Heber City’s new leadership academy will soon host workshops and interactive service projects. Applications are open but will close this week.
About to begin its first year, the Heber Leadership Academy is a course that will meet monthly through May.
Anyone who lives or works in Wasatch County can apply. 20 participants will have discussions on “hot-button topics” and hear from leaders in local government agencies.
Each class will finish with a collaborative project to support a community need. In leadership programs in neighboring communities, classes have launched fundraisers and built park amenities.
“This program is great because it’s twofold,” says Dakota Mahan, assistant city manager and one of the program’s founders. “It gives participants an opportunity to build on their leadership skills. It will also give them an opportunity to understand the issues going on in the valley. There’s a lot of growth going on here, and there’s many issues, and people have ideas of how to resolve these issues. So, if they would want to learn leadership skills and be an outstanding member of the community, this is a way that they could do it.”
Heber City has partnered with the Heber Valley Chamber of Commerce to develop the academy. The partnership will bolster an emphasis on learning the business side of government.
Mahan says some local officials leading class sessions could include the police chief or sheriff, the school superintendent and hospital administrators.
The first guest presenter will be Jack Zenger, CEO of Zenger Folkman leadership consultants in Orem. He’s from Midway. His first course will be a general overview of leadership skills.
“I feel like with the challenges we’re having,the more educated people that will be contributing to the conversations, the better our outcomes will be,” says Kelleen Potter, Heber City mayor. “I think it will help us, overall as a city, to be a little better able to figure out how to deal with some of these issues, because we’ll have more people weighing in, and I always believe that more people weighing in brings better solutions.”
Sessions will meet on the third Thursdays of the next nine months, starting August 26. They’ll wrap up with a graduation in May. They will run 12 to 4 p.m., and lunches will be included.
The application period ends on Friday. After that, Mahan says people will still be considered if space is available.
For a link to the application website, visit envisionheber.com/leadership.
An enrollment fee of $225 covers costs, and members of the chamber of commerce get a $50 discount.
