Around The Industry By Gary Gleason

A Tracker Software Corporation Product

Around The Industry
By Gary Gleason

Rapid growth, changing public expectations, and funding limitations continue to put pressure on public works managers across the country. In speaking with our customers for this quarter’s Around The Industry Column, we noted some very innovative solutions, which may be appropriate for you.

Keeping Pace with Growth
Most customers we spoke with, in cities and counties alike, are experiencing growth pains of some sort. In the western United States, much of that growth, and pain, is being driven by gas and oil exploration.

At the same time, record energy prices and relaxed environmental requirements are driving a new flurry of oil and gas exploration activity in many western states. This is something we have been reporting on for several months, and the issue only seems to be intensifying.

“You have roads that probably had a couple heavy trucks in a month that are now seeing a dozen or more per day,” explained George Huntington with the Wyoming Local Technical Assistance Program. “Ranchers had the sense to stay off the roads during spring thaw and big rains, and you don’t always see that kind of consideration from the drilling companies.

“It’s been quite a large hit from some of these companies coming along,” said Linda DeRose, Manager for Moffat County Road Department in northwest Colorado. “We’re trying to work with them, and ask help in keeping up the roads. But with 4800 square miles to cover, it is hard to keep on top of.”

Moffat County has recently passed an oil and gas rig movement permit, which requires the gas companies to pay the county $1,000 every time they move one of their rigs. DeRose said that while it has been difficult to consistently enforce, they are generating some income to off-set the impacts on their rural roadways.

Half-way across the country in northern Kentucky and southern Ohio, PubWorks customers indicated that growth was driven more by expanding commuter populations.

“We are not that far from Cincinnati, not that far from Lexington, and not far from the Casinos in Indiana. We’ve gone from about 4,000 people ten or 15 years ago to 20,000 people by now. It is not easy to keep up with that sort of growth,” said Sandy Trenkamp with the City of Independence.

“The important thing when you are growing so fast is trying to keep really good records. By tracking calls and complaints [using PubWorks Service Calls module], we can say, ‘OK, we talked to you on this date and this is what the person who came and looked at the situation said’. This helps the person feel like we are at least listening.”

Other Tracker Software customers noted that proactive customer communications, and managing expectations, is important during financially trying times.

“We have to let the public know that we are going to change priorities,” said Gina Hugar with the City of Monroe, Ohio. “We’ve run some newspaper articles, and put info on our website. We also have a bi-monthly newsletter with meeting dates, community news, and such that all city residents get.”

Many departments have noted that they are adding staff, or will be soon, to accommodate growth. Others are cutting services.

“We are on the edge of increasing and updating our equipment and facilities, because we are having to clear more miles (of snow-covered roads) now. We are outgrowing our equipment. Our building is no longer adequate,” said Adrianne Bell, Administrative Assistant with Ohio’s Miami Township. “With PubWorks we can now back up what we are doing, and what we have to do, with legitimate numbers and data. That helps.”

“One of the big cuts has been magnesium chloride treatment (for dust control),” DeRose said. “We just could not afford to do it this year. We have had a lot of complaints, but we just tell them that we don’t have the equipment and manpower.”

Reorganization
Paradoxically, Bryan Berthiaume with Platte County Road and Bridge Maintenance near Kansas City is meeting the challenge of growth by cutting staff and equipment. Paired with a 3/8 cent countywide property tax dedicated to public works, the agency has been able to keep pace

“One of the changes we have made is to downsize our crew. When people retired or quit, we just didn’t replace them. We have ended up with a better crew, and are therefore able to get by with less equipment,” Berthiaume said.

“We also have reorganization our office into divisions for Office, Fleet, Road, and our Special Tax Oversight. This has taken the responsibility and divvied it up so one person is not responsible for everything. This really helps us to manage the growth,” he said.

“In getting rid of our surplus equipment, we were able to use PubWorks to know what the depreciated value is compared to what you are paying to maintain it. We got rid of some equipment that was not very efficient, and purchased newer better equipment that is easier to maintain and cheaper to run,” explained Stephanie Ross, Office Manager for Platte County Road and Bridge.

According to Bell, Miami Township has also found that some maintenance they have been doing in-house is actually costing them money. In particular, she noted that repairs on a radio antenna could be more cost-effectively outsourced, saving staff resources for other projects.

“Using PubWorks, we are also finding out what things really cost,” Bell said.

Garage Sale
One of the more innovative budget management solutions we uncovered this quarter was the concept of selling off surplus equipment and supplies at area auctions, not unlike the approach many of us take with personal items we sell at a garage sale.

“We sold several different pieces of equipment – a couple of snow plows, some salt spreaders, several pieces of pipe, an excavator. The most surprising sale was a Cat blade. I could not believe what it brought in. We also had some equipment that was just not feasible for us to run, like a CMI recycler (for preparing roads for repaving). We figured out that we could get that work done cheaper by contracting it out, so were able to let it go,” explained Berthiaume.

Berthiaume said they were also able to consolidate gear, selling two older skid loaders, raising enough money to pay for one new one. The Public Works department in Monroe had a similar experience, auctioning off some trucks, a jeep, and a variety of things that were in storage.

“It was sort of a spring cleaning issue that helped us bring some money in to pay for other things that are needed,” Hugar said.

One of the things Hugar and Berhiaume said can make a big difference in auctioning your surplus equipment is advertising.

“We sent out a press release to 350 different agencies – contractors, residents, equipment dealers for farmers – letting them know about our equipment. The auction consignment company did a lot of advertising too. We had a big turn out: Everyone from John Q. Public to big equipment dealers. And we had to stay in contact with your lawyer, because everything has to sell for fair market value,” Berthiaume said.

Other Bright Ideas
A couple other ideas our clients had that we thought were particularly innovative included restitution strategies, cost allocation strategies, and work-service fees. We thought we would pass them along:

In Platte County, Missouri they are using the PubWorks Service Call module to track the true cost to repair and replace signs shot up by passing motorists. This includes not just sign costs, but also the labor and equipment allocation cost.

“In the outlying areas, at least around here, people will shoot up road signs. Sometimes they get caught. When they are prosecuted we can pursue restitution for the full cost of replacement,” Ross said.

Another strategy being employed by Platte County to more fully cover their fully-allocated costs for all services is the use of current FEMA rates for services they provide to other departments, cities, and counties.

“The FEMA number is something everyone is comfortable with, and covers all of our costs for the employees and our overhead,” Ross said. Using FEMA rates also would help the agency receive federal reimbursement if they were involved in response to any presidentially-declared disaster, such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year.

Thirdly, they have changed how they charge for fuel, including it as an overhead cost in their cost allocation plan, rather than struggling through fuel assessments based the interface between PubWorks and their GasBoy fueling system.

“In the past you would have a fuel charge with daily entries assigned to events, so fuel costs were tied to event, or project, or location. We’re now using PubWorks and GasBoy to help assess fuel as an overhead cost. We are evaluating hard costs versus the overhead fee approach, and so far have not lost money,” Berthiaume said.

Here at Tracker Software we continue to be impressed by the innovation, ingenuity and resilience of our clients. It is a proud pleasure to provide you with tools that help you succeed.

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