INSIGHT
21st Century Leadership Implemented

Alan Manning Chairman of the Board

The need for strong leadership has never been greater in the water and wastewater industry, where today’s leaders face numerous challenges. In addition to aging infrastructure, there are regulatory pressures, rate challenges, changing customer demands, and a workforce in transition. Separately, these issues are serious enough. Collectively, they call for a new form of leadership that meets the demands of the 21st century.

21st Century Leadership

Specific characteristics define a successful 21st century leader. These individuals think strategically and communicate openly. They exhibit courage to make tough (sometimes unpopular) decisions. These individuals also demonstrate competence in their decision-making, and by their actions, they build trust. Finally, successful leaders deliver results.

Putting It Into Practice

It’s not enough to understand these attributes. The skills must be implemented to produce results. Consider the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District of Denver, CO (MWRD), a utility of 20 member municipalities that serves 1.5 million people, where the leadership of General Manager Robert Hite made a significant positive impact. Bob’s leadership style is a model that others should not only recognize, but emulate.

A Sound Management Philosophy

Bob operated by a simple philosophy: “Set clear goals, and hold people accountable.” The formula brought change, improvement, and stability to MWRD. Bob’s values mirrored those of the successful 21st century leader.

Communication. Bob fostered an environment of full disclosure and clear communication. His golden rule: “Don’t surprise me with good or bad. Tell me ahead of time.” In this open environment, Bob established a “no blame, no fear” standard, citing that fear has no place in an organization, as it “only impedes communication.”

His approach toward problem solving was direct and effective – a five-point process that delivered:

	Disclose the problem.
	Determine the impact on customers and the organization.
	Fix it.
	Establish what caused it.
	Make sure the fix is permanent!

Bob also maintained a strong relationship with a large Board of Directors. Comprised of 67 members, the Board represented varying perspectives and needs. Bob handled the diversity well, defining and implementing procedures that streamlined Board meetings and the budget approval process. To his credit, Bob received 19 straight budget approvals with no dissent.

Competence. Regarded as an industry expert, Bob served 19 years as General Manager at MWRD after his 17 years on its Board. He knew the industry and demonstrated his expertise both on the job and through his professional affiliations, which reinforced his credibility.

Trust. Through open communication and “full disclosure,” Bob also built trust with officials, Board members, and staff. While he demanded performance from his leaders, he also trusted them. As a result, senior staff clearly understood their responsibilities, authority, and accountability. Consequently, managers felt trusted and appreciated facing challenges with “the freedom to think and execute.”

Courage. It takes courage to stand alone and make unpopular decisions when necessary. In those infrequent times when his senior management disagreed on an issue, Bob would consider all perspectives, make the best decision for the utility, and then move on.

Results. Strong leadership delivers. At MWRD, Bob’s leadership impacted all facets of the utility. Among the major accomplishments:

• Continuous performance improvement
• Greater cost control
• Employees engaged in their work
• Minimal turnover
• Improved political stability with the Board
• Collaborative relationship with regulatory agencies

Leaving a Legacy

Characteristic of a strong leader, Bob planned for a time beyond his tenure. He viewed succession planning as a critical facet of business that all leaders must consider and as an opportunity to leave a legacy of best practices that helps sustain utilities for years to come.

In remembrance of Robert Hite, Metro Wastewater Reclamation District of Denver, who passed away on December 4, 2007.

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Q & A INTERVIEW
GIS and its Impact on Utilities

Brenda Reum Water/Wastewater Coordinator for GITA's Industry Trends Analysis Group

Geography has brought an entirely new dimension to how we do business. As the cornerstone of geospatial information system (GIS) technology, geography has never mattered more. GIS has redefined how we look at geography and paved the way for software and technology that has revolutionized how we work and live.

Today, GIS touches nearly every facet of our world. From transportation, education, government and defense to banking, insurance, retail business, engineering and utilities management, the technology provides a geospatial context to how we interpret and use data.

The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) is an organization “devoted to serving the global geospatial community.” EMA recently discussed GIS and its role within the utility industry with Brenda Reum, Manager of Geospatial Information & Technology at Denver Water and Water/Wastewater Coordinator for GITA’s Industry Trends Analysis Group.

Where is geospatial technology taking the utilities industry?

GIS has huge potential for utilities. It helps us better understand not only where our facilities are located, but also how to analyze our systems as we develop, operate, and maintain our facilities and infrastructure.

Future application options include a GIS portal in which someone looking to create a map or do some analysis could access the portal and have data and tools available to complete their task. This would increase the usage of GIS because people wouldn’t necessarily have to be fluent in a particular suite of tools to do what they want. We would like to be able to provide tools to our field crews to assist in their work. One example is a main break isolation tool, in which the field crew locates the point of the break, and the computer determines which valves to use to shut out the break. These people don’t want to know how to use the software, they just want it to provide them the answer they need.

We can use GIS to determine predictive improvements on our water system. Using multiple sets of data, we could determine where our highest risk assets exist. These datasets include age of the facility, the soil type in the area, and the usage of the land above the facility, such as high traffic areas. Further analysis could help us determine the highest risk to the public from flooding or outage causing an interruption of service.

We could do analyses in emergency situations. As an example, we just had a huge emergency here in Denver. One of our main interstates was shut down in the northbound direction because of a large main break causing a sinkhole in the highway. GIS can provide advance preparedness for these situations. Our crews needed to know who might be affected by the water and the extent of the damage. The Department of Highways needed to know alternate routes for diverting traffic. Other utilities in the area were impacted and had some outages due to water damage. All of these crews needed to work together, and they all needed some type of mapping application to help them resolve the problem effectively.

How are new advances in GIS enhancing mapping capability?

Interfaces are much easier to use. For example, we’re an engineering driven company, where we use CAD for everything. AutoCAD is becoming much more “spatially aware.” This gives us the ability to integrate our CAD with GIS much more easily. We can use the CAD data in a format that’s so much more native and import it right into our GIS without the kind of trouble we used to have. Before, everything was manual and you basically had to re-enter everything into GIS. Now we can select features from the CAD drawing and put them right into the GIS in the same interface.

We also have advanced in systems integration. By integrating our maintenance management system with our GIS, our field operators can click on a fire hydrant and find out when it was maintained last or if previous problems have been recorded. It’s becoming so much easier in the field.

You speak about integration. What are the greatest challenges in integrating systems with GIS? Greatest misconceptions?

The biggest challenge is synchronization of the databases when information is stored in multiple systems. Who owns and maintains the values in the database? How do we assure that one system doesn’t change a value that isn’t reflected in another system?

The second biggest challenge is a key to allow navigation between systems — determining what the key value should be, where it’s generated, and how it’s stored is challenging.

The biggest misconception might be that it can’t be done effectively. I believe it can.

What impact have you seen in the utility market from the Google and Microsoft mapping applications?

People want to use what they’re familiar with. Because Google Earth is so easy to use, it gives people a comfortable box to play in. In Google Maps you kind of intuitively know what to do. And if we can put our data into a format so people can really relate to it in the context of what they’re familiar with, I do think that these mapping applications will continue to grow and have more of an impact on how we present data. This is going to entail awareness about the usability of the interfaces and how we can integrate. Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth have made it pretty easy to incorporate their technology into what we do. We just aren’t doing it yet. It takes us changing the way we think and adopting the new technology capability. It’s going to take a while.

A Look into the Geofuture GITA Executive Director Bob Samborski recently shared his thoughts with EMA about GIS and new innovations that are on the horizon. There are so many interesting and valuable things going on at the moment, it’s hard to develop a short list! One really intriguing example is Building Information Modeling, or BIM. BIM can be used to demonstrate the entire building life cycle including the processes of construction and facility operation. It creates digital representations of all stages of the building process and can be used to simulate real world experiences. For example, BIM can provide first responders a valuable 3D map of a building they need to enter to respond to an emergency. Using this information can help them avoid hazards, provide accurate directions in situations of limited visibility, and ultimately save lives. Another new technology, global Location Object Field Tracking (LOFT), is designed to help organizations visualize people, vehicles, and infrastructure anywhere on earth to better protect and account for mobile assets. Keeping an eye on widely dispersed assets is of particular interest to large organizations and the military, for example, as it can be used to protect remote workers and convoys, provide additional security, and more. It not only provides precise location details but also offers current and historic context so those coordinating personnel have better analysis and decision-making abilities. Also in the immediate future is the amalgamating of location data from citizens’ cellphones, city buses, and taxis to create a real time depiction of how people move throughout a city at various times of the day. By “taking the pulse” of a city, technology can provide people with better information with which to make decisions on a variety of levels. Such data can be useful to municipal transportation officials to identify traffic chokepoints or to reduce the inefficiencies of urban living in general. Nothing provides location context quite like a map, and advertisers are taking additional advantage of geospatial technology by linking their business addresses and logos to publicly available map products – sort of customizing maps to promote their products and services. There are now several web-based “mapvertising” companies that are providing such services, with more to come.

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CUSTOMER STORY
Toho Water Authority
Building a Strategy In The Face of Growth and Change

Clockwise from upper left: a view of the water storage tank at Toho’s Southwest Water Facility; Lake Tohopekaliga (“Lake Toho”) is the largest lake in Osceola County and noted for its bass fishing; one of four clarifiers at Toho’s South Bermuda Wastewater Treatment Plant; the chlorine contact chamber at South Bermuda; the Sand Hill Wastewater Treatment Facility’s AOAO system; Tim Gregory, Chief of Water Plant Operations, in the SCADA room at the Authority’s North Bermuda Water Facility.

Things are booming in Osceola County, Florida. Neighbor to Disney World, one of the nation’s most popular tourist destinations, the county is among the fastest growing areas in the region. For the Tohopekaliga “Toho” Water Authority of Osceola County that means two things: more growth and change.

As Osceola County’s largest water provider, Toho serves 73,000 water, 71,000 wastewater, and 10,000 reclaimed water clients in Kissimmee, Poinciana, and many unincorporated areas of the county. In light of population growth and recent acquisitions, these numbers will only continue to rise. As the Authority has expanded its service area, it has kept its eye on the customer, delivering high-quality water services all the while facing challenges associated with the environment, water supply, and significant regional growth as well as matters concerning infrastructure, workforce, customer service, technology, integration, and sustainability.

Toho manages all of it with great success.

“It comes down to making strategic business decisions,” said Brian Wheeler, Toho’s Executive Director. “It’s our responsibility to find new and better ways to do business.”

Toho prides itself on its innovative and strategic approach toward business — practices that Toho implemented while still a department of the City of Kissimmee and long before the Authority was established by special order of the Florida Legislature in October 2003.

Regional Stewardship

Separating from the City of Kissimmee to form a regional water authority was impelled by a larger vision by both the City and County to create a single steward over area water resources. Issues concerning the future supply of water to the region required a different approach. As a regional water Authority, Toho would have the autonomy and regional perspective to do more than it could as a City entity.

The population has more than doubled in Osceola County from 1990 to 2006.

During the past four years, the Authority has doubled its customer base. After acquiring two utility systems to which Osceola County had rights and several smaller water districts, Toho made its most significant acquisition in 2007, Poinciana Utilities, which increased clientele by 25 percent.

Toho’s departure from the City and subsequent acquisitions have required careful review and planning of its systems and services — many that are independent from the City and some that remain with the municipality to this day. Growth and change also called for a strategy — a detailed accounting of the Authority’s key initiatives and goals that were recently established in a new five-year strategic plan.

Building a Plan

Toho partnered with EMA to develop a plan that would establish the Authority’s key strategies as it moves forward as a regional force in Central Florida’s water arena. Launched in January 2008, the Plan reflects a process of assessment, analysis, planning, and communication that provides the Authority with a road map on how to focus its efforts. The Plan also represents a collaborative approach that incorporates workshop and focus group feedback from customers, employees, and Board members as well as community stakeholders.

The five key strategies — Infrastructure, Water Supply, Customer Service, Workforce, and Financial Health — serve to guide the Authority as it strives for excellence in an environment that doesn’t show signs of slowing.

Infrastructure
Toho has always been innovative. Their BioSets program was the first of its kind in the state. They were one of the first in the area to use SCADA technology, initially implementing their system in the 1990s. Now, fully upgraded, SCADA monitors and controls all the Authority’s plants and lift stations.

Committed to maintaining and building its infrastructure, Toho made sure that its strategic plan would further develop its asset management program, optimize the performance of its existing infrastructure, and reduce overall life cycle cost. There are many pieces to the Authority’s infrastructure puzzle, including numerous capital improvement projects, new system implementations, asset maintenance, integration between existing systems and the technology within its newly acquired facilities, as well as strategic service level agreements.

Toho’s IT infrastructure management situation took center stage early on when EMA was asked to prepare an IT Master Plan to determine how the
Authority should proceed. An assessment revealed it was best to continue working with the City’s IT department, utilizing a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to keep the same IT services and best practices and avoid a significant financial outlay. The relationship with the City continues today.

“The arrangement benefits everyone,” Wheeler said. “With the associated costs of IT, it makes sense to utilize the existing expertise.”

Effective asset management also remains at the forefront for Toho. With integration of the Authority’s ESRI ArcGIS platform and its new Datastream work management system, field operations employees have mobile access to assets. Toho’s focus remains on data collection.

“This will take some time,” said Cheryl Townsend-Braun, Asset Manager at Toho. “GIS is data hungry, and the biggest challenge is getting it up-to-date and accurate. A lot of people have this misconception that GIS is an IT function. The truth is, a person has to touch each piece of data that goes into it.”

Another project on the horizon will have significant impact on the Authority: Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) which is scheduled to begin implementation in 2008 with completion projected for 2010.

“The data generated from AMR will provide us with so much,” said Mike Johnson, Toho’s Assistant to the Director. “It will make a lot of difference in our water accounting program if we can do analysis on a daily basis. With water audits, we will know where all our production gallons are going, be able to segment out specific meters for demand studies, and ensure there is no lost revenue.”

Water Supply
As an environmental steward, Toho recognizes its responsibility to supply water while preserving the water-rich environment that is one of the region’s primary assets. With regional growth placing a strain on Central Florida’s water source — groundwater — there is growing concern about the condition of the Floridan Aquifer, one of region’s largest sources of groundwater. Authorities believe the Aquifer cannot accommodate the rising demand for water without harming the environment. The potential damage could be devastating, resulting in area lakes and wetlands drying up. As a preventive measure, regional water regulators have imposed restrictions on withdrawals from the Aquifer to meet new demands after 2013. Alternative water supplies must be developed for the new demand.

Toho has aggressive plans to increase both conservation and use of reclaimed water for irrigation. “Water supply is a critical issue here,” Wheeler said. “We’re going to have to find alternative water resources.”

Conservation is key, Johnson said. “Everyone must be more efficient with their consumption of potable water.” He added that Toho continues to work on water conservation programs and collaborate with other water districts to find new ways to conserve.

Reclaimed water presents significant opportunity to reduce potable water demand, according to Wheeler. “Fifty percent of our water demand is for irrigation” he said. “A good fit for reclaimed water.”

After undergoing a treatment and testing process, Toho uses reclaimed water in specific applications such as cooling towers at power plants and the irrigation of lawns, landscapes, and golf courses.

Toho’s upcoming conversion to Automatic Meter Reading will help significantly with conservation efforts, enabling the Authority to monitor consumption anywhere, anytime. With AMR, spikes in consumption will be detected easily, preventing excessive water loss in cases of leaks or abuse.

Toho’s community education initiative will continue through the various seminars it hosts throughout the year. The workshops, designed to enrich and educate, cover topics on tree planting and care, irrigation systems, and landscaping — all with a focus on water conservation.

“It’s a great avenue to reach people,” said Barbara Arrant, Toho Customer Service Advocate. “The seminars grab them, because they’re about them. At the same time, they’re learning something important.”

Customer Service
Toho values its customers and pledges to “provide a level of customer service consistent with the highest standard in the utility industry.”

“The customer is foremost in our strategy,” Wheeler said. “In preparing our Strategic Plan we actively reached out to ratepayers, businesses, developers, and the engineering community to better understand their perception of us, as well as their needs in the future. It was a groundbreaking effort for us.”

Since becoming a regional water Authority, Toho has formed its own customer call center, which handles customer and dispatch calls as well as front desk inquiries.
Toho also continues to maintain an SLA with the Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA), the City’s electric utility, which handles all of Toho’s meter reading and customer billing services. The arrangement is one of convenience but occasionally generates misunderstanding among customers.

“There’s still confusion about who Toho is,” Wheeler explained. “Customers receive their bills from KUA, not from Toho. With Automatic Meter Reading just around the corner, change is in the air. We’re going to move toward doing our own customer service and establish our own identity.”

With its call center staffed and in place, Barbara Arrant and her customer service staff will be preparing for the transition by implementing standard operating procedures and scripting to establish uniformity as well as a customer feedback program to promote continuous improvement.

CIS implementation also remains a priority, Arrant explained, but it is contingent upon the implementation of other systems within the Authority, such as Finance and AMR. Still, Arrant and her team are determining their department’s technological needs and how they will dovetail with those of other departments.

Integration of the existing Customer Service department at Toho’s most recent acquisition, Poinciana, will also follow. It is all a matter of timing, according to Arrant. Another high priority for her team is training for all employees. “Everyone touches a customer,” Arrant explained. “Some of those customers are internal and some are external. Either way, how each of us responds has an effect on Toho.”

Workforce
Toho has an ambitious workforce strategy: “Become an employer of choice in Central Florida.”

They are off to a strong start. Deemed one of the “Top 100 Companies of 2007 for Working Families in Central Florida” by the Orlando Sentinel and Careerbuilder.com, Toho has validation that the Authority is on the right path. Moving forward, Toho has two distinct goals: (1) implement a comprehensive workforce development program, and (2) recruit and retain a high quality workforce.

“We want to be an employer of choice,” said Brad Russell, Assistant Director of Operations at Toho.

Russell, a 34-year Toho veteran, emphasized the importance of employee development, knowledge retention, and succession planning in sustaining the Authority.

“When you look around, there are quite a few of us who could leave in the next five to 10 years,” he said. “This is an issue throughout the industry. You’d better be prepared for it or you’re going to be in trouble. We’re finding managers who can move up and are working to get the knowledge down on paper and into people.”

Training, another key initiative, is ongoing throughout the Authority, Russell explained. “We have to maintain the skills of the employees we already have and keep our employees trained as technologies change.”

Russell referenced the skill-based pay program Toho implemented for maintenance operators and utility workers, which promotes additional training and rewards those who participate. Using the example of utility workers, Russell said these employees now have incentive to learn and grow within their respective positions, progressing from Utility Tech I all the way to Master Utility Tech. Each level of learning accomplished provides workers with a new title and additional compensation.

“The people in field operations work very hard,” he said. “This is a game plan that gives these people room to develop and grow.”

The impending workforce shortage in the industry has Russell and his colleagues reviewing their recruitment and retention strategies. “How do we entice people into this area?” Russell asked. “We have to look at more than pay. There are other benefits such as flex time and pension pay, child care, and even parental care. This is how we become an employer of choice.”

Financial Health
As Toho further develops its identity, culture, and infrastructure as a regional water authority, it does so with careful consideration of its financial strength.

“We want our investors and stakeholders to know that we have an eye on our financial health,” said Rodney Henderson, Business Services Manager at Toho. “We’re in the process of adding and growing but must have patience to let all areas build over time.”

Gradually, Henderson explained, Toho will assume more of the services still provided by the City. “When the Authority was formed, Brian [Wheeler] had an excellent relationship with City directors so they did not ask him to go out and take on everything at once. This has been a win-win situation for everyone. I think everyone understands that as we build, we will peel back some of the services from the City.”

Finance and Purchasing responsibilities already have transitioned to Toho. Human Resource services are still provided under SLA with the City with the addition of new resources being assumed by Toho, as it prepares for a complete transition of services some time in the near future.

With continued growth a priority, Henderson said the Authority maintains a practical business approach. “It goes back to understanding the business from an engineering and operations standpoint and understanding the resource demands as we bring others into the fold.”

Moving Forward

With the five-year Strategic Plan serving as their road map, Toho continues to push ahead with its growth initiatives, following the principles of continuous improvement to deliver world-class service to its customers and stakeholders. The Authority also continues to work with other water districts to promote best practices to ensure environmental sustainability during challenging times.

“If something is worth doing, we’re going to find a way to do it,” Wheeler said. “Right now, we have to partner up with other entities. Our future is not to worry about competing for water. We have to go out and find ways to work together and get strategic about our water resources.”

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e-FLUENT
mobile work management solutions
Creative Innovation:
Customizing Your Mobile Work Management System

Nancy Lerner Vice President

When the City of Fort Worth Water Department wanted to customize the functionality of its new mobile work management application, they were on to something big. Their need resulted in an innovative solution that streamlined Field Operations and is now saving the City both time and money.

EMA partnered with the City of Fort Worth to implement a mobile interface to its Maximo Work Management System (WMS) that allows data entry of work order information by crew instead of by individual field operator.

“The crew group format has greatly simplified the process of capturing labor actuals on the mobile for the crew leaders,” said Norma Davis, IT Technical Support Analyst at the City of Fort Worth.

The pilot program for the new mobile work order entry program began in September 2007, when 12 of the City’s 115 mobile crews moved to the system. “We are now looking to expand to more of our crews,” said Mark Shell, IT Business Systems Coordinator at the City’s Water Department Field Operations division.

The new technology and customized functionality are significant steps forward for the City. Prior to implementing the mobile field application and modified work order entry feature, all information was communicated from the field via dispatch and entered later by data entry staff.

“We believed that information received directly from the crews in the field would be more accurate,” said Rick Davis, Assistant Superintendent of Water Department Field Operations. “We also felt that we could react faster with the solution to a customer’s problem.”

With the new WMS functionality, work order information is entered by a single crew member, usually the crew leader, who defines the entire crew in the system and logs all of the crew’s equipment and time collectively. Crew leaders only need to define their group and equipment once and do not need to change this information until changes occur.

The time savings “is instant,” according to Shell, as crews usually remain constant throughout the day and in many cases, do not change for weeks. When crew or equipment does change, the new functionality is flexible, allowing crew leaders to easily switch out crew members and equipment as circumstances warrant.

Innovation Delivers Big Benefits

By customizing its Maximo WMS to a crew group work order entry format for mobile users, the City of Fort Worth has realized significant benefits. In addition to its user-friendly design, the new format offers these advantages:

• Time savings. The “crew group format” functionality saves on data entry time, as only one member needs to enter work order data. Additionally, by defining a crew group only once, less time is actually spent on the work order entry process. Finally, the new system of mobile work order entry saves the City time in its quality assurance review process of data entered.
• Increased accuracy, more information. Mobile entry of work order data in crew group format has increased the accuracy of the information entered. Crew leaders also enter more information, creating a more complete record of work performed.
• Financial savings. Providing field crews with the mobile technology to enter work order information directly in a highly efficient crew group format eliminates additional data entry costs.

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