Financing and Management
NT I
NDWAC Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Working Group
Background: Under the National Drinking Water Advisory
Council (NDWAC), EPA has formed a Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund (DWSRF) Working Group to help identify issues and make recommendations
to EPA on implementation of the Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund program.
Status: The next Working Group meeting is scheduled for
January 1998 in Washington, D.C. CONTACT: Rick Naylor, EPA 202/260-5135
or Christy Kettell, AMSA 202/833-9106.
AMSA's 1998 Winter Conference, "Thinking, Getting &
Staying Competitive..."
AMSA's 1998 Winter Conference in San Antonio, Texas, on February 3-6, "Thinking, Getting & Staying Competitive...," will focus on an issue of increasing importance to public agencies - competitiveness. The Conference's keynote address will be given by Dr. Robert Kriegal who specializes in strategies and practical guidelines for excelling in these increasingly turbulent, rapidly changing, and intensely competitive times. Leaders of the country's top organizations rave about Dr. Kriegal's ability to "wow" an audience with his entertaining, enlightening, and motivating style. The Conference will also feature the release of AMSA' newest publication, "Thinking, Getting & Staying Competitive: A Public Sector Handbook (described in the following article of this update)." The first day of the Conference, focusing on "Thinking Competitively: Taking the First Steps," will feature a panel of POTW managers sharing their experiences initiating competitive change. The panel will be followed by a workshop, "Building High Performance Teams," which stresses the importance of team building as an integral part of the competitiveness process. The second day, focusing on "Getting Competitive: Identifying an Effective Strategy," will focus on elements common to most successful competitiveness processes and highlight successful strategies outlined in AMSA's Handbook. Four "Interactive Workshops" will follow a panel presentation and provide participants with the opportunity to access their agency's competitiveness. The final day will focus on "Staying Competitive: Continuous Quality Improvement," and will feature managers of several utilities who have completed competitiveness processes and are doing much more than maintenance. Gaining support from governing officials, management, and staff will also be addressed. The conference flyer was mailed in mid November to all AMSA members. On-line conference registration and program details are also available on the AMSA web site. For questions regarding registration, please contact Jackie Hamilton, AMSA 202/833-4656. For questions regarding the program, please contact Christy Kettell, AMSA 202/833-3692.
AMSA Competitiveness Report
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 will serve 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 is being developed
under the guidance of AMSA's Competitiveness Workgroup and will
be released during AMSA's 1998 Winter Conference, Thinking, Getting
& Staying Competitive, February 3-6, in San Antonio, TX. The
Handbook will illustrate a "how to" approach to becoming
competitive by highlighting proven strategies for becoming competitive
and profiling several utilities that have developed these strategies.
Status: Following the release of the Handbook on February
3, 1998, AMSA and AMWA will sponsor eight "how to" workshops
based on the publication. The workshops will feature both panel
and interactive sessions and will provide members and non-members
alike with the opportunity to network with water and wastewater
officials in their regions. The day and a half long workshops
are currently scheduled to be held in the following cities in
1998: April 21-22, Providence, RI; April 23-24, Philadelphia,
PA; June 2-3, San Francisco, CA; June 4-5, Los Angeles, CA; September
15-16, Chicago; September 17-18, Kansas City, MO; November 17-18,
Atlanta, GA; November 19-20, Houston, TX. On-line information
and registration will be available in January at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org.
CONTACT: Christy Kettell, AMSA 202/833-3692.