HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/18/2022 08. Mentorship-Internship Program 5l
BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
AGENDA STATEMENT
Item No. 8.
For Meeting of: October 18, 2022
ITEM TITLE: Mentorship-Internship Program
SUBMITTED BY: Sara Watkins, City Attorney
SUMMARY EXPLANATION:
As part of the settlement of the Montes and Arteaga v. City of Yakima, et al., the City of Yakima
created a Mentorship-I nternship program for selected high school students from the Yakima
School District. The program was approved by Council in 2017 and started thereafter. It is
funded through the settlement of the lawsuit and provides a mentorship opportunity for high
school students with councilmembers, as well as a paid summer internship opportunity. For the
Council's review is the report regarding the 2022 Program and the overall information about the
Program from its inception. The funding for the program set aside as part of the settlement has
been fully expended.
ITEM BUDGETED: Yes
STRATEGIC PRIORITY: Public Trust and Accountability
APPROVED FOR SUBMITTAL BY THE CITY MANAGER
RECOMMENDATION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Upload Date Type
d Summary Memo of 2022 Internship Program 9/30/2022 Co r Memo
2
w�'vati'434
�gn?§
ak
P
d +°
44114W
�¢ d
d¢
0 aae
'
Office of the City Attorney
City of Yakima
MEMORANDUM
September 30, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
Robert Harrison, City Manager
FROM: Sara Watkins, City Attorney
Kimberly Domine, Financial Services Manager
Lt. Chad Janis, Yakima Police Department
Moraima Verstrate, Police Services Supervisor
Tony Doan, Supervising Code Inspector
SUBJECT: Summary of 2022 Internship Program
Background:
In 2016, the Yakima City Council established a mentorship and internship 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.
In 2022, seven high school students started the mentorship piece of the program from the Yakima
School District. The students were selected by the Yakima School District, and the students were
from Davis High School, Eisenhower High School, and Stanton Academy. Each student was
paired with a City Council member for the mentorship part of the program in the 2022 school year.
When the students attended three Council meetings or activities and completed the mentorship
component of the program, the students had the opportunity to apply for a paid summer internship
with the City of Yakima. Of the seven students, five students applied for an internship and worked
at the City during the summer. One student worked with the Codes Division, two students worked
with the Yakima Police Department, one student worked with the Finance Division, and one
student worked with the Legal Department.
Interns generally attended meetings and worked alongside City employees. The interns also
were able to tour City buildings, meet staff from other divisions, and shadow City employees
200 South Third Street,2nd Fl. I Yakima,WA 98901
P:509.575.6030 I F:509.575.6160
3
Honorable Mayor& Members of the City Council
Robert Harrison, City Manager
September 30, 2022
Page 2
during the summer. Below is a brief description of the services the Interns provided to the
individual departments in which they worked during the 2022 program.
Codes Division Internship:
The Community Development Department hosted an intern for the summer internship program.
The intern jumped right in from day 1 and was a joy to have in the office and out in the field. They
did ride-alongs with Animal Control and Code Compliance Officers learning about enforcement of
the municipal code and what processes need to take place. It wasn't very long before they were
learning how to use SmartGov, entering notes and workflow steps and even creating case
requests as needed. The intern was then taught how to utilize the templates we use for notices
and orders. This was a huge help to our Code Compliance Officers. They learned a lot about
Animal Control and what case types and procedures the officers follow. They worked with the
Planning Division as well, learning about the history of the division and some of the type of land
use reviews they process. The intern assisted with business licenses and filing to help out the
Permit Technicians. The intern was also instrumental in some bigger projects that Glenn and I
had going. They did some research and redlined some important IPMC changes for our new
adoption. The intern impressed everyone they worked with and will be missed. We were happy
to host!
Yakima Police Department (Police Services) Internship:
The intern arrived to work on time and always with a cheerful disposition. Their attire was
appropriate for modern office practice. When needing an adjustment to their schedule they
approached me or Supervisor Kelsey Donaldson to make the request. The intern has good
communication skills, and is clear and well understood. The intern was always polite with both
internal and external customers. At the beginning they were shy about using their bilingual skills,
but by the end of the internship they gained confidence and used them to the best of their ability.
The intern sought guidance from teammates or from supervisorial staff when they did not know
how to respond to questions from community members. The intern split their day by working the
first half of the day at the front counter and the second half of his day working on our"Destruction
Project". At the front counter the intern assisted community members in person or on the phone,
learned the application process for Concealed Pistol Licenses and was able to assist walk-in
customers. The intern also would use Spillman to research cases to see if a report could be
released via a records request or a PRA request and, once determined, would provide the
appropriate forms for the submittal of a request. While working on the destruction project, the
intern's ability to follow direction was evident—they quickly jumped into the destruction project
and deciphered cases for retention or destruction. The intern created a list of the cases that were
destroyed by utilizing Excel. The intern's inquisitive nature and positive personality assisted in
establishing rapport with fellow teammates. On a personal note I could see that this internship
helped the intern gain more confidence in their abilities. The intern was exposed to so many of
life's experiences that I am confident they will use this knowledge to make wise decisions in the
future. In this short time the Intern has been such a great asset to our Division and they will be
truly missed.
4
Honorable Mayor& Members of the City Council
Robert Harrison, City Manager
September 30, 2022
Page 3
Yakima Police Department (Domestic Violence Coalition) Internship:
The intern initially expressed an interest in domestic violence and social media. This made them
a good fit for working with the Yakima Police Department, through Lt. Janis, as it is the unit
responsible for a collaborative and robust domestic violence intervention as well as the public
information office.
The intern hit the ground running. As a recent graduate of a local high school and soon-to-be
college student, we asked a lot of our intern. The speed and pace of work in this unit can be
overwhelming at times, and the intern did a great job keeping pace and understanding what we
were asking. The following is a list of some the duties assigned:
- Social media at police department events, such as Coffee With a Cop and National Night Out
- Content development for SunComm 911 call center social media project
- Assisting the Public Information Officer with 2022 Officer Memorial Event
- YPD Domestic Violence Dashboard data entry
- Attending monthly domestic violence coalition meetings
- Ride-alongs with on-duty officers
- Role player at police training
- Assisting property and evidence section
- Assisting Police Services Division with lobby contacts
These are just a few of the many things the intern was able to assist the Yakima Police
Department with during the internship. The intern also became familiar with several data base
programs which helped with assigned duties.
We have been very fortunate to have the intern's assistance this summer and they were an
absolute pleasure to work with. The intern has a wonderful demeanor and will do great things in
the next chapter of their journey.
Finance Division Internship:
The Finance Division was pleased to work with an intern this summer. The intern was instrumental
in helping move the division towards being paperless by scanning and indexing all the purchase
card reconciliations into our financial software. The intern also worked closely with one of the
accountants to develop a new procedure of validating the bank deposit slips against the Utility
Divisions daily deposit reports and documenting the procedure which included scanning
everything into a database. This required compiling daily deposit slips and departments' backup
from the beginning of the year until mid-year when the new process was implemented.
The intern worked closely with another one of our accountants learning the daily fuel upload. She
verified the fuel files that Equipment Rental uploads on CitylCE, corrected vehicle odometer
errors, uploaded the fuel files into Cayenta, and verified the fuel uploads were accurately
completed when we completed the monthly fuel reconciliation. The intern also attended audit and
budget meetings, which emphasized the close relationship that Finance must have with the
5
Honorable Mayor& Members of the City Council
Robert Harrison, City Manager
September 30, 2022
Page 4
departments that we serve. The intern provided administrative support that included mailruns,
document research, data entry as well as many other various tasks.
Legal Department Internship:
The intern was very professional and a pleasure to work with over the summer. The intern was
a quick learner and very efficient in the projects that were given to her. The intern took on every
task given with enthusiasm and confidence. The intern learned and used many programs that
the Legal Department staff uses on a daily basis, and became very proficient in them. They
include: Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, JustWare, JABS, Spillman, and the City's retention log
files. The intern assisted the department with a huge project of closing out cases and destroying
a full year's worth of files in our JustWare system. This enabled us to free up a lot of space. The
intern also organized the evidence repository and assisted in transferring the evidence to the
storage annex. The intern entered new referrals, updated attorney designations, and entered
setting slips into the database system. The intern also worked the Legal Department front
counter, answered phones, and learned many of the administrative tasks that make the office
work. When not doing all of those things, the intern was able to observe how municipal court
cases work, attend the Domestic Violence Coalition meetings and the Gang Reduction and
Intervention Task Force meetings. The intern also reviewed police reports for a project to pull out
necessary information, as well as worked to update the list of stakeholders and their programming
for the Gang Reduction and Intervention Taskforce. The intern's hard work, interest in the law,
positive attitude and ability to grasp concepts quickly made the intern a pleasure to have in the
Department and an asset to our team this summer. We were also excited to see that they were
appointed as a youth representative to the City's Parks & Recreation Commission.
Summary of Program Since Inception
During the four years the City ran the mentorship-internship program' there were 26 participants
in the mentorship program. Of those participants, 19 decided to advance to the paid summer
internship. Interns were placed in a variety of divisions of the City:
Legal Department (2017, 2018, 2019, 2022)
Codes Division (2022)
Planning Division (2017)
Yakima Police Department (2022)
Yakima Police Services (2022)
Fire Department (2019)
Finance Department (2022)
Information Technology Department (2018, 2019)
Refuse Division (2018)
Utility Services Division (2018)
Yakima Air Terminal (2019)
1 The program did not run during 2020 or 2021 due to COVID.
6
Honorable Mayor& Members of the City Council
Robert Harrison, City Manager
September 30, 2022
Page 5
Those interns attended trainings, participated in coalition meetings and stakeholder meetings, did
field work for various divisions, and generally learned how the City operates "behind the scenes"
in the divisions and departments doing the day-to-day work of the City of Yakima. You have been
provided information each year on the activities of the interns and the trainings they have
attended. In 2022, the interns participated in a wide range of activities and were placed in
divisions for which they showed interest. For example, one intern was placed in the finance
division who was attending WSU in the fall and majoring in accounting. She was interested in
municipal accounting with the goal of working in public accounting. Another intern in 2022 was
very interested in becoming an attorney, so she was placed in the legal department and able to
shadow prosecutors in court, meet other attorneys, and see what a day is like for a government
lawyer.
The City was pleased to work with an amazing group of students each of the years of the program.
The 2022 summary provides a good example of how the student interns were assets to the City,
and also exposed to a wide range of activities, events, and programs that gave them an idea of
the work it takes to run a City.
Summary on Use of the Funds:
The Interns' salaries were funded from a donation from the ACLU as part of the settlement in the
redistricting case. $75,000 was to be used for the mentorship — internship program of the City of
Yakima for Yakima School District high school students.
The Finance Department has reported the below information on the wages and benefits of the
Interns during the program. The benefits were for required Social Security, Medicare, workers'
compensation and unemployment insurance.
In 2017, $10,289.38 was expended for wages and benefits of the Interns during the summer of
2017. During 2018, $21,631.21 was expended for wages and benefits of the six Interns during
the summer of 2018. $43,079.41 of the $75,000 remained for the subsequent years of the
mentorship — internship program for high school students.
In 2019, $19,383.13 was expended for wages and benefits of the five Interns during the summer
of 2019 through September 30, 2019. $23,696.28 of the $75,000 remained for the subsequent
year(s) of the mentorship — internship program for high school students. In 2020 and 2021, due
to COVID-19, no money was expended for wages and benefits of the students for the mentorship
— internship program. Therefore, $23,696.28 of the $75,000 remains for the subsequent year(s)
of the mentorship — internship program for high school students.
In 2022, in excess of$23,696.28 was expended for wages and benefits of the five interns during
the summer of 2022. The City expended an additional amount of $1,709.57 of general funds to
make sure that each of the interns had a full 8-week 40 hour/week internship experience. A total
of $25,406.30 was expended in 2022 for wages and benefits for the five interns. There are no
funds remaining for this program from the settlement of the ACLU lawsuit.