ELGL had the good fortune to meet Christian Williams from the City of Goodyear, Arizona at the CPBB conference in August.  He impressed us further with his knowledge of local government budgeting and he successfully retweeted all 40 tips that ELGL shared during our CPBB presentation.

Seriously - look at this guy - how could we NOT take him in to the ELGL family and ask him to share his ideas and perspectives about local government:  

So today, we debut "Under the Saguaro" by Christian Williams.  He'll write about his perspectives working in Goodyear, and the interesting local government trends and ideas (especially related to budgeting) that he wants to share with the ELGL family.

It has been a rapid and exciting experience joining and becoming a part of the City of Goodyear family culture.  It seems like just yesterday I moved into the busy binder-filled space on the 2^nd floor of City Hall.

Almost immediately I was being immersed in fun new acronyms such as PBB, ERP, GEO, LTM, WMM, and the list goes on.  I quickly had to become knowledgeable on one acronym Priority Based Budgeting (PBB) and one that looks like an acronym and isn't, CITYSTAT, our performance measures program.  While learning about these new topics I had to also learn about how these initiatives, among others, fit into our Performance Management Program and ultimately our organizational culture.  Coming from a planning background, at a local school district, this has been a quick ride up the learning curve. Ten months later, which feels like yesterday, it seems like I have been working with these concepts since forever.

On my first day, February 3^rd, 2014 after my GEO, or Goodyear Employee Orientation, Deputy City Manager, Wynette Reed, asks me if I would like to attend my first city council meeting.  Of course the answer was YES.  Why would I say yes to this after an 8-hour day?

1. It is my first day.
2. This will be what my Monday's look like from now until the day I "hopefully" retire.
3. My boss asked me if I would like to attend.
4. PBB was on the agenda.
5. PBB is the first item on my One Year Objectives "Support the Deputy City Manager in the management and implementation of Priority Based Budgeting".
6. I needed to get familiar with PBB.
7. These guys named Jon and Chris, from the Center for Priority Based Budgeting, had flown in from Denver to present on it.
8. My boss asked me if I wanted to go (hint: I probably should go J) Side Note: I actually did want to learn about PBB because I am kind of nerdy.
9. Jon and Chris were supposed to present this really cool tool called the "Resource Alignment Diagnostic Tool", and the tool was developed in this "Center" for Priority Based Budgeting.
10. It was no longer football season as the Super Bowl was played the night before.

Anyways back to PBB, it was an amazing experience coming in from the outside and seeing the tool operate.   This tool was one of the reasons I learned so quickly what our Council Priorities were, their definitions, and how they relate to our City initiatives and offerings.  I mean, they were clearly defined in the "results maps" and every offering of the City was scored based upon those items, including duties I would be taking on.  I could immediately see how not only myself but everyone's role fit into the City and the City's priorities.

Click here to read the full Under the Saguaro via ELGL!