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possible focus in on the key issues and being able to distill that issue into something that is easily
understandable so you can provide enough information to whoever is making the decision.
8. What is your experience working within a union environment/with a unionized workforce/with
union leaders?

At the Aqueduct all staff is represented by one union. In the staff the union is not that strong. In
being that way we have a very good relationship with the union. It requires transparency, to
establish and maintain relations with the union. Most of my union experience is from San
Francisco. There I was working with 10 different bargaining units. Some unions were more
powerful than others. I would literally set up weekly or biweekly meetings with some locals and
discuss outstanding issues so that we both knew the issues we were dealing with. So again it was
establishing that relationship and maintaining that relationship and making sure that you have an
open dialogue.

9. This position will interact with managers throughout the City as well as other
organizations and individuals throughout the community. How do you evaluate whether
they are receiving the expected level of service? What do you feel are some of the
challenges to achieving a high level of customer service?
It's really developing and maintaining a relationship and then continuing to monitor that
and doing what you say you are going to do. Give it lip service, being true to the
relationship, whether it be an internal or an external, open communication is key. In
terms of communication, I like to think of my self of having a pretty good sense of when
someone's opinion is starting to wain. If you have that open communication then you can
just ask, have a strong enough personality to take your lumps when you need it. Instead
of focusing on problems you focus on solutions.

10. Anything else to add, any questions?