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Regardless of the type or quantity of vehicles or equipment your agency needs, the most important part of the procurement decision-making process is making the right selection for the agency's needs. Not only can the wrong choices negatively impact the agency's service delivery, but they can also waste taxpayer dollars. This session will provide an overview of APWA's Spec Writing 101 publication that provides an overview of how to conduct a legal and ethical procurement process for vehicles, equipment, and services to meet your agency's operational needs.
Read MoreCities across the United States face an economic crisis related to aging infrastructure and increasing regulatory burdens. Practical environmentalism requires removing unnecessary regulatory burdens so that limited local, state, and federal resources can be used most effectively and efficiently to clean and protect water sources. This presentation will identify how existing regulatory procedures and flexibility may be used to eliminate or reduce regulatory mandates that will not provide local ecological and public health benefits. You will learn about communities that were able to save millions by using updated scientific data, scheduling authority, judicial review and existing waiver/variance provisions so that more pressing public works projects can be implemented.
Read MoreOver the past two-years, the City of Upper Arlington, Ohio, has sent staff from all levels to the Lean Six-Sigma Bootcamp. A committee has been formed to apply the continuous improvement process to various departmental activities. The lean approach involves making a workplace efficient and effective as possible, reducing waste and using value stream maps. These processes can be used for a range of activities from a simple spring cleaning of your workspace to a full departmental process change. Discover how the City of Upper Arlington is integrating these principles into their operations.
Read MoreThe City of Milwaukee embarked on a CNG program in 2010 with grant money provided by the State of Wisconsin using federal funds. Some advantages of the CNG program have included reduced fuel costs and quieter garbage packers. Attend this session for an overview of the successes and challenges of a CNG program.
Read MoreHillsborough County, Florida, conducted performance review of several operational areas. They gained valuable insight about opportunities to make work processes more efficient and effective. This session will cover the methodology for the reviews and the substantial savings that have resulted from deploying the recommended changes. The County has implemented a complete maintenance management system which is integrated with GIS, allowing them to track work completed and comparing the unit costs and productivity against established benchmarks.
Read More“Get out of the office and circulate among the troops.” We’ve all seen the version of this where the boss joins the crew for a day, poses for a picture in a hard hat, and then is never seen again. Don’t miss this presentation by a public works leader who has adopted a regular, repeating program of inserting himself into workgroups. Every two or three weeks, he spends an entire workday as a member of a crew. He tells the crew to treat him like an extra, if unskilled, pair of hands. Invariably the barriers come down after a couple of hours and after the conversations about sports and families subside, questions are freely asked. Honest answers are a must, but this approach has strengthened relationships, countered bad perceptions, enhanced communication and built trust.
Read MoreThis session will feature presentations from the Netherlands about integrating the concepts of social cohesion and resiliency into the design of public spaces and infrastructure. Presentations will include: • Information about a design instrument that integrates input from all the various stakeholders involved in designing public spaces. • A case study featuring The Resiliency Strategy developed by the City of Rotterdam that includes these components: social cohesion and education, energy transition, cyber use and security, climate change adaptation, infrastructure, and changing governance.
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Road salts are entering the environment in large amounts and posing a risk to plants, animals, birds, fish, lake/stream ecosystems, and groundwater. The City of Barrie, Ontario, has found that concentrations of sodium and chloride for certain supply wells are trending upward near the point of exceeding Ontario Drinking Water Standards. The City has developed a Salt Optimization Strategy to identify opportunities to maintain safe surfaces for pedestrian and vehicular traffic while minimizing the environmental impacts of salt application.
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Some agencies have been using liquids for a number of years and are now implementing various advanced techniques. Among the new techniques being tried are liquid blends; using two different chlorides and adding carbohydrate liquids to brines; using advanced systems to ensure trucks are loaded correctly with the right materials and the right quantities; and using liquids to create slurries at high pre-wetting rates.
Read MoreThe Norwegian Association of Municipal Engineers, in cooperation with the Norwegian Water Association, recognize that public workers have a great influence on the livability and health of their communities. To recognize the contribution of water operators and engineers, they present an award each year called “Norway’s Best Drinking Water” to those responsible for ensuring safe and environmentally-sound water supply.
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