Starting Anew

My blog has been silent for a few months now, and for that I am deeply sorry. I'm sure there are probably one or two readers left, and I'm pleased to let you know that I am alive and well. The past two months have been challenging and exciting, indeed. There was lots to blog about, but no time or energy it seemed to sit down and write it.

You could say it all started the week of Valentine's Day. My dad and I were preparing to visit my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin in Saint Louis, with the primary intent of repainting Aunt Anne's bedroom. Uncle Bob is living in a long-term care facility, having suffered a catastrophic stroke in 2001, and the last thing my Aunt needed was a home improvement project to contend with, so we decided to relieve her of the task. That week, I fell into a fit of pique at work, where I felt unappreciated, unmotivated, and uninterested in the job and the organization I worked for. I had applied for a city planning job with the Salt Lake County Government a few weeks prior and, despite interviewing, it came to no avail. I was pretty despondent about the situation, really.

I took some time during Valentine's day to examine job opportunities, and I found one. It was a strange job announcement from West Valley City, Utah that advertised for several positions, inviting applicants to apply for any or all. Adopting the analogy that if you throw enough darts, someday you're bound to hit the bull's eye, I applied for every position they offered. The application was due the day after I read the announcement, so I thought, what the hell? Given the time I took in preparing the application (next to none), and my feelings of mediocre performance at the University, I figured I wouldn't stand a chance at any of the job prospects available, which included two grades of city planner and and two economic development positions.

That Thursday, I had Rob drop me off at the West Valley City Hall on the way to the airport to catch my flight to Saint Louis, so I could drop off the application. I made it in about ten minutes prior to the deadline. I thought nothing of it - honestly I didn't think anything would happen, so I decided to focus on the trip instead. It was going to be a lot of work, but it was also going to be some good quality time with my dad and my extended family.

Saint Louis was nice, and Dad and I conducted ourselves efficiently, completely repainting Aunt Anne's room, floor to ceiling, over two days.

When I returned, I had a voicemail waiting for me at work. It was West Valley City, and they wanted me to interview for a planner position at the beginning of that next week. Now that I was invited to interview, I decided it was time to take the prospect seriously (I didn't even include a cover letter in my application - that's how bad I was). The weekend before the interview, I drove from one end of West Valley City to the other, noting the land uses and any discontinuities that struck my eye. I also read the city's general plan. The interview went quite well, I thought, although you never know how first dates really go. I was asked that question I hate ("what is the one aspect about your work habits that you would like to improve?") and I gave an honest answer that didn't pander to the interviewer. I was later told that my candor held me in good stead against the other applicants. I demonstrated in the interview an extensive knowledge of the community's general plan.

The interview got hung up on the matter of salary. Because the advertisement did not specify salary ranges for any of the positions they were advertising, I decided I had nothing to lose by aiming high and placing a rather high number as a minimum acceptable salary on my application. The Planning and Zoning director was reviewing my application as he and two others were interviewing me. I saw him worry over a part of the application, and he said, "oh...did human resources tell you about the starting salary for the planning job?" I said no, there was no information as to the salary in the job announcement either. The director commented something to the effect that he was surprised that HR didn't cull my application because my asking salary was quite a bit higher than what they had budgeted for the position. I replied that I wanted to be considered anyway, and that they were welcome to make the most competitive offer they thought they could. Later that afternoon, I wrote the director a thank-you email, clarifying in writing that if they could match the salary I made at the University, I would definitely consider. Within minutes, he wrote back, thanking me and saying I interviewed very well!

Within a week and a half, I went from not caring about the job prospect to wanting it desperately. It's funny how situations can change your attitude about a thing. My work at the University was becoming more interminable by the day, and the interviewer's plaudits of my performance, followed by several other emails querying me on the type of benefits package I had at the University, made me quite anxious for the job. Still there was that matter of pay. For as much as I didn't like working at the University, I was not in a position to accept a significant salary decrease.

The call came in on Thursday, the first of March. I was their pick for a Planner II (a more senior grade, no less!). Within a few days they returned with a formal salary offer, one which actually resulted in an increase in salary - admittedly only $10 a week or so, but still... I have always wanted to be a planner, and this was a tremendous opportunity - indeed, a gift - to enter into a mid-level planning position without any prior direct experience (I was hired in part because of my applied research skills I learned at the University and my experience on the South Salt Lake Planning Commission). The position they intended for me was a long range planner, specifically I would be producing an update to West Valley City's general plan, a document that sets forth the city's development and planning goals for the next 30 years.

I found it very easy to say 'yes' to West Valley City. But then I was wracked with guilt over telling the University good bye. Why? I had a bad experience there that spoiled my desire to cultivate a career there. I was well paid, but not trusted and appreciated as such. Indeed, my boss used some of my research for a project for which he was being paid as a consultant. I don't know why I should feel guilty about terminating a relationship with such a mistress, but I did. My stomach was roiling as I wrote my letter of resignation. My colleagues were gracious, but in the end they didn't do anything to commemorate my time there, or my departure. Rumor had it that my boss pondered taking his staff out to lunch on the last day, but when the Dean informed him it would be an improper use of the University's resources, he backed away from the plan. Thursday, the 22nd of March was just a normal work day, although it was my last.

Leaving for the last time was such a relief. I've never been in a really bad relationship before, but the divorce certainly felt great. West Valley City appears at first blush to be an organization quite different from the University. First, there is a four-day workweek. Employees are expected to put in a ten-hour work day, starting at 7:00 am. The trade-off for such a brutal schedule is that I get every Friday off. I've always believed that so many of us suffer an imbalance in the dynamic between work and life. I for one do not live to work, I work to live. And a three-day weekend gives me one more day every week in which to live. I love it. West Valley City is one of the few municipalities in the United States to have opted out of Social Security, so there is no social security deduction from my salary. Instead, that money is allocated into a municipal pension fund and employees are invited to invest it as they see fit. It's challenging, but exciting. If I make the right decisions, the return on the investment will be well in excess of social security.

Most importantly, in the three weeks I've been in the employ of West Valley City, I've been treated with the dignity and respect I feel I am entitled to as a professional adult. People are friendly, considerate, and open to my ideas. I've been given significant latitude to determine how a general plan revision should take place, so I've had fun working on a logo, developing a program of steps to accomplish the plan, and developing an education initiative to reach out to school-aged children to get them engaged in their community.

Thanks for your patience in all this. And it's good to be back. In the coming days, I'll update you with the excitement in Rob's life, in a blog post entitled "Impounded." I'll also talk about the changes I've made to our bedroom. Stay tuned!