October 2021 DAO Meeting Recap
By Ande Banks, Harrisonburg Deputy City Manager
On a bright and beautiful autumn morning, nestled next to Massanutten Mountain at Rockingham County’s Park at the Crossroads, approximately 25 folks convened for the first in-person DAO meeting in over a year. The theme of the meeting was Wellness in Crisis and featured speakers discussing wellness programs and a facilitated panel discussion on navigating the future workforce. In the end, a slightly different type of wellness was realized.
In the beginning the group had fun in a challenging Shark Tank effort to develop a winning project or service as teams. These teams utilized a random assortment of items to develop their project proposal and then had to sell their ideas to the whole group. You will have to ask Peter Stephenson’s team about their drone that drops retired administrators in communities for a small fee or Ted Voorhees’ futuristic communication network that ensures clear and productive communication.
Attendees then heard from Harrisonburg Fire Chief, Mat Tobia, and Rockingham Fire and Rescue Chief, Jeremy Holloway, in addition to Rockingham Fire and Rescue Technician, Buddy Lloyd, on topics including crisis planning, peer support and total wellness programs. Chief Tobia shared common practices in the fire service for crisis planning and peer support systems. Chief Holloway and Mr. Lloyd spoke about the total wellness programming being implemented among Rockingham County Fire and Rescue staff, including the benefits to employees, but also the challenges with changing life-long habits.
After lunch, where we were joined by Harrisonburg City Manager, Eric Campbell, Rockingham County Administrator, Stephen King and Augusta County Administrator, Tim Fitzgerald, the group was led through a facilitated discussion entitled Navigating the Workforce of Tomorrow. A panel including Harrisonburg Director of Human Resources, Angela Clem, Harrisonburg City Attorney, Chris Brown, and Optima Employee Assistance Program representatives, Melissa Back Tamburo and Brittney Giovannetti, discussed current and anticipated personnel challenges for our organizations. As one might imagine, much of the discussion centered on the continued challenges revolving around COVID and the sharing of experiences from our different localities, but also included conversation around the continued labor shortage and recruitment challenges.
By the end of our time together, it became clear to this participant that the wellness of being together again with colleagues from across this amazing Commonwealth, who are facing the same challenges of local government during these politically charged times, was most certainly just what the doctor had prescribed.