Meet the Local Government Management Fellow!

This post appeared on the ICMA Blog.

Parrish started her Local Government Management Fellowship (LGMF) with the City of Aurora, Colorado the year before last and was part of the 2015-2016 LGMF cohort. She has been working as a Project Coordinator for City's Planning Department since May 2016 and is getting ready to start a new job in a few weeks. I wanted to catch her before she left and ask a few questions about her LGMF experience .  

Name: Parrish Gibson
School/Graduation: University of Alabama-Birmingham 2013
Fellowship Site:  City of Aurora, Colorado

Why did you apply for the LGMF? The city manager I was interning under suggested I apply. He thought I would be a good fit for the LGMF and offered to be a reference. I consider him a mentor and a path maker for me because I had never heard of the program before him.

What did you expect from the Fellowship? I expected it to be a higher level internship that would basically be a city manager training program. I also expected to learn and work directly under the city manager that developed into a close relationship.

Could you tell us a bit about your experience as a Fellow? Since it was the first year for the City of Aurora to participate in the LGMF program we built the experience as we went along. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing because I got to have more input on where and what projects I wanted to work on. The only mandatory assignment was Budget which I could definitely appreciate. The Assistant City Manager/City Clerk actually hired me and I started off under her supervision. I worked closely with her and consider her a mentor. She went above and beyond to ensure I was happy with the work I was doing and made sure I was introduced to everyone in the high ranks. My first few weeks started off as a meet and greet with all the department heads. I learned about everybody’s departments which helped me figure out which departments I would enjoy working with. After budget season I chose a department I wanted to rotate to, I chose the Office of Development Assistance. I learned mostly about economic development and the current development projects that were occurring. I also assisted the ODA manager with background information related to certain sites and attended weekly pre application meetings. From there I moved to planning where I became part of the development of the new comprehensive plan team. I remained there throughout my fellowship. Of course, in between rotations I was doing several off projects such as helping with elections, attending council meetings, development fee studies, and labor management relation projects. But, for the most part the fellowship was very structured.

How about any specific projects that you worked on? My favorite project was with my time in planning and the development of the new comprehensive plan. Because I was such an integral part of the team I felt much invested in the success of the new comp plan. I was there from the very beginning, as soon as the Planning director chose a consultant we began going through the work plan. One thing I appreciated about the consultants is how they took a different approach to the average “textbook comp plan”. Their goal was to tell the story of Aurora based on the community’s input. Before any documents were drafted we had a very thorough initial community outreach phase. It was one of the biggest community outreach efforts the city ever completed. One of the most fulfilling moments was when a refugee community organizer told me she appreciated us coming to their organization and asking for their input. She said that had never been done before even though the plans that were previously made would affect their lives. I realized then how important it was to go to the community (every part) and get their input. One of our goals was to hear from the community what they valued and what they wanted to change. If that was different from what the council valued and wanted to change it would highlight the disconnect between the policy makers and the policy endurers. –is this a word? lol

What were your biggest learning moments from your fellowship? I learned a lot about management styles. I was always observant and recognized how management styles affect those managed. I learned a lot about what people appreciated and didn’t appreciate about their manager and took notes. I will always remember this and apply what I learned here during my fellowship.

What is your most memorable part about the 2016 ICMA conference? Hearing Soledad O’brien speak and actually meeting her was literally the highlight of 2016’s conference. She was so inspiring! I also really loved Marc Ott’s incoming ICMA director speech. That was extremely heartfelt and enlightening. Before this speech I viewed Mr. Ott as somewhat quiet and almost cold but his speech made him more humanizing. 

Where can we get the best coffee in the city you were placed? The Cuba Bakery & Café, I’ve only been there once but the fact that I still remember their coffee says something. I also really enjoy Ethiopian coffee but can’t think of the name of a specific place. For the best tea go to Café Paprika, they have really good mint tea.

What about the best food or drink? So many options! I would say definitely go ethnic. You can try food from literally everywhere here so be experimental. My favorites are Filipino, Thai, and Ethiopian.

Do you have any advice for incoming fellows? (things you wish you had known beforehand yourself) I would say this is the time you can try anything and fail and it will be ok. They know you are young and learning so they should give you challenging projects that you might fail at. If you’re not being challenged speak up. Your fellowship is a learning experience so approach it as such. I wish I would have learned a little more about the grant writing process but that’s super specific to my goals. Just make sure you are getting out of it what you expect to get out of it and you should be fine. Go to the really high level meetings, I tried to go to as many executive meetings as I was allowed to go to. People would literally look at me like why are you here lol, but I was there to learn. I liked to see what type of decisions the city manager was expected to make and how he came to that decision. I also loved the inside stories that he questioned if he should actually tell us (the fellows) or not. I wish I was in front of council more. They are extremely intimidating and I only had one opportunity to semi present to them so I wish I had more. Once you do it once I think it gets easier.

Do you have any advice for current MPA students interested in a career in local government? My advice would be that if you are interested in local government you already know how big of an impact you can make. I always knew I wanted to be in government but I started off in Federal government and wasn’t very fulfilled. I realized local government gives me the opportunity to literally see the fruits of my labor in everyday life. I love knowing what new development is going in that vacant lot, or which service provider can help this family. I know people say this about every job but literally every day is different especially at the City Manager level.

So, what’s next for you? I just got a new job as a Management Analyst in the City of Artesia, CA. I interviewed directly with the City Manager and will be working directly for him. I’m excited about this opportunity because in the interview he said I will basically be doing everything he doesn’t have time to do. This will give me the opportunity to apply what I learned during my fellowship especially when it comes to decision making. With that job under my belt I’ll be able to continue my path to City Manager. Wish me luck!