Sub-topic: conduct
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Management Mentors
This site has a free presentation of 26 slides on best practices in mentoring. You can also see their mentoring seminar outline. This site could be helpful in building a case for a mentoring program.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Mentoring & Coaching
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The Mentoring Group
This site has helpful articles called, “Tips for Mentors” and “Tips for Mentees.” It also has an archive of 11 articles on several aspects of mentoring.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Mentoring & Coaching
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The Mentoring Institute
This firm offers a free, electronic newsletter on mentoring programs, a mentoring software program you can preview, and several informative pages about mentoring.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Mentoring & Coaching
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Sub-topic: environmental
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Brochure defining the National PEER Center
The Public Entity Environmental Management System
(EMS) Resource Center serves as a one-stop shop for
EMS information and resources for public organizations.
Local, county and state governments that are developing
and implementing an EMS will find the PEER Center
useful and can share their knowledge and field experience
with others.
Related Subject: Environment
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City of Portland - Citizen Involvement Principles
The City of Portland, Oregon has adopted principles for involvement of citizens in city programs and projects. This 11 principle list represents the starting point for their neighborhood outreach and involvement program.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Public Involvement and Outreach
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Environmental Management Systems: A Smart Choice for Local Governments - Informational Pamphlet
An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a set of management processes and procedures that allow an organization to analyze, control, and reduce the environmental impact of its activities, products and services and allow the organization to operate with greater efficiency and control. Environmental Management Systems provide local communities, governments, and public facilities with a structured approach for managing environment and regulatory responsibilities. These systems can serve as a powerful tool that can help manage operations more efficiently, improve a community's or facility's compliance, and address environmental risk both inside and outside the scope of EPA's regulatory programs.
Related Subject: Environment Management
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Sub-topic: general
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American Productivity & Quality Center and International Benchmarking Clearinghouse
Web site of the APQC contains links to the International Benchmarking Clearinghouse, materials on human resources, strategic planning, training, benchmarking, performance measurement, productivity improvement, and leadership.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Performance Measurement
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APWA Continues as Contributing Society for National Engineers Week
APWA continues to endorse National Engineers Week which is always the week in February that encompasses George Washington's actual birthday (February 22). Members and chapters are encouraged to participate with other professional associations in local, regional and statewide activities.
The 1999 Educational Outreach Task Force recommended that APWA increase our involvement in existing national and international outreach programs, rather than trying to develop potentially competing programs about public works. Previously, APWA had been an endorsing society of E-Week and has encouraged our members to become involved, but had never contributed any money to the program. Stepping up to become a Contributing Society is an important step to becoming more actively involved.
Many events, competitions, and activities are planned by the various sponsoring organizations and local E-Week Committees. APWA is encouraging our members and Chapters to become involved in the locally sponsored events by volunteering time, donating resources, or making financial contributions. Taking time to work with your local schools on E-Week events is a great way to promote public works as a profession.
Some APWA chapters are already participating in E-Week with luncheons and scholarships, but possibly none as actively supportive as the New Mexico Chapter, which annually donates $1,000 to support local E-Week activities. Consider working jointly with other professional associations to sponsor existing activities or start a new program within the Chapter. APWA has made the first step in supporting these programs, but we need the members and chapters to come forward to support the programs at the local level, where they are delivered to students and teachers.
For additional information about E-Week, contact their web site at www.eweek.org, or contact Bob Browell (bbrowell@apwa.net) at APWA headquarters.
Related Subject:
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City of Bristol, CT Monthly Report Format
This document contains a new report format that the City of Bristol, CT is trying out. Each Division (Engineering, Operations, Land Use, Water Pollution Control and Administration) provides key performance indicators to the Board of Public Works each month using this format.
Related Subject: Management, Administration and Finance
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City of Lynchburg, VA, Towing Specs
Sample specs for towing, courtesy of the City of Lynchburg, VA
Related Subject: Fleet Services
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Department of the Navy Benchmarking Handbook
Exceptionally informative 97 page publication on benchmarking and performance measurement. A valuable addition to any public agency manager's library. PDF file.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Performance Measurement
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Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Creates Discussion Forums on Performance Measurement
GASB has created three discussion forums on the development and use of performance measurement systems in public agencies. These discussion groups are available for you to share information or learn more about performance measurement from other people actively involved in creating, using, analyzing, assessing and studying performance measures for state and local governments.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Performance Measurement
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RFP and Sample Contract for Towing of Vehicles
RFP and towing contract for both City owned and Private owned vehicles (accident and/or impound) from the City of Troy, Michigan.
Related Subject: Fleet Services
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Sub-topic: human
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APWA Endorses National Job Shadowing Program for Youth
President Jerry Fay has announced that APWA will join with organizations across the country in participating in Groundhog Job Shadow Day 2000. The event reached over 600,000 in 1999 in the second year of this national program designed to encourage youth to select careers that interest them. This year, the coalition of organizations has established a goal of reaching one million youth on Groundhog Job Shadow Day set for February 2, 2000.
APWA members are encouraged to work with their employers and chapters in participating in this exciting event to reach out to the youth of America. Further, members are encouraged to personally get involved by becoming a mentor for a student on February 2nd. President Fay has set a goal of having 250 APWA members host students during the 2000 event. With a little effort, it should be possible to far exceed our goals.
APWA will be mailing information kits to chapter presidents in the near future. Please consider making the personal commitment to become involved, whether through your employer, the chapter or individually. For more information, call 410.810.7910.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Human Resources
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Celebration of Women in Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has developed a web site which is beginning its second year. Conceived and developed by NAE staff and volunteer committee members, the web site is an excellent resource for discovering not only what engineers do, but also who engineers are.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Human Resources
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Employee Safety Manual - Allegheny County, PA
Allegheny County's Guide to Safety on the Job.
Related Subject: Safety
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Employee Safety Manual - City of Winston-Salem, NC
This site provides links, by chapter, to the safety manual developed by the City of Winston-Salem, North Carolina's Employee Health & Safety Department.
Related Subject:
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Getting the Staff You Need to Get the Job Done
This was a much sought-after 2001 Congress presentation wherein the author, Gordon Siebert, describes a conceptual model for analyzing public works and engineering staffing needs that relates resources to demand variables such as permit fees and dollar values of capital projects. The model was successfully employed in a number of jurisdictions in California.
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Sub-topic: mentor
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Applied Ethics in Professional Practice Case of the Month Club
Bi-monthly a new applied ethics case taken from actual professional practice experience is presented in narrative format. Several suggested solutions to the ethics situation are presented. Also included are basic steps to personal ethical decision making and guidelines for facilitating solutions to ethical dilemmas in engineering practice.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Ethics and Professional Conduct
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Standards of Professional Conduct
The Board of Directors of APWA has adopted Standards of Professional Conduct to guide the members of the Association. The Standards were developed to replace APWA’s former code of ethics. PDF file. (How to view PDF files)
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Ethics and Professional Conduct
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WWW Ethics Center
The mission of the Ethics Center is to provide engineers, scientists, science and engineering students with resources useful for understanding and addressing ethically significant problems that arise in their work life.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management—Ethics and Professional Conduct
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Sub-topic: outreach
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Citizen University Informs Public About Local Government Services
Highland Park (Illinois) Citizen University is an educational program provided by the City for the purpose of informing residents about the workings and operations of local government. The program provides citizens with an inside look at how the municipal government operates, the services and programs provided to residents, and the challenges faced in providing services. It is also a chance to engage in a dialogue about local government with other interested citizens and City staff.
Goals of the program include:
•To provide residents with a better understanding of the Council-Manager form of government, municipal services, and the challenges local governments face.
•To encourage active and frequent participation in local government.
•To develop a pool of residents for the City’s appointed and elected positions who are knowledgeable about the City of Highland Park governmental organization.
•To foster dialogue, good relations, and communication between residents and City officials.
The program consists of the following sessions:
Session One:
Where: City Hall
•The Council-Manager Form of Government
•Role of the Elected Official
•Issues in Municipal Law
•Municipal Finance Overview
Session Two:
Where: Water Treatment Plant
•Issues in Land Use
•Tour of the Water Plant
•Managing the Public Right-of-Way
Session Three:
Where: Fire Department:
•Innovations in Policing
•Community Outreach & Youth and Senior Services
•Firefighting Techniques
Related Subject:
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Outreach and Involvement Handbook
This handbook, developed by the City of Portland, Oregon, is designed to help shape how their staff think about, plan and carry out citizen involvement efforts. It is intended for the City employee new to citizen involvement and outreach, but seasoned veterans will also find useful information and suggestions.
Related Subject:
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Sub-topic: performance
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American Productivity & Quality Center
APQC helps enterprises manage change, improve processes, leverage knowledge, and increase performance by becoming more agile, creative, and competitive. These pursuits require high-quality information, strategies, skills, knowledge, experience, contacts, and best practices.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management
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Building Success for the 21st Century: A Guide to Partnering in the Construction Industry
This guide is a compendium of the work of the Commission on Partnering convened in 1995 by the American Arbitration Association's Dispute Avoidance and Resolution Task Force (DART) of the construction industry.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management
Engineering & Technology—Construction
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CBO Releases Report on Infrastructure Spending
A May 1999 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) paper highlights spending for infrastructure over the past 42 years.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management
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Final Report of the Educational Outreach Task Force: Findings and Recommendations
Findings of the American Public Works Administration Educational Outreach Task Force.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management
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Governments are from Saturn - Citizens are from Jupiter: Strategies for Reconnecting Citizens and Government
This publication from the Washington Association of Cities briefly explores evidence and sources of this growing distrust, and highlights valuable benefits that government provides. The author, Susan Enger, a Municipal Research & Services Center planning consultant, focuses on examples of a variety of successful strategies that communities have used to reconnect citizens with government, to rehabilitate government's tarnished image, and to restore civility to the ongoing debate on public policy.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management
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Innovations in American Government
The Innovations Program strives to identify and celebrate outstanding examples of creative problem-solving in the public sector. It is sponsored by the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at theJohn F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management
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Innovations in American Government Award Nominations Sought for 2002
We have again been invited to help identify public agencies with innovative programs that would qualify for the Innovations in American Government Awards. The program is a significant force in identifying and promoting excellence and creativity in the public sector. Through its annual awards competition, the Program provides concrete evidence that government deserves greater trust because it can and does work to improve the quality of life for citizens.
Innovations Award winners gain national attention, serve as model programs worthy of replication by other agencies, receive monetary grants from the Institute for Government Innovation for replication activities, and spark research and teaching cases at Harvard and other schools across the country. Each applicant will be judged on its novelty, effectiveness, significance, and transferability.
The awards are open to all levels of government, not just federal programs. There have only been a few public works related awards in previous years, which is probably a function of the lack of nominations from public works agencies more than anything else.
The on-line application is available on their website (http://www.innovations.harvard.edu ) and are due May 17, 2002. Paper nominations are due May 3, 2002.
Please encourage agencies that you believe would present a strong contenders for the 2002 awards competition to apply.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management
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National Quality Initiative (NQI)
The NQI is a partnership effort between the public and private sectors of the highway industry. This effort marks the first time that such a diverse group within the highway industry have pledged their common support for the issue of quality.
Since its inception, the NQI has broadened its original focus from construction and materials issues, to include all aspects of planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operations. It addresses a wide spectrum of quality issues including continuous quality improvement, quality control and assurance, partnering, use of state-of-the-art technology and techniques, contracting techniques for improved quality, and investment levels and strategies.
Administration for NQI is provided by the Federal Highway Administration. APWA has been an active partner in the NQI movement since its early years. Contact Daryl Grigsby for specific information about APWA's role in NQI.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management
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Public Works Management and Policy
A peer-reviewed journal from Sage Publications covering a variety of public works topics including management, administration, policy, innovation, and practical application of technology.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management
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Quality Digest Online
This site provides daily news updates, a calendar of events, and full-text articles on quality issues. It also provides a searchable ISO 9000 and QS 9000 registered company database.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management
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Study on the Desirability of Creating a Public Works Certification Program: Observations, Analysis and Recommendations
Findings of the APWA Certification Task Force.
Related Subject: Public Works Administration & Management
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