The Municipal - August 2023

17 Focus on Waste & Recycling

40 Public Safety: Ranger program reclaims Modesto parks

44 Public Works: Public works offices settle down together in Manhattan, Kan.

46 Parks & Environmental Services: Heat mapping and the effects of climate change

50 Building & Construction: Better safe than sorry: Hanford improves security at city hall

52 Water & Energy: Scottsdale, Ariz., incentivizes water conservation

56 Streets, Highways & Bridges: Houston highway transformed into ecologically rich landmark destination

ON THE COVER

Potholes are constants and require proper knowledge to apply long-lasting fixes. Are those fixes done in house or should they be outsourced? As a manufacturer in the asphalt maintenance industry, KM International is always willing to offer its expertise and knowledge to municipal agencies contemplating between these two options. Read more about the pros and cons of both options on page 10.

SOUNDS ABOUT AS LOUD AS THIS AD.

244 X-TIER

Our new electric lineup made a lot of noise in Vegas. Which is impressive, since they cut noise in half while keeping the same power. That means you can work overnight or indoors. And we also built them to fast charge at a station, or recharge directly on the jobsite, because even small machines should deliver big results.

Meet our Staff

publisher

RON BAUMGARTNER rbaumgartner@the-papers.com

editor-in-chief

DEB PATTERSON dpatterson@the-papers.com

editor SARAH WRIGHT swright@the-papers.com

publication manager

CHRIS SMITH chris@themunicipal.com

senior account executive REES WOODCOCK rees@themunicipal.com

graphic designer

MARY LESTER mlester@the-papers.com

business manager

ANNETTE WEAVER aweaver@the-papers.com

mail manager

KHOEUN KHOEUTH kkhoeuth@the-papers.com

director of marketing STEVE MEADOWS smeadows@the-papers.com

marketing assistant

TAELYNNE OUSLEY tousley@the-papers.com

Contributing Writers Ray Balogh, Jennifer Barton, Beth Anne Brink-Cox, Lauren Caggiano, Nicholette Carlson, Denise Fedorow, Kevin Kilbane, Dani Messick, Staci Reafsnyder, Julie Young

WWW.THEMUNICIPAL.COM

CORRECTION

The Municipal does not knowingly accept false or misleading advertising or editorial content, nor does The Municipal or its staff assume responsibility should such advertising or editorial content appear in any publication. The Municipal reserves the right to determine the suitability of all materials submitted for publication and to edit all submitted materials for clarity and space. The Municipal has not independently tested any services or products advertised herein and has verified no claims made by its advertisers regarding those services or products. The Municipal makes no warranties or representations and assumes no liability for any claims regarding those services or products or claims made by advertisers regarding such products or services. Readers are advised to consult with the advertiser regarding any such claims and regarding the suitability of an advertiser’s products. No reproduction of The Municipal is allowed without express written permission. Copyright © 2023.

In The Municipal’s July article, “Hot plate heating: Klamath Falls keeps the community comfortable with geothermal system,” a degree symbol was lost in the formatting process, becoming a zero. The range of temperatures for Klamath Falls’ geothermal system should have been “ranging from 200 to 220 degrees.”

The Municipal apologizes for this error and any confusion it may have caused.

Managing our waste

We Americans love our stuff. Whether it’s shoes and clothes, the latest electronic gadgets or mass-produced furniture, we want it. However, there is the occasional head-scratcher or two. Why did I even buy this? I believe we’ve all been there. While going through possessions, we’ll uncover items that are no longer needed, have never been used, are broken but still cling to the nooks and crannies of our homes, etc. When we finally release them, they have to go somewhere. It could be a donation box, but all too often, it’s to the landfill.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average U.S. resident produces about 4.9 pounds per day as of 2018. Spending habits favoring fast furniture or mass-produced products that aren’t built to last aren’t helping. The New York Times noted in an Oct. 31, 2022, article, “‘Fast Furniture’ Is Cheap. And Americans Are Throwing It in the Trash,” Americans had bought $4 billion from 2019 to 2021 in furniture.

Debra Kamin, who penned the article, wrote, “Each year, Americans throw out more than 12 million tons of furniture, creating mountains of solid waste that have grown 450 percent since 1960, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Bits of tossed furniture can be recycled, but the vast majority ends up in landfills.”

And that leads to its own host of issues, as space for landfills is finite. To divert some items from landfills, municipalities have launched recycling programs or special cleanup events. Others are rethinking how trash is collected as a whole or prioritizing education giving residents a better understanding of waste management.

Several municipalities in New Hampshire have moved to a Pay As You Throw, or PAYT, model, where residents pay for the amount of trash they throw out. For this issue, The Municipal writer Kevin Kilbane spoke with several cities that have opted to adopt some manner of PAYT model. Each had very positive things to say about the approach and how it has led residents to

reexamine their habits, leading to an overall reduction in waste.

Writer Denise Fedorow is also spotlighting a few cities’ cleanup events that divert certain items from landfills and ensure hazardous chemicals are properly disposed off. In most instances, these events have grown so popular that residents expect their annual reoccurrence.

Recycling remains a delicate balancing act for most cities. In my locality, I’ve witnessed two counties mothball their recycling drop-off sites. People were often dumping pretty much everything from mattresses to TVs. By closing, the counties hoped to improve contamination rates a concern shared by so many municipalities. In this August issue of The Municipal, we have a special look at municipalities’ challenges and accomplishments in recycling.

Finally, we’re also spotlighting a wastewater project out of Scottsburg, Ind., that is preparing the city for future growth.

Stay safe and don’t forget to seize the last days of summer!

Sarah Wright | Editor

Pothole Patching: Self Performing vs Contracting It Out

By MICHAEL BLAKE | Director of Marketing, KM International

Pothole patching is one of those jobs no one necessarily looks forward to doing. Without sugar coating it, pothole patching is a tough, dirty job and usually last on the list of municipal priorities. But with that being said, pothole repair is still a necessity, particularly now as the infrastructure continues to deteriorate and the focus — and financial resources — have moved from full road replacements to road maintenance and repair. With a lack of resources, a severe labor shortage and limited access to equipment, some municipals are at a crossroads whether to keep pothole repair services in house or start contracting them out.

Contracting services is nothing new to municipal entities, but traditionally pothole patching has always been something most municipals have kept in house. However, as finding employees becomes more difficult and the laundry list of municipal responsibilities continues to grow, many municipalities

have transitioned toward looking for outside help to tackle pothole patching by contracting it out to local service providers. Like anything, contracting service out comes with its advantages and disadvantages, and because every municipal entity is different, there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong decision.

ABOVE: Following the right process for pothole repair will lead to better, long-term results. (Photo provided by KM International)

To preface the following comparison, there are two important facts that, no matter your decision, need to be addressed. The first is the pothole repair process. The throw-and-go method used by 90% of municipalities will not be a long-term repair solution nor should it be thought of as the standard in the industry. What most municipals do not realize is that taking a couple extra minutes to prep the pothole by cleaning, drying and applying a tack coat, and then placing material and compacting it properly will drastically increase your pothole patching success rate.

The second important factor is material selection and application temperature. Hotmix asphalt should not be applied under 275F and really should be applied between

325-350F. Much of the time municipals patch out of the back of a pickup or dump truck and the asphalt cools well under application temps before workers even get to their first repair area. Even if using cold patch, that should be applied at 80-90F. Without addressing these two critical factors, your pothole repair program, no matter who performs it, will inevitably fail.

Benefits and drawbacks of an internal pothole repair program

Benefits

• Keep crews’ busy year-round.

• Relatively low initial equipment and material investment.

• Ability to respond immediately to problem areas.

Drawbacks

• As stated previously, asphalt repair is a tough, dirty job, so getting employees to willingly do it, and more importantly, do it correctly is hard.

• Employees will most likely be working in high-traffic areas so the risk of potential injuries is something worth considering, especially if the right traffic control devices are not in place.

• Most municipal employees aren’t “asphalt guys/girls,” so if they are unfamiliar with the correct pothole repair methods, then your potholes will most likely reoccur.

Benefits and drawbacks of contracting pothole repair out

Benefits

• In your service contract, you can specifically state how you want the repairs to be made and give the contractor a comprehensive outline of the process they should be following.

• Free up labor and equipment resources to focus on other responsibilities.

• Assuming the service contractor is familiar with asphalt and performing the job successfully, the repairs they make should last long term, and if they don’t, the work could be re-repaired for no cost if there is a warranty in place through your contract.

Drawbacks

• Contracting service out will most likely be more expensive in the long run.

• You are reliant on the contractor to respond in a timely manner.

• Bidding and maintaining contracts is not cheap, and there would still need to be someone internally to monitor and inspect the contractor’s progress.

Regardless if you choose to keep pothole patching internal or contract it out, the most important factor in repairing asphalt is following the right process that will lead to long-term repair solutions instead of temporary fixes that have become all too common. Potholes will never be completely eliminated, but with the right process, equipment and personnel, you can undoubtedly see improvements to your pothole patching process.

In working with municipalities across the country, KM International understands that every organization has different needs, different budgets and different issues they face. At KM International, we don’t want to only supply the equipment used to maintain and

repair asphalt, but we also want to supply the knowledge base and training that will allow municipalities to offer their citizens long-term solutions to pothole repair.

As a manufacturer in the asphalt maintenance industry, KM International is always willing to offer its expertise and knowledge to municipal agencies contemplating between these two options. KM International has a vast knowledge base on not only the equipment used in the pothole patching process, but the actual process itself. KM International reps routinely speak at national and local municipal shows and conferences on the proper way to patch potholes and are always willing to share their experience with public work leaders.

KM International is a manufacturer of asphalt repair and maintenance equipment based in North Branch, Mich. To learn more about KM’s equipment or inquire about its free pothole repair specifications, visit the company’s website at www.kminternational.com or call (800) 492-1757.

Municipals have long relied on the traditional throw and go pothole repair method. (Photo provided by KM International)

Owning an asphalt hotbox will allow your crews to patch with hotmix asphalt year round. (Photo provided by KM International)

Seventy-five years and counting: Crazy Horse Memorial remains a work in progress

By JULIE YOUNG | The Municipal

iconic and controversial piece of American history that pays tribute to legendary leadership. And while it doesn’t get as much attention as the four heads down the road do, make no mistake, the Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer, S.D., is a real “rock” star.

The basic backstory

The story of the Crazy Horse Memorial began in 1939, when Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear reached out to Korczaz Ziolkowski about carving a mountainside relief in honor of the Oglala Lakota war chief who led a band of warriors against General Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. Ziolkowski was an award-winning sculptor who had served as an assistant on the Mount Rushmore Memorial Monument but left the project after clashing with the designer’s son. The two met and toured potential sites for the monument, but Ziolkowski’s service in World War II prevented the plan from going any further.

After the war, Ziolkowski returned to accept Chief Standing Bear’s offer and devoted the rest of his life to the carving. He began work in 1948 with less than $200 and over the next 33 years, he cleared nearly

This sign welcomes visitors to Crazy Horse Memorial. (All photos by Mary Lester)

TOP PHOTO: Crazy Horse Memorial is a work in pr0gress.

7.4 million tons of rock from the site. The federal government offered Zilkowski the money to complete the project several times, but he turned them down because he did not think that they would complete the carving and he preferred to maintain control over his work. He funded his operation with proceeds he made from a small dairy farm, museum, gift shop, carloads of tourists and private donations.

“It’s my life’s work,” he said in 1977 during a “60 Minutes” interview. The project is not without controversy. Member of the Sioux Nation are opposed to the memorial because they believe that a man who was adamantly against having his picture taken would never agree to have his likeness carved into the side of a mountain.

Despite his belief that he might live to see the finished product, Ziolkowski died in 1982 and is buried at the base of the sculpture. His final wish was that his second wife Ruth Ross and his children continue the work on the monument. The family honored his request, and in 1998, the head of Crazy Horse was unveiled to the public. It is 87 feet high and 58 feet wide. His eyes are 17 feet apart. By comparison, the head of George Washington on Mount Rushmore is 60 feet tall. When completed, the Crazy Horse Memorial Monument will be 563 feet high and 641 feet long, or 35 times bigger than the plaster model on display at the Crazy Horse Memorial Visitors Center.

The Crazy Horse Memorial will be 563 feet high and 641 feet long once complete. Even in its unfinished state, it can be seen for miles.

Plan your trip

Today, work on the mountain is overseen by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation and funded solely through admission fees and contributions. Those who visit the work-in-progress can watch as crews work on Crazy Horse’s left hand and his horse’s mane. They can also tour Ziolkowski’s home/studio, the Indian Museum of North America and the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, both of which feature Native American art and artifacts from tribal nations all across the continent.

Folks can dine at the Laughing Water Restaurant, which features a stunning view of the mountain, or take part in make-it-take-it craft activities. The site also holds special events throughout the year. Bus trips to the base of the mountain are available when weather and road conditions are favorable. According to the foundation’s website, the Crazy Horse Memorial attracts more than a million visitors per year and provides $1 million in scholarships to Native American students attending South Dakota schools.

Georgia Davenport of Nashville, Tenn., has visited the Crazy Horse Memorial and uses two pieces of rock from the mountain as bookends in her home.

“I love the museum and its history and then seeing it in person is really moving,” she said. “I suggest going to see Mount Rushmore as well since it’s in the same area.”

Sherri Emmons of Indianapolis, Ind., agreed.

“It’s one of the best places out West that we’ve been.”

• The Crazy Horse Memorial is located at 12151 Avenue of the Chiefs, Crazy Horse, SD 57730 and is open year-round.

• Hours: 8 a.m. until approximately 30 minutes after the nightly laser light show.

• Admission: $30 per carload Oct. 1 through the last Thursday of May or $35 per carload Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend

• Free Parking

For more information, call (605) 673-4681or visit www.crazyhorsememorial.org.

Guests can occasionally go to the top of the memorial for a firsthand experience.

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85,000 to 90,000

The city of Lebanon, N.H., launched a Pay As You Throw punch card system in the mid1980s to conserve landfill space. Over the years, the program added communities and now serves 85,000 to 90,000 people.

$ Waste & Recyclingfocus on:

2.7 million gallons

Scottsburg, Ind.’s, new wastewater treatment plant doubled to 2.7 million gallons, compared to its old facility.

$200

Between fuel costs, the driver’s wage and product contamination, the city of Lufkin, Texas, was losing on average $200 per trip to recycle glass.

$1,000,000

A million-dollar grant fund has been made available to Savannah, Ga., so the metropolis can begin assessing downtown areas that have been flagged for potentially containing hazardous materials.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-resources-allocated-to-identify-areaswith-hazardous-materials-in-savannah/ar-AA1c0kZt?ocid=qbeb.

The number of loads Spanish Fork, Utah, had to take to the transfer during one Saturday’s cleanup event.

40%

Percentage by which the imported potable water supply was reduced at San Francisco Public Utilities Commission headquarters through use of a blackwater system, which recycles graywater. Additional uses of recycled water are being studied by the California city.

Source: https://e360.yale.edu/features/ on-site-distributed-premise-graywater-blackwater-recycling.

30%

Total sewer rate hike approved in Sioux City and South Sioux City, Iowa, recently. It will be imposed in two parts, 20% and 10%, over the next two years. Sioux City is facing a projected $470 million rebuild of its wastewater treatment plant: A new $45 million plant in South Sioux City opened in June.

Learn more at https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/government-politics/ south-sioux-city-raises-sewer-rates-as-new-wastewater-treatment-plant-is-set-to-open/ article_a82aece8-0a03-11ee-a111-7301a56fc3d9.html.

Check out how communities are hosting successful cleanup events to encourage residents to properly dispose of certain items on page 22.

Read about the challenges facing municipal recycling programs on page 30.

Learn more about how Pay As You Throw models are helping New Hampshire communities divert items from landfills on page 18.

Read about the city’s wastewater treatment plant project on page 26.

PAYT reduces waste, saves money

By KEVIN KILBANE | The Municipal

If you can drag your trash to the curb and it goes away, you don’t really have skin in the game, said Chip Chesley, general services director for the city of Concord, N.H. If you pay by the bag to dispose of waste, you may think more about recycling or donating items.

“It gives people a reason, a pause, to say, ‘Well, there is a price,’” Chesley said of Concord’s Pay As You Throw or PAYT solid waste disposal program. “How do I best manage the things I don’t want anymore in the most cost-effective way?”

PAYT programs charge residents for solid waste disposal based on the amount of trash they throw away. The approach, which municipalities have used since the 1980s, provides an incentive for people to remove items from the waste stream, said Brian Patnoe, member services manager with the Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) in Epsom, N.H., the nation’s largest and oldest recycling cooperative. PAYT’s popularity spread in New

Hampshire in the early 1990s as communities shifted from operating their own landfills to sending waste to regional facilities, Patnoe said. About 26% of New Hampshire residents now live in a community that uses PAYT for household solid waste disposal.

Patnoe said PAYT can save municipalities money by reducing waste volume and the amount a community pays in tipping fees to dump trash at a landfill. Communities also may earn a little revenue from recyclables.

Less waste conserves landfill space, said Erica Douglas, solid waste manager for the city of Lebanon, N.H. The city operates a PAYT program and municipal landfill serving its residents and people in 22 surrounding communities.

ABOVE: The city of Lebanon, N.H., has used a Pay As You Throw (PAYT) program for residential trash disposal since the mid-1980s to conserve space in its municipal landfill. PAYT encourages residents to reduce their waste by charging them based on the amount of trash they throw away.

(Photo provided by Lyn Swett Miller)

“Because we are a landfill, we realize that we have a very limited resource here,” Douglas said. “Obviously, it’s incredibly important that we’re doing everything that we can to preserve it. So when you have a Pay As You Throw program, it definitely makes people more conscious of what they’re throwing away as opposed to recycling.”

PAYT treats residents more fairly, too, Douglas noted, because they pay for the amount of trash they throw away, not a flat fee.

PAYT possibilities

Patnoe said communities typically use one of five PAYT approaches:

• Town bag: The community sells plastic trash bags that residents must buy and use to dispose of their trash. Revenue from bag sales covers all or a portion of the community’s trash disposal costs.

• Stickers: Residents pay for trash disposal by buying communityissued stickers they place on their own trash bags. Stickers can fall off, though, if trash bags are wet or it’s very cold.

• Tags: They work like stickers but attach more securely to trash bags.

• Punch cards: Residents buy a punch card allowing them to dispose of a certain number of bags of trash. They usually must bring their trash to a waste collection facility where a staff member punches their card for each bag of trash thrown away.

• Overflow: Residents pay for municipal trash disposal services. If they want to discard more than fits in their garbage cart, the person pays a fee for the extra items.

The city of Lebanon launched a PAYT punch card system in the mid1980s to conserve landfill space. Over the years, the program added communities and now serves 85,000 to 90,000 people, Douglas said. The expansion makes it difficult to determine how PAYT has affected residential solid waste volume, which now ranges from 3,000 to 3,500 tons per month.

Residential customers have paid $2 per punch, which covers one bag of trash of any size. A person throwing out a 15-gallon bag of trash has paid the same as someone tossing out a 30-gallon bag, a weakness in the incentive to reduce waste.

In early August, however, Lebanon will transition to a prepaid PAYT trash bag program for all residents living outside the city of Lebanon, Douglas said. Customers will pay $1 for a 15-gallon bag and $2 for a 30-gallon bag. PAYT bag prices will cover the cost of making each bag and disposing of waste put in it, she said. Lebanon residents can dispose of household waste using PAYT bags or can continue using punch cards for an as-yet undetermined amount of time.

Area retailers will sell Lebanon’s PAYT bags at the city’s price. Residents still must transport their filled PAYT bags to the city Solid Waste Facility or hire a private hauler to pick up their trash, Douglas said.

The PAYT bag program will give Lebanon more-accurate information about waste volume and where it comes from, she noted. Revenue could dip slightly from punch card levels, but the self-supporting solid waste program will face lower expenses because staff can spend less time punching residents’ cards and emptying the residential trash dumpster.

Concord switched to its PAYT system in 2009 after studying the idea for about a year, Chesley said. Prior involvement in a waste-to-energy project had given the city of 44,000 people very favorable waste disposal costs. Going into 2009, though, the city anticipated trash disposal rates would jump to $62 per ton from the previous $46 per ton. City leaders decided to look for better options.

Concord’s PAYT program includes about 12,000 residential properties, Chelsey said. The city, which hires private companies to handle waste pickup and disposal, doesn’t use PAYT for large multifamily dwellings or most businesses.

“Almost instantaneously when we implemented Pay As You Throw, we saw a 40% reduction in our solid waste volumes,” Chesley said. He found no evidence people took their trash to other communities or dumped it illegally. “The other thing we saw was an instantaneous doubling of our recycling volumes,” he added.

Concord keeps costs low for its PAYT trash bags because people will resent a high price. Residents had paid $1.25 per 15-gallon bag and $2.50

The city of Concord, N.H., implemented a Pay As You Throw system in 2009 for most residential trash disposal. Residents must buy city-issued purple trash bags for disposing of trash, which creates an incentive for people to throw less away and to recycle more items. (Photo provided by the city of Concord, N.H.)

per 30-gallon bag. Prices increased July 1 to $1.60 for a 15-gallon bag and $3.20 for a 30-gallon bag.

Residents can buy bags at numerous local retailers, which don’t make any profit from the sales. Concord also offers assistance to people who can’t afford the bags.

City officials planned for PAYT bag sales revenue to cover the cost of residential trash collection and disposal. Disposal prices have soared, however, so the city makes up the shortfall with general fund dollars, Chesley said.

Implementation tips

NRRA’s Patnoe recommends allowing 18 months to educate residents and roll out a PAYT program.

Douglas said the city of Lebanon has touted how using PAYT bags will reduce trash volumes and extend the life of the city landfill. The city addressed some residents’ fears that PAYT trash bags will tear easily by purchasing high-quality bags that also are made of 50% to 75% recycled content.

“There’s a lot of good plus sides to what we’re doing, so it’s just really getting that message out to the public as soon as possible,” Douglas said.

Concord officials spoke to residents about the PAYT concept everywhere they could, Chesley said. “Understand there’s going to be questions,” he added. “Understand there’s going to be some pushback. But the important thing is to engage.”

Expect sudden change in people’s waste disposal habits once PAYT begins, Chesley advised. Municipalities also should develop strong partnerships with local retailers that sell PAYT products and keep those stores well stocked.

“None of us like change,” he explained. “Some of us will complain about change. If they go to a store and begrudgingly need to buy a bag and the bag’s not on the shelf, that’s a tough thing. … You need to have your products present on the shelf.”

For questions about PAYT, Chesley can be reached at generalservices@ concordnh.gov.

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Helping your community shine: Hosting successful cleanup days

By DENISE FEDOROW | The Municipal

We all want to feel pride in our communities, and sometimes, that takes a little motivation or assistance from city and town officials. Holding community-wide cleanup events — whether that be large items collections, hazardous waste collections or coastal beach cleanups — is one way to get items out of people’s homes and yards and divert them from ending up in landfills.

“We did learn after the first year not to have Sunday as an option,” he said. “So we pull the dumpsters out on Sundays.”

Spanish Fork, Utah

Spanish Fork part of the South Utah Valley Solid Waste District holds an annual spring cleanup. Spanish Fork public information officer Nick Porter shared the city has been holding the event since 2020.

“It was a coincidence that it started with COVID,” he said, “But we set a record that year.”

The amount collected in 2021 decreased in tons and numbers of hauls, but it has increased in the last two years. In Spanish Fork, the city holds the event for two weeks the last week of April and first week of May.

Workers place dumpsters in five different locations around town in the parks, all operating at the same time daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

According to Porter, this is done because the transfer station is closed on Sundays, so workers couldn’t drop dumpsters off. Thus, items would be left outside the dumpsters. He noted, “It helps prevent a huge amount piling up.”

The program is very well received, according to Porter. In fact, on one of the Saturdays this year, the city broke records.

“One Saturday we had 52 loads in one day that broke records for the highest daily use in loads and tons taken to the transfer station,” he said.

Residents now expect Spring Clean Up Days. Porter noted, “It’s now become an expectation, which is good and bad. I always say be careful when implementing something new because it’s hard to do something one time.”

The city publicizes the Spring Clean Up Days by mailing and emailing a newsletter out to each utility customer. It’s also brought up at city council meetings, which are broadcast, and posted on the city’s social media sites and website.

Porter said, “We have a pretty active community Facebook page, which has grown good at distributing information.”

When holding these events, Porter said, “(it) takes a lot of coordination with our transfer station.”

Staff at the transfer station pick up and deliver dumpsters daily or sometimes hourly on busy days.

Spanish Fork co-owns the transfer station with seven other nearby cities and towns and a nearby university all are members of the South Utah Valley Solid Waste District. Porter said during Spring Clean Up Days, the city doesn’t take mattresses or appliances or hazardous waste. Those items need to be taken to the proper facilities.

The city accepts “green waste” branches, brush, etc. and has separate containers

The Municipal spoke to a couple of communities who hold such events.

ABOVE: A couple of large dumpsters are shown in a Spanish Fork park during Spring Clean Up Days. The Wasatch Mountains are shown in the background. (Photo provided by the city of Spanish Fork)

for them. “That can be problematic because it takes up a lot of room and fills the dumpsters quickly.”

However, he admitted that is a large part of the collection as residents clean up their yards in the spring. The dumpsters aren’t manned the whole time, but the city has the transfer station’s phone number on the dumpsters and asks residents to call if they notice they’re full. He said their sanitation staff also drive around and keep an eye out, too. That can lead to the only issue seen during the program. Porter said that instead of calling, waiting or going to another location, people will just leave items outside the full dumpsters.

“There’s a lot of clean up of the cleanup,” Porter said. “That takes time and manpower.”

The event is supported by city officials and well received by the public.

“This was a push from the city council they were excited about the program. It is a community expense,” he said, “But I think it’s a great service to the community. It’s a lot of work and coordination, so if you’re going to do it, commit to long term.”

Additionally, Porter stated choosing locations is important. “You don’t want other big events going on in the same area. That would make people dumping trash a hazard.”

Porter said the city is considering doing a cleanup in the fall, too, but no decision has been made.

Hazard waste collections

Two communities that hold hazardous waste collections and are passionate about the importance of doing so are Sarasota County, Fla., and Huntsville, Ala. While the county has permanent solid waste facilities, it tries to make disposing of these materials as convenient as possible by going into the communities.

Wendi Crisp, outreach coordinator for Sarasota County Solid Waste, said the team has a series of collection events from January through April. During these events, the agency goes into the communities the criteria is they have to be at least 8 miles from the solid waste facility.

These community mobile events typically occur on Tuesdays for a two-hour time period. Brian Mangum, hazardous waste supervisor, said the goal is to do 20 a year.

“But we always surpass that,” he said.

In this fiscal year, Sarasota County Solid Waste has already held 35 and planned to do an additional event in the city of North Port, where it typically has 500 participants and 18,000 pounds of hazardous waste. Mangum said each of the cities in the agency’s service area helps with advertising events, and his staff goes out to pass out flyers in businesses, where people congregate “like Starbucks and Publix, and we go to the city halls to pass out flyers.”

The cities advertise the events on their respected municipal websites, and Mangum said Crisp puts the information on the Sarasota County Solid Waste’s social media sites and website. The city of Venice’s newspaper also includes the flyer in their newspaper.

Mangum said the flyer includes information on what is acceptable and what’s not.

“We collect materials we want to divert from the landfill,” he said.

Things like household cleaners that contain caustic materials; pool chemicals containing oxidizers; automotive cleaners; and flammable materials. He pointed out that federal law does allow for household cleaners to be disposed of in the landfill, but “our county is actively removing those items and tag them to go to a permanent facility.”

Sarasota County Solid Waste had three permanent facilities, but one was destroyed in a hurricane. The two active facilities operate Monday through Saturday. At the facilities, they accept electronic recycling, fluorescent lights, mercury and propane containers.

Mangum said, “Paint is probably the largest item that comes through the facility quantity wise.”

For the mobile community events, Mangum said staff members take out a 20-foot-long box truck and a 20-foot-long hazardous waste trailer that they pull with a pickup truck. They also bring 55-gallon steel drums. They set up tables at the site.

“Residents drive up, and we record how many people and the weight of the materials dropped off,” he said.

A resident is shown dropping off items in a large dumpster provided for that purpose in Spanish Fork, Utah, during the two-week Spring Clean Up Days. (Photo provided by the city of Spanish Fork)

Here is an example of household hazardous waste that is collected by Sarasota County Solid Waste at community mobile events. (Photo provided by Sarasota County Government)

Workers then segregate the materials to drums and prepare them for shipment with Sarasota County Solid Waste’s external hazardous waste disposal vendor, who takes it to be treated for disposal. Mangum explained the material is segregated per hazardous waste classifications, with liquid toxics in one drum and aerosols in another, for example.

Mangum said Sarasota County Solid Waste start organizing in October by reaching out to subdivisions that are at least 8.1 miles from the facility. Mangum said the only issue the agency has encountered is if small businesses attempt to dispose of materials. Sarasota County’s program is the only one in the state that allows certain types of businesses to dispose of materials at its facility; however, there are specific guidelines and it can’t accept them at mobile sites.

“Those are just for residents, and residents are not charged,” he said. “It’s a very good program and very well received.”

Sarasota County also offers a curbside program for residents. Mangum said the county sends out postcards to certain areas of approximately 1,500 residents for three-month periods June to August and September to November offering curbside hazardous material pick up in those areas. Residents can schedule appointments each Tuesday. The county schedules eight appointments a day. While it limits the amount to be collected from any one resident on a single day, each resident can schedule multiple appointments.

Crisp said while the program is “driven by the county, we partner with local municipalities working with the city of Sarasota, North Port, Venice and the town of Longboat Key.”

Re-Uz-It Shop

A unique aspect of Sarasota County’s program and another means of diverting materials from the landfill is its Re-Uz-It shop. When the county is accepting materials, if workers see the contents are half full or full and the container is in good shape, they put it aside for the Re-Uz-It shop.

“Where residents can ‘shop.’ It’s a way to repurpose they can reuse and we keep it out of the landfill,” Crisp said.

Mangum said it’s located at the county’s main facility and is “very popular and allows us to keep disposal costs down. We generated quite a lot of money in savings we saved $21,000 in disposal costs through the Re-Uz-It program.”

“Residents can choose up to 10 items for free per day, and in a strained economy, it’s very well received, very popular,” he said.

Huntsville, Ala.

Like Sarasota, Huntsville has a solid waste authority that services the city of Huntsville and other nearby cities. The SWDA has a facility that’s open five days a week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the first Saturday of the month from 8 a.m. to noon. The facility opened full time in 2019.

Executive Director of Solid Waste Disposal Authority Doc Halladay said the facility is “designed so people can drive through the facility.”

It accepts electronics, household chemicals, lawn and garden chemicals, fluorescent lightbulbs, mercury, lithium batteries (and) “even expired pharmaceuticals. All at no charge to residents.”

The authority holds about 14 off-site events a year. Halladay said, “The biggest event community-wide is right after the Christmas

holidays at two locations because the county is over 800 square miles and the city of Huntsville is over 215 square miles.”

“Operation Christmas Clean Up” is held the week after New Year’s because Halladay said people tend to get new electronics, TVs, computers and generate lots of cardboard, etc.

“They don’t want those things accumulating, so we found holding it close to Christmas is successful.”

The authority has drop-off sites at two different locations Huntsville and Madison. He said they average 600 to 700 people at each location for the Christmas cleanups. They also take Christmas trees and run them through a chipper to make mulch.

“Some people scoop up the mulch and take it with them,” he said.

Accepting cardboard helps to not fill up residents’ recycling containers at home.

People have come to expect the event now, according to Halladay, and added, “For Christmas, in particular, the media has been very kind to us, doing TV interviews to get the word out and posting on municipal websites.”

When asked why the authority does these community events, Halladay responded, “We find people want to do the right things with their products; they realize they should be careful with how they dispose of them.”

If residents plan to come to the facility and load their vehicle up, but something comes up and they have to take the materials back out, Halladay said, “People have good intentions, but it normally doesn’t get back in the vehicle, and they end up throwing it away or it accumulates in the garage.”

Besides providing convenience, Halladay said it’s also a public service and safety concern especially with lithium batteries.

“We’re committed to protecting the environment. We have an educated population here who wants to do the right thing, but if it’s not easy, they’ll probably put it in the garbage.”

Lithium batteries, in particular, cause more of a danger as they age. “If there’s a fire in a landfill, you can likely trace it back to a lithium battery. So, we want to make it easy for the public to get rid of them.”

Pictured is the Solid Waste District Authority Huntsville Hazardous Waste Facility in Huntsville, Ala. (Photo provided by Andy Wilson, Huntsville Hazardous Waste Facility)

Halladay said it’s important for city officials to realize how important this is. If there’s a lithium battery in a trash truck that catches fire, it could take out an entire fleet.

“It’s a big deal,” he said.

The only issue the authority has had, according to Halladay, is if it’s the first time at a venue. It’s hard to know how many cars will show up, so he suggested when choosing a location, make sure you have good signage and good access for traffic control.

Final thought on hazard waste collections

Mangum in Florida admitted it is a major investment to build a facility as it will take over a million dollars to replace the one destroyed by a hurricane; however, he said if you’re part of a large county, see if other communities will buy in.

“Sarasota County is one of the prettiest counties in Florida there’s no trash blowing around in the streets. It’s very well taken care of,” he said, adding “Cleanup events help make the community where you live nice and well kept.”

He pointed out landfills occupy a lot of real estate, so by diverting hazardous waste from the landfill, it increases its life.

Crisp suggested finding trusted partners in the industry to help collect and ship materials.

Halladay praised his team for their dedication. “It’s a big sacrifice of time and effort truly a team effort.”

Crisp concluded, “Communication and education of the public is important, so residents understand why it’s important to keep these things out of the landfill. Everyone is working for the good of the community.”

A line of cars winds through the mobile hazardous waste collection hosted by Huntsville Solid Waste District Authority. (Photo provided by Andy Wilson, Huntsville Hazardous Waste Facility)

Scottsburg chooses a sequence batch reactor for new wastewater treatment plant to double capacity

By NICHOLETTE CARLSON | The Municipal

In the 1980s, the state of Indiana encouraged cities to test out new technology for wastewater treatment plants. Cities were given money to try out a continuous batch reactor. By the time Mayor Terry Amick of Scottsburg, Ind., took office, this system was failing and many others across the state had already closed.

“We had maintained it through a 20- to 30-year life span, but months before I took office, we had a sewer ban placed on the city by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management,” Amick explained.

“When I came into office, the city had a new plant design that was already approved by the state, but I did not go forward with the design from the previous administration,” he continued.

This rejected plant design was an oxidation ditch plant with an oval shape. While it was going to raise the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant, Amick ultimately decided to research other plant options and chose to move forward with another design.

Amick traveled to Tennessee to view a new and improved reactor design. After seeing it, he questioned the operator about its effectiveness and was told that, while it works, it could be troublesome. After talking to the

ABOVE: Three new reactors were built just north of the old plant for Scottsburg’s new wastewater treatment plant with enough room to expand and build more reactors as the city expands. While the previous plant was a continuous batch reactor, the new plant is a sequence batch reactor style. (Photo provided by the city of Scottsburg, Ind.)

engineer, he received similar reviews. Amick then visited Avon, Ind., to view a perfect square reactor that was said to work better. The operator there stated it worked well.

A sequence batch reactor plant design with a total project cost of $18 million was ultimately chosen. “We picked different things from different plants we liked and built our plant,” Amick described. This design allowed the city to reuse nearly everything from

the existing plant. The main reactors were switched from rectangular to square, and the wastewater treatment plant’s capacity was doubled to 2.7 million gallons.

In a sequence batch reactor, a fill-anddraw activated sludge system is used for wastewater treatment. The reactor is filled with influent wastewater during the fill portion, and a decanter removes the treated effluent during the draw portion. When wastewater enters a reactor and the reactor then becomes full, it acts as a traditional

activated sludge system, only without continuous flow. After biological reactions are complete, aeration and mixing ceases. During the cycle, frequent wasting holds the ratio of influent substrate to biomass fairly constant. With this design, return activated sludge pumps and primary sludge pumps are no longer needed. A sequence batch reactor acts as an equalization basin, which allows it to handle peak flows in the influent.

The primary advantages of using a sequence batch reactor are that equalization,

When Mayor Terry Amick took office, the city already had a new plant design approved by the state. However, after other plant options were researched, a different design was chosen. The new design would increase capacity and save the city money. (Photo provided by the city

primary clarification, biological treatment and secondary clarification can typically all be done in a single reactor; it creates a minimal ecological footprint; it offers significant capital cost savings; and it provides control and flexibility in operations. However, this type of system also requires a higher level of sophistication and maintenance as well.

Three new reactors were built along with a lift station, headworks, blowers and an enlarged ultraviolet building and system. Choosing this system meant the city could build a larger plant and still come in under budget. The reactors are massive, and there is enough room to build 30 more as Scottsburg continues to expand.

The new design took about three months, and the construction took a little over a year at 13 months. The city repurposed what it already had at the previous plant, including redoing the tank and expanding the operation. This way, Scottsburg also already had a sludge press. The new wastewater treatment plant is even built on the same site, just north of the old plant.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in March for the new wastewater treatment plant.

This past March, Scottsburg, Ind., held a ribbon cutting for its new wastewater treatment plant. This new plant utilized a square shape, while also being larger, and is able to handle a larger capacity. (Photo provided by the city of Scottsburg, Ind.)

of Scottsburg, Ind.)

The following articles highlight the challenges and accomplishments of recycling among municipalities.

Talking trash: Why cities are tossing out their recycling programs

By JULIE YOUNG | The Municipal

Reduce, reuse and repurpose. For most Americans, it’s a concept that has become a force of habit, and over the past four decades, communities across the U.S. have embraced the environmental and financial benefit of implementing recycling programs as part of their solid waste management division. And although recycling is at an all-time high, a number of municipalities are reexamining their programs and asking if it’s time to trash them.

Operation National Sword

For several years, China was the primary consumer for U.S. recyclable materials and spent billions to import products that could be used in the nation’s manufacturing processes. Unfortunately, a significant

portion of these materials were contaminated making them unusable, and the Asian nation had to incinerate them or redirect them to a landfill. In 2017, the country announced its Operation National Sword policy, prohibiting the import of foreign

ABOVE: After Lufkin, Texas, discontinued its curbside recycling program, the city noted cleaner recyclables at its drop sites with the exception of glass. (spwidoff/ Shutterstock.com)

trash. When the policy went into effect in 2018, the market for U.S. recyclables plummeted. According to Howard Husock, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, this lack of demand for U.S. plastic, paper and metal has turned the economics of municipal recycling upside down, causing communities to get out of the recycling business altogether.

“Those city departments responsible for trash pickup now incur significant costs, over and above what they would have to pay

in the absence of recycling,” he wrote in his June 2020 report, “The Declining Case for Municipal Recycling.” “These costs include the personnel and equipment for separate additional refuse collection (or payment to a contractor to provide the service), as well as the cost of paying firms to accept recyclables, now that they no longer can be profitably resold.”

Tough decisions

After voting to end its curbside recycling service in September 2020 because of contamination issues, city leaders in Lufkin, Texas, announced they were eliminating all glass recycling at the end of February.

The decision came after the Houston recycling center refused Lufkin’s glass products because of contamination. Kent Harvard, Lufkin’s solid waste management director, said eliminating contamination from glass is a hazardous and labor-intensive process for employees, and the rise in fuel costs have made the program unsustainable. It costs the city approximately $280 in fuel to transport 16 tons of glass to Houston, where it is sold for $15 per ton, provided that it is accepted. Harvard said between fuel costs, the driver’s wage and product contamination, the city loses on average $200 per trip.

“Since we discontinued curbside recycling, we’ve seen cleaner recyclables at our drop sites with the exception of glass,” Harvard said in a city news post.

Angelina Beautiful/Clean, a nonprofit environmental organization, is currently looking into alternative glass recycling options for Lufkin and hopes that residents will hang on to their glass items

until a solution is found, but most likely, the glass will end up in the landfill, along with other contaminated products collected through curbside services.

In 2016, the city of Moore, Okla., issued a curbside recycling ballot as part of a special election, but the initiative was defeated in a close vote. Public interest in a curbside service remained, and with

Lufkin, Texas, has discontinued glass recycling as the cost of program grew. Pictured is the community’s old business district on First Street. (Roberto Galan/Shutterstock.com)

In 2016, Moore, Okla., issued a curbside recycling ballot as part of a special election, but the initiative was defeated in a close vote. (RaksyBH/Shutterstock,com)

the growth of the city over the past six years, leaders felt it was time to bring it before voters again. If approved, it would allow Moore to scale back operations at its current recycling facility and use the savings to fund the difference. The initial cost to consumers would be $3.90 per month, with the city paying its service provider $4.30. In May, the initiative failed a second time.

“On a percentage basis, it lost 55-45 so I doubt it will come back up in the near future,” Moore City Manager Brooks Mitchell said, noting that he is not sure why the measure was defeated. “Either the support is from a vocal minority, or it is simply voter apathy. There was some criticism that the recycling program did not include glass, but I doubt that had much of an impact.”

While Moore residents may have eschewed the convenience of curbside recycling, they are still encouraged to bring their items to the city’s 24/7 self-service recycling center, which collects 1 million pounds per year and has a 25% contamination rate. The city

Read more about ongoing recycling challenges online:

contracts with Republic Services to take the items to a recycling center, but Mitchell admits each trip costs the city money.

Is there an answer?

Without China buying U.S. recyclables, municipalities will continue to face tough choices with less than perfect outcomes. Some may choose to pay more in order to recycle less; pay less and forgo their environmental goals; stockpile product in hopes that the market changes; or forgo recycling programs altogether until market conditions improve.

Husock said cities could confine pickups to those materials that command the highest prices, excluding others. However, the recycling conundrum remains a nationwide problem without a simple solution.

“In short, it is difficult to make a financial and environmental case for municipalities to continue the universal, single-stream recycling of plastic, metal and paper,” he said.

On the Web

• Husock, Howard. “The Declining Case For Municipal Recycling.” The Manhattan Institute. June 2020. https://media4.manhattaninstitute.org/sites/default/files/declining-case-for-municipal-recycling-HH.pdf

• https://www.cityoflufkin.com/_T2_R152.php

Holyoke navigates recycling challenges

By JANET G. PATTERSON | The Municipal

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Holyoke, a city of 38,000 on the bank of the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts, had a dual-stream recycling program that meant that residents and businesses separated paper from plastics, cans and glass.

Rossi, who came to Holyoke from Clifton, N.J., where he was director of public works for Tenafly and Englewood, received a fivefold assignment when he arrived.

“Basically, I was tasked with controlling costs, protecting the public health and safety of Holyoke, improving the quality of life, supporting the city’s economic growth and making Holyoke a great place to live and work,” he noted.

The recycling program was a piece of that mighty pie.

Holyoke, as well as many of its neighbors in Hampden County, embraced recycling several years ago with the dual-stream model. During the pandemic, with sharp price drops in the commodities market and China’s refusal to accept the waste from the U.S. and other foreign markets, Western Massachusetts municipalities found themselves paying to process and separate the recyclables. Holyoke’s previous director of public works temporarily shifted to single-stream recycling because additional challenges like local trucking and personnel issues during the pandemic.

Tossing all recyclables into one container, which was collected by one

was easier for residents; however,

When Carl Rossi started his new job in January 2023 as director of public works in Holyoke, Mass., one of his tasks was to reboot the city’s recycling program.

truck,

LEFT: One part of Holyoke’s re-education campaign for the dual-stream recycling model is the handing out of materials produced by the Springfield Materials Recycling Facility. (Flyer provided by the city of Holyoke, Mass.)

ABOVE: Holyoke, Mass., is in the midst of rebooting its recycling program, returning to dual-stream recycling. Pictured is the historic Holyoke City Hall. (Kenneth C. Zirkel via Wikimedia Commons; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

Rossi said, it cost the city about $25,000 more annually and produced a dirtier product in the end. The single-stream model also violated an overlooked city recycling ordinance that mandated dualstream recycling for the city of Holyoke.

The discovery of the violation surfaced as Rossi studied options for the city’s recycling program in collaboration with the city’s finance committee and public works board. While maintaining the single-stream model and modifying the city ordinance was an option, Rossi and city officials determined that returning to the dual-stream model was best for Holyoke.

The reboot will take some time to accomplish, Rossi said. It involves hiring a recycling coordinator for the city, reeducating residents about dual-stream recycling as well as purchasing new trucks to pick up and transport the recycled materials and providing new curbside recycling containers that will be compatible with the new trucks. The city also signed a contract in March with the Springfield Material Recycling Facility, known as the MRF, or “merf.” The MRF serves more than 65 communities in the four western counties of Massachusetts and deals only with dualstream recycling.

Rossi said the city hired Ivan Felix in the spring to coordinate the public outreach and to deal directly with solid waste and recycling markets. Felix comes to Holyoke from Puerto Rico, where he specialized in hazardous waste in the private sector.

Holyoke’s DPW is spending the summer working with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to plan ways to help residents and local businesses acclimate to the renewed dual-stream recycling program.

The Springfield MRF has a comprehensive website that includes several brief videos that inform viewers about what can and cannot be recycled and how to prepare recyclable materials for collection. The site also has information about what to do with everything from syringes and food waste to electronics and holiday decor. Besides the information and posters available from the Springfield MRF, the city is preparing pamphlets and mailers for distribution.

Rossi added, “And educating people can be as simple as knocking on doors and talking to people.”

According to Rossi, residents will continue to use previously purchased recycling bins for the curbside recycling pickup. He expects that within the next 18 to 24 months, the city will purchase new containers that will be compatible with the city’s recycling trucks for mechanized pickup. Money from the American Rescue

Plan Act of 2021 to alleviate the continued impact of COVID-19 will be used for the new containers. Rossi said there is also a drop-off station in Holyoke.

Feedback for the reboot to dual stream recycling has been positive. Rossi said, “Most people want to do the right thing.”

The environmental benefits to Holyoke are well known in the community, according to Holyoke councilor Joseph McGiverin. He said the potential for financial payback is also an attractive piece of the dual-stream system as well as reduced transportation costs and tipping fees associated with landfills and transfer stations.

There is a potential for the city to make money as part of the Springfield MRF. Rossi said, “My understanding is that we will get money back from the MRF if it makes a profit in the recyclable market.”

For more information about dual-stream recycling, check out the Springfield Materials Recycling Facility website at springfieldmrf.org.

New recycling trucks have been purchased for the Holyoke, Mass., dual-stream recycling program. The city will purchase compatible bins to automate curbside pickup. (Photo provided by the city of Holyoke, Mass.)

National awardee finds fulfillment in unlikely career path

By JENNIFER BARTON | The Municipal

“I don’t know anybody who says, ‘You know, I definitely want to be involved in waste management,’” said Kathy Morris, chuckling. Not a glamorous career, it’s often overlooked — until the garbage isn’t picked up. Yet in 1989, when industries were closing and jobs were scarce in Iowa, waste management provided a steady paycheck for Norris and her family and eventually became a lifelong career.

Morris serves as the executive director of the Waste Commission of Scott County, Iowa, where she has spent the better part of 33 years. She recently won the Robert L. Lawrence Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor in the field of solid waste management given by the Solid Waste Association of North America. The organization’s website lists many of her service activities, such as mentoring others and her hours spent volunteering in the community, along

with her dedication to the waste commission. By the time she reads this, it will be at the beginning of her retirement years, though she admits that if it wasn’t for her five grandchildren, she would not have considered retiring from a job she so enjoys.

She remains humble about winning the SWANA award, mentioning that it was “really nice” that her coworkers nominated her for it. They are the reason she loves her job, a fact that has kept her in her position

ABOVE: Kathy Morris, executive director of the Waste Commission of Scott County, highlights the Waste Commission of Scott County’s e-waste disposal program. The commission also partners with Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore in Davenport, Iowa, to sell refurbished laptops, computers, and other electronic and musical devices, such as turntables, DVD, stereo, players and more. (Photo provided by the Waste Commission of Scott County)

for so many years. “I have great coworkers. We work hard to provide a service that the community needs.”

Originally, she had not planned to go into the field of waste management. As a military spouse, she followed her husband Gary to Army bases in Germany, Louisiana and Kentucky. But as both were natives of Davenport, they realized that their home state of Iowa was “such a wonderful place to raise kids” and moved back to Scott County in the

late 1980s. At the time, their children were two and nine months old. Though Morris had a degree from the University of Iowa in business management, opportunities were in short supply, so when she spotted a listing for an administrative-type job with the waste management commission, she applied. Within six months of taking the position, her administrator left, and she found herself promoted.

In the early years of the 1990s, Morris reported that many new laws transformed the waste management system. They took greater consideration of the use of land and different ways to reuse materials.

“When I started, literally, we were just landfilling, and there were eight employees, and now we have an integrated system that includes household hazardous material management, recycling, electronics recovery and reuse and a variety of other different things for the ‘Keep America Beautiful’ affiliate for the community,” she commented.

Her voice grows animated as she speaks about the many areas in which waste management commissions have made progress, a clear indicator of her dedication to the career she seemingly fell into. She stated, “We had to basically look at how we managed waste in the past, how we were currently managing it and how we were going to manage it in the

future to be able to meet the diversion goals that were established … but it helped us to plan and develop programs; we worked with so many wonderful staff members, administrators, elected officials pulling everyone together toward a united goal.”

Some changes that Morris has seen and helped to implement in eastern Iowa included automated waste collection, automated recycling collection, a single-stream recycling, shingle recycling and working with the Habitat for Humanity ReStore to repurpose building materials and keep them out of landfills. The planning area that she supervises consists of five counties in Iowa and two in Illinois, and she has worked to build partnerships to educate and beautify the area.

“Just building those partnerships, sometimes with nonprofits, sometimes with private companies, sometimes with other government partners, we were able to just add so many suggestions to better the environment here in Scott County. I think that’s probably the secret to the successes, the partnerships, and for us to work together toward a common goal. That just brings a lot of pleasure and a lot of rewards for the community.”

Even with all the improvements made to the waste management commission over the years, Morris considers her greatest accomplishment something more personal her

coworkers. When she began working for Scott County, there were only eight employees in waste management. Today there are 70.

“One of the things that I was told by supervisors early on is that part of our job as local government was to provide jobs that paid well, that had good benefits, so that our workers could live and thrive in the community,” she stated. For Morris, it’s about “all the great people that I’ve worked with and how fun it is to hire somebody right out of college and to see them get married and have kids and enjoy their jobs, and we’re always trying to promote from within that’s probably the thing that I’m the most proud of.”

She praised the quality of the workers at the local level. “I’ve worked with so many great people, so many great elected officials, so many great people at the Iowa Dept of Natural Resources.”

Work is rarely done, however, and she will be watching from the sidelines as the commission builds a new landfill next year and the state of Iowa works on “sustainable material management and working with a lot of stakeholders,” evaluating how the state can best dispose of and reuse waste materials, similar to what other states have already implemented.

Though few understand the work that Morris has done her own mother included her work behind the scenes has helped keep Scott County beautiful and running efficiently.

Morris speaks at Scott Area Recycling Center, which is operated by the Waste Commission of Scott County, about Go All In, its single-stream recycling program. (Photo provided by the Waste Commission of Scott County)

Kathy Morris recently won the Robert L. Lawrence Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor in the field of solid waste management given by the Solid Waste Association of North America. (Photo provided by the Waste Commission of Scott County)

Ranger program reclaims Modesto parks

By BETH ANNE BRINK-COX | The Municipal

Last summer, Modesto, Calif., ran an 18-month pilot program training and posting four park rangers to its city parks. The hope was that the program would bring families back to the parks.

To qualify, a candidate had to be 18 years of age or older and have a California Driver’s License and one year of law enforcement experience. It was expected to take two to four months to recruit and train the rangers, and the projected cost was almost $624,000. So how is the program doing this year? Was the city able to continue it?

Modesto Chief of Police Brandon Gillespie gave a resounding yes.

“It was just pure excitement,” he said. There had been many complaints about the parks being used for drug activity and transactions. There was quite a homeless population, the public bathrooms weren’t in the kind of shape most people wanted to use. “Most community members couldn’t take their kids to the park,” he admitted.

“So we received overwhelming support. We haven’t heard anything negative as to what the rangers do. We get complaints, but they are reduced in number. Actually, the biggest complaint we still get is one we knew would

happen, because we have 76 different parks and four rangers.”

The city’s 76 parks feature 1,246 acres of public space and trails.

“There are just not enough of them to cover them the way we and the public wanted. Everyone wants rangers in every park, and we are spread really thin. We can’t train them fast enough.”

Modesto has been strapped for many years, really ever since the Great Recession, Chief Gillespie said of the program’s initial funding challenge.

“We were looking for good ways to use our resources. We were already down some officers, from 286 to 210. Park issues are usually low level, minor things like curfew violations, illegal camping, dogs off a leash, things like that and it could take hours before an officer could get there, if he or she could get there at all. We knew we couldn’t send police officers in a timely manner. So how could we get help to the people? That’s the question we asked ourselves.”

ABOVE: Modesto started out with four rangers. More are being trained, and others will be added as needed. The goal is to have all the parks staffed as much as possible for the community’s peace of mind. (Photo provided by the Modesto Police Department)

“During the pilot program, we used cadets aged 18-24. The first two kind of evolved it; they already knew the officers and they knew the radio codes, so they set it all up perfectly. As they went out, they could say what was going well and what wasn’t. Now we are transferring that position to its own standalone spec, which freed up our police officers to do other things that were needed.”

The plan was that rangers would primarily use trucks to patrol the parks and open spaces; however, they now use electric bikes, foot patrols or any other means that facilitate access to the various areas.

“We needed vehicles, of course, and had to design them so they didn’t look like anything else. They’re all green.”

When asked about the rangers’ safety precautions, he replied, “There have been minor incidents. Recently, one of our female rangers was slapped by a homeless person in the park. Those are the kind of things we are

continually assessing. The rangers haven’t had pepper spray, tasers or batons as of yet, but we are thinking we should give them pepper spray just in case. But we don’t want to knee jerk and overreact. We do make sure they have radios, because if they need help, they need to be able to call for it, and we need to be able to respond and take care of whatever the need might be, immediately.”

He added that the community could also help improve the culture of the parks by staying in contact with the city parks and recreation department and the police department to keep officers aware of what is going on in the parks.

“We can keep abreast of our community’s needs and develop the best and fastest responses when our citizens keep us informed, by communicating through email, the GoModesto app or calling our dispatch center to report problems.

“I also encourage our community to interact with the rangers when they see them: Say hi, get to know them, let them know what’s going on and how things are going.”

Chief Gillespie said the ranger pilot program was funded through American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds. Additionally, the city passed a 1-cent sales tax increase.

According to the Modesto Bee, the tax increase began April 1. The city planned to spend the initial proceeds hiring more park rangers and increasing park maintenance.

He added, “This is now part of our general fund budget. I foresee us expanding until we hit that right number, so we can sustain that same right number in the parks. We’ll get that 12 rangers out there and see if that’s enough. If it’s not enough, we’ll ask for more.”

The chief hopes the continuing presence of the rangers will help the homeless, possibly connecting them with helpful resources because illegal camping isn’t the answer, he reiterated.

“We keep learning and modifying. We’re seeing renewed interest in people coming out to the parks. We’re trying to make it so the parks are used by families and used for community events. We’re seeing renewed interest in people coming out again. For the last five years, people haven’t gone to the parks because they haven’t felt safe, but we are seeing a lot more community use now.”

As to whether the department receives requests from the citizens and their families, he laughed and replied, “They all say the same thing: ‘We want more park rangers.’ If a lot of

the community groups had their way, there would be a park ranger assigned to every park.”

“When they are there, part of their mission is education and being engaged with families. The positive use is just awesome. The negative things drugs, etc. are not happening when the rangers are there. When they’re not there, that’s when we get complaints.”

Chief Gillespie said that all the training was done in-house. The PC 832 Arrest and Firearms Course is the minimum training standard for California Peace Officers.

He said, “The kids who started in this program were excited. They want to be police officers in the future, and they got to be a part of something brand new, right from the start.”

“We try to have good communication and neighborhood associations, things like the College Area Neighborhood Alliance, where we can work together. Whether things are positive or negative, we rely on social media and we go to events to keep up to date as to how things are going. There’s always room to improve. We count on the community to be our eyes and ears.”

Park usage varies with the seasons, which will make a difference for the rangers and their placement.

“Summertime is busier because the weather is so nice. More people are out, and there’s more activity everywhere. In the cooler weather, we see illegal camping or suspicious vehicles, because an obviously empty park can look like

Writing citations, when called for, is one of the many tasks performed by the rangers. (Photo provided by the Modesto Police

a good place to set up. In the winter, we see camping under structures to get out of the rain.”

Thanks to the work of the Modesto Police Department and the park rangers program, there is beauty once again in the city’s parks.

Department)

Pictured is one of the many paths in the city parks. There are 76 parks, and it will take plenty of cooperative work to meet the community’s needs and wishes, but seeing the parks filled with families again makes it all worthwhile. (Photo provided by the Modesto Police Department)

Public works offices settle down together in Manhattan, Kan.

By DANI MESSICK | The Municipal

A series of public works buildings have been combined in the city of Manhattan, Kan., and public works director Rob Ott said the benefits are worth the large investment.

The new Robert K. Ott Municipal Services Facility, named as a surprise in honor of Ott, officially opened in February. The building boasts the departments of parks maintenance, public works, and utilities and specifically the offices of forestry, horticulture, park maintenance, locksmith, public works street, stormwater, fleet operations and mechanics, water distribution, sewer maintenance, utility locates and water meter. The only two public works divisions that aren’t in the new building are the traffic division, which got a new building less than 10 years ago, and engineering, which is housed at city hall.

The planning to bring the offices together at one location began during a feasibility study in 2016, at which, Ott explained, the city learned that buildings housing streets and fleet, utilities and parks and rec, weren’t even close to meeting minimum standards Degradation of the buildings meant the cost to repair them simply wasn’t in the capital improvements budget.

“The locations we were asking employees to work out of were, frankly, extremely dated. They were never originally designed for the functions and tasks at hand: They were very much cobbled together, and it was important to provide a professional image of the city so

we could recruit and retain these employees and they wouldn’t be embarrassed to bring their kids and show them where they work. The other locations were pretty bad too and as a result, we were struggling with vacancies in a number of different positions within the city.”

To make matters worse, the offices were on opposite ends of town. The decision was made to pursue a combined facility and see if community members would be willing to help support it.

The Manhattan City Commission put it to the voters, and they agreed to institute a new city sales tax to help fund the new facility, along with a few other projects. The Economic Recovery and Relief 2023 Sales Tax was voted in to cover economic development, existing debts, and infrastructure at a rate of 0.5% local sales tax and took effect on Jan. 1. The 10-year tax coincides with the expiration of the Riley County Sales Tax.

The sales tax covers about 32% of the project cost. The rest comes from the wastewater fund, which is paying 20%; the water fund, 20%; stormwater, 18%; special parks and recreation, 3%; and the special highway fund, which is paying 7% on 20-year bonds estimated on the Master Budget of $24.5 million.

The new Robert K. Ott Municipal Services Facility in Manhattan, Kan., opened officially in February.The new maintenance facility houses the city’s forestry, horticulture, park maintenance, locksmith, public works, street, stormwater, fleet operations and mechanics, water distribution, sewer maintenance, utility locates and water meter divisions. (All photos provided by city of Manhattan)

Two of the three previous facilities have already been sold, but the other building has redevelopment happening in the area so the city is waiting to see if a particular development will purchase it. If all three buildings are sold, the city estimates it could yield $1.6 million to help cover the cost of the new joint maintenance facility.

The city looked at several properties inside and outside city limits for the 57,000-square-foot facility, a process that took years.

“The problem is, just finding that much acreage is difficult within the city limits. That much acreage also produces property tax and possibly sales tax. The last thing the commission wanted me to do is to take property off the property tax rolls, a property that was generating some sort of sales tax,” Ott said.

The location they found was a parcel of farmland near the wastewater treatment plant. It was outside city limits at the time, but the city annexed it. An additional difficulty was that the property was near a U.S. Army Corps levy, which comes with its own restrictions and requires additional coordination. But the site is just 2.8 miles from city hall and boasts quick access to U.S. 24, making an even faster commute to the heart of the city. For the community of 55,000 people, it was determined that the opportunities the consolidated facility would bring were worth the cost.

The new facility has allowed a number of divisions and departments to be recombined, Ott said.

“It provides for more opportunity for sharing of existing resources, whether that’s skid steers or mini backhoes. Not every division and department have those pieces of equipment,” he said. “It allows for collaboration when there are various projects in the community so that everyone kind of knows what’s going on, and they can have more face-to-face type meetings.”

It also means less travel on the city’s dime to get employees involved in those meetings to the same place.

Ott said city officials hope the building will last as long as 100 years and offer more coordinated responses for city public works. He would recommend that any city struggling in the same way consider taking the leap.

Manhattan officials visited other facilities they liked and explored the options, and then scaled the facility to the city’s needs.

“Sometimes communities are in good condition and are set up for the future, and sometimes they’re struggling. Every community is going to have different financial wherewithal. Just because this project was so large doesn’t mean that a smaller community can’t scale it down: It might take a long time, even years, but the process, I think, is definitely worth it because at the end, you end up with something that can serve your community for a very long time.”

Manhattan, Kan.’s new joint maintenance facility, at 57,000 square feet, houses several departments including fleet maintenance. It includes a fire truck maintenance bay.

ABOVE & BELOW: Office workers at the new Robert K. Ott Municipal Services Facility received a spacious upgrade during their recent move from distinct and distanced buildings around the city.

Heat mapping and the effects of climate change

By BETH ANNE BRINK-COX | The Municipal

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced that it is continuing the Urban Heat Island mapping campaign. The agency is mapping urban heat islands in 18 U.S. communities this summer. The initiative, which began in 2017, has seen NOAA and partners conduct heat island mapping campaigns in 69 communities so far.

According to the NOAA webpage, the communities chosen to be mapped this year are Chicago, Ill.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Dallas, Texas; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Asheville, N.C.; Framingham and Brockton, Mass.; Johnson County and Wyandotte County, Kan. (which includes the Kansas City suburbs); Wilmington, Del.; Toledo, Ohio; Little Rock, Ark.; Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Sedona, Ariz.; Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Washington County, Ore., outside of Portland.

In addition, NOAA is working with local groups and the Pan-American Health Organization on an international heat island

mapping campaign in Santiago, Chile. This will be the third NOAA-funded international campaign. Others were completed in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, earlier this year.

The mapping campaign focuses on helping communities address the issues that cause extreme heat. For example, neighborhoods with fewer trees and more concrete can experience temperatures 20 degrees hotter than surrounding areas that have those two qualifiers. Gathering this environmental information helps to more accurately measure where it’s hottest,

ABOVE: It is said that the best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago, and the second best time is today. Pictured, a tree adoption volunteer carries potted trees to their new home. (All photos provided by Asheville GreenWorks)

allowing strategies to be planned that can reduce the heat’s dangerous effects.

Nicole McNeill, marketing and communications manager for Asheville GreenWorks, said many health problems arise from high temperatures.

“Prolonged excessive heat exposure can cause heat strokes and heart attacks. Acute crises are created by heat, especially among people with chronic health issues, such as asthma,” she said.

Heat affects other natural processes as well.

“Lots of our pollinators, who are responsible for one in every three bites of food we eat native bees, butterflies and

moths are extraordinarily heat sensitive. They won’t survive. They will just disappear.”

NOAA’s program is part of the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative, a program created to deal with decades of underinvestment in disadvantaged communities. The intent is to bring resources, including clean energy, to communities most impacted by climate change and other issues.

The America the Beautiful Initiative is part of NOAA and consists of grants that support projects to conserve and restore habitats for wildlife, improve community resilience and allow more access to nature, which also help heat islands and the people who live in them cool down.

NOAA selected Asheville as one area to study and then further committed via grant money to Asheville GreenWorks.

Debate notwithstanding, global warming is affecting every season, whether through temperature extremes or precipitation levels – or a lack thereof.

Is this something every household can do something about? McNeill said, “That’s a great question. I think the challenges facing the climate are human-made, so they can be human-solved. I think people can feel overwhelmed when talking about climate, but there are things they can do to keep it from worsening. Some of the issues to think about and NOAA tracks this carefully this summer was predicted to be one of the hottest on record.

Homes without air conditioning or fans usually don’t have the financial resources to buy things like that, or for that matter, run them,” adding to the human toll, she added.

But it isn’t just heat.

“Out-of-season storms, such as excessive rain or ice, are a big thing. Here in Asheville, our annual rainfall has now created neighborhoods vulnerable to flooding. Some of them always were, but we now see more instances of it not being a freak storm but something people are having to be proactive about. How do you do that? How do you protect bridges? You open the paper and think, ‘Wildfires? Again?’ They’re much more common now, and they shouldn’t be. So the communities are asking us how they can prepare.”

They might not seem like they could make much difference, but preventative measures like plantings, awnings and careful waterings at specific times are simple things anyone could do.

“All of those can do a lot of good. A well-placed tree can make a big difference,” said McNeill. “We are an organization that works to restore urban tree planting, and we encourage that whenever, wherever. Whether on private land or public, trees are very important for soil. They absorb water. And planting them around a house can make it cooler inside. We’re looking to really get folks thinking about the value of trees that are already in their neighborhoods, around their homes.”

Those trees are doing the most to promote climate regulation, she said. In more and more cities, people are getting involved in planting them.

McNeill said there are all kinds of resources for cooling heat islands available online, including energy.gov. This website has information, toolkits and more to help guide communities. Residents can even learn how to landscape if their homes are vulnerable to flooding water.

“Everyone’s circumstances are different, and it takes creative thinking problem solving if this doesn’t work, let’s try that,”

Volunteers plant 200 new seedlings at Hardesty Lane Tree Nursery, which is at the rear of Azalea Park. GreenWorks has proposed a growing area of about 1.3 acres on the 33-acre property, where native trees will be raised. Those trees will be provided free for public spaces.

McNeill said. “On a community scale, any place you can be more energy efficient that’s a benefit.”

A lot is being written now about the electrical grid, and depending where a person is, that could be contributing to greenhouse gases, she continued.

She tells people, “Insulate your attics. You want to keep the expensive air you paid to cool in your house and not let it go to the attic or basement. Look where your light fixtures meet the ceiling and where plumbing comes through the walls. Are those areas insulated? Can your basement be insulated so your floors stay warm? Do you have energy-efficient appliances? The older they are, the less likely to be efficient. And simply placing houseplants around your home helps clean the air, keep it in better quality.”

For a town that might not be part of the NOAA mapping, McNeill said, residents could start by just looking at the challenges they are currently feeling or facing.

“Is the weather more extreme than it used to be? More heat? More flooding? Start a conversation with your parks and public works department. Ask them, is there more road damage? Get curious about what’s already happening. If you’re lucky and you have a university or county public health department, there are probably already

people in place who can tell you what to change as the climate gets more unpredictable.”

Find out what the hoped-for outcome for residents, she recommended. Get the concerns people have about their homes and businesses. Then the community can decide how and where to proceed.

“Some people might look at food prices: There’s a climate connection right there as well. We are all members of the same Earth, and everything that’s happening to it will affect the environment. I would encourage residents to look around at their own community, at their neighborhood. It’s unfortunate that something like this has become political, but when it comes to putting food on your table, there’s nothing political at all. People want to need to feed their kids. And no one wants to breathe bad air, or deal with flooding in their basement. We are excellent problem solvers, or can be. You will see that in every community. And it’s important to see what’s at stake if things get worse.”

McNeill said she thinks every city is in a different position and has a different context, a different set of resources and different priorities when it comes to combatting heat islands and climate change.

“There have been some fantastic, creative responses when armed with this information. There are new cities studied every year. I believe the intention of the heat mapping program is to partner with cities and enable them to collect this data. Then it becomes a catalyst for the future. Like farmers, dealing with drought, growing seasons, changes in soil and livestock: There’s always volatility in the hay market, so even what they’re feeding their animals can change. It’s a very interconnected

system. And then there’s desert communities or rain forests. The D.C. area is very close to sea level and low elevation is an interesting situation.”

For more information, subscribe to the Heat Beat Newsletter, check out the National Integrated Heat Health Information System website or follow #UrbanHeatMaps2023 on social media.

Kids pile into a tree pit at their school planting; their smiling faces show an excitement for the endeavor.

Better safe than sorry: Hanford improves security at city hall

By JULIE YOUNG | The Municipal

Every community wants its municipal center to be a welcoming space for those who have business there. However, it is equally important that the building is safe.

After some troubling encounters, including incidents that required the response of law enforcement, Hanford, Calif., has taken steps to ensure that its city hall is secure.

“Security was virtually nonexistent at city hall when our city council approved this project,” said Hanford Community Relations Manager Brian Johnson. “Members of the public could not only walk through the building’s main hallway, but also access the administration offices freely.”

Better customer experiences

Located in the San Joaquin Valley, Hanford is 200 miles from the greater Los Angeles area and is the county seat of Kings County. Incorporated on August 8, 1891, Hanford offers a blend of both old and new and for the 58,496 people who call the community home. It is a safe, family-oriented municipality where a high quality of life is not merely an aspiration, but something built into the city culture.

The building in which Hanford City Hall is located was previously the home of Kings Harvest Savings and Loan. The city took over the building in the late 1980s, and while it offers plenty of space to accomplish city business, the layout is a product of its time and long overdue for a 21st-century upgrade.

Recognizing that a modicum of security was required to put the building on par with other workplaces and government buildings throughout the country, in 2019 a plan for improvements was drafted and the Hanford City Council appropriated $180,000 from the general fund for the enhancements. Unfortunately, the renovation was delayed, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other high priority projects.

Today, a little more than half of the budget has been spent on the main enhancement a new front counter, which faces the 319 N. Douty St. entrance. Behind the large glass window, there are two workstations where city staff can serve members of the public. Johnson said that the front counter addition took two months to complete, and he expects the public to have a better customer service experience with the addition of the counter.

The new front counter at Hanford City Hall has two workstations where staffers serve the public. It took two months to complete and the improvement has been a welcome change for city staff. (Photo

“Oftentimes previously, the public wasn’t sure where to go once they entered the building. Now it is very clear where they can be served. When it opened, we closed public access to the back entrance of city hall and that entrance is now reserved for full-time city employees and is adjacent to the permitted parking area,” he said. “An intercom has been installed at that entrance in case an employee forgets their ID badge or

The new city hall upgrades at Hanford include a central entrance on Douty street that will allow visitors to have a central point of access and a new front counter to help them find the office they need. (Photo provided by city of Hanford)

provided by city of Hanford)

key fob, or if the public has any questions about access. A glass window and door have also been installed at the Community Development counter at 317 N. Douty St.”

More to come

Still to be completed are some aesthetic improvements in the space between the Douty Street entrance and the new front counter. On one wall, there will be a screen that will display important information about city programs, initiatives and events. A large, custom-made map of downtown Hanford showcasing the location of historical landmarks will cover the entire opposite wall. There is a plan to install block lettering with a welcome message above the front counter.

Johnson said that the enhancements have made the people who work and use the building feel safer.

“This has been a welcome change for the city staff. We recognize that it will be an adjustment for some employees who work off-site and only

occasionally visit city hall, but overall, the response has been positive,” he said.

Hanford isn’t the only community working to make its city buildings safer. In April 2022, the city of Columbus, Ind., sent out a request for proposals to purchase and install security cameras at its city hall, parking lots and the Evolution Training Center near the Columbus Municipal Airport. Columbia, Mo., approved $75,000 to enclose a first-floor reception area with a door that can lock from the inside, a glass barrier, a speaker system for public interaction and a new exit door.

Like Hanford, the two communities believe the improvements will help city staffers feel secure and provide better customer service to residents.

Hanford City Manager Mario Cifuentez said the city hall renovation project was not only designed to provide security for city employees, but also to provide better customer service through a primary point of contact.

“Previously, when citizens entered the hallway, they had their choice of several different doors and very little signage to direct them to the appropriate office to handle their specific issue. Now, not only will a city staff member be able to direct them to the appropriate office or counter, but odds are that the employee at the counter will be able to directly address their issue without having to send them to another counter.”

ABOVE & BELOW: The Civic Center Building rear entrance has been converted into an employee-only access point, which features an intercom for when an employee forgets his or her ID badge or key fob. It will help improve the safety and security at the Hanford City Hall. (Photo provided by city of Hanford)

ABOVE & BELOW: Prior to the new front counter being installed, security was virtually nonexistent at Hanford City Hall. Members of the public could not only walk through the building’s main hallway, but also access the administration offices freely. (Photo provided by city of Hanford)

Scottsdale, Ariz., incentivizes water conservation

By LAUREN CAGGIANO | The Municipal

Scottsdale, Ariz., a vibrant community known for its tourism, has implemented a successful water rebate program aimed at reducing water usage at a time when conservation is at the forefront. The program, which has been in place since the early 1990s, offers a variety of rebates to residential, business and homeowner association customers.

“From a city standpoint, we wanted holistic savings, with residents and businesses each working together to save as much water as we can,” Valerie Schneider, public information officer for Scottsdale Water, said. “That’s why we have voluntary practices.”

Though participation isn’t required, the water rebate program is a response to

Arizona’s mandate requiring water conservation initiatives. In Schneider’s estimation, Scottsdale has taken the lead in implementing various conservation measures to address the ongoing mega-drought related to the shrinking Colorado River system. She said the city had already implemented conservation

ABOVE: Scottsdale, Ariz., has taken the lead in implementing various conservation measures to address drought related to the shrinking Colorado River system. (Shutterstock.com)

efforts in its buildings, but that was just the beginning.

“We want to stay on top of our water use as a city and encourage residents and businesses to do the same to take water conservation measures very seriously,” Schneider said. “So, this is a way to start to incentivize and get people and residents and businesses aware of what options they have for water saving. This is just one of the many programs we offer. This is not a catch-all — it’s just one of many programs.”

The rebate program covers a wide range of water-saving measures, including low-flow toilets, irrigation controllers, showerheads, pool or spa removal and grass removal. To participate in the program, residents or businesses submit their applications along with supporting documents such as receipts and photographs. From here, a team reviews the materials to ensure compliance with program requirements.

Grass removal is one of the primary water-saving practices in the area because as much as 70% of water usage in the area comes from grass. That’s why Scottsdale residents are encouraged to transition from overwatered grass lawns to desert-friendly landscapes, a practice known as “xeriscaping.”

Per the U.S. Department of Energy, xeriscaping refers to a systematic method of promoting water conservation in landscaped areas. Although mostly used in arid regions, its principles can be leveraged in any geography to help conserve water.

According to Schneider and as evidenced by its adoption, the program is resonating with residents and business owners. She attributes some of its popularity to media coverage and a related increased awareness of water scarcity.

Beyond earned media, the city uses other marketing channels to promote the rebate programs, including communication through billing channels, social media platforms and newsletters. By engaging

stakeholders, Scottsdale aims to create a communitywide effort to conserve water resources.

To that end, she said the city reported a surge in applications for grass removal rebates. Schneider said the increased interest was also bolstered by the fact they doubled the incentive programs, from $1 a square foot to $2 per square foot.

Other data points frame a story around conservation in Scottsdale. The city has set an ambitious goal to save 5% of water annually, Schneider said. That’s building on the success of achieving a 6% citywide average water savings in the previous year. The conservation program’s impact extends beyond immediate water savings, as the removal of grass through the rebate program can lead to long-term water conservation. For instance, each participant means 50 gallons of water savings annually.

Schneider said she believes this success can be replicated in other municipalities with intention and foresight.

Looking ahead, Scottsdale plans to focus on targeting HOAs for grass removal and addressing nonfunctional grass areas that contribute significantly to water waste. The city also continues to underscore the importance of education and engagement to encourage people to be conscious of water usage and make sustainable choices. In her mind, Scottsdale’s water rebate program serves as a model for other cities, highlighting the importance of customized approaches to water conservation.

BEFORE: Grass is water-intensive and unsustainable. That’s why cities like Scottsdale are offering incentives to replace grass lawns with alternatives, such as native plants, in a process called “xeriscaping.” (Photo provided by city of Scottsdale)

AFTER: One resident removed their water-guzzling grass and replaced it with a desert-friendly xeriscape. (Photo provided by city of Scottsdale)

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Houston highway transformed into ecologically rich landmark destination

By NICHOLETTE CARLSON | The Municipal

The Kinder Land Bridge and Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Prairie is an ambitious, 100-acre project located in the heart of Memorial Park in Houston, Texas.

Memorial Park is 1,464 acres but was divided into two parts in 1955 when a six-lane drive was built. This division made it difficult for pedestrians to get across the park and disturbed the habitat and migration for species, making the area less ecologically resilient.

“I’m very proud that, with this project, we can demonstrate how impactful ecological restoration and the creation of accessible public open space, both of which are so critical to the health and civility of our culture, is possible through thoughtful design,” Thomas Woltz, principal and owner of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, commented.

In the 2015 Memorial Park master plan, the land bridge and prairie made up a key component of the 10-year plan that assisted in accelerating projects within the master plan. One of the master plan’s main goals is

to restore ecological systems and increase ecological resiliency. Another is to reconnect Memorial Park’s land and waterways with the people and trails.

A $70 million gift from the Kinder Foundation in 2018 made the 10-year plan possible. In 2021, the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Family Foundation also donated $10 million to be put toward the prairie. The Emily Clay family committed $3.5 million toward the land bridge and prairie.

“The Kinder Land Bridge and Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Prairie will elevate park visitors’ experience and our city on a national and even global level,” stated Shellye Arnold, president and CEO of Memorial Park Conservancy. “With endless gratitude to our generous donors, Memorial Park Conservancy is honored to gift this project to Houston.”

ABOVE: The Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Prairie surrounds the land bridge in Houston, Texas. The 45 acres of native Gulf Coast prairie will help re-establish an endangered ecological habitat, process stormwater and improve water quality. While construction of the land bridge is complete, residents and visitors of Houston will be able to see the prairie grow and develop over the years. (Photo provided by Tellespen)

Ballpark fields, parking lots and a roadway previously occupied the space where the land bridge and prairie were built. They have since been relocated to the north side of Memorial Park.

In 2022, four large tunnels, two in each direction, measuring 300 feet and 460 feet long respectively, were built over the Memorial Park roadway so that now traffic flows through these tunnels. Made up of 620 separate prefabricated concrete panel arches, the tunnels have geometrically pure elliptical headwalls at each end.

The framed tunnel openings offer views of the Houston skyline and prairie vistas. Over 55,000 cars utilize the tunnels each day.

The tunnels were covered with over half a million cubic yards of soil, all from within the park. Topsoil was stored and mulch and compost from the Memorial Park Conservancy’s BioCycle program was added to produce a growing medium for the prairie. The two 35-foot-tall hills make up the land bridge, which connects visitors to the north and south sides of the park once more.

The Emily Clay Family Scramble will give direct access to the project to visitors at Memorial Park via a sustainable architectural design using upcycled chunks of pavement. The chunks are from a section of road dividing the park that had to be removed during the project’s construction. The scramble includes large blocks leading to the top of the east mound, which allows visitors access to the land bridge from the Seymour Lieberman Exer-Trail.

The prairie surrounding the land bridge helps to re-establish ecological biodiversity through the savanna, wetlands and reforested sections. A culvert underneath Memorial Drive serves as another passage for wildlife as well as providing water flow to the natural Buffalo Bayou corridor.

“Not only are we providing an expansive land bridge for humans and wildlife across a major commuter artery, but we are also reestablishing an important and endangered ecological habitat by planting nearly 45 acres of native Gulf Coast prairie,” Woltz explained. “As a result, my expectation is that this project will have a reverberating positive impact on the human residents of Houston, the wildlife and the overall ecological health of the city.”

The 45 acres of coastal prairie within Memorial Park will provide necessary food and shelter for insects and migrating birds. The coastal prairie plants are resilient enough to withstand storms and act as a green sponge, helping with processing and storing stormwater and water quality treatment within channels and wetlands. They will also help to reduce the amount of roadway pollutants introduced into the watershed.

With a setting 34 feet above Memorial Drive, the land bridge offers unparalleled views of uptown and downtown Houston.

Houston Parks and Recreation Department Director Kenneth Allen stated, “This project is a spectacular addition to the already-spectacular Memorial Park greenspace. It’s not only a sight to behold, but it also offers numerous benefits for wildlife

Chunks of

from the section of road removed during the project’s construction was then used as part of a scramble. This leads to the top of the east mound and allows visitors from the Seymour

and our native coastal prairie. It will instantly become a destination stop in the city of Houston, and the Houston Parks and Recreation Department is proud to be a part of the incredible partnership that helped make the Kinder Land Bridge and Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Prairie a reality.”

Construction of the project required teamwork and coordination between landscape architects, civil engineers, structural engineers, scientists, fluvial geomorphologists, prairie experts and biologists. Memorial Park Conservancy has partnered with Kinder Foundation, Houston Parks and Recreation, Uptown Houston and the Nature Conservancy to make up an advisory team to try to deliver improvements worth more than $200 million to Memorial Park by 2028.

The Kinder Land Bridge and Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Prairie officially opened to the public Feb. 11.

“Today we celebrate another major milestone resulting from Memorial Park’s visionary master plan,” declared Sylvester Turner, mayor of Houston, on the day the land bridge and prairie opened to the public. “This landmark destination is a model of an extraordinary public/private partnership that has produced a legacy project for generations to enjoy for years

to come.”

pavement

Lieberman Exer-Trail to access the land bridge. (Photo by Nick Hubbard)

An ambitious 100-acre project in the heart of Houston’s Memorial Park reconnects two sections of the park previously divided by a six-lane highway. Four tunnels allow cars to drive underneath the Kinder Land Bridge, which is made up of over half a million cubic yards of soil. Each hill is 35 feet tall. (Photo by Nick Hubbard)

To list your upcoming conference or seminar in The Municipal at no charge, call (800) 733-4111, ext. 2307, or email the information to swright@the-papers.com.

Aug. 1-5 Louisiana State Firemen’s Association 118th Annual Conference

Crown Plaza Executive Center, Baton Rouge, La.

https://www.lsfa.net/index. php/events/lsfa-118th-annualconference

Aug. 3-5 Louisiana Municipal Association 86th Annual Convention Alexandria, La. https://www.lma.org/LMA/ Events/Annual_Convention/

Aug. 9-12 South Atlantic Fire Rescue Conference Raleigh, N.C. https://www. southatlanticfirerescueexpo. com/

Aug. 10 & 11 Midwest Security & Police Conference/Expo Tinley Park Convention Center, Tinley Park, Ill.

http://mspce.com/

Aug. 10-12 Florida League of Cities 2023 Annual Conference

Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort, Orlando, Fla.

https://www. floridaleagueofcities.com/ education-and-events/annualconference

Aug. 10-13 153rd Gongress of Correction Conference

Philadelphia, Pa.

https://www.aca.org/

Aug. 13-16 ITE 2023 Annual Meeting Connecting People & Communities

Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Ore.

https://www.iteannualmeeting. org/

AUGUST

Aug. 15-18 Building Officials Association of Texas Annual Conference

Texas A & M Conference Center, College Station, Texas

https://boatx.org/boatconferences/

Aug. 16-18 Fire Rescue International IAFC 150th Anniversary Kansas City Convention Center, Kansas City, Mo.

https://www.iafc.org/events

Aug. 19-23 NIGP Forum 2023 (also virtual Aug. 21-23) Louisville, Ky.

https://www.nigp.org/forum

Aug. 23-25 Indiana Water Environment Association Annual Conference

Grand Wayne Convention Center, Fort Wayne, Ind.

https://indianawea.org/annualconference/#top

Aug. 27-30 PWX 2023 Annual Conference

San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, Calif.

https://pwx.apwa.net/

Aug. 28-31 Florida Recreation Parks Association Annual Conference

Caribe Royale, Orlando, Fla.

https://www.frpa.org/ conference/confgen

Aug. 29-31 KWEA/KsAWWA

Joint Annual Water & Wastewater Conference Hyatt Regency Wichita & Century II Convention Center, Wichita, Kan.

https://www.kwea.net/ conference.html

Aug. 29- Sept. 1 League of Arizona Cities & Towns Annual Conference

JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort, Tucson, Ariz. http://azleague.org/103/ Annual-Conference

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 13 NYC Watershed Science & Technical Conference

Bear Mountain Inn & Conference Center, Tomkins Cove, N.Y. https://www.nywea.org/ SitePages/Education-Outreach/ Events-Conferences.aspx

Sept. 13-14 IRWA Fall Conference

Moscow, Idaho https://www.idahoruralwater. com/

Sept. 13-15 FLAGFA

Tradewinds Island Grand, St. Pete Beach, Fla.

https://www.flagfa.org/future_ dates.php

Sept. 20-22 League of California Cities Annual Conference & Expo SAFE Credit Union Convention Center, Sacramento, Calif. https://www.calcities.org

Sept. 20 -22 WASWD Fall Conference

Clearwater Casino, Suquamish, Wash.

https://www.waswd.org/ midconference

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 20-22 North Dakota League of Cities Annual Conference

Bismark Event Center, Bismark, N.D.

http://www.ndlc.org/223/ Annual-Conference

Sept. 24-27 FIERO Station Design Symposium

EDT, Greenville, S.C.

https://www.fieroonline.org/ symposia-and-workshops

Sept. 25-27 Water Pro Conference

Aurora, Colo.

https://mrws.org/conferences/

Sept. 25-28 ARFF Annual International Educational Symposium

Milwaukee, Wis.

https://arffwg.org/conferences

Sept. 25-28 ARTBA National Convention

Conrad Nashville, Nashville, Tenn.

https://connect.artba.org/ events/2022-artba-nationalconvention

Sept. 26-28 Arkansas

Association of Chiefs of Police Hot Springs Convention Center, Hot Springs, Ark.

https://arkchiefs.org/ registration/

Sept. 27-28 OACP/OSSA Fall Leadership Conference

Salem, Ore.

https://oracp.memberclicks.net/ upcoming-conferences

Sept. 30 ICMA 109th Annual Conference

Austin, Texas

https://icma.org/events

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VMAC Earns ISO 14001:2015 Certification For Outstanding Environmental Management Systems

NANAIMO, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA VMAC has earned the ISO (International Organization of Standardization) 14001:2015 certification, which recognizes VMAC’s outstanding attention to environmental management systems.

VMAC’s ISO 14001:2015 certification audit occurred at VMAC’s manufacturing facility in spring 2023 and was completed in six days in conjunction with its ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System recertification.

“The Environmental Management Systems certification is proof of VMAC’s commitment to maintaining its environmental policy, which strives to deliver the highest quality of service while meeting customer expectations with minimal negative impacts on the environment,” explained Tod Gilbert, VMAC’s president.

The ISO 14001 certification guides organizations to manage their environmental responsibilities and includes maintenance and continuous improvement systems.

“The ISO 14001 certification provides a framework to continue to identify and track environmental improvements in VMAC’s operations,” explained Soji Oyenuga, quality manager at VMAC. “This framework allows VMAC to continue to build a successful and sustainable organization that provides value for the environment, our local communities, our customers, and our partners for years to come.”

The ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems certification complements VMAC’s ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems certification, recognizing outstanding attention to quality management, standardization, and continuous quality improvements. In addition, VMAC recently obtained its Occupational Safety Standard of Excellence (OSSE) Certificate of Recognition (COR) for 2022-2023.

Bonnell wraps up successful 2023 equipment expo

DIXON, ILL. The 2023 Bonnell Equipment Expo is in the books. This year Bonnell had over 1,000 attendees and 40 vendors. The expo is all about bringing the company’s customers together in one spot. This event takes place very two years at our facility in Dixon, Ill.

The goal is to bring in new trucks and upfits from that year or previous years, allowing customers to check out the new equipment. This helps show the customer new ideas and innovations. The vendors that are onsite help the customers explore different options that they can include on their equipment or equipment they can use in the field. This year we served over 1,200 meals, with the famous Fays BBQ cooking up their mouthwatering pork chops and chicken. Bonnell also provided coffee, slushies and apple cider donuts to everyone that came through the door. It’s not just an expo, it is a customer appreciation day. What Bonnell does cannot be done without our great customers.

Big news at the expo

Bonnell announced the developing news about its new 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in industrial park in Dixon. It will begin breaking ground this year, and the project is set to be completed by the end of 2024. This expansion will also bring 16-plus jobs to the Sauk Valley Area. Bonnell honored its employees, customers and the city of Dixon for making the expansion possible. The future is bright and Bonnell can’t wait to see the capabilities of the new facility.

AARP invests $3.6 million in over 300 community improvement projects

WASHINGTON AARP announced it is investing $3.6 million in 310 Community Challenge grants for quick-action projects to help communities become more livable. These grants will improve public places; transportation; housing; digital connections; diversity, equity and inclusion; and more, with an emphasis on the needs of adults age 50 and older.

“These grants continue to lead to long-term, positive changes in communities across the country,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer. “This year, we are proud to support the largest number of projects in the program’s seven-year history, which will improve residents’ quality of life through tangible changes so everyone can thrive as they age.”

AARP Community Challenge grant projects will be funded in all 50 states; Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; and the U.S. Virgin Islands. True to the program’s quick-action nature, projects must be completed by Nov. 30, 2023.

This year, the AARP Community Challenge accepted applications across three different grant opportunities, including existing flagship grants in addition to new capacity-building microgrants for improving walkability and community gardens. New demonstration grants will focus on improving transportation systems, with funding support provided by Toyota Motor North America, and housing choice design competitions.

AARP is also bolstering its investment in rural communities, mobility innovation, transportation options, and health and food access. Examples of this year’s projects include:

• Laramie, Wyo.: Converting a donated bus into an accessible greenhouse in an established community garden.

• Munich, N.D.: Transforming an under-staffed, nonprofit grocery store to a self-service grocery store to address food insecurity in a rural community.

• Saint Louis, Mich.: Expanding access to high-speed internet, Wi-Fi and setting up a public computer lab for veterans, military and their families.

• McLoud, Okla.: Expanding the Kickapoo Tribal Nation’s reservation transportation system to take older adults and those that are unable to drive to community meetings, field trips and meal services.

• Miami, Fla.: Creating free, permitted plans that encourage the development of accessory dwelling units for older adults and their families. The Community Challenge grant program is part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative, which supports the efforts of cities, towns, neighborhoods and rural areas to become great places to live for people of all ages, especially those age 50 and older. Including this year’s projects, AARP has awarded $16.3 million through more than 1,300 grants since 2017 to nonprofit organizations and government entities across the country.

View the full list of grantees and their project descriptions at aarp.org/ communitychallenge and learn more about AARP’s livable communities work at aarp.org/livable.

News releases regarding personnel changes, other non-product-related company changes, association news and awards are printed as space allows. Priority will be given to advertisers and affiliates. Releases not printed in the magazine can be found online at www.themunicipal.com. Call (800) 733–4111, ext. 2307, or email swright@the-papers.com.

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Best summer travel destinations

The time has come to squeeze in that last-minute vacation before school resumes and fall schedules kick in. But what if the budget for an August getaway is not as cushy as it could be? Then the decision on whether to go or where to get away becomes more challenging.

That’s where WalletHub steps in. In May, the financial advice website compiled a list of summer destinations that offer the most bang for a dollar and are also easy to reach. Compared with other rankings that focus on each destination’s scenic quality, WalletHub’s report focused primarily on the cost and convenience of traveling to each location as well as its affordability. It also considered the number of attractions and variety of activities in each destination to ensure visitors will stay busy and entertained throughout the trip.

The Top Ten most cost-effective summer destinations are:

Source: wallethub.com/edu/best-summer-travel-destinations/3792

1. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, Ga. Metro Area

2. Urban Honolulu, Hawaii Metro Area

3. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C., Va., Md., W.V. Metro Area

4. Wichita, Kan. Metro Area

5. New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y., N.J., Pa. Metro Area

6. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill., Ind., Wis. Metro Area

7. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. Metro Area

8. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla. Metro Area

9. Richmond, Va. Metro Area

10. Springfield, Mo. Metro Area

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