Kimberly Strong is a Constituent Services Coordinator for the Office of Mayor Tim Kelly with the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kimberly shared with us what she’s learned in her various roles, including how to deliver unwelcome news and build relationships in the process.
What have you done so far at the City of Chattanooga?
“I've been with the city of Chattanooga for 29 years. Within that time, I managed the recycling program and I served as the Public Information Specialist for the Water Quality Program. In that role I educated our citizens about the importance of water quality safety, water quality management, and how to reduce our water contaminants. I created a training program to retain staff, because we found that those in professional engineering positions would come to our department and work, but quickly move to private industry. I recently accepted a position with Mayor Tim Kelly as a Constituent Services Coordinator.
Throughout my entire career with the city I have been involved in customer service and engaging with the public. I am so very humbled to have the position I'm in now, because I deal with the public on a wider scale. I take care of all of the concerns and issues that the mayor and city council receive.”
What does it mean for you to be connected to that community that you serve?
“For me, the importance of being connected is having the trust of the community. If I'm having a town hall or a neighborhood association meeting, people have trust in knowing that whatever I'm talking about is the truth. It's not fluff, it’s not a stump speech, It's the truth. That trust comes over time. When you have ‘feel good’ neighborhood meetings or town hall meetings, when you have the positive things that you are presenting, people adapt to it and take ownership of it, and follow what you say. Then, when you go back and you have to have those hard conversations that the community won’t like, and you know they won’t like, they still trust you because they've seen how you operate, and how you talk to them and how you value their input.”
What’s an example of this?
“A few years ago, we implemented a water quality fee; the community at large hated it. I would say we probably had 85% resistance. It took about a year to go out and educate people about why we had this fee, and what benefit it was to them. Again, when we had those difficult conversations, where the community was not initially on board, you still could tell them what benefit it is to them, and show them some results of what their dollars are going towards, and that built trust.”
Kimberly stands with American Public Works Association Mascot PAWS at an APWA Conference.
Is there a particular project that has required you to be courageous?
“The water quality program’s fee implementation process has been the most stressful project for me. We had resistance, not only from the community, but from some city officials that didn't approve of the program fee’s structure. That program is federally mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency, so there was no way of getting around it, and the City had received a very stiff fine for noncompliance from the Environmental Protection Agency. The water quality program fee wasn't going away, but it took several months for the community as well as our council members to get on board with the fee. There was a continual educational component. That experience has been a time when I have had to be the most courageous in my work.”
What did it take for you to be courageous in this example?
“You have to make sure you don't waver in your message, and that that message stays the same for everyone. I had to train some of our staff on how to communicate these changes to all of our diverse communities in the city, and that alone was a process. Some people will say, ‘that's not courageous’, but yes it is, because we had people put their hands up and leave, or transfer departments because they just didn't want to be a part of the negative press that we had to deal with. And I was able to persevere through that.”
How do you stay positive in the work?
“This work brings me joy, and I have been able to witness behavior change since the start of my career with the City of Chattanooga in 1993.
For example, in our citywide recycling program; the program was brand new to the city, and no one wanted to separate their trash, and pull out the paper, plastic or the glass. The opportunity to educate them, and see that program go from maybe 20% participation to over 90% participation during my time with the program was inspiring to me. Being able to take something from scratch, and educate people on why this program is important and see the changes happen keeps me engaged in the work. The same is true for the water quality program. It convinced the people not to contaminate the water supply and clog their drain with contaminants so that we can continue to use our waterways for recreational purposes.”
Kimberly Strong presents during the Southeast Stormwater Association Annual Conference.
How do you balance outcomes that might be difficult for the community and still maintain some joy or passion for the work that you do?
“In handling situations where I have to have tough conversations with people, I try to make sure I have all the facts. A big misunderstanding that happens often is that community members will call the City to get something repaired on their property, not knowing that the City cannot do work on private property. In these hard conversations, I try to start with the why- once I know that, I see if there's any room of opportunity where the City can do something to help them. I try to give them all the facts, and maintain a connection with them. Once we’ve had this tough conversation, I try to point them to available resources of people that can assist them with those financial burdens, so that they know that even though we can’t help them, there are possible resources that can.
I had a gentleman, a senior citizen in the community, that needed a new roof, and he just couldn't afford to have it repaired. In Chattanooga, we have a couple of organizations that help senior citizens do home repair work, and they were able to assist him. So although he was mad that the City couldn’t help him, as a senior citizen with veteran status, we were still able to give him useful community resources. After that, I try to follow up a couple of weeks later to check in, ‘Did you get your roof taken care of?’ And then the next time they might have another issue, they’ll either try to handle it themselves, or, if they do call me, I have established that trust with them that I will do my very best to accommodate their request. Hopefully I can be a catalyst to foster that change of some of our citizens' negative point of view of city government.
In those instances when this occurs - I feel we are doing a good job.”