The Editor's Alley
April felt like it lasted a year and now it is nearly mid-May. May we find some solace in this month. May we laugh a little more, panic a little less, love harder, enjoy special moments, remember to say thank you, and may we together come out stronger at the end of such struggles.
As our new normal settles in, CSMFO leadership sought member feedback by launching a survey to guide upcoming news articles, webinars, training events, and local meetings. Your valuable input was appreciated and is being used to redeploy CSMFO content that meets your immediate needs. CSMFO News looks forward to gradually resuming some form of normal in the coming month. We truly miss engaging with readers and contributing authors.
Here is a glimpse at what’s to come from CSMFO.
- As we inch closer to fiscal year end, budgets are top of mind. With that comes revenue projections (the fundamental ingredient for a budget recipe).
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may be a new spice for most, we call upon those who have conquered FEMA before to share helpful tips with fellow members.
- Preheat the oven with some market volatility, lower investment returns and thus greater future pension contributions.
- Remote work environments may be with us for some time. Managing workloads, monitoring progress, and ensuring morale is high isn’t easy when you can’t see and hear everyone in the kitchen (office) and don’t forget those internal controls and audits need to remain in place and be completed on time.
- What about public facilities reopening effectively and safely for public use? What new challenges await us and are we prepared to embrace new forms of providing services, training, and communicating to name a few items on the new menu.
Members are here to help and there is no time to be wasted in recreating a document that someone else has already done or starting research from scratch. Think of the CSMFO list serve as your semi-homemade or 30-minute meal recipes for finance. We have seen many great ideas, responses, shared documents, and thoughtful questions from members, a true reflection of this powerful finance family.
Thank you everyone for continuing to support one another and do keep those ideas coming to communications@csfmo.org. May we all continue to safely serve our communities.
Karla Romero, City of La Quinta Finance Director/City Treasurer and is honored to serve CSMFO’s Communications Committee Chair. Karla was also CSMFO’s 2017 Volunteer of the Year, Coachella Valley’s Chapter Chair from 2016 to 2019, has been Communications Committee member since 2017, and is a proud CSMFO member since 2007.
She has earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Business Administration and has over 20 years of progressive private and public finance experience. She enjoys seeing others succeed, thus her passion for mentoring, sharing knowledge, and empowering others.
On her free time, she enjoys “trying” to garden (getting better), reliving her childhood with a very active son (Titus), and staying connected with family and friends.
