Provo Pulse - June 30, 2022

We hope your week has been great! We have an exciting weekend coming up with the City Hall open house, 4th of July Parade, and Stadium of Fire!  So many of our employees are helping - working or volunteering - for the events.  Many of us will be here with the grand opening of the new city hall on Saturday.  Police and Fire will be quite busy with Stadium of Fire, the Parade, balloon fest and more.  And a couple of dozen employees will be spending their Sunday afternoon helping  as parade route ambassadors along University Avenue.  Independence Day weekend is a full-court press for Provo City!  And our residents really appreciate the effort.  

Provo in the News!

• BYU study provides insight into America’s obesity epidemic
• Provo police renew request for Missionary Training Center shooting information

For Your Calendar 

The new City Hall Open House is this SATURDAY 11 am - 2 pm! The festivities will include free pizza, cookies, and donuts, rappelling public safety employees, touch-a-truck, giant flag dropping, fingerprinting, special tours of secure areas, free commemorative photos, water fountain displays, free swag, and a ribbon cutting for the kids!

Congratulations Are In Order...

We are pleased to announce that the City's Library Board has selected, and the Mayor has approved,  Carla Gordon as the new Provo City Library Director.  As you all probably know, Gene Nelson will be retiring in just a few weeks.  Carla graduated with her MLIS from the University of Washington, and has been working at the Provo City Library for 23 years.  She has climbed up the ranks from a reference  librarian to the circulation supervisor to the Adult and Teen Services Manager to the Assistant Director of Library Operations. And she has excelled in each of her positions.  Carla is married to Jay Gordon and they have a beautiful daughter named Lily.

It is certainly worth noting that Carla is the third woman in the last five years -  and under Mayor Kaufusi's leadership - to have been appointed to a department director level position in Provo.  We are really excited to congratulate Carla on her promotion, and look forward to her leadership of the best library operation in the country.  

Sustainability Moment

For the past 11 years, local governments, businesses, and community leaders have run a month-long challenge to clear the air. Participants can register on the website, track their driving, and be eligible for small rewards based on how much the reduce their personal emissions during July. In 2020, participants eliminated 97,521 trips, reduced 476.5 TONS of CO2, and saved approximately $500k. 

The best way to participate is to register as part of a team and work together to reduce trips.  Visit https://cleartheairchallenge.org/the-challenge/ and register to join a team or create your own! 

Personal Management Minute

There is no argument that people in today’s culture are often adversarial toward one another. The reasons are speculative — social media and the denial of facts — but the result is that people believe what they want to believe and, in doing so, end up in separate camps. Here are three steps that can help move us past the disagreements.

Fun Stuff

Back again for another week - your (and our) favorite Internet memes!

We hope you have an awesome holiday weekend, enjoy the Freedom Festival activities, stop by the City Hall for the open house,  and have some time to celebrate with family.  Take care and we will see you next week!

Mayor Kaufusi and the Mayor's Office Team