A Valentine’s Love Letter to City Staff
It’s Valentine’s Day and I would like to take a moment to express my gratitude to City Staff.
So much attention is given to our elected officials. They have the opportunity to campaign and interact with our community members in a very meaningful way. But, no matter how well liked an elected official is, or how hard they try, they cannot accomplish any of their goals without the support and assistance of highly skilled and professional city staff members.
In fact, it is very important for our elected officials to understand the difference between setting public policy and actually managing the city. If you really think about it, we rarely ask our elected officials about their experiences in city management, or whether they have an educational background to be a city administrator. Governing body members should stick to policy making and avoid personal involvement in the day to day operations of the city.
They should also do their best to be respectful of the hard work and professional contributions of our staff members. When they aren’t, the effect is demoralizing and risks the city losing good workers (losses that ultimately cost the taxpayers in the long run). If the City of Shawnee were a business, the City Council would be the Board of Directors, the Mayor would be the President of the Board, and the City Manager would be the CEO.
CEO… it’s a big title for a big job. The City Manager acts as the administrative official for the city. Our City Manager is Nolan Sunderman. Nolan holds a BSN in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Public Administration. He is also a graduate of the Certified Public Manager program. He is active in numerous professional organizations and has served as an ambassador for Shawnee not only in the state of Kansas, but also across the United States. Throughout his time as City Manager, Nolan has focused on staff professional development and department accreditations. Under his leadership, the following departments have achieved accreditation (sometimes as few as 5% of cities have these accreditations): Police, Fire, Public Works, and Parks. Nolan has also pushed our city to achieve a AAA Bond rating, allowing the city to access capital and finance projects at much lower rates than other cities. Finally, Nolan has focused on building a positive culture amongst city staff and is the first City Manager to start organization-wide cultural assessments. The results of these efforts are an incredibly professional and dedicated staff. And, if COVID taught us anything, it is that we need to be nimble. That includes having a highly-qualified professional staff that can make important decisions under pressure, and a council that supports their work.
There are a few more staff members that I would like to highlight for their commitment and extraordinary work for the city.*
Matt Epperson is our Emergency Services Chief. He also served as our COVID specialist on top of all his other duties. We would not have made it through COVID without him. He has a Masters in Public Administration and was instrumental in helping the SFD achieve accreditation through the Center for Public Safety Excellence. Matt and his wife have one daughter.
Ellen Day: Did you know that our Shawnee Police Department has its own motto? “Serving our Community with Purpose and Care” is a purposeful statement about how our SPD views their role in the community. Ellen definitely lives the motto. She is a Police Detective who served as the SPD COVID specialist. As you can imagine, COVID hit our police and other first responders in ways that it did not affect the rest of the city staff. Ellen worked tirelessly to help our PD weather the COVID storm on top of her regular duties. Ellen and her husband have one son and one daughter. The Police Department is accredited through CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies)
Kevin Manning is our Deputy Public Works Director and has served as our city’s traffic Engineer. He is a Professional Engineer by training, but is also known for bringing the City back to the Kansas City Corporate Challenge. He also lead’s the City’s employee “Disruption by Design” innovation committee. This committee encourages and recognizes employees who think outside the box to deliver excellent services to our residents. Our Public Works department is accredited through the American Public Works Association.
Neil Holman is our director of the Parks and Recreation department. He has over 30 YEARS of experience in the City of Shawnee and is retiring in March of 2022. His vision for the City’s parks and recreation program is SO cool! His ability to create fun, safe, and inclusive parks is amazing. He has left his mark on Shawnee through all the parks he has developed and redeveloped. He has built an awarding-winning team that offers parks, maintenance, recreation, aquatics, and Shawnee Town 1929. He and his team are currently candidates for CAPRA Accreditation (Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies).
Here are some of the highlights from Neil’s career:
—Developed the department’s 1st Parks and Recreation Master Plan
—Served as the 2nd Parks & Recreation Director in the city’s history
—Grew 90 acres of parkland to more than 1000 acres of parkland
—Served as the City’s Sexton for over 17 years
—Helped Shawnee be recognized for 24 years as a designated Tree City USA
—Instrumental in the adoption and subsequent renewals of the Parks & Pipes sales tax.
—Oversaw the development of two state of the art aquatic centers
—Expanded and/or developed 15 parks
—Helped Shawnee be recognized for 13 years as a designated Bicycle Friendly Community
—Directed 10,218 riders in the Tour de Shawnee
—Awarded 1000+ Shawnee Great Grillers BBQ ribbons and trophies
—Served 23 years on the Old Shawnee Days Board
62,400 hours, 7,800 days, 1,560 weeks, 360 months, 30 years of dedicated service to the residents of Shawnee!!
Neil, I have so enjoyed working with you, and I wish you well in retirement!!
Liz Barnard is our Human Resources Director and one of the best HR leaders in the business. She holds a Master’s of Public Administration and is certified by the Society for Human Resources Management. She has worked with employees and management over her 20+ year career to create the outstanding culture that our employees have come to love. Liz is a former Chiefs Cheerleader, still active in cheer camp for young girls.
Lauren Grashoff is a Certified Public Manager and serves as the City’s Neighborhood Planner. She specializes in administration of the Community Development Block Grant Program (a program through which federal dollars are allocated to city’s for specific purposes. Lauren has a lead role in downtown redevelopment including as the developer of the city’s latest social offering, Moonlight Market (definitely check it out this year if you couldn’t make last year’s festivities). Lauren is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Mel Bunting serves at the Information Technology Director for the city.
Mel is an expert in cyber security and is known as a forward-thinking leader. Decisions he and his team made 5-6 years ago about how to redesign the City’s networks and systems have allowed the city to immediately respond to COIVD (virtually) when we were under lockdown. Because of the innovation and advancements he’s overseen, we were able to 10 steps ahead of other organizations in our response to COVID.
Safety is a big component of his (and his team’s) work. Cyber security is a big focus and we’re lucky to have an I.T. Director who goes above and beyond with his team to keep the city safe.
Finally, I would like to highlight the work of Deputy City Manager, Stephen Powell. Stephen joined the staff as a Right-of-Way Technician for the Public Works department. He holds a Masters Degree is Public Affairs and is a Certified Municipal Clerk with the distinction of achieving Master Municipal Clerk designation. Stephen is also a graduate of the Certified Public Manager Program. Stephen’s son serves in the U.S. Marines.
Stephen is a consummate professional and a true service leader. He is organized, innovative and his knowledge of the city’s ordinances, policy statements, governing structure, and history is unmatched. He is always polite and respectful with others. In conversation, Stephen listens first because he wants to understand.
Thank you for your service to the city, Stephen. I have so enjoyed working with you and getting to know you.
I am so grateful for the many wonderful contributions of our staff members. I am even more grateful for the chance to get to know them. All I can say is our city is incredibly fortunate. Without their commitment and dedication, we would flounder. Instead, we are one of the best run cities in the entire state as evidenced by our accredited departments, long serving staff members, and our 2021 fund balance of nearly 50% (our emergency fund is healthy!).
Happy Valentine’s Day to you all!
*Please note, this is not meant to be an exhaustive list, as we have so many wonderful staff members.
**Special thanks to Stephen Powell for helping to gather information for this blog post.
nolite te bastardes carborundorum