During this last year, I have been serving as the Interim City Manager of Hemet. I'll be there until they hire a permanent City Manager. While retired, June and I are away most of the week and quite busy. So much for the leisure years.

Feeling nostalgic, we decided we wanted to introduce the Hemet city staff to the joys of Dickens Village this Christmas. We've missed the good feelings that the little lighted houses create for people.

However, it just couldn't be a typical Dickens setting, our display had to be a civic center. So we made a list of Dickens pieces that could be included in a small, compact civic center type village. A city hall, fire station, post office, bank and police station were our choices.

June started looking for the pieces and to her dismay; there was no city hall in our Dickens Village inventory. Using the Christmas in the City Consulate building solved the dilemma. It shows as a city hall and even has a flag in front. The Cobbles Police Station presented a bigger problem. June located the box and to her horror, there was nothing in it. Until that perplexing moment, we prided ourselves on always putting our pieces back in their respective boxes.

Not to worry. We contacted Myrna Richardson who promptly sent out an APB for a Cobbles Police Station to all VAA members. Several members graciously responded, but Don Gordon called first and we made a real estate deal on the spot. The deed was signed over, and in no time, Cobbles was on its way to Hemet.

Our idea was to do a quaint civic center set-up surrounded by lots of fattening but irresistible bakery goods. Our challenge was to set this civic center up very quickly, as June and I had to drive to Hemet, set up the village and be ready to start work at 7:00 in the morning. This meant getting up at three. This exercise reminded me of the TV programs on how to flip a house. For some reason they always have a contrived deadline, but ours was real.

At the last minute, June was called away on other trainingshoppe.com business. Most VAA members know who designs the Wood Villages. I am quite proficient in locating and bringing the pieces to June, who designs and sets up our beautiful displays. All of a sudden, I had to set up an entire village without help. It was like sending in an untested rookie for the team star. I was in total panic and feeling very alone.

Talking about a real challenge. How to set-up a fun and interesting village and do credit to June and all VAA collectors. Wanting to set up quickly, I haphazardly began taking pieces out of their boxes. During this frenzy, I almost violated the cardinal rule of survival: safeguard the boxes from damage while keeping the styrofoam, plastic wrappers and tags in their places. Bottom line: I had to be able to put the buildings and accessories back in their respective places and in a condition that didn't piss off June.

Through trial and error, I laid out the Hemet Civic Center Village. Next came the electrical. In my humble opinion, the electrical set-up was superb. I was in my element. There were so many cords connecting so many parts there was no way anyone could figure it out. Only me.

By 6:55 in the morning, I was done. Quite frankly, the Village looked much better than I could imagine. I was surprised. I straighten my tie and composed an email to all Department Heads; I told them that the Dickens Village Center had magically appeared within the City of Hemet much like Brigadoon. “Please come see it and enjoy some goodies,” I wrote.

The first visitor to show up was the Hemet Building Director, Colin McNee, who after a quick inspection was ready to issue red tag violations and board up all the buildings. How could a civic center be set up so quickly without permits he inquired? After a laborious check of the International Building Code, he had to relent. The Dickens buildings were constructed two centuries before the current code took effect. In his bureaucratese, they were pre-existing non-conforming structures and not subject to any Hemet Ordinance or Code.

Matt Shobert, Fire Chief was next. I had no concerns until he started asking questions and to my amazement and resulting consternation, traced all the electrical cords to their single source. Failing to convince him that 14 cords going into one plug met the electrical code, he gave me forty-eight hours to rectify the problem. Victory! That's all the time I needed to show the Village and then begin dismantling it.

Police Chief, Richard Dana, showed up next. He promptly started counting the number of police officers on duty. He told me the Village did not have adequate police protection and rampant crime would be a problem. He also took issue with the Dalmatian and only one K-9. After I opened a spare package of Dickens Constables including their additional K-9, did he back off and declare the Village secure.

Once safety was assured, all the other city employees showed up to view the transitory Village. They loved it, especially the buildings, blinking lights, little people and overall Christmas ambiance.

Our experience led us to propose to all Schools of Public Administration that they set up Dickens Villages for training modules. And finally, why do I have so many empty boxes and plastic wrappers left?

Printed in the VAA Gazette January 2009.