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Efficient stormwater asset management is crucial to public safety as well as meeting regulatory compliance, but the cost and effort of conducting field inspections and collecting field data is an ongoing challenge for municipalities. Radio frequency Identification (RFID) technology is rapidly becoming the solution to bridging the gaps in field data collection workflows. Adam Schleicher, Director of Public Services for the City of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin will discuss their deployment of RFID marking for stormwater assets in combination with mobile data collection. This method reduces the time, cost and errors in field data inspections and automatically creates an audit trail for regulatory compliance.
Read MoreSummary GPS/AVL is no longer considered “nice to have.” Whether government agencies are looking to mitigate liability, reduce costs, or increase accountability and transparency; GPS/AVL systems are slowly becoming a staple in public works. This presentation takes real world lessons from agencies who have successfully implemented a telematics solution, describes challenges and obstacles they faced, and shows how they reached their goals. The presentation focuses around three key business practices: aligning your solution with your agency’s key service level indicators, ensuring you obtain buy-in from all affected groups, and preparing your agency and resources to manage the changes that come with implementing new technology. Ensure the solution your stakeholders select is adopted and provides a good return on investment.
Read MorePresented by the Emerging Leaders Academy 2020-2021 Class Study remote work policies, procedures, and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic to develop best practices which help organizations optimize their telework process.
Read MoreCity infrastructure such as buildings, playing fields, and roadway improvements benefit the community significantly, but the responsibility to fund the improvements seems to always fall on the shoulders of the city agency only. However, through strategic thinking and innovative win-win partnerships with stakeholders who benefit from these infrastructure improvements, agencies have the opportunity and ability to partner and obtain outside financial contributions towards these improvements. “Real world” experience examples of such financial partnership opportunities were identified, negotiated and implemented on a street resurfacing project, street widening project, cross walk improvements, soccer field synthetic turf and field fencing replacement project, and improvements to an iconic building at the end of beach pier will be shared. The audience will be able to benefit form the lessons learned perspective in the identification of opportunities for partnership, partnership outreach, negotiations, and implementation process. Attendees will be able to learn how to engage and maintain the communication with the partnership agencies throughout the process to ensure a successful relationship and outcome.
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One of the goals of the APWA Emergency Management Committee is to support APWA chapters in the education of emergency management and homeland security topics. The APWA Emergency Management Committee would…
Read MoreSmall towns and rural communities may produce less waste but that does not mean less work. Fewer staff, resources and vendor options create unique obstacles for smaller town solid waste…
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The Water Resources Management Committee has developed this resource for members on Green Infrastructure. This toolbox is intended for individuals new to this area of public works. It can also…
Read MoreIn the world of winter maintenance a wrong weather forecast is much more than just a punch line, it causes a lot of stress, and sometimes results in bad decisions by winter maintenance supervisors. Accepting wrong weather forecasts is one way to handle the problem, making fun of the meteorologist is another, but it still does not improve your situation. Instead, there are things you can do to help you understand when a forecast might go wrong hours, maybe even days, before the storm. This discussion will talk about simple things you can do to understand how to still make good decisions even when the forecast is not working out. Such as looking at the time between the storm and the forecast can help you with deciding how much weight to give a forecast. Or how to spot the signs of a model only created forecast, and what pitfalls that can cause you. Today, the internet tries to scare us with an image from a model showing a storm 10 days away, and it gets everyone talking including those above you. What should you do about something like that? How do you explain your plan to everyone, up and down, how you are handling the situation so it works out in the end. Hopefully these tips will provide you the ability to sift through all the weather noise and continue to use a weather forecast to make your decisions easier. And yes, not all forecasts are right, but with these tips you can hopefully identify a potential wrong forecast before you fall victim to it.
Read MoreWater and wastewater facility operators face mounting challenges as climate change alters weather patterns across the globe, resulting in increased flood risk and other hazards. This presentation outlines lessons learned from St. Charles, Missouri, where wastewater treatment facility operators faced off with record rainfall and consequent flooding in the spring of 2019. By leveraging employee experience, safety and hazard training, and collaboration with engineers and city stakeholders, the team was able to keep two wastewater treatment facilities online and operating safely. The presentation delivers practical, adaptable information to operators, facility managers, and water district/public works directors as they prepare their own resiliency and flood preparation strategies, whether they’re on the coast, in the Midwest, or elsewhere. Speakers will share their insights on how safety protocols, technology, and operator ingenuity combined to improve short-term outcomes in St. Charles and inform long-term emergency planning. Every flood event is different, making flexibility the most important part of navigating this emergency. Operations staff was able to leverage previous experience to prepare, taking steps such as monitoring river conditions; inventorying and stocking up on chemicals and other critical supplies—ensuring availability and accessibility for treatment facilities and pump stations, and identifying access, logistics, and remote operation alternatives in case any of these facilities became inaccessible. The team had contingency plans for several possible scenarios. The presentation focuses on communication between operators, city stakeholders, engineers, and vendors that ensured that all were on the same page, regardless of how the flood behaved. Documentation also proved critical in the aftermath and the presentation will address those outcomes and lessons learned about data collection and record keeping, especially in the context of a FEMA audit.
Read MorePublic works departments, with the main objective of cost-effectively optimizing resources (labor, equipment, materials, contracts, and assets), must constantly decide between the option of in-house versus outsourced labor. The benefits and costs of outsourced vs. in-house labor will be discussed in this presentation with specific advice regarding when to outsource and when to stay internal. Some specific factors integral to any in-house vs. outsourcing decision that will be mentioned include cost savings, improved service, lack of equipment, staff limitations, technical expertise, contractor availability, work monitoring, emergency repairs, and labor unions. Formulas for comparing internal costs and contractor costs will also be discussed.
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