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WEEKLY BRIEFS City of Arvada internal news March 6, 2023 Vice President Kamala Harris visits the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities On Thursday, March 2, staff at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities received confirmation that Vice President Kamala Harris would be visiting the Arvada Center to speak on environmental issues. On Friday, March 3, there were 3 Secret Service team members and a dozen White House Staff members working with the Facilities team as well as the Arvada Center operations team on logistics and security. By the end of the day there were more than 20 distinguished guests roaming the building. By Monday morning, more than 250 Secret Service agents, a few dozen White House staff members and several local law enforcement teams had taken over the Arvada Center property. A huge shout out to our City Facilities team! They did an incredible job assisting Secret Service and White House staff with all of their requests and making the building look amazing for Vice President Harris and the 550+ guests that came to watch. This was a once and a lifetime opportunity to host such an important guest, and it was an amazing experience! Visit Colorado Public Radio’s website to read more about the event. Everyone Zoom meeting The City team attended an Everyone Zoom meeting on March 9, 2023. In the meeting, the award winners for Employees of Quarter 1 were announced and the team received updates on the Oracle replacement project (now called NASCAR), the MS Office upgrade, the new ArvadaCo.gov website, and more! There is not a recording available from this meeting, but you can review the slide presentation. Email your news to ---PAGE BREAK--- Learn about the Arvada Chamber of Commerce’s BOLD Initiative Arvada currently has a shortage of workers, housing, and daycare. Watch this video to hear the conversation between Mayor Williams and the President of the Arvada Chamber of Commerce, Kami Welch, about the Big Opportunities for Leaders to Deliver (BOLD) Initiative, which can help businesses overcome these issues. You can also visit the Chamber’s website to learn more about this initiative. Happy International Women’s Day! March 8 is International Women’s Day! We want to thank and recognize the dedication of the women that work at the City of Arvada. With their passion, the City is able to dream big and deliver! Email your news to ---PAGE BREAK--- Organizational Service Effectiveness Work System March is Government Procurement Month Did you know that the month of March is recognized across the country, and Canada, as Procurement Month? In recognition of this month, we want to give a shout out to our team and a special THANK YOU to Meganne Brandon. Meganne has gone above and beyond helping out at Central Stores with deliveries, lifting and moving all kinds of items for all of us. If you see her, you should tell her she is a ROCK STAR! Public funds come from taxpayer dollars. Therefore, there are a lot of rules and regulations in order to spend those hard-earned dollars. Locally, those rules and regulations are part of the values and guiding principles of the Purchasing Ordinance as established by City Council. We want you to know that the City Purchasing Team is here to help with all of your procurement questions and formal solicitations! Arvada’s Purchasing team is here to assist and ensure that buying processes are conducted professionally and ethically in order to: 1) promote competition in city bidding processes, 2) procure goods and services necessary for municipal operations at a fair price, and 3) provide for a systematic, efficient and effective procurement process conducted in accordance with existing laws and policies. That’s a large task. This is why procurement professionals dedicate themselves to providing the best value for every taxpayer dollar. They strive to provide first-rate strategic, logistical and operational support to City departments. They are dedicated to continually expanding their knowledge, skills and abilities for the public good. The Purchasing team has a few resources to share with you: ● Schedule a training. Are you new to the City? We have a Purchasing 101 Presentation and Training that is available to City departments in-person. If you are interested in scheduling a training, please reach out to Purchasing Manager Dawn Krank at [EMAIL REDACTED]. ● Need an item? Reach out to Central Stores. Located at 7800 W 62nd Ave., Central Stores stocks safety glasses, vests, gloves, shovels, small tools, cleaning supplies, paper napkins, cups, envelopes, salt for de-icing, batteries, and more. You can contact Storeskeeper Jim McLaughlin at [EMAIL REDACTED] with questions. ● You can warehouse inventory items. Central Stores is a place we can warehouse inventory items that your department may use on a regular basis. Storeskeeper Jim McLaughlin can help with sourcing products and obtaining the best price and value for the City. You can contact him at [EMAIL REDACTED]. ● Contact the Procurement team for help on projects. Have a large or complicated project that you need to put a solicitation out for but don’t know how to get started? Let us know. We have resources to help Email your news to ---PAGE BREAK--- with research for similar products or projects, scopes or statements of work. Contact [EMAIL REDACTED] to get started! Purchasing also has a plan to visit most City facilities and departments before the end of the month - with cookies! We want to meet people, leave our business cards, and provide quick introductions since some of us are new. Keep an eye out for us in the near future! Finally, we’d like to share a quote with you for contemplation: “As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind - every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.” - John Glenn (Please note that there is some discrepancy on whether Glenn or astronaut Alan Shepard actually said this. Either way, one of America’s finest and bravest said this). We hope this quote encourages you to think about not only what the lowest price is for procurement, but also what would be the best value. NASCAR project update In support of the City’s strategic initiative to replace Oracle (the HR/Payroll and Finance system) with a more efficient Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, the NASCAR Project Team selected two vendors who will provide demos starting March 28. About 76 employees will join the demonstrations and offer feedback on the best system for us. If you have not been invited and want to attend, please reach out to Madeline Stephens. Here are some of the next key project milestones: ● System demos from March 28 to April 6 - *We are at this step in the project. ● Vendor selection and contract negotiations ● Begin implementation (approximately mid-2023) We’ll continue to share updates on our progress. In the meantime, if you’re curious about the project, reach out to Madeline Stephens, the Project Manager, at [EMAIL REDACTED]. Yearly Trakstar survey coming soon We will soon be sending out our yearly Trakstar user survey. Everyone is encouraged to complete the survey to help us understand our users' experience. In an effort to persuade everyone to participate, we will be offering breakfast burritos to the work group that has the highest percentage of employees who return the survey. It will take about five minutes to complete. So, help us by taking part, and we’ll help you to a tasty burrito if your work group is the winner with the most responses! Email your news to ---PAGE BREAK--- Need cleats? We have you covered! Think about the job you are to perform and the environmental conditions during that task. We’ve had a long and harsh winter with likely more Near Misses than have been reported, as well as a significant number of slip and falls with injuries. And unfortunately, winter is not over yet! Please consider using ice cleats in those higher risk, icy conditions—Central Stores now has an additional option, the K1 Ice Cleat and is pictured above in the first two photos. The other 2 cleat options currently in Central Stores are pictured above as well. The K1 option may work better for you if you are having to intermittently operate machinery, plows, climb on/off or in/out of vehicles or indoor work areas as you can easily slide the cleat from the bottom to the top of your boot and even leave it on when not in use for easy access for the next time you need it! Every ice cleat fits differently, the profile of cleats varies, and each set of cleats has different optimal conditions for use. Therefore, we encourage you to take the time to consider what cleats may function the safest and best for you in the conditions you work in and use them to reduce your personal risk of a painful fall and/or injury. You can check out the cleats at Central Stores! Talk with your supervisor and/or Storeskeeper Jim McLaughlin at [EMAIL REDACTED] if you’d like to set up a time to try on the cleats. Please reach out to Valerie in Risk and Safety Management with any questions at [EMAIL REDACTED] or [PHONE REDACTED]. Here’s how to view internal job postings All internal job opportunities are posted on our internal job link and on Inside Arvada under the “Employee Resources” tab. Arvada University Update Register in advance on the Arvada University Learning Calendar. Contact Judson Smith ([EMAIL REDACTED]) with questions. Email your news to ---PAGE BREAK--- Session/topic Date Time and/or resource link Type of Training Trakstar for New Users March 16 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Register here In-person Create and Set your Yearly Goals March 17 from 8 to 9 a.m. Register here Virtual Training CloverLeaf - Learn helpful tips! March 20 from 2 to 3 p.m. April 21 from 9 to 10 a.m. Register here Virtual Training 5 Tips to Engage, Develop, and Retain Your Employees March 21 from 12 to 1 p.m. Register here Virtual Training Radical Collaboration March 22 and March 23 (Two days from 8:30 a.m to 5 p.m.) Register here In-person Leadership: How to Engage Your Team Panel - Peer-to-Peer Sharing April 7 from 3 to 4 p.m. Networking after Register here In-person 7 Habits of Highly Effective Leaders April 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 pm Register here In-person DEI: Surfacing and Addressing Bias in the Workplace May 10 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 pm Register here In-person Project Management Training June 28 from 1 to 5:30 pm Register here Virtual Training Quick access to the NEOGOV LEARN Dashboard on Inside Arvada Looking for a faster way to access your NEOGOV LEARN Dashboard? Click on the image to the right on the main page of Inside Arvada. Community and Economic Development SustainAbility moves to new location and accepts new materials SustainAbility, the innovative recycling and composting company, will move to a new service location at the end of this month. The organization, which is currently located at 6240 W. 54th Ave., will move just two blocks North to 6340 W. 56th Ave. There will be a short window of time when the company won’t offer recycling Email your news to ---PAGE BREAK--- services due to the move. March 28 will be the last operating day at the location on W. 54th Ave. and April 3 will be the first operating day at the location on W. 56th Ave. The hours of operation at the new location will remain the same: Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and closed Sunday. In addition to the location change, SustainAbility is making some changes to the list of materials accepted at the new location due to space constraints. Common recycling items (glass, plastic containers, mixed paper, metal cans) will no longer be accepted, but various hard-to-recycle items including mattresses, box springs and plastic film (plastic bags, bubble wrap, plastic mailing envelopes, bread/produce bags, newspaper sleeves, dry cleaning bags) will be added to the list of accepted items. Additionally, SustainAbility will accept over 30 hard-to-recycle materials including electronics, paint, styrofoam, and cardboard. All items that are disposed of at SustainAbility are recycled, reused or composted. For a full list of accepted items and associated fees, visit their website. Questions? Email the team at [EMAIL REDACTED]. Infrastructure Upcoming Full Closure of W. 72nd Avenue Monday, March 20 to Friday, March 24 (during Jeffco Spring Break) there will be a full closure of W. 72nd Avenue from Oak to Simms Streets. The closure will be in place 24/7 and alternate routes are advised. Stay tuned for more detour details on the project website. Vibrant Community & Neighborhoods Work System Stegner Sports Complex entrance improvements The Parks’ Athletic Fields Crew recently completed some improvements to the Stenger Sports Complex entrance at 58th Ave. and Quail St. – just in time for the upcoming 2023 season! The updates included a revised face with the City of Arvada logo on the marquee sign. The Athletic Fields Crew also replaced the old wood fence by installing a "good neighbor" style fence (a fence that looks the same on both sides). Email your news to ---PAGE BREAK--- Ask Arvada success story! Parks team installs new solar lights at Tennyson Knolls Park The Parks team recently finished installing new solar lights at Tennyson Knolls Park in response to a safety concern the City received from the community. The concern stemmed from an incident in the neighborhood where gunshots passed through a child’s bedroom. Fortunately, the child was not hurt, but the family did reach out to the City’s Parks team through Ask Arvada to request more lighting in the area. The Parks team coordinated with Arvada PD Commander Ron Avlia, who had a patrol officer confirm there was a need for more lighting in the park. The Parks team determined the best solution was to install solar lights along Wolf Street to increase visibility for the Police Department at night and to hopefully deter those from wanting to hang out there after dark. We hope this will allow the neighbors to feel safer about their surroundings! Get ready for the Arvada Reservoir season Now is the perfect time to gear up for the Arvada (Blunn) Reservoir season before it opens on April 1! Annual passes are on sale now through CivicRec – click on the red ‘Arvada Reservoir Passes’ tab. Buy one annual pass and get the second one 50% off! Going fishing? Stop by the Arvada Indiana Shops (6701 Indiana St.) this Saturday, March 11, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the City’s pre-season boat inspections event! For all things Arvada Reservoir-related, visit arvada.org/reservoir. Majestic View Nature: New nature bingo scavenger hunt available We’re ready for Spring over at the Nature Center and so the seasonal Nature Bingo Scavenger Hunt is changing to a hunt for eggs! Check out the eggs of all shapes and sizes, from butterfly eggs to knobbed whelk, Canada Goose to Leatherback Turtle. Get in on the fun and stop by the Nature Center to see if you can find the eggs hidden around the park. Bring in your completed bingo sheet and collect a prize. It’s fun for all ages! Download your bingo sheet or stop by the Nature Center to grab a copy. Email your news to