The City of Beaverton, Oregon, uses Cityworks as its asset management software. In 2018, the city upgraded its internal GIS servers with ArcGIS Enterprise and externalized Cityworks. This streamlined and expanded the reach of mobile solutions in the field. With the implementation of the Cityworks mobile app, the city continues to modernize its business processes for inspections such as erosion control, storm water quality facilities, water meters (new/replacement) and hydrant flushing. Find out how mobile asset management can improve business processes by increasing transparency throughout an organization, maximizing staff productivity, and providing valuable insights into infrastructure health.

• Directly increase the return on investment of your asset management system.
• Design an asset management strategy that will work for your department’s needs.
• Measure and justify the benefits of going mobile with asset management.

Presented by APWA’s Fleet Management Committee Get your conference off to a great start by joining other fleet professionals in this open dialogue about current trends, challenges, and solutions in fleet management practices. In this session, participants will have a chance to ask questions, share ideas, and discover what resources are available to help you meet today’s challenges and share your expertise with your colleagues.

• Find solutions to the issues and challenges your departments are currently facing.
• Share your expertise and knowledge with your fleet management colleagues.
• Compare best practices with other fleet professionals from across North America.

Cities across the United States are dealing with homeless encampments and struggling to move people off the streets and into more stable living situations. In 2015, San Francisco opened its first Navigation Center designed to shelter San Francisco’s long-term homeless people who are living on the street and are often fearful of accessing traditional shelter and services. Since then some half-dozen more Navigation Centers have opened and San Francisco Public Works – best known for cleaning up encampments – has been at the forefront of developing all of them. Unlike traditional shelters, people with partners, pets and possessions are welcome. The Navigation Center model allows people to bring their pets and belongings with them, and they can move in with others living in their encampments. Once in the Navigation Center, they are offered intensive case management, and connections to health care, drug treatment programs and benefits programs. There are no curfews and they’re open around the clock. San Francisco Public Works does not operate the Navigation Centers, but the department’s architects and landscape architects design them and usher them through the regulatory approval process. At some locations, Public Works carpenters, plumbers, electricians, sheet metal workers, general laborers and cement masons helped build them. The Public Works team also has identified potential sites, many of them pioneering: next to freeway ramps, atop a road, in re-purposed buildings, including a school, warehouses, an office complex and a residential hotel. All of them have welcoming interiors and a landscaped outdoor areas. The crisis of homelessness in our cities is complex and challenging and cannot be solved with just one solution or model, but requires innovative, outside-the-box ideas. The Navigation Centers won’t end the problem of homelessness but they offer a viable alternative to the streets.

• Design projects that benefit individuals and the larger community.
• Deploy out-of-the-box ideas to tackle major challenges.
• Manage projects by sweating the details and keeping an eye on the big picture.

From 2008 through 2014, the City of Houston (COH) moved to an automated pavement management system using cameras and a profiler to collect data via a Street Surface Assessment Vehicle (SSAV). However, the Pavement Condition Rating (PCR) provided by the SSAV did not indicate other critical issues that may have been seen by an engineer doing a rating by a “windshield” observation, for example, improper slopes, ditches with sloughing, or other factors that might increase traffic.) COH now employs a hybrid approach of automated data collection and manual QC checks. Pavement inspections are done by a team of technicians collecting high definition imagery from high resolution cameras and surface profiles from a Mobile Asset Collection vehicle. Manual spot checks are conducted to ensure accuracy. The data is stored in an efficient database for sorting and management by multiple departments for use in lifecycle modeling, condition analysis and work plan generation.

• Demonstrate improvements to procedures as technology changes for Pavement Data Collection.
• Recognize pavement distresses that indicate types of pavement deterioration.
• Develop a Pavement Management Program (PMP) within budget constraints.

Coconino County is a breathtaking landscape of towering mountains, steep canyons, painted deserts, and sprawling plateaus with four distinct seasons. The potential for natural disaster in this diverse County is real and ever-present. In fact, 2018 tested Coconino County’s emergency response systems with two significant events in a four-month period. Coconino County Public Works played key roles in the initial response and the ongoing recovery effort with both emergencies, demonstrating the importance of intentionally planning for the role of Public Works in emergency response and preparedness. Together, Coconino County Public Works and Coconino County Emergency Management team members will discuss the important roles Public Works team members play in emergency response and recovery. Join the discussion to gather insights on how to train and prepare Public Works agencies for their roles in emergency response, and learn how to leverage the natural alignments between the two public services to streamline workflows and encourage cost savings.

• Train Public Works staff on key emergency response skills specific to Emergency Operations Center functions and initial response.
• Conceptualize how to align emergency management resources and public works resources for streamlined workflows and cost savings.
• Discern the various roles that Public Works can play in emergency response and recovery.

There is a need for integrated and holistic models to support urban management to meet the complex social and ecological challenges currently facing our cities. Introducing an ecosystem services (ESS) perspective in urban management provides a strong framework for multidisciplinary work and holistic understanding. This session will describe four case studies featuring the Swedish Cities of Knivsta, Norrtalje, Uppsala and Alingsas where ESS has been applied as a tool to better promote the links between urban living, ecology, and individual health / well-being, when developing and managing the blue-green infrastructure. These case studies range from GIS-based analytics of green infrastructure (Knivsta) to using a biotope area factor as a tool for sustainable land allocation (Norrtalje); and from resilient planning of a refurbishment neighborhood (Alingsas) to stakeholder cooperation on green infrastructure management (Uppsala).

• Communicate the “Why” on urban nature to internal and external stakeholders and inspire public workers with responsibility for the maintenance of the blue-green infrastructure.
• Use this session’s interactive format for workshops and meetings on urban nature.
• Implement an ecosystem service perspective in public works and develop a framework and methods for working with urban nature.

An increase in frequency and intensity of storms since 2013 caused hundreds of north Everett homes to flood, resulting in millions in damage claims. To eliminate chronic basement flooding and combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges, Everett city engineers implemented the Legion Golf Course Stormwater Detention Project. New and expanded water features will collect, treat, and store storm runoff from city streets, the nearby community college, and the golf course itself. Changes to three golf holes and course routing will also enhance the golfers’ experience.

• Plan and implement cost-effective basin-wide flood reduction improvements.
• Evaluate and select alternatives to reduce CSO discharges and basement flooding by providing stormwater detention and treatment at an existing public golf course.
• Develop operations and maintenance strategies for detention ponds at golf courses that balance aesthetics and functionality.

Discover how lean thinking can be integrated into the public works and transportation worlds. Among the concepts and topics we'll discuss are the lean philosophy; team development and organizational principles; and decision-making, design, and construction tools. Ideas for how these principles can be integrated into public works project delivery workflows to improve efficiency and effectiveness will also be covered.

• Discuss the principles of lean thinking and how they can be applied to public works projects.
• Discover how project delivery, inspection, permitting, and work order processes can all be improved using lean thinking.
• Begin identifying areas in your public works operations that could benefit from implementing lean thinking.

Join us in this fast-paced Lightning Round investigation into urban forestry practices and approaches. 

*8:30 - 8:55 a.m. Trees and Sidewalk Operations: Can’t They Just Get Along? Speaker: Peg Staeheli, PLA, FASLA, Principal, MIG|SvR, Seattle, WA. Street trees and sidewalks transform city streets into lush and inviting places to linger, chat with a neighbor or enjoy the outdoors on a summer evening. Yet, these essential elements of our public streetscapes can be at odds with each other. Tree roots might be causing damage to sidewalks, sidewalks or other pavements may be inhibiting tree health by limiting root development and/or water and nutrient availability. This presentation will discuss strategies for creating a clear and progressive plan for managing these assets. 

*8:55 - 9:20 a.m. Monitoring Tree Canopy Changes to Address Citizen Desires and Improve Habitat Speaker:  Nick Entinger, Engineering Technician, City of Redmond, WA. The City of Redmond, Washington, is in the process of adopting a strategic plan to add over 200 acres of tree canopy in the next 30 years. The plan is a collaboration between the parks, public works, and planning departments. GIS and LiDAR analysis, plus aerial photography are being used to develop and implement the plan. 

*9:20 - 9:45 a.m. City of Encinitas: Urban Forest Wellness: A Sustainability Program Approach for Our Greatest Natural Resource Speaker: John Ugrob, Operations Superintendent, City of Encinitas, CA. The City of Encinitas, California, is located along six miles of Pacific coastline in northern San Diego County. It has an approximate population of 60,000 and is characterized by coastal beaches, cliffs, flat-topped mesa bluffs, and a thriving urban forest. The City’s Urban Forest Wellness Program provides a multi-faceted approach of maintenance, canopy replenishment, monitoring, and treatment that addresses tree health and sustainability.

• Evaluate tree value compared to the cost of sidewalk retrofit and develop strategies, standards, and tools for sidewalk and tree management.
• Use technologies such as GIS and LiDAR as tools for developing and implementing a plan to add more tree canopy to your city’s assets.
• Review the City of Encinitas’ Urban Forest Wellness Program and establish a similar approach for addressing tree health and sustainability.

Do you aspire to be a leader in your organization or professional association? Then this interactive learning opportunity is for you! You will meet dedicated professionals who have held leadership positions in their agencies or companies and who have served as leaders at both the chapter and national levels of APWA. They’ll involve you in discussions about setting your own personal leadership goals and offer insight into the challenges and rewards that lie ahead for you.

• Explore the successes and challenges of leadership both within an agency/company or a volunteer organization.
• Reflect on the question, “Why do you want to be a leader?”
• Recognize how to avoid pitfalls when leading and benefit from “Pearls of Wisdom” offered those who have been there.