HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/17/2017 05A 2017 Council Mentorship/Internship Program Summary ReportITEM TITLE:
SUBMITTED BY:
BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
AGENDASTATEMENT
Item No. 5.A.
For Meeting of: October 17, 2017
Summary report regarding the 2017 Council Mentorship/Internship
Program
Joan Davenport, Community Development Director
Joseph Calhoun, Planning Division Manager
Helen Harvey, Senior Assistant CityAttorney
SUMMARY EXPLANATION:
A report summarizing the conclusion of the 2017 Council Internship/Mentorship Program was
presented to the members of the Neighborhood & Community Building Committee on
September 21, 2017.
ITEM BUDGETED: NA
STRATEGIC PRIORITY: Neighborhood and Community Building
APPROVED FOR
SUBMITTAL:
City Manager
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
BOARD/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
d Merno-2017 CouncH Intership Proyrern
Upload Date
10/5'2017
Type
Cu.er Menlo
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MEMORANDUM
September 15, 2017
TO: Yakima City Council Neighborhood and Community Building Committee
FROM: Joan Davenport, Community Development Director
Joseph Calhoun, Planning Manager
Helen Harvey, Senior Assistant City Attorney
SUBJECT: Summary of 2017 Council Internship Program
Background:
In 2016, the Yakima City Council established an internship and mentorship program for students
in high school in coordination with the Yakima School District. The program is an opportunity for
students to learn about and increase their knowledge of government. We believe this has been
a beneficial program for the students, and for the City. A total of 7 high school students
participated in the program from the Yakima School District. The students were selected by the
Yakima School District. The Yakima School District determined that three students would come
from Davis High School, three students from Eisenhower High School, and one student from
Stanton Academy. Each student was paired with one of the City Council members for the
mentorship portion of the program during the 2016-2017 school year. When the mentorship
component was completed, the students had the opportunity to apply for a paid summer internship
with the City of Yakima. A total of three students applied for the internship and worked during the
summer at the City. Two students worked with the Planning Division, and one student worked
with the Legal Department. The interns' salaries were funded from a donation from the ACLU as
part of the settlement in the redistricting case.
Planning Division Internship:
The Planning Division was pleased to support two Interns in June, July, and August 2017. They
were a pleasure to work with and extremely helpful throughout their time in Planning. During their
time, they completed the following tasks and attended several trainings and meetings.
• Sidewalk Collector Field Project
Nearly every morning, the Interns collected sidewalk condition data to add to the previous
work done by the OneAmerica Interns in the spring. To date, a total of 4,702 data points
have been collected. Of the 819.56 miles of sidewalk in Yakima, 752.92 miles have been
surveyed (91.86%). See attached maps.
• Planning Administration Office Tasks
When not collecting data, the Interns assisted Planning staff by printing/
assembling/mailing notifications for Planning projects, compiling and summarizing written
comments for planning projects, and completing an inventory of our 179 banker boxes full
of historic planning records. Later in the summer one of the Interns also assisted the
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Purchasing Division with Purchasing's initiative of moving toward a paper free file system
for the Division.
Summary of Planning Division Experience:
Prior to the Mentorship/Internship program, the Planning Division had 2 interns from March to
May 2017 who were high school student volunteers with the OneAmerica program. The Planning
Division was impressed with the energy and passion of the OneAmerica students and brought
them into the office to help with the data collection and other tasks related to the Equity Study.
These two students helped organize and begin the project (sidewalk condition inventory) that the
City Council Interns were able to implement. The OneAmerica Interns were paid for from the
Planning Division and were not part of the Council Mentorship/Internship program because they
did not attend the Yakima School District.
The two City Council Mentorship Interns both had a genuine interest in assisting the City with the
equity study project and enjoyed the field work. The summer months were very hot, so field work
was limited to mornings. Afternoons were spent working on other administrative tasks and
projects. The availability of the two students was different, and between them $6,475 was paid
for intern salaries for the Planning Division.
Legal Department Internship:
The Legal Department was pleased to support one Intern during the summer. The assistance of
the Intern was helpful in assisting with some important responsibilities.
The Intern learned and used several computer programs in the Legal Department, including
Justware, JIS, Microsoft Office and Spillman. The Intern also assisted the Prosecution Division.
The Intern entered referrals from the Yakima Police Department into the Justware database and
obtained reports from Spillman, so that the Prosecution charging deputy could make charging
decisions. The Intern closed many cases for the Legal Department and entered the case names
into the case log, and did this project quickly and efficiently. The Intern organized the evidence
repository and assisted in transferring the evidence to the storage annex. The Intern received
training in handling front desk responsibilities. The Legal Department appreciated the assistance
of the Intern with the numerous projects that the Department processes and works on every day.
$2,252 was paid for Intern salaries for the Legal Department.
Meetings and Trainings Attended by the Interns:
The Interns attended some City Council meetings during the school year in the mentorship portion
of the program. During the summer, the Interns in the Planning Division and the Legal Department
attended all of the following trainings and meetings.
• City of Yakima Leadership Training (all day)
• Employee Introduction to Public Service (half day course)
• Mandatory — Anti Harassment Training
• Mandatory — Drug and Alcohol Training
In addition, depending on whether the Interns worked in the Planning Division or the Legal
Department during the summer, the Interns attended some of the following meetings or training.
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• Planning Commission
• Neighborhood and Community Building Committee
• Development Services Team
• Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee
• CityMap — Making the Most of City Web Mapping
• Community Court Diversion Graduation
• Trial Hearings
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