After taking on her current role in January 2016, Kessel has “performed highly technical financial and budget analysis work, including those with multiple funding sources and specific statutory mandates, multi-year projections and debt service management,” according to her LinkedIn profile.
She has also served as a liaison between the public and private sectors, focusing on government operations, project management and contract compliance.
Based on her professional experience with the city, Kessel shared the following tips:
- Increase visibility: “Coattail your technology request on a larger request, such as public safety. If you could find that one piece of technology that’s important for you and then also find who else might have a similar initiative, try to bridge that together so it doesn’t look like just one person requesting something; it’s now two or maybe a third person making that request.”
- Plan ahead: “Technology increases so rapidly, and it’s hard to have those funding requests keep up with the changing environment of that technology. So, if you really plan ahead and are more thoughtful with your overall picture, that helps.”
- Keep capex and opex in mind: “Sometimes whenever you see a capital request, they just stop at that implementation piece, and that’s up to — at least at the city — our responsibility to educate them and say, ‘Okay, now that we’ve implemented this great, shiny new piece of technology, there’s an operating cost associated with that,’ which should also be considered in the larger picture whenever you’re making that request.”
- Provide as much detail as possible: “I’ve worked closely with the city’s budget office and another budget office, and if we get a request that is for a million dollars, and there’s no justification behind it, it’s hard to back that up, so the more detailed request you provide, that will work in your favor, even if you’re under a deadline.”
- Be specific with requests: “Priorities are set by leadership management, and if your request falls within one of those priorities, then obviously, you’re likely to get funded. But even with our mayor’s initiatives, almost anything can be tapped under a mayor’s initiative. But if you hone the request and what the project is, and not just blanketly say it falls under ‘mayor initiative No. 2 resilient government,’ and expand on that, bring it full circle and make sure your request ties into what its true impact is, that helps.”
*The Central Florida Digital Government Summit is presented by Government Technology, a publication of e.Republic, Industry Insider — Florida’s parent company.
