Lethbridge County Applied Study (Fall 2016 Semester)
As part of the requirements to get my Urban and Regional Studies Bachelor's degree at the University of Lethbridge, I had to take an applied study for one semester in a professional workplace outside of the university. I chose Lethbridge County to gain experience with local governance and planning, and I wrote a research paper which analyzed different incentives for neighboring municipalities to cooperate with each other and form intermunicipal development plans.
In this paper I constructed a framework for the various types of agreements that can be made, such as the shared-service model, the economic rent model, and the revenue sharing model. I collected different examples of these agreements currently in place around Alberta and Canada, and offered recommendations in a presentation to the Lethbridge County council regarding which ones might be beneficial for the County to look at in their new intermunicipal development plan moving forward.
My recommendations were successfully adopted and I maintain a really positive and beneficial relationship with the staff at the County to this day.
If you want to take a look at the paper that I wrote and presented, you can do so here.
Accepting a gift from Lethbridge County Reeve Lorne Hickey following my completion of the project.
I had the good fortune of having Tristan as my research assistant for a university applied studies project in the fall of 2016. He was hard working, conscientious, self-motivated and able to work well without direct supervision. His intelligence and ability to make connections in knowledge and research allowed us to significantly expand the scope of the research project. In addition to these strong qualities, Tristan's excellent interpersonal and communication skills really stood out, not only to myself but also to my colleagues. On the days he was at the office, he was able to integrate seamlessly with the rest of the staff, and his friendly, positive attitude was universally appreciated. In my opinion, Tristan has superior interpersonal and communication skills for someone of his age, and these would definitely be an asset for any job that involves working as part of a team and/or with the public. I can honestly say it was a pleasure to have worked with Tristan, and would be happy to work with him again in the future should there be an opportunity to do so. I am happy to provide him a strong recommendation, and do so without reservation.
