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Orange County, California's reorganization of public works included the movement of 215 positions between service areas, deletion of 57 vacant positions, addition of 45 new positions at lower level classifications, and 7 filled position reallocation requests. As you might assume, the implementation did not come without opposition and impacts from the affected staff. However Orange County Public Works defied the odds and successfully rolled out the restructuring program. They continue to work with the management team, staff, and unions to ensure a full transition and have been acknowledged as a trendsetter within the county and region for organizational solutions.Learning Objectives: Accomplish a massive organizational restructuring.Collaborate with staff to implement department-wide change efforts.Gain buy-in and support from elected officials, management, staff, and unions for organizational change.
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Operations and Maintenance TrainingSpeakers: Tim Bolliger, Interim Drainage Supervisor, Stefan M. Broadus, PE, Engineer I, and Mitch Morgan, Stormwater Services Coordinator, City of Gainesville, FLAttention Operations & Maintenance Crews and Supervisors: Please don't miss out on this opportunity to improve your leadership and management skills. The City of Gainesville, Florida, is dedicated to the training and professional development of its public works operations and maintenance staff. Representatives from the City will present three modules from its highly respected operations and maintenance training program. Join them as they provide ready-to-use tools that will help you be more successful at work. You'll get tips for increasing your skills and knowledge in leadership/team building, project management, and supervision.For those who would like to learn about how to improve upon your organization's existing training program or would like to establish operations and maintenance training based upon the City of Gainesville's model, the speakers will also discuss Gainesville's Progression Through Training Program including its components and the benefits to both staff and the organization.This 3-hour session will open your eyes as to what is possible for you in developing your own operations and maintenance career path and for increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your operations and maintenance division.Learning Objectives: Identify project management approaches that will help you do your job more effectively.Evaluate your own leadership, team building, and supervisory skills and identify ways to improve upon them.Help your organization set up a successful operations and maintenance training program.
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Green Infrastructure Solutions for Stormwater ManagementPlanned and hosted by APWA's Water Resources Management Committee Don't miss these interesting case studies about practical Green Infrastructure applications. Discover what's working and how you will be able to adapt these approaches to your area and systems.Stormwater Quality Retrofits Made Practical Comparing and choosing stormwater quality retrofit alternatives and strategies is challenging. Representatives from the City of Eugene, Oregon, will discuss the benefits and challenges of different water quality alternatives which include rain gardens, large neighborhood scale swales, and pervious concrete pavement. The City of Eugene is an NPDES Phase I permit holder with years of experience implementing stormwater quality improvement retrofit projects. They'll share the lessons learned and innovative solutions.Town Creek Culvert – Green Infrastructure in the Urban Core Stormwater projects have not traditionally been a major component of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) awards, but the City of Greenville, North Carolina, successfully obtained a grant for the Town Creek Culvert project by including green infrastructure components. The routing of this culvert through the urban core of the city is also being impacted by the construction of a highway which is adding 45 acres to the culvert's watershed. The culvert will discharge into a regenerative stormwater conveyance (RSC) that will remove nutrients as well as reduce velocities. Other green infrastructure features include a bioretention area upstream from the RSC, a permeable paver system, wetlands, tree boxes, and another smaller RSC.Detention Basin Retrofits for Stormwater Quality Treatment The City of Springfield, Missouri, has embarked on an innovative and unprecedented integrated plan to prioritize future environmental programs. One of the goals of the integrated plan is to find relatively low costs methods of improving water quality in area streams. Most of the existing stormwater detention basins in Springfield, as well as most communities in the Midwest, were designed with the single purpose of providing flood control. A total of 178 existing detention basins are evaluated for retrofit feasibility considering two options: 1) downsizing the outlet structure to achieve additional water quality treatment; 2) downsizing the outlet structure to improve the infiltration rate of the basin and adding a vegetative component.Conventional stormwater best management practices (BMPs) have been commonly applied in Florida since the early 1980s. However, with the realization that conventional BMPs do not always achieve the desired pollutant load reduction, coupled with the need for practices that are better-suited for smaller spaces and retrofits in highly urbanized areas, GI/LID practices were added to the BMP palette. Challenges met and overcome included accommodating these practices into the existing regulatory/permitting process and adapting them to local hydrologic conditions.Learning Objectives:Identify stormwater retrofit alternatives and strategies.Describe green infrastructure practices that are useful in pollutant load reduction.Determine which green infrastructure approaches would best fit your local hydrologic conditions.
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Managed turf usually scores negatively for environmental stewardship and sustainability. Turf requires routine fertilization, watering, mowing, and weeding. In 2013, Chesterfield County, Virginia, established an experimental urban orchard to replace managed turf space. It is now a great example of sustainable practices through its use of native Virginia fruit and nut trees to provide an edible landscape in a suburban/urban environment. Multifunctional plant mats catch and store rainwater during the rainy season, then they slowly release the water back into the tree roots over the next several weeks or months. The orchard is open to the public 24/7, and educational events are offered to gardeners, school children, and other groups.Learning Objectives: Promote sustainability through urban forestry.Provide an example of sustainable practices to the public through an urban orchard.Provide novel public education opportunities as part of an overall urban forestry program.
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EnvisionA is an easy to use, flexible resource that facilitates the development and maintenance of sustainable infrastructure. It provides value at every step of the process – from the earliest planning stages throughout operations. It is a comprehensive framework of sixty sustainability criteria that address the full range of environmental, social, and economic impacts to sustainability in project design, construction, and operation. This tool can be used for infrastructure projects of all types, sizes, and locations.Join us for this review of the tenets of the triple bottom-line, the application of sustainability in public infrastructure, and the basics of how EnvisionA is applied to projects. We'll take a look at different types of public works projects and review how the rating credits are applied.Learning Objectives:Identify the type of leaders that can best serve your public works operation and the community at-large.Discuss the importance of building resiliency into to public works infrastructure and services.Develop a public outreach program that deploys social media and other communication strategies to increase the presence and reputation of public works with your community.
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Have you wanted to start a snow plow operator training (SPOT) course for your employees? Where do you start? What do you need to do? Come learn how Minnesota and…
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Arapahoe County recognized that the true value and strength of the public works department was its employees and their commitment to the community. To support employees, they embarked on a multi-prong approach to further empower employees, improve employee engagement, brand the public works image, embrace new technologies, and advance leadership and employee growth through training.Learning Objectives: Demonstrate various methods for creating strong employee engagement and performance.Discuss the types of soft skill development needed by management and supervisors to better interact with and motivate employees.Explore how challenges can, in the end, make their organizations excel and incorporate changes.
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FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) program is focused on funding projects that support risk reduction due to natural and man-made disasters. HMA has been expanded to meet the goals of long-term climate resilience, and funding now supports cost-effective project grants that incorporate flood risk reduction and drought mitigation. This presentation will summarize the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant program, review the Climate Resilient Mitigation Actions (CRMA) now eligible for funding, list the benefit-cost analysis for CRMA projects, and provide tips for preparing a grant application.Learning Objectives: Prepare hazard mitigation grant applications that focus on resiliency.Incorporate climate resilience into hazard mitigation planning.Obtain information about FEMA's grant programs.
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Speaker: Bob Allen, Founder and Chief Storytelling Officer, IDEAS; former Disney ImagineerIn Tuesday morning's General Session, Bob Allen explained the components of a powerful story and the mechanisms of good storytelling. Now, let's practice with some of your public works stories! Public works needs to know how to better tell its story – whether it is to gain community support for capital improvement projects, communicate with residents during times of emergency, report on successes and future needs to the city council, or advocate for increased investment in infrastructure and public works services.People respond to good storytelling. This workshop is your opportunity to practice creating the kind of story that you want told about public works.
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Put this session on your schedule! Join us for a completely interactive, compelling, and relevant exploration of the challenges and solutions public works directors encounter every day. Who will pick the topics to be discussed? YOU! Who will be the speakers? YOU! Be inspired to share your story and learn from the mastery achieved by some of North America's best and brightest public works leaders. You are going to be so enthused about what you are learning-you'll be tweeting out your insights to your colleagues who can't join us!Learning Objectives:Advocate for the public works profession and public infrastructure and services.Collaborate with fellow public works directors from across North America in pursuit of solutions to public works challenges.Realize the huge impact your leadership and creativity can have on your departments and communities.
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