm a Little Tea Pot of course! See any repeat offenders?

Up next we heard from some of St. Clouds officials that between them have years of government experience. We met Vice Mayor Mickey Hopper, Coucilman Russell Holmes and the City Manager Tom Hurt who let us in on the keys to their success and how they are able to keep St. Cloud a small town while progressing forward with ideas like recycling, green technology and water treatment.

We headed off to learn more about St. Cloud's government. Now, a HUGE part of today's theme is "Government", but what I don't think a lot of people realize is that encompasses A LOT more than coucilmen and commissioners, senators or representatives, deciding things that make or break your lifestyle. We're talking water, sewer, trash, planning, zoning, building, permits, parks and recreation..it goes on and on. So I'm really excited to talk about these stations that were set up that tought us some behind the scenes to city work.

This photo makes a pretty big statement. I live in St. Cloud so this presentation on water grabbed my attention. The top bucket has been treated with their system and the bottom is straight from the aquafer. He explains here how the magnetic process picks up any dirt or allergens in the water, leaving behind a very clean product. Pretty cool stuff!

Up next we visited the "Digging" station where they explained "Know what's below" campaign which is statewide. Here is Tom Maurer with Turner Construction and a Leadership Osceola Participant, with his take on these:

"Did you ever wonder what those little plastic flags on small wires were used for and who put them there? The flags are placed by utility locate teams. Anyone can call for a free locate service by dialing 811.

The flags show the location of buried pipe & wires. A metal detector is used to find the pipe (yellow thing in picture below). Balls containing metal particles are used to locate plastic pipe. The colors represent different utilities. The balls are place every 100' while the contractor installs the pipe."

There were also stations on pipe cleaning, fixing broken pipes, picking up trash (which involves a very talented employee who picked up a water bottle with the large piece of equipment!) and bucket trucks. Speaking of bucket trucks...

That's our friend Kelly Bender up there! Heyyyyy Kelly! Speaking of which, here are some of her thoughts on the morning...

Kelly Bender, Community Vision - "The City of St. Cloud visit was most memorable. I really enjoyed the great breakfast, learning about the great service and dedication of the council members and the staff toward the city’s residents. And seeing first-hand the Public Services staff’s dedication was quite a bonus. I truly enjoyed learning about the water-testing process, the tap water competition was fierce, and going up on the bucket truck to get a prize was the best! These employees go through a lot – like fighting off love bugs – on a daily basis to serve the community. And the pride shows in each every one’s face."

Here is this pipe they found from 1925 underground when replacing some pipes. Some areas still have these operating today and are perfectly fine! I love how the inside is almost completely untouched.

We also got to watch two teams compete against eachother on fixing a leaky pipe. I had a video but I can't find it at the moment. I believe it became girls against boys, but we all know who won that battle....pshh...girls, clearly!

We hopped on the bus and headed toward the City of Kissimmee's City Hall. Greeted by Carla Banks, the PIO for the City, we broke into groups to visit their TV Channel, Access Osceola (shoutout to Chris & Chris!), Code Enforcement and met with Mr. Loubier on the CRA/Park & Recreation Lakefront Renovation Project.

Meanwhile, we showed up and this beautiful piece of art was on my chair! At least now if Keith makes me do work, I will look good doing it! :) Thanks COK!

Here are some photos from our station visits at COK.

Can you spot all the code violations?

Dan Loubier is the Director of the COK's Parks & Recreation Department and I have known this man since I worked for the City as a Lifeguard. He took me under his wing since my Father had contributed many years to KFD and he is always looking out for me. Even when I started at KMS in April, he immeadiately reached out and scheduled a meeting to help me in anyway he can. :)

Above is the full set to Kissimmee FYI that Chris and Chris built! We got to do a mock script and I totally blew it! Marixa though did a jam up job!

Our amazing lunch provided by Chef John's BBQ Restaurant near Bellalago called Cowboy Barbeque. So worth the drive if you are from the Downtown area! :)

Here is the control room. Hey Carla!

During lunch, we got a lesson on a council-commissioner form of Government from City Manager, Mike Steigerwald. I tried to take a good photo of the chart, but clearly I know nothing about photography. :) Basically, the City Manager is contracted by the Commissioners and he reports to them. Mike does a great job and we are extremely lucky to have him. He started off in the planning department and worked his way up to the 5th floor. His entire department has been so extremely helpful, nice, patient, caring, patient, welcoming, patient...as I start this new venture.

After our tour of the City, we hopped over to the County Courthouse. We entered the Commission Chambers where Mr. Don Fisher started out educating us on what his job as County Manager is, followed by the Interim Auditor and Interim County Attorney. After that, we each were assigned various rolls (commissioners, residents, builders, contractors) in the controversial SunRail project and acted out our parts. It was really fun and I hope that we convinced them to build the rail! :) If you look at the screen, I don't think a lot of them were paying attention...they were doodling!!

After that, we went to the Commissioner's presentation room were greeted by one of my FAVORITE people in the entire world, practically family to me, Commissioner Ken Smith. Mr. Smith and my grandfather have been best friends since I can remember. He's been teasing me about being a Gator since about then too and has been a great mentor to me on my life journey. Turns out, it was his birthday! We all sang Happy Birthday and had cake and ice cream! It was wonderful!

If you have never met him before, the first thing I think you should know about Mr. Smith is that he is a wealth of knowledge. There isn't a whole lot he doesn't know. He has been an educator in this County for years and chances are, he has taught you or at least someone in your family. He definitely taught my whole family except me. Although, I can tell you I have learned SO much from him outside of the classroom!

He took us on a tour of the Historic Courthouse and even though I have taken it before, I learn something new every time! Here are some photos of our tour!