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What’s the difference between leadership and management? Just like the debate over whether leadership is an art or a science, this question lingers in the minds of many who can’t draw a distinction. Having addressed leadership behaviors in last year’s PWX presentation on Learning Leadership, the APWA Leadership and Management Committee now aims to define what management is and how one does it. Just like leadership, management skills can be learned and practiced to improve. APWA’s management framework defines those behaviors into five functions. This session will dive into what those are and how to implement them into your own experience. The five functions are planning, organizing, scheduling/delegating, controlling/improvising, and staffing.
Read MoreDuring this interactive session, you will learn how to be ready for the future and more resilient by exploring emerging trends and technologies, innovative concepts and approaches, and solutions that provide improvements to the provision of public works services. Futurist Sheila Shockey guides participants in a structured jam about: Internet of Things (IoT); smart cities, smart assets; artificial intelligence (AI) based asset management; cybersecurity; 5G; autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles and gas taxes; 3D printing/construction; sharing economy; impacts of climate change, extreme weather, long-term droughts; preparing the workplace for Gen Z and Alpha; circular economy; drone technologies; changing demographics; income inequality; public health; disruptive technologies; aging infrastructure, and more. Learn hands-on techniques to take home and facilitate tough conversations. Share ideas with colleagues—the future’s so bright, you have to wear shades. Jam!
Read MorePresented by the APWA Government Affairs Committee (GAC) to ‘jam’ about what is happening in your chapters and communities.
Read MoreThe pandemic was difficult for everyone, fleet operations included. This program consists of an in-depth conversation discussing the challenges fleet operations faced from the effects of the pandemic. We’ll share…
Read MoreThe future of solid waste collection vehicles is exciting. In fact, it’s electric! Truck manufacturers are making big pushes to adopt electric waste collection trucks. Many communities are moving towards…
Read MoreEach community seems to have that one spot that always has crashes when winter weather arrives, or bridge that behaves differently than all the others at night. Why is that? Maybe you have sat through weather presentations before, but can’t figure out how to connect pictures of radars with what happens on your city streets. This session will cut through all the noise on the web and in apps and talk about what really impacts those hard to handle locations. The speaker will investigate the conditions that have the biggest impact on road conditions, and give you a chance to indulge in a little meteorology CSI by looking at examples and deciphering the clues of what happened. Bring your own weather challenges and get them solved on the spot.
Read MoreThis session will focus on some of the challenges and confusion that is prevalent in our profession when it comes to selecting deicer products. The speakers will address both the science and their experiences with liquid deicers.
Read MoreAcross North America, public works budgets are strained to the maximum while essential infrastructure ages in place. Traditional sewer investigations are generally expensive, obtrusive, and often do not pinpoint the inflow/infiltration (I&I) sources. To address this issue, a new tool and technology have emerged in this past decade that is helping managers reduce the cost of sewer line rehabilitation by applying a simple rule: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Micromonitoring is an innovative tool and technology that helps agencies and engineers to perform focused field investigations and, in the end, reduce sewer investigation and rehabilitation program costs. Micromonitoring provides a giant step forward in the evolution of a sewer utility I&I reduction program by focusing sewer rehabilitations/repairs only on sewers that are contributing to wet weather peak flows. Micromonitors are used in small diameter sewers where low flows are common and traditional flow monitoring is ineffective.
Read MoreGreen stormwater infrastructures (GSIs) are typically built for multi-purposes: stormwater treatment and green space. Established vegetation is used to achieve the designed functions. However, plants often fail before they are established as they undergo constant stresses: either too wet or too dry. By design, GSIs flood during storms. Also by design, the growth media drain and dries out quickly between rain events to make room for the next storm. For that to happen, very porous growth media are used. The extreme variations in soil moisture make it very hard for any plant to survive. Other stresses such as road salt also make it hard to keep plants alive. This presentation will review novel technologies that can address the problems by using some of the abundant stormwater in GSIs. Capturing the stormwater also enhances the stormwater reduction and retention feature of GSIs. This stored stormwater can be used to irrigate the plants to ensure their survival.
Read MoreCompleting Shawnee, Kansas’ Nieman Now program ($37 million of public improvements in five projects, with four design consultants and three contractors, within a two-year window) involved a lot more than a willingness to implement a “road diet,” move power lines underground and reduce local flooding. Staff realized that there were enough complicating factors that project coordination had to be taken to a whole new level. The City’s challenges for design and construction will be described, and examples shared of how they were dealt with and resolved. The presenters will review the design and construction timeline, key happenings, complications, extensive utility coordination, and hard choices that had to be made while sharing illustrative content and anecdotes. The session will also highlight lessons “reinforced” about making field changes during construction and the types of documentation that are most helpful when it is time to close out the project.
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