Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - February 6, 2004
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February 6, 2004
AMSA, WEF Release Key Utility Management Integration Guide
At its 2004 Winter Conference in Los Angeles, AMSA announced this week the release of the joint AMSA-Water Environment Federation Continual Improvement in Utility Management: A Framework for Integration guidebook. This guide, developed under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), addresses the need to improve utility performance through more effective application and integration of management tools and systems. EPA Special Assistant and project manager, James G. Horne, Vice President of Ross & Associates and contractor on the guide, Rob Greenwood, and Public Works Director for the City of Albany, Oregon and a workgroup member on the guide, Diane Taniguchi-Dennis, provided their unique perspectives for conference attendees on the timeliness of this offering. All speakers agreed that the guide is a unique information resource that provides utility managers with a clear overview of the complex interrelationships between utility management initiatives and a “roadmap” to help them integrate the initiatives under a common management systems framework. The guide is available free of charge and can be downloaded from the AMSA website at www.amsa-cleanwater.org/pubs/publist.cfm.Keynote Speakers Highlight AMSA Winter Conference
Although AMSA’s 2004 Winter Conference, From Crisis to Opportunity . . . Strengthening Your Utility’s Assets, concluded today, the ideas presented by the conference’s keynote speakers will continue to resonate as publicly owned treatment work (POTW) managers face increasingly complex workforce and communications challenges. The dynamic duo of Lynn Lancaster & David Stillman, co-founders of Bridge Works, LLC, presented a well-researched and entertaining presentation titled Bridging the Talent Gap: Recruiting and Retaining a Multigenerational Workforce. The presentation focused on the differing workplace values between the 80 million-strong baby-boomer generation, many of whom are now retiring, and the 46 million Generation “X”ers who must be integrated into the workforce. The powerpoint presentation cleverly wove television commercials, illustrative internet websites and statistics to bring home the point that utility managers have a unique opportunity now to develop plans and programs that will help avoid inter-generational workforce crises.Communications expert, Frank Luntz, also provided a detailed interactive presentation of the communications challenges POTWs must meet, and the language they must use, to garner local and national support for their clean water objectives. Focusing on results from his recent national survey to determine the degree of public support for dedicated, federal clean water funding, Luntz made it clear that AMSA and the nation’s POTWs have a strong message that resonates with the vast majority of Americans. To provide one illustrative example, 91% of the 800+ people surveyed agreed that the federal government must recommit to clean water funding. AMSA will distribute to its members via a Special Edition FaxAlert next week the survey results, along with a form press release and form letter to share with your local and national officials and the media on the persuasive results of this critical survey. Conference presentations will be made available next week on AMSA’s Clean Water on the Web site.
- Save the dates of April 19-20, 2004 for the joint AMSA-CSO Partnership National Workshop to Address Key Long Term Control Plan Issues Facing CSO Program Managers. The Workshop, which will coincide with the 10th Anniversary of EPA’s National CSO Policy, will discuss the many CSO-related challenges POTWs still face today. The Workshop will be held at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, Illinois. Registration information is available on AMSA’s conferences and meetings section of its website (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/meetings/2004 CSO Workshop.doc).