APWA Contributes to FEMA’s Public Works Resource Typing Documents

Mark Ray, P.E.
Director of Public Works, City of Crystal, MN

In May 2019, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reached out to the American Public Works Association to aid in updating public works resource typing documents that are part of the online Resource Typing Library Tool (RTLT). The RTLT documents, as they relate to positions (as compared to equipment), help to establish the minimum qualifications for someone filling this role. A side benefit of these position descriptions is that they could help to serve as a resource for public works departments when trying to establish baseline position descriptions for their staff. One important note is that FEMA had already worked with the American Water and Wastewater Association (AWWA) on revising the public works positions that relate to water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure. So those positions were not in the scope of APWA’s involvement. APWA’s Emergency Management Committee reached out to the APWA membership using the Emergency Management infoNOW listserv to engage members who would be interested in participating in this effort. Nineteen members responded and actively contributed over a one-year period to help FEMA revise and update these RTLT position descriptions.

Key Resources

Before diving into the project details, it is important to understand two key resources FEMA has that are available online. The first is the Resource Typing Library Tool (RTLT), and the second is the FEMA Schedule of Equipment Rates. The primary intent of the RTLT is to provide standardization of the language which people, equipment, and teams can be described. This is done so that when requests are made for mutual aid (especially across state lines), everyone will be using similar language so that expectations are met when requested resources arrive. FEMA’s Schedule of Rates is the document that lists the reimbursement rates based on the type of equipment. Not only is the rate dependent on the type of equipment, but within a certain type of equipment the rates can vary based on capacity, horsepower, or other factors.

Equipment Requests

One of the first work items recommended by the members was to remove the public works equipment from the RTLT and use FEMA’s Schedule of Equipment Rates as the way to standardize how equipment is referred to. In emergencies or other disasters, when public works equipment deploys to a situation, there can be a number of different types of equipment that might accomplish the same purpose. This means it is vital that the person requesting the equipment knows what is needed or is able to describe what the problem is they are trying to solve and what their goal is, so that other public works professionals can make recommendations on what equipment should be sent to meet the need. A great example of this could be a hydraulic excavator. Depending on the attachment put at the end of the boom, an excavator can be used for a wide range of tasks that may include tasks beyond digging (for example, moving trees with a grapple). When a request is made for an excavator, the request will be to complete a certain task. The size of the excavator and attachment will be based on that task. If someone requested a Type 1, Hydraulic Excavator (Medium Mass Excavation 4 cy to 1.75 cu buckets) according to the RTLT, there would likely be a variety of questions sent back to the requesting agency as to what task they are specifically trying to accomplish. The RTLT has the excavator sorted based on bucket size for the general category (of which there are three categories) with each category subdivided into four types. The FEMA cost code already breaks down the cost for the excavator by bucket size or horsepower. Just like we use plain language for communication in Incident Command System (ICS), we need to use plain language to communicate problems/goals when making requests as compared to asking for certain equipment with little consideration if that equipment is the best one to accomplish the desired goal. Furthermore, since the FEMA cost schedule has cost codes already included, public works departments can pre-enter the cost code information into their equipment asset management inventories as a preparedness step. Ultimately, FEMA agreed with APWA’s recommendation and removed the public works equipment from the RTLT.

Position Descriptions

When looking at the position descriptions, the working group identified a number of opportunities for changes. Fundamentally, the group tried to establish position descriptions that were generic enough to be able to cover the wide range of tasks that public works professionals do while still setting a benchmark for minimum qualifications. The final list of position descriptions that FEMA approved and integrated into the RTLT are:

• Civil Engineer
• Damage Assessment Team – Public Works
• Debris Assessment Team
• Debris Monitoring Team
• Debris Operations Manager
• Debris Planning Manager
• Debris Supervisor
• Debris Technical Specialist
• Engineering Manager
• Equipment Operator
• Mechanic
• Public Works Director
• Public Works Safety Specialist
• Public Works Supervisor
• Public Works Support Team
• Public Works Systems Manager
• Public Works Systems Technician
• Structural Engineer

The group also looked across all the position descriptions to establish how they relate to each other. Figure 1 shows the new position descriptions and how they relate to each other in terms of the supervisory hierarchy of the person that may fill that role. As an agency makes a request for mutual aid or as a public works department looks to integrate these position descriptions into their agency’s job descriptions, using Figure 1 to help take into consideration the supervisory hierarchy between position descriptions may be helpful.

As the working group looked at each of the original position descriptions that needed to be updated, it was clear that the titles of the positions did not necessarily align well with typical public works position descriptions. When looking at the details of each position description, each position has the following components: Description, Education, Training, Experience, Physical/Medical Fitness, Currency, and Professional and Technical Licenses and Certifications. The following sections break down the key principles that the group thought about for each component of each position description:

Description: The description talks about what this position would do and the main responsibilities. As the group worked through each position description, the primary intent was to be clear in how the given position description aligned with positions likely found within current public works departments across the United States.

Education: This section talks about the education requirements for a given position. As a reminder, the point of these position descriptions is to establish the minimum requirements. For the public works position descriptions, the educational requirements range from none to a bachelor’s degree.

Training: This section only talks about training as it relates to the Independent Study Courses offered for free from FEMA. Because these position descriptions are generally intended to be used for mutual aid requests, there naturally is an emergency management aspect to each position. The intent of this section is to establish the minimum emergency management-related training that a person in this role would need. From a typical public works job description standpoint, the group’s intent was that the job-related training would be covered under the “Experience,” “Currency,” and “Professional and Technical Licenses and Certifications” sections.

Experience: This section was intended to be very clear in connecting standard public works job responsibilities with what may be requested of that role as part of an emergency response. As an example, for the Equipment Operator position, the experience requirement (which again is just the minimum) is one year. The reason the group chose one year is because many public works departments have a one-year probationary period. Even if a public works department has an operator who is very skilled, the public works department should not deploy any staff member who is on probationary status. Looking at the Civil Engineer position, the experience requirement is one year following Professional Engineer licensure. Since people cannot sit for Professional Engineer tests until having at least four to five years of experience, the functional effect of this experience requirement is that an individual will have at least five to six years of experience before meeting the requirement for this role.

Physical/Medical Fitness: In the “Currency” section of all the position descriptions it requires that the individual “currently works in this position in a municipal, county, state, tribal or territorial public works department.” Because each public works department will likely already have physical/medical requirements for their staff, the group felt that in this case it did not make sense to add any other provisions. That said, because personal protective equipment (PPE) is so vital to public works operations, the provision was included that the person must be able to wear the appropriate personal PPE while doing the assigned tasks.

Currency: When a unit of government requests mutual aid, that request is intended for other units of government to respond to. Should the requesting government want resources from the private sector or volunteers, mutual aid would not apply because they can directly contract with the private sector resources and set up their own volunteer management system to coordinate volunteer assignments. Because of these factors, the requirement was set that each individual “currently works in this position in a municipal, county, state, tribal or territorial public works department.”

Professional and Technical Licenses and Certifications: Because the type of infrastructure, equipment, and associated tasks can vary widely for public works professionals, this section was left as not overly specific in defining the requirements. For this item, an agency requesting mutual aid would need to specify what, if any, professional or technical licenses or certifications would be required.

Again, agencies looking to use the Resource Typing Library Tool (RTLT) when requesting mutual aid need to be aware that these position descriptions establish the minimum qualifications. Certain situations or needs may require that the requesting agency add some other provisions to the request. For example, if the requesting agency is looking for equipment operators for a certain type of equipment, while they can use the equipment operation position description, they should also add the type of equipment that they need operated. Finally, in the ideal world to help improve public works preparedness, public works departments would integrate components of these position descriptions into the job descriptions of their staff within their agency.

Acknowledgements

A big thank you to the following individuals that contributed many hours over nearly a year to this effort:

• Albert Carbon III – Oakland Park, FL
• Amy Rose – Louisville, KY
• Brad Upson – Paragon Consulting Group, Inc
• Craig Eldred – Waconia, MN
• Dave Atkinson – Placer, CA
• Don Wenzel – Rolling Meadows, IL
• Eric Patterson – Harrisonville, MO
• Graham Watts – Thousand Oaks, CA
• Joe Fornaro – Kirtland, OH
• Kathy Cryan – Madison, WI
• Kristina Ramierez – Harker Heights, TX
• Leon Berrett – Salt Lake County, UT
• Loni Eazell – Los Angeles County, CA
• Mark Ray – Crystal, MN
• Pete Cavalli – Pinellas Technical College
• Rob Cole – Olathe, KS
• Ron Knoche – Iowa City, IA
• Steve Ford – Las Vegas, NV
• Vanessa Burns – Louisville, KY

Mark Ray is the past Chair of the Emergency Management Committee, represents APWA on the National Homeland Security Consortium, and is the Chair of the State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordinating Council (SLTTGCC) for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Mark can be reached at mark.ray@crystalmn.gov or 763.531.1160.