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Splashpads have become a valuable city amenity across the country, but many facilities and/or grounds managers are unsure what is needed to acquire, plan, and manage a splashpad. Our panel…
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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 MoreThis tech box provides information on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)
Read MoreHave you been thinking about having a connected and/or automated vehicle pilot in your jurisdiction? If so, this program is for you. This program will provide participants with an overall…
Read MoreA brief overview of modern management styles vs. the former command and control structure. How a proper plan, training and implementation can bring the change that a snow and ice control manager desires. Shared experiences good and bad of the change process and its effect on the working and supervisory group.
Read MorePlain salt brine is the most commonly used liquid deicer, but agencies often use a variety of more complex brine blends to seek enhanced performance. Field experience is always the ultimate arbiter of effectiveness of any deicer, but it can usually only judge on a coarse, qualitative basis. Laboratory studies permit a more precise understanding of deicer performance properties and can provide valuable supporting information about the effectiveness expected from deicing chemicals. Thus, this presentation will focus on what we are learning about the fundamental performance properties of enhanced brine blends under controlled conditions in the laboratory. Topics will include: how do common brine enhancers affect ice melting capacity and rate? Low temperature performance? Pre-wet performance? What is the optimum brine concentration? What causes some brine blends to turn into “mayonnaise” and how do we avoid it? Under what circumstances are enhanced brine blends likely to be most useful?
Read MoreFrost Control Systems has grown tremendously with 5x growth Year over year for 3 years. We now own and maintain close to 20% of the US RWIS network and the majority of city RWIS. One thing we’ve discovered is that cities use RWIS units very differently than counties and State DOTs. We would like to propose a round table discussion involving 2 cities, 1 county, 1 State DOT, and Frost Control Systems as a moderator. Specifically, we’d like a city with a dense deployment(15-30 RWIS), a city with initial deployment(3-6), a county with a fully developed network(10-30), and a State DOT(70-150). As of now, we can provide a list of 5-7 cities for a dense deployment, 30ish at the initial deployment stage. For counties, we have a dozen or so that have offered to be speakers. We do not have a State DOT, but I’m sure APWA would know a good speaker choice. We’d like the topics to primarily be focused around how RWIS were used before, during, and after the storm. For example, the City of Fort Wayne had a freezing rain event last year that saw temperatures plummet 40 degrees in a 12 hour period immediately before a rainstorm. It left about 25% of the city at unexpected at risk of freezing rain, but they used their network of RWIS to pretreat the coldest areas first and escape unscathed. We’d also like them to talk about some of the factors that mattered in the design. I.E. What they considered before and what they know now. Urban design is much more complicated as different traffic levels, road compositions, building/heat island effects, and micro-climates all contribute. We expect the counties to have dramatically different answers than the city maintenance directors and think it would be valuable for APWA members to hear from them. There’s much more that can be added if need be, but we feel that this focusses on the growing trend of RWIS used in cities and provides an opportunity for a lot of new experience to be presented in a non-salesy manner.
Read MoreThe Maximo Leadership Initiative (MLI) is one of Orange County Utilities’ (OCU’s) initiatives to address technical needs that impact activities across the department. The goal is to use its computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) effectively and consistently as an enterprise business tool. The MLI effort also includes establishing a consistent framework so that all who are using the system have a common understanding and language; defining the elements of key Maximo standards, protocols and procedures; and creating a platform to track and visualize performance of the initiative through a dashboard. OCU comprises 7 divisions, employing more than 900 staff, and all divisions use Maximo in some capacity. Maximo is the mechanism to track and capture maintenance activities. Other uses include getting asset information out of, or into the system. As such, each division has a part in getting the most effective data into Maximo, and extracting key information out to help make sound business decisions. The approach used by Brown and Caldwell (BC) and OCU to perform MLI work followed best practices for conducting an assessment and was well documented so that OCU can revisit the process periodically and adjust activities as needed to meet changing goals or drivers. Following a practical approach meant that the recommendations from the findings were made incremental, achievable and measurable with OCU’s available resources. BC worked with OCU senior management to establish goals and objectives for using Maximo; assess the current state of OCU’s Maximo use and its desired state and priorities through facilitated workshops with Maximo subject matter experts; develop the actions needed to address the gaps in practices; establish policies and measures to guide and track performance; and set up a continuous improvement cycle using a Microsoft Power BI performance measures and KPIs dashboard to address changing needs of the program.
Read MoreThe 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 2020 is a significant reminder to public works professionals of the importance of ensuring compliance with this important law. Embracing accessibility will prevent public entities from losing federal funding and protect them from potential access related complaints or litigation. Most importantly, it will provide an opportunity to better serve the community. In order to continue eligibility for federal funding, all public entities subject to ADA Title II must complete a Self-Evaluation. Public entities with 50+ employees are required to have a Transition Plan in place that addresses structural changes necessary for achieving program accessibility. In this presentation, attendees will gain an in-depth knowledge of both state and federal access requirements and how these overlapping laws work together. After attending this instructive session, participants will be well equipped to create an ADA compliant Transition Plan that will ensure that individuals with disabilities are not excluded from their community’s programs, services and activities.
Read MoreThis session addresses the practical applications, critical issues, emerging trends, innovative approaches, and best practices for creating/delivering presentations for public works leaders. Examples of successful presentations will be supplied and analyzed as tangible illustrations of best presentation practices. These exemplary presentations achieved their end goal and were effective at convincing leaders.
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