Current and Past Interns

Current Administrative Intern

Sara Jensen

Having started my Internship in May of 2011, I am extremely impressed with my experience at Parkland County. In the time that I have been here, I have already learned tons about municipal administration, I’ve taken part in numerous high level meetings and conferences and have had the opportunity to become involved in a variety of projects.

Some of the highlights of my time here so far include:

• Attending a national administrative conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia
• Going on ride-a-longs with the bylaw officers
• Assisting with bylaw and policy reviews
• Joining the pest control crew for the blasting of a beaver dam
• Being involved in the budget process
• Working on Council’s Strategic Plan
• Helping create an internal communication plan and survey

Now that I have completed my first year as an intern, I can see how this experience is setting me up for a career in municipal government. The leadership provided by our CAO, combined with the abundance of learning opportunities available, is creating a fantastic environment for me to learn and grow as a professional.

I am very excited to be starting my internship this May of 2013. I have recently graduated from the Urban and Regional Studies program at the University of Lethbridge and I look forward to all of the diverse experiences that Parkland County has to offer. As a student I was given the opportunity to work in conjunction with the City of Lethbridge and University Administration on several projects related to sustainability, intergovernmental relationships, and neighbourhood profiling. I hope that these experiences will help me to excel in my new position. I have a passion for learning and continued education that I am pleased to find well supported in the Municipal Internship Program. As a new resident of Edmonton I cannot wait to explore my new home of Northern Alberta and begin my planning career with Parkland County.

Past Planning Intern

Richard Warren

I began my planning internship with Parkland County’s in May of 2010. I had the opportunity to work in a number of Planning and Development areas during my 2 years with the County. .

Projects I was involved with include:

• Month end development activity reports for Council
• Researched fees charged by our peers to decide if Planning and Development should change any fees for the 2011 – 2012 budget cycle. A number were found to be low therefore proposed new fees were suggested, and approved 
• A Request For Decision (RFD) on a land exchange between a private citizen and Parkland County. Research involved studies on Environmentally Significant Areas, the feasibility of road construction to access the property, market value estimates, and more. The RFD was presented to Council and the land exchange was approved after which contracts and Land Title Office documents were prepared
• A Policy on Use and Management of County Reserve Lands. The purpose of it: “is to ensure the County manages reserves in a manner which maintains their environmental integrity, keeps them free of any encumbrances, unauthorized structures, or unacceptable changes and usage”
• Researching Environment Policies and Procedures from other communities, our Environmental Management section of the Municipal Development Plan, and other related writings, as background for writing a new Environmental Policy and Environmental Procedures for the County
• Photographing site visits to Entwistle to aid in the writing of the new Entwistle Area Structure Plan
• Subdivision applications
  • Prepared Subdivision Authority Memos which include sections on: discussion; Evaluation Committee Recommendation and Reasons for Decision 
  • Site inspections and topography descriptions
  • Confirmation of consistency with sections of the Municipal Development Plan and Land Use Bylaw  

  • Determination of road widening and Environmental Reserve requirements 

In all areas, co-workers were helpful in answering my questions, requesting my assistance, introducing more work, and discussing writing styles.

Previous Administrative Interns

Samantha Saretsky

I began my Internship with the County in March of 2009. Since then I have been using the Workplan that the county provided me with to help guide me through all of the departments at the county. Some of the things I have done while at the County have been:

• Assisting and observing the budget process
• Grooming park trails
• Regular attendance at council meetings including helping operate AV equipment, writing minutes and making presentations
• Assisting with Council's Strategic Planning session and updates to the Strategic Plan Quarterly Report
• Communications projects such as monthly staff newsletter articles, creating my own intranet page and updating this page!

My experiences with Parkland County are teaching me about municipal administration and allowing me to create future career goals. I am grateful for the opportunities that I have had as an intern.

Shannon Sortland

As Parkland County’s Municipal Intern, I worked in various departments completing projects and learning about their various functions to local government. Studying directly under the Chief Administrative Officer I was able to observe and participate in numerous senior level meetings and decision making processes. I developed strong relationships both externally, through a variety of intermunicipal meetings, conferences, and conventions, as well as internally through day to day operations and obtained a broad knowledge of local governments functions, at both operational levels in Planning and Development, Public Works and Finance among others, as well as legislative levels. Some specific examples of projects I worded on were:

• Facilitating Council Orientation
• Researching and consolidating County’s Community Standards Bylaw
• Performing as Deputy Returning Officer for 2007 Municipal Election

As a direct result of my performance in the Municipal Internship Program, I was taken on full-time as Special Projects Coordinator specializing in Intergovernmental and Strategic Affairs with Parkland County. Parkland County and the Municipal Internship Program set me up for success in the field of local government, and I cherish the experience I had working for a municipality that cared about my future growth and development.