Page 18 - Nov/Dec Vol34 No5

2016 CONFERENCE TECHNICAL SESSION CHATTANOOGA
Department Earns APWA Accreditation
The City of Chattanooga, Department
of Public Works has become the first in
the State of Tennessee to be recognized by
the American Public Works Association
as an Accredited Public Works agency.
The Department recently applied for and
became the 116th agency in the country
to receive APWA Accreditation, joining
over 200 agencies in North America and
Canada currently participating at some
level in the program.
APWA Accreditation is a self-motivated
process that provides Public Works agen-
cies with a way to compare their policies,
procedures, and practices with those
identified by nationally recognized Public
Works experts. Full accreditation signifies
that, on a daily basis, the agency meets or
exceeds performance standards in areas
such as strategic planning, engineering,
street maintenance and cleaning, drainage
and flood control, construction, emergen-
cy response, maintenance, parks, informa-
tion technology, safety, land surveying,
and solid waste operations.
Department leaders decided in April
2015 to pursue APWA Accreditation as
a catalyst for continuous improvement.
Over the next 16 months, the Department
leadership, subject matter experts, and sup- improve effectiveness, receive employee
port staff completed a Departmental-Wide
Self Assessment. Utilizing APWA’s online
software and published Public Works
Management Practices Manual the Depart-
ment developed a team to review over 600
practices to determine which chapters were
applicable to the Department’s operations.
To ensure the Department continued to
exceed industry standards for recommend-
ed best practices, every operation carefully citizens in Chattanooga.
examined operating policies, practices,
plans, and procedures through this vol-
untary process. It has become a catalyst
for intentional continuous improvement
and through this program, the Depart-
ment emphasized a clear commitment in
every operation to improve performance,
increase professionalism, recognize high
performance, and motivate the team.
Following completion of the Depart-
ment’s Self-Assessment and complete
review of over 342 applicable practices, the
Department applied for Accreditation in
June. Shortly following the application for
Accreditation, the Department’s Program
18 TPW November/December 2016
Manager, Britt Elmore worked with APWA
to host representatives from the association fessionalism. After receiving notice that
to conduct a Site Review in August.
During the evaluation, four representa-
tives from APWA, including Ann Daniels,
the Director of APWA Accreditation,
reviewed each practice over the course
of three days. At the end of the three-day
period, the Accreditation Evaluation Team
made a recommendation to APWA’s Ac-
creditation Board for full accreditation,
finding 98 percent of the practices to be in which have committed the resources to
full compliance, and only 2 percent of the
practices to be substantially compliant.
They also recognized six model practices
which can be reviewed by other agen-
cies during their self-assessments. These
model practices included: Integrated Solid
Waste Management Plan; Residual Man-
agement of Biosolids Program; Master
Forestry Plan; Service Request Response
Procedures; Legal Review of Regulations;
and Budget Process.
The Department has already begun
implementation of a continuous improve-
ment policy which will ensure readiness
for re-accreditation in four years. Accredi- met or exceeded APWA’s requirements.
tation for the Department has proven to
be a deliberate and continuous effort to
input, promote teamwork, encourage
professional development, clarify budget
needs, identify operational needs, enhance
the Department’s image, encourage close
interdepartmental coordination, reduce
duplicated efforts, and improve commu-
nication. This process and the documents
that were created from the self-assessment
have resulted in a more prepared agency
and will increase customer satisfaction for
In the next few weeks, a team to lead
the self-assessment and accreditation
process will be announced. This team will
identify subject matter experts to help in
development of documents to meet the
Department’s needs. These documents
will be made up of formalized standards,
policies, procedures, practices, and other
documents which will be used during ac-
creditation.
Justin Holland, Administrator of the
City of Chattanooga Department of Public
Works believes in succession planning by
retaining institutional knowledge through
By Justin Holland
written documents that also promote pro-
the Department would receive APWA’s
distinguished Accreditation, Holland said,
“Our employees are our most valuable
resource. The efforts to ensure compre-
hensive guiding documents are reviewed
and maintained for every operation have
resulted in the development of many in-
dustry leading programs in Chattanooga. I
am excited that our Department is among
an elite number of agencies in the country
receive APWA Accreditation and the first
agency in Tennessee. Accreditation is an
opportunity and commitment that other
agencies should consider to demonstrate
that you are a world-class agency, just like
the City of Chattanooga Department of
Public Works.”
Elmore, Civil Engineer, was appointed
as the Department’s Accreditation Man-
ager at the beginning of the program. El-
more worked with every operation in the
Department to review and execute docu-
ments to manage project milestones, and
to ensure practices and compliance levels
“This process has afforded me the op-
portunity to evaluate, analyze, and assist
in improving every aspect of our agency’s
operation, management, and administra-
tion,” he said. “Working with the indi-
viduals from each department has been
the most exciting part for me. By taking
the decentralized approach to accredita-
tion and learning everyone’s perspective
on the different operations, our team has
created better documentation of processes
and procedures. This is a great time to be
working for the City of Chattanooga and
I am proud to be a part of an innovative
organization.”
The City of Chattanooga recognizes
that APWA is the professional association
of choice for many Public Works agen-
cies. The City of Chattanooga Department
of Public Works has been a partner with
APWA for the advancement and support of
Public Works through education, informa-
tion, advocacy, and public interaction for
decades. This achievement is exciting for
Chattanooga and especially for those who
work hard every day in Public Works to
ensure excellence in every area.