Transisition Team

[pkd50]

I know that transisition teams are common in almost all administrations, but I don't really understand their workings.  Can anybody answer these questions?   Who is on the current team?   What exactly do they do?  How are they chosen?  What will be their role after the new Mayor is in office?  Do members of the team usually get appointments to key posts in the city? Do they stick around as advisors?   

[markweiner]

As I understand it, there is not one team, but many.  For each department, there is a transition team.  The object is to figure out what the department does or does not do, and what the personnel do and don't do.  From there, recommendations made.  As for the make up of the people, they are all volunteering their time and many have expertise in the department that is being investigated. After the Mayor is in office, I do not know what the transition teams' role will be.  I know in many transition team settings, some people in the team get jobs, not necessarily appointments.  I always read about Governor Blago's transition team members who have current roles in his administration.  Bottom line, is that there are no set rules; no set laws.  Almost every politician has some type of transition team; from the President to Senator Obama to a lowly Mayor.  Another objective is to make a smooth transition to running the, in this case, city.  If everyone were to leave right after the new person is inaugurated, it would be very difficult to run government.

Hope that helps. If you ever want to identify yourself, please do. And if you have previously, I do apologize.

MakrWeiner1@Hotmail.com

[pkd50]

Thanks for the explanation.  One other question.  Does the old administration usually act helpful in the process of changing regimes?     

[markweiner]

To answer the question about the old being helpful?  I can not answer that since I am not on any transition team and have never been part of one.  Perhaps a transition team member can answer that if there are any watching this posting.

MarkWeiner1@Hotmail.com

[pkd50]

Do you need some transitional help taking over the ward?    Can you get help from Branko if needed?  By that I mean, are there files or memos that an outgoing alderman passes on to his successor?

[markweiner]

PKD, feel free to email me. I can not talk about the soon to be former Alderman here. All I can say is that I did not get a congratulations, phone call, email.  Nothing. Period.  So, actually, I think I just answered your question.  I have plenty of volunteers who helped on the campaign that will continue to help passing out things, such as a magnet with my name, contact info, etc, that will be out over the next month. A newsletter will go out periodically if the city does not have a newsletter, which I hope it will.  I want to be intelligently vocal, public, transparent and respond. 

I am waiting to see if I have any money left in my expense account.  If it has all been spent in the past four months(you can take an educated guess), I do not have an expense account.  I am funding everything with my salary/per diem and ultimately will use much of that money(10,000/year) to set up the Mark and Diane Weiner Youth Foundation for children in the 3rd Ward.

Having said all the above, please contact me at my email.

MarkWeiner1@Hotmail.com

[OakParkSpartan]

I am a member of a transition team.  We were asked to go into a department, determine what they were supposed to be doing, interviewed the employees to see what their jobs were (as apparently a job description doesn't exist for most positions in Berwyn).  We also took note of what equipment was in each office (phones, computers, printers, copiers etc).  Additionally, we made note of any impending dates which might be important to the operation of the department.

We also provided recommendations for what we felt the department should be doing, how things may or may not be reorganized.  In general, just getting a feel for what the department was like.  That is a pretty gross simplification, but close enough for these purposes.

My experience was that most employees were helpful and we found some excellent people working in the department with good ideas on how to move Berwyn forward. 

This is an unpaid position for which we took time off from our normal jobs.  I would be quite surprised if any of the members from our team would take a job with the city.  It seemed as though we are all happy enough in our current positions.  But, if they were offered a job, IMHO we would be in good hands. 

Cheers,
Brian

[pkd50]

Thanks Brian.  I always wondered.  One more question....probably dumb.   What do you mean by  IMHO?

[pkd50]

One more question Brian.  How were you chosen to be on the team?

[OakParkSpartan]

IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

I had worked on Mike's campaign, but I am/was far from an insider.  I received a call one day asking if I would like to participate.  I had no idea what exactly I was getting into, but said yes.  I am glad I did.  I've learned a ton about a very valuable department of the Berwyn city govt.

Cheers,
Brian

[pkd50]

Can you share what you learned?

[hvychev]

Brian was it like one of my favorite movies Office Space where you were one of "The Bobs"?

http://www.bullshitjob.com/officespace/whatdoyoudohere.wav