City Administrator’s Report for 12/23/2011

City Administrator’s Report
12-23-2011
FROM: Mahesh Sharma, City Administrator

Administration
As a reminder, city hall will be closed Monday, December 26th, in observance of the Christmas holiday.

Community Development
Ray Haydaripoor and Tim Wymes attended the National Animal Control Association (NACA) training from December 5 – 9, 2011. The seminar included training on animal behavior, animal capture techniques, animal diseases, report writing, court testimony, and interview techniques. On the final day they each took and passed a final examination which resulted in them receiving Level 1 Certification. Becky Petree and Dave Batson in Community Development Department have both previously attended NACA training seminars and have obtained Level 3 Certifications.

Finance
Have brought in temporary staffing to assist with receipting tax payments at the front counter and Felicia seems to be picking up on the system relatively quickly. She will be a big help next week when we expect our highest volume of walk in traffic for the year. You may have also noticed that starting last week we have had security personnel in the lobby area to assist with directing walk up customers to the correct line and to encourage people to be on their best behavior.

Information Technology
Network Users who access their City email account through an Internet Browser, with Outlook Web Access, are now required to use SSL certificate by going to https://city.raytown.mo.us/exchange (when out of the office), and https://mail/exchange (when in the office).

The benefit of the SSL certificate upgrade is designed to keep sensitive information sent across the Internet encrypted so that only the intended recipient can understand it. When an SSL certificate is used, the information becomes unreadable to everyone except for the server you are sending the information to. This protects it from hackers and identity thieves.

Parks and Recreation
Diane Krizek is stepping down from the Raytown Tree Board to be President of the Friends of Raytown Parks, Inc. During Diane’s term, she assisted in the creation, development and funding of the Walking Arboretum in Kritser Park and assisted in annual Arbor Day celebrations, which culminated in the planting of many trees for the betterment of our community.

Public Works
Wiedenmann & Godfrey has completed the installation of a replacement sanitary sewer pipe located on 61st Street between Laurel and Ditzler and is in the process of completing street repairs on 61st Street.

Staff and Crews are pleased and all small kids and kids at heart are disappointed; that a white Christmas is not in the forecast.

Board, Committee and Commission Meetings, and Events
December 28 – Fire Board Meeting; Station 1, 9:00am