Financing & Management
AMSA Competitiveness Report and Workshops
Background: AMSA and the
Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) have joined
to produce a new publication, Thinking, Getting & Staying
Competitive: A Public Sector Handbook. The Handbook serves
as a companion piece to AMSA's previously released publications,
"Evaluating Privatization: An AMSA Checklist,"
and "Managed Competition: Developing and Responding to
RFQs & RFPs." The Handbook, released during
AMSA's Winter Conference, illustrates a "how to" approach
to becoming competitive by highlighting proven strategies for
becoming competitive and profiling several utilities that have
developed these strategies.
Status: AMSA and AMWA
will sponsor several "how to" workshops based on the
publication, which will feature panel and interactive sessions
and will provide members and non-members with the opportunity
to network with water and wastewater officials in their regions.
The Thinking, Getting & Staying Competitive: Workshops
for the Evolving Public Utility debuted last month in Providence,
RI and Philadelphia, Penn. to rave reviews. The workshops feature
a mix of lectures and breakout sessions to teach and then reinforce
competitive concepts, including teamwork, labor/management relations
and effective use of technology. Member agencies are encouraged
to send multi-level staff teams to the Workshops to gain maximum
benefit from the workshops. The remaining day and a half workshops
are scheduled for: Nov. 17-18, Atlanta, GA; Nov. 19-20, Houston,
TX. Online registration is available on AMSA's web site at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org.
CONTACT: Claudine Bodin, AMSA 202/833-4651.
AMSA Preparing for 1999 Financial Survey
AMSA's Financing and Management Committee is completing review of the Association's Financial Survey form, incorporating information on staffing and salaries, as well as including questions on limited benchmarking information. The Committee is planning to request Board funding approval to hire a consultant to perform the 1999 survey and follow-up analysis. Requests for proposals will be solicited in early September and a formal technical action fund request will be forwarded to the Board during the September leadership meeting. CONTACT: Mark Hoeke, AMSA 202/833-9106.
AMSA/AMWA Join Forces to Publish Resource Guide
AMSA and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies
(AMWA) will collaborate on the upcoming publication of the fourth
in a series of AMSA management publications titled, Innovative
Management Practices for Public Utilities: An AMSA/AMWA Resource
Guide. The new publication will provide information and examples
of innovative and successful programs underway at numerous utilities.
Names of contacts and phone numbers will be included to make more
detailed information readily accessible and facilitate communication
regarding competitiveness methods. The Resource Guide is
scheduled for release in February 1999 and will be available in
both print and on AMSA's web site, http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org.
CONTACT: Paula Dannenfeldt, AMSA 202/833-4654.