To: Members & Affiliates
From: National Office
Date: November 5, 1999
Subject: Creating High Performance Business Services: A Public Sector Handbook
Reference: MU 99-12

AMSA is pleased to provide its members with a complimentary copy of the latest public sector handbook Creating High Performance Business Services. This is the second competitive management publication jointly developed by AMSA and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies' (AMWA). AMSA will highlight the publication at the Association's upcoming winter conference, Utility Leadership in the New Millennium, Feb. 1-4, 2000 in Albuquerque, N.M., and throughout the year at a series of workshops currently under development.

Building upon the processes to improve core drinking water and wastewater utility functions in 1998's Thinking, Getting and Staying Competitive, the new handbook focuses on increasing the performance of public utility business services, a crucial component of any utility's overall mission. Although commonly called “support services,” the handbook uses the term “business services” to emphasize the pivotal role that functions such as customer service, fleet management and equipment purchasing play in the overall competitiveness of public utilities.

The handbook represents the significant input and efforts of members of AMSA's Competitive Management Committee under the leadership of Chair Ralph Charlton, Director of Fiscal Services for the Alexandria, Va. Sanitation Authority and Vice Chair Paul Causey, General Manager/District Engineer for the Delta Diablo, Calif. Sanitation District. In addition, the advice and participation of the International City and County Management Association (ICMA) aided AMSA and AMWA considerably in the development of the handbook. ICMA's participation and continuing involvement with the outreach of Creating High Performance Business Services will also help to ensure a broad reception by a number of local government officials across the country. The handbook also received the endorsement of the National League of Cities, which recognizes the importance of “top-notch performance in our nation's water and wastewater treatment plants.” The League's endorsement will substantially heighten the publication's visibility among local elected officials.

Members are encouraged to share the handbook with their business service departments and elected officials. Extra copies of the handbook cost $45 plus 7 percent shipping and can be ordered online at www.amsa-cleanwater.org or by calling the National Office at 202/833-2672. We hope you will make good use of the handbook as you work to optimize your agency's performance.

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