11-14-18 Special Meeting of the La Porte City Council

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Jenny Page 20710ArborBendCourt,Humble,Texas77346 832-405-5188 | 409-429-4719 Jpage924@yahoo.com October 15, 2018 City of La Porte 604 W. Fairmont Parkway La Porte, Texas 77571 Re: City Secretary Position Honorable Mayor and Council Members: I am writing because I understand that the City of La Porte is searching for a City Secretary and I wish to apply for the position. Having worked for six municipalities in executive, managerial, and administrative positions for over twenty years, I feel that I have the skills you are looking for. I am currently the City Secretary for the City of Humble, Texas. Although I have only been here for five months, I have already discovered this is not a good fit for me. While I have enjoyed my time and learning experiences in Humble, I feel that it is time for a new challenge and adventure. Additionally, I would consider it an honor to work with City Manager Corby Alexander, who I worked with briefly in College Station many, many years ago. Allow me to tell you a little about myself. I have worked in various jobs over the years that have given me a strong background in business, finance, and government. Being in business for myself was an experience that taught me what it takes to succeed. At age twenty- four, I opened my own retail antique store at my home as a way to supplement my income while raising my son. Over the next ten years I relocated to the downtown district and my business grew into a thriving business with twenty vendors leasing space. In 1995, I sold my business and went to work as a Deputy Clerk for the Tyler County District Clerk. I enjoyed this job because of the variety of tasks I had to perform and the unpredictability of the judicial system. In a small rural area like Tyler County, you have to do a little of everything. The greatest skill I gained was attention to detail. If a case is not filed properly, the results can be tremendous. As the Utility Billing and Customer Service Supervisor for the City of Woodville (Pop. 2,400), I had the responsibility of supervising the daily activities of the Utility Billing department. This was a very fast paced and challenging position where I refined accounting, collections, and management skills. Customer relations played a critical part in this position. When I started working for the City, their past due accounts were severely out of hand. Conflict resolution became a major job skill. Through payment agreements and termination of service, most of these accounts were cleared or current within the first year. I also acted as backup for Accounting, Municipal Court, Police, and occasionally recorded minutes for Council Meetings. In a city with a small budget, it is necessary to do a little of everything. After moving to College Station in 1999 (Pop. 60,000), I worked for the City of College Station for two and a half years. I started as a Secretary for Fiscal Services and within a year, promoted to the Administration department as the Budget and Strategic Planning Assistant. Fiscal Services included Finance, Accounting, Purchasing, Risk Management, and Municipal Court. I was involved in all departments of Fiscal Services and honed my accounting and auditing skills while learning about purchasing and risk management. After promoting to Budget and Strategic Planning, my duties were to assist the Budget Team with various administrative duties and publishing the Budget and CIP manuals. Meeting with each department to discuss next yearÔs budget request was always exciting! After moving back to my home town of Woodville in 2000 because of my husbandÔs job, I reopened my antique shop for a couple of years and I became very active in our local Chamber of Commerce with the hopes of bringing business, jobs and tourism to Woodville. I was chosen as the 2002 Member of the Year. In 2003, I was employed at Edward Jones Investments in Jasper, Texas. I enjoyed the challenge of learning about securities, investments, and the highly volatile world of the stock market. Every day is different, fast paced and extremely unpredictable. It was very exciting and I gained many new skills from this experience, but decided to come 1