In May, the Innovations Team presented two projects with the Innovations Award.
On May 6, the Team presented the Innovations Award to the Library’s Teen Gaming Tournament project at the Library’s monthly staff meeting. Jane Dance,Candy Moseley, and David Wongwai helped organize a video gaming tournament as part of the Library’s effort to expand its program offerings for teens. The tournament, for ages 12 to 18, began in September and had its grand finale in December. Winners of the tournament received gift cards to GameStop. More than 70 teens participated and the Library plans to hold another tournament in the future. Candy marked the progress of the tournament on Community Conversations, the City web site’s blog.

Congratulations to Jane, David and Candy for a successful new program!

On May 7, the Team presented the Innovations Award to the Development Review Committee at their regular meeting. This committee, part of the City’s overhauled development process, helps to eliminate some of the hassles that developers must go through when submitting a project for approval. Whenever there is a new development in the City, many departments have requirements that the developer must meet, and sometimes those requirements conflict with each other. In the past, the developer would have to negotiate the approval process with individual departments and that could be time consuming and frustrating. The Development Review Committee has representatives from all the key areas and meets regularly to review submittals together. Reviews are completed quickly and applicants now receive all comments at once, with no “mixed messages” confusing the issues. Staff members discuss their comments as a group and the Committee is aware of the issues. Concerns can be addressed at one time and the members can work on a solution before contacting the applicant.

The Committee has been in place for a few years now and it has been very successful in coordinating and streamlining the process, making it much easier for staff and the developers.
Congratulations to the Development Review Committee for all their good work!
 
 
Committee Members: Brad Wiseman, Chair; Amy Swaim, assistant to Chair; Talyor Horton, Planning; Aneil Naik, EDS; Sana Mohtashami, EDS; Billy Wusterhausen, Fire; Mark Selby, Fire; Emsud Horozovic, Parks and Rec; Jim Carse, Parks and Rec; Mark Remmert, EDS; Terrell Wilkey, Utilities; John Dean, Transportation; and Alysha Girard, EDS.