APWA News Spring 2010 / Vol. 46 No.1
In This Issue
Advertisers
From the President
First, I am honored to serve as your president this year, and I look forward to a year of opportunities for the Oregon Chapter.
APWA is great organization and I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to everyone who serves the chapter, especially last year’s Executive Committee. Their attention to details and fiscal management helped the chapter meet its goals and stay within budget. A special thank you to Gregg Weston for his excellent presidential leadership, Mark Schoening for his financial guidance, Mary Meloy for her record keeping, Hugh Kalani for his representation at the National level, and the
Board of Directors who promote public works and faithfully attend meetings. APWA is a volunteer organization and I would be remiss in not acknowledging all of the Committee Chairs and members who give their time for the success of the Chapter. While I don’t have exact numbers, it is pretty much all of our membership. Anyone who has helped plan an event and those who attend an event support the success of the chapter.
I encourage all of our agencies and professionals to take the opportunity to tell your story. What we do is important.
As iterated in National’s strategic plan, “American Public Works Association exists to develop and support the people, agencies, and organizations that plan, build, maintain, and improve our communities.” The Oregon Chapter takes this seriously and continuously demonstrates its commitment through service, educational programs, networking, technical development, and member recognition as seen in its pursuit of National’s Presidential Achievement for Chapter Excellence Award. This nomination packet documents the strengths of Chapter and its contributions to planning, building, maintaining, and improving our communities.
And, as we look at the goals and opportunities before us, this year will be no different. In the upcoming year, the board plans to update our strategic plan; review and update the by-laws as needed; negotiate a joint conference with Washington Chapter for spring 2011 and possibly a joint conference with Oregon Emergency Management Association for fall 2012; and, maintain our educational program, which includes two conferences, two street maintenance and collection systems schools, the Public Works Institute, Public Works luncheons in Portland and Eugene, and a Preventative Maintenance for Roadway Surfaces class.
To get you started, here are a few items of interest:• Planning for the spring and fall conferences is already under way. The City of Roseburg will be hosting the spring conference at the Seven Feathers convention facilities in Canyonville, April 27-30 (registration open), and the City of Pendleton will be hosting the fall conference October 12-15 at the Pendleton’s Convention Center.
• Registration is currently open for the Spring Street Maintenance and Collection Systems program, which will be held April 7-9 at Agate Beach Best Western in Newport. I am looking forward to attending and presenting longevity pins to members. Details for the Fall Street Maintenance and Collection Systems program scheduled October 20-22 at the Riverhouse Hotel & Conference Center in Bend will quickly follow.
• Last month, the board recommended adding the word "leadership" to the Public Works Institute, which will now be called the Northwest Public Works Leadership Institute. We anticipate that the next series of leadership classes will be held Monday through Friday during the fall conference, allowing attendees to join the conference for meals and social events.
• Public Works Week is coming up May 16-22. This year’s theme is “Public Works: Above, Below, and All Around You.” The week seeks to enhance the prestige of the often-unsung heroes of our society – the professionals who serve the public good every day with quiet dedication. I encourage all of our agencies and professionals to take the opportunity to tell your story. What we do is important – in a nutshell, the level of infrastructure establishes sustainability and the quality of life in our communities.
Yes, it will be a busy year and when we look back over it, we will once again be able to say, “It was a good year, we worked hard, we gave our best, and we had fun.” So let’s carry on!
Peggy Keppler
Ostrowski's Outlook – Why are we here?
The following article is excerpted with permission from the Washington APWA newsletter. The author, John Ostrowski, is the administrator and an instructor for the Northwest Public Works Institute, a series of leadership and management training courses co-sponsored by the Oregon and Washington APWA chapters. John is a management consultant serving public works agencies and was previously the public works director for the City of Vancouver. He received the APWA “Top 10 Public Works Leaders” award, and has authored several public works leadership books. He writes a column for the Washington APWA newsletter called “Ostrowski’s Outlook” that has been published since 1999.
Top
Pavement Project in Eugene Earns Statewide Quality Award
The pavement preservation project on Sixth and Seventh avenues completed in October 2009 has been awarded a first-place paving award by the Asphalt Pavement Association of Oregon (APAO) in the Urban Arterial category.
The project encompassed milling of the top layers of deteriorated pavement and repaving with warm-mix asphalt on Sixth and Seventh avenues between High and Washington streets.. The project also included reconstructing localized areas of failed pavement and upgrading selected ADA ramps. The project was constructed at night to reduce impact to the traveling public and downtown businesses.
Award winning paving projects are selected by APAO based on smoothness, quality of the paving, and complexity of the project. The project was constructed by Wildish Construction with project management and inspection performed by City of Eugene Publics Works Engineering staff.
CALENDAR
|
Date
|
Title |
|
March 9-12 |
Developing Leader, Bend |
|
April 7-9 |
Spring Street Maintenance &
Collection Systems, Newport |
|
April 20-21 |
Preventive Maintenance for
Roadway Surfaces, Redmond |
|
April 27-30 |
Spring Chapter Conference,
Canyonville |
|
Oct. 12-15 |
Fall Chapter Conference,
Pendleton |
Ed Wegner Nominated for Top Ten Leader of Year Award
The Oregon APWA Chapter nominated Ed Wegner, Clatsop County Director of Transportation and Development Services, for the Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year Award. Wegner, an active member of the Oregon Chapter since 1993, has dedicated his personal and professional life to excellence in public works.
In Tigard, Wegner developed a comprehensive Emergency Response Plan, implemented an Aquifer Storage and Recovery Program, merged the Tigard Water District with the City of Tigard’s Department of Public Works and expanded one of the city’s largest parks.
Traveling to Indonesia, Wegner volunteered his time and efforts to building water lines, developing wastewater treatment, integrating storage programs and teaching new public works technology.
“I was amazed and humbled when I received the call from a representative of the Oregon APWA Chapter about my nomination. I had never dreamed of being recognized by my peers for such a distinguished honor,” said Wegner. “This nomination is icing to a wonderful and rewarding career in public service.”
UO
Team Partners with APWA on Top 10 Packet
For the second year, students at the University of Oregon’s Allen Hall Public Relations have partnered with Oregon APWA to produce the chapter’s Top 10 Public Works Leaders nomination packet. The 34-page packet takes several months to prepare and includes interviews, full-color photographs and letters of recommendation.
Our sincere thanks to the UO team who put together this year’s nomination for Ed Wegner: account supervisor Lauren Switzer and account executives Sarah Cargill, Emily Derby and Whitney Seven.
Allen Hall Public Relations is a student-run PR agency located at the UO School of Journalism and Communication. The 46 members of AHPR currently work for 10 paying clients at a professional caliber to provide quality media, event and public relations support. For more information about AHPR, go to
www.allenhallpr.com.
New Members
Aaron Clodfelter, Engineering Associate, Washington County,
503-846-7632, aaron_clodfelter@co.washington.or.us
Matt Costigan, Sr Eng Project Manager, Washington County,
503-846-7825, matthew_costigan@co.washington.or.us
Troy Dean Kent, LEED AP, PE, Project Manager, BergerABAM,
503-872-4129, troy.kent@abam.com
Matt Meier, Eng Project Manager, Washington County,
503-648-8761, matt_meier@co.washington.or.us
Clint Myers, Public Works Supervisor II, City of Portland,
503-823-4588, clint.myers@trans.ci.portland.or.us
Clayton Reynolds, Maint. Services Div. Supervisor, City of Tualatin,
503-691-3099, creynolds@ci.tualatin.or.us
Committee News
Transportation Committee Report
Ken Stoneman, P.E.
The Transportation Committee of the Oregon Chapter has been working on several things since the fall 2009 conference in Grand Ronde that we would like to share with the chapter. The primary focus has been on putting together a series of presentations for the transportation track at the upcoming spring conference in Canyonville. You will be seeing more specifics on these presentations in the near future, but we guarantee a wide variety of interesting and useful topics.
The other focus has been on building a web site for the Transportation Committee to share useful and interesting transportation-related information on an ongoing basis. This includes links to timely news articles, upcoming events, reviews and lessons learned from recent transportation projects, as well as click-on links to agencies, associations and other useful contacts. We hope to have a draft page put together soon, with the real page online by later this spring. Leading this effort is Jenifer Willer (City of Eugene), with Eric Jones (also City of Eugene) giving technical support.
Committees Need Volunteers
The Leadership and Diversity committees are looking for volunteers for both committees.
This is an opportunity to share leadership and diversity ideas with the Oregon Chapter APWA membership. Becoming involved in the Oregon Chapter committees is a way of expanding your own leadership skills and networking with other public works organizations and members.
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” John C. Maxwell is the author of The 360⁰ Leader – Developing your influence from anywhere in the Organization.
If anyone is interested in joining either committee please contact Angelia Sousa at 541-917-7653.
Check the current
committee roster online