A typical day for me.

Since my internship is with my current place of employment, Maricopa County Clerk of the Board's Office, it will be difficult for me to describe my internship on a daily basis. In order to complete all of the hours required for the internship class, I need work on my internship project for at least 5 hours per week, in addition to my normal duties at my job.

So for example, this week I worked on my internship project for a couple hours each day. More specifically, I worked on my project for about 4 hours today because I have a presentation to give tomorrow morning. I will discuss this presentation in a future blog post.

I work in downtown Phoenix, right next to the Superior Court Complex (3rd Avenue and Jefferson). I work on the 10th floor (top floor) of the Maricopa County Administration building. My office is attached to the Board of Supervisors Office (highest elected officials of Maricopa County), so my office is very formal. My work day begins at 8:30 AM and I work in my cubicle until break or lunch time. At 5:00 PM exactly, I get to go home; but first I get to spend more than an hour in my car driving on the I-10. :)

My current duties are related to processing a 100+ item agenda, every 2 weeks. The items are submitted by different departments in Maricopa County and are usually contracts with outside vendors or other government agencies. After the items are approved, I am responsible for processing each document for signature/notarization. Most agenda items have some sort of issue - typos, incorrect verbiage, not enough information or no prior authorization.

Still no word..

Last week was a little hectic for my small office of just 13 women (yes, no men work in this office). One gal resigned, two women were out of town at a conference and a couple ladies took some vacation time off. When things like this happen (scheduling conflicts), the individuals that are working in the office have to cover the tasks/responsibilities of the absent individuals. Needless to say, I was not able to meet with my supervisors (one supervisor was out of town at a conference) to discuss the aspect of my internship that changed.

I have a tentative appointment on their calendar for this afternoon.

I have spent a lot of time on the internet researching the fees that other cities, towns and counties charge to process liquor license applications they received. I entered all of the information I gathered into an excel spreadsheet and separated the information by jurisdiction type (City/Town and County).

The reason I did this is because counties in Arizona are sub-divisions of the State of Arizona and they are governed by Arizona Revised Statutes. On the other hand, cities/towns in Arizona are municipalities that adopt their own set of rules to follow (charter). This means that there may be a statue that limits the amount of fees that can be charged by a county, but municipalities may be able to charge more in fees depending on what their charter states.

Since I work for Maricopa County, I want to make sure I do not suggest a fee schedule that may be in violation of the statutes that our office is required to follow. So far in my research, I found that other counties are charging fees to process liquor licenses. The fee amounts vary depending on the type of license that is being processed. For example,  Pima County and Yuma County charge $10 to process a Special Event License but Pinal and Navajo County charge $150 to process the same type of license.

This is just a small glimpse into the exciting research that I am completing for my internship project. Stay turned for more!

Slight Change of Plans..

My internship this semester is with my current employer - Maricopa County Clerk of the Board of Supervisors Office. The special project that was assigned to me for my internship has to do with proposing fees for processing various types of liquor license applications.

In addition to this research project, I was also assigned to represent Maricopa County at collaborative meetings with representatives from Arizona Cities/Towns at "working group" meetings held by the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control (AZDLLC). These meetings were to be held once or twice a month until December. However, I received an email this week from AZDLLC that states they are postponing the "working group" meetings for a few months.

I was very nervous to deliver this news to my supervisor today because I did not know how the postponing of the meetings would affect my internship project. Attending the working group meetings with representatives from other municipalities allowed me to gain knowledge about the liquor licensing process. My plan was to utilize their knowledge and experience to help guide my research project.

My supervisor said that she would think about how to restructure my internship project tonight, and we would discuss my options tomorrow. I will let you know what is decided tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

Greetings.

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! 

My name is Kristina Kidd. I am in my senior year of the Public Service/Public Policy program. After graduation, I plan to continue my education goals with the Master of Public Administration program at ASU.   

For the past five years, I have worked as a Management Analyst for the Clerk of the Board of Supervisor's Office with Maricopa County. The Board of Supervisors are similar to a city council, but on a county level. 

Since I am already employed in the field of public service/public policy, my internship is with my current place of employment - the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors. I will be doing a special project that is assigned to me by my supervisor, in addition to the regular duties of my job. 

The special project that I was assigned is to propose a fee schedule for processing various types of liquor license applications. Currently, Maricopa County does not charge any fees for processing various types of liquor license applications (restaurants, bars, liquor stores, etc.). I have been tasked with researching the possible implementation of a fee schedule. 

The three goals that I would like to accomplish through my internship is:

1. Learn more about how Maricopa County processes liquor license applications beginning with first receiving the application until final recommendation for approval/denial is made. 
2. Compare Maricopa County's process/fees with other jurisdictions in Arizona and prepare a recommendation to adopt fees or make a recommendation to not adopt fees.
3. Present my recommendation to my supervisor and possibly to Maricopa County Administration if there is a recommendation to implement fees.