Better together. When teams unite around a shared purpose, the results often exceed expectations. That spirit of collaboration was on full display when Karen Nerney and Kim Smithgall from the Engagement and Development Services Grants Team partnered with Dennis Bates from Management Services to represent BOCES at the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) annual fall training conference.
What began as the chance to promote BOCES services to municipalities quickly grew into an effective and productive alliance, one that expanded outreach, sparked new ideas and is a prime example of how working together as “One BOCES” can be powerful and successful.
Karen Nerney, Administrator of Grants & Development, and Kim Smithgall, Assistant Program Manager, identified an opportunity to participate as a state agency vendor at the NYCOM conference. With more than 500 municipal officials from across the state slated to attend, Karen and Kim recognized this as a valuable chance to broaden outreach and promote a variety of BOCES services and quickly extended the invitation to include Management Services.
Together, Dennis Bates, Assistant Director, Management Services, Nerney and Smithgall staffed the vendor booth, engaged with municipal leaders, and shared information about services including the Pharmacy Purchasing Coalition, Health/Safety/Risk, Asset Management and Records Management. To better understand municipal needs, Nerney and Smithgall conducted a brief survey, which revealed “water and sewer,” “roads,” and “parks” as top funding priorities.
Interestingly, records management, though not listed on the questionnaire, became a central topic of discussion. Many municipal officials cited it as a significant challenge, sparking conversations that allowed Bates to promote the BOCES Records Management Service and Nerney to discuss the NYS Archives grant, which supports the development of records management programs. This natural overlap demonstrated the value of having both divisions present, enabling them to build on each other’s conversations and demonstrate the depth of BOCES’ offerings.
The collaboration didn’t stop there. When attendees asked about adult heavy equipment training and tax bill printing, the team was able to connect them with other BOCES divisions, including Adult Education and Computer Systems Integration.
While the initial goal was to promote BOCES and explore working with municipalities, the experience led to a deeper understanding of each other’s services and a more integrated approach to messaging. Records Management, in particular, emerged as a natural area for synergy.
Indeed, the foundation for this partnership may have been laid as early as last spring when Jeff Chodikov, Program Coordinator II, Records Management, presented about the Archives grant at a Grants Team meeting. Having successfully written for this grant previously, Chodikov provided valuable insights on navigating the complex application. Furthering the connection, the teams worked together on three of eight Archives grant applications written by the Grants team last spring. Of the eight, five were funded; Records Management played a direct role in two of those successes.
Looking ahead, both divisions see potential for continued collaboration. Bates has invited the Grants Service to participate in a Municipal Services Day planned for November and discussions are underway about “packaging” Records Management and Grant Writing Services, especially for Archives grant projects.
As Nerney noted, “The more Dennis and I learn about each other’s services and consider possible connections, the more opportunities we may find to pair grant writing with Management Services.”