Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. In honor of the holiday and our hard working employees, we are using the next few Fridays to blog about them. First up is Theresa Smith.
Theresa is a Civil Engineer and Supervisor for our Street Use permitting group. You might wonder what our Street Use division does and why it is important. A major focus is managing activities in the public right-of-way —like sidewalk cafes and utility improvements— to provide for the health, safety and well being of travelers and ensure appropriate use of our streets and sidewalks. Theresa supports the permitting staff by ensuring that they have the necessary tools to provide consistent and professional permitting services to both our internal and external customers. Her responsibility also includes coordination with private and public agencies to make sure they understand permitting requirements and their responsibility to reduce the impacts of their work on the traveling public as much as possible. One way she accomplishes this is to develop ‘Client Assistance Memos’ or a CAM. CAMs help guide anyone working on our streets and sidewalks to understand what is required and who to contact with questions.
Theresa has been employed with the city for over eight years and says her favorite part of the job is, learning about the all the different types of projects being planned in the city by private and public agencies. On a personal note, we asked what song she would sing at Karaoke. Her response was Crazy by Patsy Cline if her husband was in the audience. If she really wants to get the crowd going then she ops for Dancing Queen by ABBA.
Thanks for all you do, Theresa!