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Since the boom in the first decade of this century collapsed into the great recession, the public works industry has seen a mighty blow to its workforce and resource levels. While the recovery is underway and in full swing, a large number of capable personnel have left the industry never to return. Now more than ever, the public works industry needs good leadership. That doesn’t mean people with lots of experience who ascend to higher positions in our organizations because it’s their turn either. It means people who are willing to lead, no matter their position or title. Leader Under Construction examines a variety of key characteristics, skills and attributes a good leader must have or develop, relating those to the development of a construction project. Participants in Leader Under Construction progress through their leadership development from what makes for a solid leadership foundation, through the things a leader must do to form/frame themselves properly, finally moving into the finishing touches that ensure a leader stays sharp. Foundation, Forming/Framing, Finishing. Just like a building, a roadway, or a pipeline, you can’t stand the test of time if each step of the process isn’t done right. But that isn’t the end. Just like a construction project, once a leader is built, they must maintain those attributes and skills if they want to continue on in peak condition. Maintenance isn’t just for pavement. Attendees at this session will be challenged to create a leadership development plan. The foundation for this plan will be discussed during the presentation, but it will be up to each person to form/frame and finish it on their own! Good leadership starts with self-leadership, and developing better leaders creates stronger, more productive, more profitable organizations. Become a Leader Under Construction and start your journey toward good leadership.
Portland, Maine, began making significant investments in green infrastructure (GI) in the early 2000s and has since installed nearly 150 GI features throughout the city. In a decade plus of installing and maintaining these systems, Portland has learned important lessons about which systems work and how best to maintain them. Portland’s experience offers insights applicable to many other communities as they build and invest in their stormwater infrastructure programs. Portland was proactive in developing GI installations and linkage to clear maintenance procedures. In 2014, the city hired contractors that specialize in maintenance of stormwater control measures to inventory assets, develop operations and maintenance protocols, and to inspect a subset of systems. Today most GI maintenance is subcontracted to skilled contractors and inspection and maintenance cycles continue to increase to accommodate trash, sedimentation, winter damage and other impacts. Portland’s experience shows that maintaining GI is different. It requires skills and knowledge that current staff may not have—staff who manage buried pipes may not be good gardeners. GI maintenance also requires significant effort. Understanding the level of effort, the necessary frequency of maintenance visits, and the different kinds of maintenance each feature requires is critical. This presentation tells the story of the development of Portland’s GI program, the evolution of its maintenance practices, and how past experience is shaping future approaches. Through specific examples, it encourages attendees to think about the unexpected issues they may encounter as they develop their own GI projects, particularly in colder climates. And it offers specific guidance based on lessons learned from more than a decade of hands-on management of an extensive GI program.
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.
Summary 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.
Presented 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.
City 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.
Smart Cities is a concept that has been around for several years; however, Public Works professionals need a better understanding of what is a smart city, defining the program elements…
Small 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…
Liquids 101 described why we use liquids, Liquids 201 showed us how to use them, Liquids 301 detailed the benefits of using them. In Advanced Liquids we will examine the new ways in which liquids are being used in winter operations today, that are allowing agencies to achieve even more with them than traditional liquid usage. These methods include blending liquids, where small amounts (typically in the 5-10% range by volume) of enhancing liquids are added to a base salt brine. These blends include carbohydrates and other chlorides, to enhance persistence on the road and low temperature performance. We will detail the limitations of these blends and also their benefits, in particular their cost benefits, by examining both results from the laboratory and from field work. We will also discuss the growing trend of using liquid only routes, where under certain circumstances agencies have had great success using liquids not only before the storm but also all through the storm (instead of using pre-wet solid materials during the storm). Third we will discuss techniques where liquids can be used in conjunction with solids to handle difficult accumulations of snow and ice – an approach sometimes known as “shake and bake.” This is all backed up not only by research but also by field experience, and we will share both aspects with you fully.
There are few assets where a condition-based, “worst first” approach to maintenance and replacement leaves a public works agency more exposed. Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is mandatory, and fines for not complying can be significant. Often, strategy documents don’t align with the in-the-field tactics of managing ADA assets like sidewalks and curb ramps. These facts make a risk-based approach to managing the sidewalk and curb ramps the right process. This presentation covers why a “worst first” approach to managing assets “like” or “such as” sidewalk and curb ramps is not a good approach. Experts will discuss methods for developing an inventory using modern Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Tools, and help participants define levels-of-service that align ADA Standards with their community’s priorities. The presentation concludes with examples of implementing a Risk-Based Approach to project prioritization. The presenters have leveraged a risk-based approach to managing ADA assets of all types and sizes with public works departments in every region of the county. The process that will be outlined is universal and adaptable. All attendees will have a blueprint for leveraging risk modeling at the conclusion. This presentation covers: tools used for developing an inventory of assets; developing levels of service that compliment ADA requirements and organizational resources; and implementing a “risk map” for project prioritization.