My name is Lorene McWaters and I am City Manager Scott Neal’s executive assistant. I’ve worked for the City for nearly 8 years, which means Scott inherited me when he joined the City 5+ years ago.
I think we make a pretty good team – in a ying-yang way. Scott comes in whistling at 7:00 a.m., certain this is going to be another great day. I yawn my way to my desk about an hour later, steeling myself for whatever fires will need to be extinguished before the sun sets.
I like my job for a number of reasons (in addition to the paycheck that comes every two weeks).
I get to serve the public in the town I also live, attend church, and send my daughter to school in. (Along the way I’ve learned to avoid getting into traffic arguments in Eden Prairie. The guy who just cut me off on Prairie Center Drive is likely to be my pastor, my daughter’s math teacher or the mayor.)
I know a lot about what is happening in the community as it happens. (I’ve also learned to avoid discussing my job at my daughter’s soccer games. I’ve had a team mate’s parent corner me and demand to know why the road in front of his house needs to be widened by the City.)
My job includes a lot of variety. Twice a month I prepare the City Council meeting agenda and supporting materials. This packet can include up to 100 separate documents and run 400 or more pages. After all of the materials have been gathered and formatted, they are converted into one big electronic file that is e-mailed to the City Council and staff and posted on the City’s web site.
I help maintain the City Manager’s calendar, which often includes half a dozen meetings in just one day and last minute pleas for “just a couple of minutes” of his attention.
One of my most important duties involves what we call “phone triage.” I answer the main Office of the City Manager phone line as well as the City Manager’s direct line (when he is in meetings or away from his desk).
People call our office for a number of reasons:
- They may not know who to call with a question or request. After seven years on the job I can almost always point them in the right direction.
- The caller may already have spoken to someone else at the City but is not satisfied with the response they received. In these cases, I can help clarify our policies, redirect the caller to another staff member, lend a sympathetic ear (which is often all a person needs) and/or put them in direct contact with the City Manager.
When meetings and calls slow down a bit, I turn my attention to the dreaded records management. As the City Clerk reminds me on a weekly basis, a number of state statutes govern the retention and maintenance of data, which includes everything from phone messages, to e-mails, to book length reports. I print, sort and file thousands of documents generated by and for the City Council and City Manager each year.
The rest of what I do is covered by the last line of most job descriptions: “Other projects, as necessary.” I pitch in and do whatever needs to be done when there is a city, state or federal election. I’m also on an event planning committee. And last, but not least, I proof Scott Neal’s memos and letters. He is a very good writer, but we’ve got a couple of unresolved issues. I’ve tried and tried to get him to stop using the word “that” so much and to not arbitrarily make up words by converting perfectly respectable nouns into can’t-be-found-in the-dictionary verbs.
This job is interesting, challenging and (often times) fun. I hope to have the opportunity to keep doing it for a long while.
