UPCOMING EVENTS

January 18, 2017
APWA January Luncheon
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January 18, 2017
APWA BOD Meeting
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January 18, 2017
APWA Northern Branch 2017 Mixer
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January 23, 2017
Statewide Conference Committee - Volunteers Wanted!
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March 12, 2017
Spring Family Picnic


August 4-6, 2017
Statewide Conference

2017 NEWSLETTER SPONSORS

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2017.  At the start of this New Year be sure to take a few minutes to reflect on what you achieved in 2016 and what goals are on your list for 2017.

I want to take the opportunity to thank Ray Dovalina for the years he served as a member on this Board. As most members are aware, Ray resigned from the APWA Board last month due to his increase in work commitments. This was not an easy decision for him, and we will miss his contribution on the board. He remains committed to APWA.

January kicks off the planning and organization for our 2017 Annual Statewide Conference so be sure to SAVE THE DATE for August 2-4, in Tucson at the Hilton El Conquistador. This year, we have new conference committee co-chairs; Christy Sipos, Marketing Manager at Civiltec Engineering,  and Scott Kirchhofer, Business Development and Marketing Manager at Achen-Gardner Construction, LLC,  have accepted the challenge. (A special Thank You to Robin Bain and Arno Leskinen for their contributions these past years as the co-chairs)

At this time, Christy and Scott are looking for volunteers to join the new conference committee. If you would like to participate in the planning and organizing of this year’s conference, please plan to attend our first committee meeting on January 23^rd,  11:30-1:00 pm at Stantec’s office, 8211 S. 48^th Street, Phoenix. Lunch will be served so please RSVP at, http://arizona.apwa.net/EventDetails/10708. There is no cost for this meeting, but registration is needed. There are several sub-committees to choose from.

All Conference details are available on the APWA AZ website. Following are some of the highlights:

• Award Submittals are open and due January 27^th with Southern Branch Awards due January 20^th. Please go to the website for all the project information  and criteria. http://arizona.apwa.net/PageDetails/10340. The awards will be presented at the conference in August.
• Call for Abstracts are now open. If you have a project or idea for a program, please submit an abstract. These are due February 24^th.  http://arizona.apwa.net/PageDetails/10743
• Watch for an email announcement regarding the Booth and Vendor information. Special Discount Pricing for signing up before the end of February.

Be sure to join us on January 18^th for our Monthly Luncheon. Mike Ellegood will present on “Managing Risk on Public Infrastructure Projects”.

Sincerely,
Loretta Flick
ARIZONA CHAPTER PRESIDENT

New Members

Sustainability - Making it a Part of Our Culture

Gregory B (Greg) Smith, PE/PS, ENV SP, G Smith Consulting             
President-Elect APWA Arizona Chapter, Member of the Sustainability Committee

This past September we had a very well attended and well received luncheon meeting on the subject of "Sustainability in the Public Sector - Now and Tomorrow".  Representatives from several communities and the engineering and construction industries spoke about how they saw sustainability efforts taking shape in their worlds. Following the luncheon several people asked the Sustainability Committee what was meant by sustainability. So before we go too far perhaps it would be good to define the meaning of sustainability. While there are a number of variations, one rather straight forward meaning that surfaces often is - "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.⁽¹⁾" This is certainly a laudable goal but how does the public works industry achieve it?
 
First our industry should consider taking a brief moment to do some self-congratulations and a little self-promotion. In a May 2016 APWA Reporter article, entitled "Sustainability Plans in Public Works Agencies"⁽²⁾, Daryl Grigsby, Public Works Director for the City of San Luis Obispo, California noted that in many respects the public works industry is "on the cutting edge of sustainability practices". He also noted that we are not terribly overt in promoting our achievements, which are not insignificant. We only need to look around our state to see that taking place: alternatives for solid waste management (e.g.: Phoenix's RISN program); our creative water resource management, such as wastewater reuse/recharge, rainwater capture/reuse, Low-Impact-Development; alternative energy for public works equipment and vehicles; and other programs. We need to find ways to let the rest of our communities (officials and the public) know the efforts we are, and have been, doing to make our communities sustainable. Public Works and Engineers’ Week, school and community events, utility bill inserts, and our public works websites are all potential opportunities. Public works is on the front line of the sustainability efforts of our communities just like we are in so many other ways. Let's help others be more aware of what we do.
 
While we don't necessarily need radical changes in what we do and how we do it, we shouldn't merely rest on our laurels. Mike Gent, Public Works Director, Surprise Arizona and member of the Sustainability Committee here and in Washington State recently noted "The days of being indifferent to or ignorant of sustainability are long gone and waiting for legislative mandates to be put into place is not a viable formula for our communities or customers.  … ultimately it is up to each of us as guardians of public resources to hold ourselves accountable, accept our responsibilities, and embed sustainable approaches into day-to-day decision making."
 
How then can we stay ahead of the legislative mandates? Perhaps by making sustainability an overt and intrinsic make of our organizational fabric. Things we might do: actively discuss sustainability in staff meetings and training and insert it into our annual plans and team and individual goals/objectives. We can challenge ourselves and our organizations to incorporate sustainability goals in all our operational actions/plans³⁾. We can challenge our consultants, contractors, and suppliers to incorporate sustainability into their efforts by adding sustainability as a factor in their selection and consider the use of the ENVISION® rating system for evaluating infrastructure project design and planning⁽⁴⁾. Better we, as the knowledge experts in our field, take the lead and guide the process effectively rather than have outside forces mandate our actions. 

Mike recently noted that in Washington State they were eventually able to retire their Sustainability Committee because sustainability had become an integral part of their everyday efforts – a part of their culture⁽⁵⁾. As a member of the Sustainability Committee, I would like to encourage/challenge all of the very committed professionals of our industry throughout the great state of Arizona to contemplate how we can make sustainability an even more significant part of our short- and long-term plans by making it a part of our culture.

1. Bruntland Report for the World Commission on Environment and Development (1992)
2. APWA Reporter, May 2016, Page 66, Daryl Grigsby, Public Works Director for the City of San Luis Obispo, California
3. In the AWPA Report article Daryl Grigsby proceeds to discuss the benefit of public works organizations developing and using a Sustainability Plan for their operations – department or government agency wide. In May Sandy Garrick of Pima County noted the benefits they have accrued have one in place. Several communities here in Arizona have developed such plans. A list of a few:

• City of Peoria
• City of Flagstaff
• Pima County

4. The City of Los Angeles, California, City Council approved the City Engineer’s decision to use Envision and receive project certifications, supported the Bureau of Engineering in collaborating with the County of Los Angeles on Envision projects, and directed the Bureau to report on the progress of Envision. The motion was approved November 4, 2016. https://sustainableinfrastructure.org/case-study/city-of-los-angeles-city-council-adopts-envision-as-a-policy/
5. “An organization’s culture guides the decisions of its members by establishing and reinforcing expectations about what is valued and how things are done." (the way we do things around here)

embedding sustainability in organizational culture - A Systematic Review of the Body of Knowledge – Page 10 
Network for Business Sustainability 2010; Dr Stephanie Bertel, Faculty of Simon Fraser University, etal
6. “A culture of sustainability is one in which organizational members hold shared assumptions and beliefs about the importance of balancing economic efficiency, social equality and environmental accountability.” (managing the triple bottom line)

embedding sustainability in organizational culture - A Systematic Review of the Body of Knowledge – Page 10
Network for Business Sustainability 2010; Dr Stephanie Bertel, Faculty of Simon Fraser University, etal

Sustainability in Phoenix

Yvette Roeder, City of Phoenix

Phoenix has been a leader in solid waste collection for many years. In 2013, Phoenix set a goal to increase its waste diversion rate to 40 percent by the year 2020. With the guidance and approval of the Mayor and City Council, the city launched the Reimagine Phoenix initiative, that gives focus to three major components to achieve this lofty waste diversion goal --expanding community and educational outreach, enhancing and adding solid waste programs and developing public-private partnerships.
 
“As the 6th largest city in the United States, we wanted to demonstrate our commitment and leadership when it comes to sustainability and waste management,” said John Trujillo, Phoenix Public Works Director and an active board member of the American Public Works Association (APWA). “It was imperative the city changed its ways in viewing and dealing with trash if we wanted to be viewed as a world-class, sustainable desert city.”
 
True to his word, Trujillo and the Phoenix Public Works Department didn’t waste any time, and they set things in motion.
 
Public Works partnered with the city’s Community and Economic Development Department to create economic activity by repurposing waste. Both departments identified public and private partnerships as an integral component to changing the way the city and its residents view discarded materials. Through the “Transforming Trash into Resources” Request for Proposals (RFP), the city asked the market “What if…?” What if instead of paying to landfill materials, the city paid to return those materials to our local economy?
 
At the same time, the city issued a “Call for Innovators” (CFI), commonly known as a Request for Information, to solicit information being used to create Phoenix’s circular economy hub and future RFPs. Through these mechanisms, the city identified opportunities to create economic activity by diverting materials otherwise landfilled. 
 
“We realize that reaching a 40 percent waste diversion rate is an ambitious goal and we can’t do it without the help of others,” said Trujillo.
 
Phoenix is converting 50 acres adjacent to a transfer station that includes a materials recovery facility and a closed landfill, into the Resource Innovation Campus (RIC), a circular economy hub that will create local economic activity from items currently landfilled or exported to other states or countries. The RIC will be home to manufacturers that use materials from the city’s waste and recycling streams, a state-of-the-art composting facility, and a technology solutions business incubator that will be operated by Arizona State University’s Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives (ASU).

The city’s partnership with ASU has been vital to supporting the Reimagine Phoenix initiative.
 
“Together (with ASU), we have developed the Resource Innovations Solutions Network, or RISN, which is a global network of public and private organizations using collaboration, research and application of technologies to solutions to managing solid waste and creating a circular economy,” said Trujillo.
 
Phoenix values public-private partnerships and deems them essential to help the city divert more waste. Phoenix’s most recent partnership is with Palm Silage, Inc., a company that turns palm fronds into pelletized livestock feed. Phoenix sends about 34,000 tons of palm fronds a year to the landfill. The city also has a partnership with Goodwill of Central Arizona to collect used mattresses received at the city’s transfer stations, and repurpose the components, including metal, wood and fibers. And as for food waste, a local food scraps collection company called Recycled City, LLC is responsible for collecting food scraps from three city-owned buildings—Phoenix City Hall, Fire Station 1 and Calvin Goode Building, which houses more office space for city staff.
 
To expand the city’s current educational outreach, Phoenix will collaborate with Recyclebank to launch a rewards program that incentivizes residents to divert more waste, produce less waste and enroll in the city’s waste diversion programs. The rewards program will support the city’s recently revamped Zero Waste Team, composed of individuals who have expertise in various aspects of waste diversion and sustainability. Every year, Zero Waste specialists provide more than 500 presentations about waste diversion to schools and community organizations, and attend more than 300 events to educate the community about recycling right.
 
The city no longer accepts the premise that trash has no value. The impact of these initiatives is three-fold: first, they are increasing the city’s solid waste diversion rate; second, they are creating jobs; and third, they are stimulating the local economy by attracting new businesses, manufacturers, and innovators to the City of Phoenix. 

Call for Abstracts
The Arizona Chapter of the American Public Works Association invites the submittal of abstracts of presentations to be considered for the 2017 APWA Statewide Conference.  The conference will be held at the Hotel El Conquistador in Tucson, Arizona from August 2 to August 4, 2017. Abstracts must be received no later than February 24, 2017.  More Info >

Call for Awards
Award Submittals are open and due January 27^th with Southern Branch Awards due January 20^th. Please go to the website for all the project information and criteria. http://arizona.apwa.net/PageDetails/10340. The awards will be presented at the conference in August.

APWA January Luncheon
January 18, 2017
More Info >

Topic: Managing Risk on Public Infrastructure Projects

The issue of project cost overruns is endemic throughout the western world.  Recent studies by academic researchers in Denmark of major public infrastructure projects around the free world shows many if not most are delivered over budget.  While the causes are many and do vary somewhat; an effective program to identify potential risks and develop approaches to eliminate or to mitigate the impacts of the risk on project budget is a recognized best practice.  This presentation will examine the five most common risks on an infrastructure project and outline an approach to identifying and dealing with the risk.  Attendees will receive tools that they can adopt for use on their own project and will learn the ten rules for dealing with project risk

Speaker:  Michael S. Ellegood, PE

APWA Board of Directors Meeting
January 18, 2017
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APWA Northern Branch 2017 Mixer
January 18, 2017
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Statewide Conference Committee
January 23, 2017
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APWA Spring Family Picnic
March 12, 2017

2017 APWA Statewide Conference
August 2-4, 2017