PRSRTSTD U.S.POSTAGE PAID Bolingbrook,IL PermitNo.1939 www.themunicipal.com The Premier Magazine For America’s Municipalities September 2022 MANAGEMENTCRISISINSIDE:GlobalEnvironmentalProductsRockdalehandleswatermainbreaksPoolingresourceswithmutualassistance
2 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022
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Contents18 Focus on Crisis Management: A ‘main’ event: Rockdale, Texas, suffers surge of water main ruptures 22 Focus on Crisis Management: Missouri volunteers provide rapid structural assessments following disasters 26 Focus on Crisis Management: Ocala, Fla., retains Class 3 rating 30 Focus on Crisis Management: Agencies pool resources together in times of trouble 32 Focus on Crisis Management: Municipalities strive to provide crucial information and resources before, during and after a hurricane 36 Public Safety: Bringing first responders and farmers together to reduce farm fatalities 40 Municipal Management: Career-training equity program a natural fit for Savannah 42 Parks & Environmental Services: A bright future for the Great Dismal Swamp 44 Municipal Management: Northwest prevents outbreak of avian flu 46 Building & Construction: State grant program solves rental property headaches 48 Streets, Highways & Bridges: Park place: Costa Mesa creates parking permit program 50 Technology: Fort Worth becomes first city government to mine cryptocurrency September 2022 | VOL. 13 No. 6 | www.themunicipal.com 17 Focus on Crisis Management www.themunicipal.com MANAGEMENTCRISISINSIDE:GlobalEnvironmentalProductsRockdalehandleswatermainbreaksPoolingresourceswithmutualassistanceON THE COVER Global Environmental has ridden the tides of global shortages to continue to bring its customers robust street sweepers, including its 100% all-electric sweepers. Despite global challenges, the company continues to pursue innovation and affordability in street sweeping. Learn more on page 10. .comShutterstock 4 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022 30184250
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8 Editor’s Note: Can you take the heat? 10 From the Cover: Global Environmental strives to deliver robust sweepers even in challenging times 12 On the Roage Again: Harland Sanders Cafe & Museum Corbin, Ky. 34 City Profile: A little bit of Sweden in the Heartland 52 Conference Calendar 53 Product Spotlights 58 Top 10: Best cities for dogs 61 Advertiser Index PO Box 188 • 206 S. Main St., Milford, IN 46542 866-580-1138/Fax 800–886–3796 Editorial Ext. 2307; Advertising Ext. 2505, 2408 The Municipal does not knowingly accept false or misleading advertising or editorial content, nor does The Municipal or its staff assume responsibility should such adver tising 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 © 2021. WWW.THEMUNICIPAL.COM editor SARAH WRIGHT swright@the-papers.com publication manager CHRIS SMITH chris@themunicipal.com publisher RON BAUMGARTNER rbaumgartner@the-papers.com senior account executive REES WOODCOCK rees@themunicipal.com editor-in-chief DEB PATTERSON dpatterson@the-papers.com business manager ANNETTE WEAVER aweaver@the-papers.com director of marketing STEVE MEADOWS smeadows@the-papers.com mail manager KHOEUN KHOEUTH kkhoeuth@the-papers.com graphic designer MARY LESTER mlester@the-papers.com DepartmentsMeet our Staff 6 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022
*MASH Tested & Passed LEADERSINNOVATIONIN SignsTrafFix&Stands SEPTEMBER 2022 | THE MUNICIPAL 7
Crises take many forms, and how we face and react to them often says a lot. Rockdale, Texas, for example, rose to the occasion when six water mains broke in a 72-hour period this past June. Writer Julie Young shares the city’s response to this unprecedented crisis that occurred during high 90-degree temperatures, according to Accu WeatherAnotherdata.key part of crisis management is pre paredness. In this issue, we spotlight several municipalities and states that are putting plans in place to improve responses during crises. From Missouri’s Structural Assessment and Visual Eval uation Coalition to California’s Statewide Transit Mutual Assistance Compact, there are great pro grams being established for the benefit of all.
This past summer definitely packed the heat, with records being broken left and right across the U.S. As a person who prefers cooler temperatures, I’m not entirely pleased that this is likely the new norm, but burying one’s head in the sand does nothing.
Additionally, writer Nicholette Carlson shares Carteret County, N.C.’s, Hurricane Preparedness Expo, which is tailored to preparing residents for hurricane season. Finally, writer Denise Fedorow shares Ocala, Fla., decision to take part in the Com munity Rating System and how it has led the city to install infrastructure to alleviate flooding. With the changing climate, weather-related crises are increasing in frequency. Being prepared for when rather than if one happens has become a must.
Sarah Wright | Editor
According to the newly launched Heat.gov, on Aug. 1, 2022, there were 30,801,095 people living within extreme heat warning areas. The Pacific Northwest, typically a cool region, saw triple digits in late July and early August. As of Aug. 1, medical examiners were investigating whether the deaths of 10 people are heat related. Heat is dangerous. According to the National Weather Service, “Extreme heat and humidity is one of the leading weather-related killers in the United States, resulting in hundreds of fatalities each year. In the disastrous heat wave of 1980, more than 1,250 people died. In the heat wave of 1995, more than 700 deaths in the Chicago area were attributed to heat, making this the deadliest weather event in Chicago history. In August 2003, a record heat wave in Europe claimed an estimated 50,000 lives.” On the National Weather Service’s website, weather.gov, the agency released a chart show ing 2021 weather fatalities. Heat topped the list with 190 fatalities, though it came with an asterisk noting the inherent delay in reporting official heat fatalities in some jurisdictions, which could see the number rise. This figure tops the 10-year average for 2012-2021 (135 fatalities) and the 30-year aver age for 1992-2021 (158 fatalities). And in case you were wondering, floods rated second on the 2021 weather fatality chart with 148 fatalities. They were followed by rip currents (111 fatalities) and the cold (106 fatalities).
8 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022 Editor’s NoteM
Can you take the heat?
As summers heat up, municipalities are left to navigate the consequences from the impact on infrastructure to those felt by staff and vulnerable residents. From cool pavement to cooling stations, they are moving to adapt to this latest crisis.
SEPTEMBER 2022 | THE MUNICIPAL 9
The past three years can only be described as challenging for vendors and companies across vari ous sectors as they navigate shortages in parts and labor caused by a global pandemic. Often, municipalities feel the ripple effect of these shortages with vehicle and equipment order delays. “Post-COVID, life has been very difficult for a lot of companies,” Sebastian Mentelski, a partner in Global Environmental Products, said. “Many of the biggest issues we’ve had in 2022 include avail ability of parts, labor shortages and various unplanned component cost increases on steel, engines, hydraulics and heavy-duty sus pension components.”
Faced with this, Global Environmental has kept customers at the forefront of its decision-making, striving to ensure their needs are met despite global challenges. And thanks to Global Environmen tal’s Purpose-Built sweeper chassis, it has ridden the tides while providing its clients with quality sweepers, including several of its all-electric sweepers. “We’ve, in a way, prepared for this,” Mentelski said. “We build a Purpose-Built chassis, and on that chassis we build mechani cal sweepers, regenerative air-type sweepers, our hybrid-electric sweepers and, most importantly, our electric, 100% plug-in sweep ers. Essentially, everything we build is designed around Global’s proprietary Purpose-Built chassis.”
even in challenging times 10 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022 M From The Cover
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Global Environmental strives to deliver robust sweepers
By SARAH WRIGHT | The Municipal
This October Global will finish final testing of its latest entry: its regen erative Air Type 100% electric sweeper. “We’re always striving to find a way so our customers have really good robust street sweepers,” he said. “We’re pushing toward that electrifica tion. All electric sweepers will be offered with level two and now level three charging systems at the end of this year and moving forward.”
The level three charging system is a game changer as it allows cus tomers to charge their sweepers much faster, requiring about three hours charge time, at most.
Mentelski noted, “We urge all our customers to investigate and invest in level III charging systems as we believe that electrification is here to Besidesstay.” its Purpose-Built chassis and furthering innovations in terms of alternative fuels, Global Environmental is also working to connect with customers following the disruption that COVID created. Through the pandemic, Global Environmental has lost a lot of visibility with its customers, and one of its priorities has been to reach out to its custom ers, to make sure they know that the company is still here and will find a way to service and take care of them.
“It’s a huge feat in these market conditions,” he said. “In 2021, we were able to slow down a little bit because of the pandemic and the market conditions that presented themselves. But we also acquired a lot of inventory. Our loyalty and responsibility is to our customers, we are able to honor those commitments through our unique and reliable sweeper design.”
Because of some of these factors, despite shortages, Global Environ mental has maintained a delivery rate of 90 to 120 days for most, if not all, its customers.
“A decade ago, we were known for building an M3 and M4. M3 essen tially stands for M3 mechanical, and M4 stands for M4 fully mechanical. M3 is a three-wheel sweeper and has a really, sharp turning radius, great visibility and a large hopper. M4 is a rear dump that is certified ‘OnHighway,’ reaches a travel speed of 67 miles per hour again with great visibility and a very tight turning radius,” Mentelski said. “In 2015, we introduced the M4HSD, a high side dump that can dump into trucks. Two years later, in 2017, we introduced a three-wheel RegenerativeAir Type sweeper, and then the R4Air followed shortly. In 2018, we introduced a Fuel Cell, Hydrogen-powered sweeper, and in 2020, we unveiled the M3 and M4, M4HSD100% electric, plug-in sweepers.”
“One thing we’ve done very aggressively this year is have service schools,” Mentelski said. “We invite customers to a location or to a couple of locations within the state. We split the groups so that the classes are manageable, and we talk about maintenance, service and support.”TheGlobal Team admits that there are many more challenges that need attention in 2022 and 2023. Labor shortages and parts availabil ity are still major concerns, but the focus remains the same, offering innovative street sweepers and providing superb after-sale support.
For more information about Global Environmental and its full line of street sweepers, including its all-electric models, visit globalsweeper.com.
All photos courtesy of Global Enviornmental Products
With this foresight, the team at Global has used the inventory it col lected to keep building and delivering its equipment on time. Mentelski noted Global Environmental has placed a substantial order with its battery vendor last year, allowing Global to deliver electric sweepers within a 180-day turnaround, depending on machine type and model. Beyond getting customers the machines they need in a timely fashion, Global has also explored ways to increase affordability, especially with the electric machines, which can still be expensive. Mentelski noted that state and federal grants are available for cities to apply toward the cost of electric sweepers. “We’re truly hoping to make these machines more affordable so people in cities can buy them without actually needing to get a grant,” Mentelski said. An electric sweeper can cost a bit over double what a diesel sweeper does; however, with the rising cost of fuel, electric offers a faster return on investment while also meeting emission reduction goals. It’s also quieter, meaning early morning sweeping doesn’t wake residents.
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The Municipal Black-and-white photos from the 1930s depict the kitchen and dining area of Harland Sanders’ original restaurant in Corbin, Ky.
Sanders was born Sept. 9, 1890, the eldest of three children. He was compelled at age 5 to care for his siblings when his father died and his mother took a full-time job to provide for the household, often being away from the home for days at a time. By the age of 7, he had learned how to prepare bread and vegetables and was gaining proficiency in cooking meat for the family. In 1899, his mother remarried, and by age 10, Sanders began working as a farmhand. In 1903, Sanders, then a seventh grader, dropped out of school. “Alge bra’s what drove me off,” he said. As a result of a tumultuous relationship with his stepfather, he left home when he was 13 to paint horse carriages in OverIndianapolis.thenexttwo and a half decades, Sanders compiled a staggeringly variegated resume of jobs, including wagoner in Cuba for the U.S. Army, blacksmith’s helper, railroad steam engine stoker, insurance salesman, ferryboat captain, chamber of commerce secretary, acetylene lamp manufacturer, cafeteria manager, attorney, streetcar conductor, auto mobile tire salesman and the male equivalent of a midwife.
A clean-shaven Sanders is standing on the right in the kitchen photo in his pre-Colonel days, before he became the iconic bearded Southern gentleman spokesman for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Sanders’ humble venture grew to a multinational enter prise supporting, at its peak, more than 24,000 franchises around the world. (Photos courtesy of the Sanders Cafe & Museum)
An unapologetic sign heralds Corbin’s most famous attraction. (Photo courtesy of the Sanders Cafe & Museum)
12 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022 M On The Road Again
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Harland Sanders Cafe & Corbin,MuseumKy.
By RAY BALOGH
The final stop in his occupational perambulations before he landed in the history books for his fried chicken enterprise was as a service station owner in the tiny burg of North Corbin, Ky., where he alighted in Sanders1930. fed travelers, up to six at a time, at his own dining table, which he moved to the back of the service station. He was noted for his home-cooked country ham and steak dinners, but soon hit upon his winning recipe of “11 herbs and spices” (scrupulously kept under lock and key to this day), and began dishing up the chicken he fried in an iron skillet. Famed food critic Duncan Hines happened by the service station and feted the “restaurant” in his 1935 road-food guide, nudging open the floodgates of popularity for the “Colonel’s” signature entree.
Harland David Sanders always played by the rules — his rules. That served him well throughout his iconic career. “I’ve only had two rules,” said the founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain, known as KFC since 1991. “Do all you can and do it the best you can. It’s the only way you ever get that feeling of accomplish ingAndsomething.”heaccomplished a lot — before, during and after his run as owner of the largest fast food chicken enterprise in the world.
In 1939, Sanders perfected and patented a quick-frying tech nique using pressure cookers and rode the wave of success until his death on Dec. 16, 1980. He opened a Sanders’ Court & Cafe, a 142-seat roadside restau rant and motel across the street from the filling station in 1940 and ran it until he sold it in 1956, pivoting all his efforts to selling Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises, for which he would receive a fee of 4 cents per chicken. He actually sold his first franchise in 1952 to Salt Lake City, Utah, restaurant owner Peter Harman, whom he had met at a food semi nar. In 1957, Harman pioneered the famous bucket container for larger purchases of chicken. At its peak, the brand boasted more than 24,000 locations throughout the world.
Sanders used to paint advertising signs on barns within a sev eral-mile radius to promote his Shell Oil filling station.
The Sanders Cafe & Museum, 688 U.S. Highway 25 W., Corbin, Ky., is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. For more information, call (606) 528-2163 or visit sanderscafe.com. An advertisement from the 1970s hails the famous entree as “finger lickin’ good.” Unfortunately, the tagline met a some what macabre fate in China, where the phrase is translated, “Eat your fingers off.”
(Photo courtesy of the Sanders Cafe & Museum)
SEPTEMBER 2022 | THE MUNICIPAL 13
He also shot a competitor, though mitigating circumstances pre vented him from being charged with a crime.
Sanders was bestowed the honorific “Colonel” by the state gover nor in 1935 and again in 1949. He embraced the title and personified the quintessential Southern gentleman by growing and bleaching a mustache and goatee and appearing in public exclusively wearing his iconic white suit and black string tie. Still, he was an undeniably feisty character who did not always comport with his benign and congenial public persona. Sanders was known to “swear like a sailor,” a characteristic he freely admit ted, albeit in disarming terms. “I used to cuss the prettiest you ever heard,” he said. “I did my cussin’ before women and anybody else, but somehow nobody ever took any offense.”
The original location in Corbin was placed on the National Reg ister of Historic Places on Aug. 7, 1990. It was extensively renovated to replicate its look in the 1940s and opened as the Sanders Cafe and Museum in the fall of 1990. Visitors can enjoy a chicken dinner, browse through shelves and display cases of memorabilia and take a peek at a recreation of the cafe’s original kitchen.
The Sanders Cafe & Museum was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 7, 1990, and opened to the public a few weeks later. (Photo courtesy of the Sanders Cafe & Museum)
One Matt Stewart, who operated a competing nearby Standard Oil station, painted over Sanders’ signs. Sanders and two Shell Oil executives caught Stewart red-handed, and Stewart pulled a gun and fatally shot the Shell Oil district manager. Sanders returned fire, wounding Stewart in the shoulder. Stewart went to prison for murder, but the initial charges against Sanders were dropped.
Sanders continued his Kentucky Colonel persona in promotions up to the month before his death. He has been since impersonated — never adequately, many would say — by a host of actors and comedians, including Darrell Hammond, Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan, George Hamilton, Rob Lowe, Ray Liotta, Jason Alexander, Peter Weller, Sean Astin and even Reba McEntire.
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More than 600 volunteers came out in Winterset, Iowa, this spring to help the community recover from an EF-4 tornado that killed six people.
600-plus
Coalition.EvaluationandAssessmentStructuralMissouri’sVisual 1,000 See how these volunteers aid in rapid structural assessments following a major disaster on page 22.
Crisis Management SEPTEMBER 2022 | THE MUNICIPAL 17
focus on
550
$416,771
Amount billed to someone in Gaylord, Mich., for the removal of two trees shortly after an EF-3 tornado did widespread damage to the city in May. The Michigan Attorney General expressed a formal intent to take action against the tree removal company for price gouging during a crisis. $33,962.50
5 The number of main breaks Rockdale, Texas, experienced on June 18, 2022. The city valved off an eight- to 10-block area to isolate these breaks. Read more about how Rockdale handled its main crisis on page 18.
The amount Hampton, Va., was awarded by the Virginia Emergency Shelter Upgrade Assistance grant fund to procure emergency generators. Learn how municipalities are preparing for hurricane season on page 32.
Source: https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/michigan/nessel-responds-to-suspected-price-gouging-after-gaylord-tornado.
The number of cities that have received a Class 3 Community Rating System. Ocala, Fla., has retained its Class 3 rating since 2015. Find out why Ocala participates in the Community Rating System on page 26.
Read more about the devastation and how Madison County Emergency Management organized the recovery effort at winterset-emergency-management-storm-cleanup-volunteers-https://www.weareiowa.com/article/news/community/help-tornadoes/524-79095063-7716-4faf-bbad-4733fad3a6f7andhttps://madisoncounty.iowa.gov/offices/emergency-management-events-and-updates/.
6 Properties destroyed in the city of Louisville, Colo., during the Marshall fire Dec. 30. So far, none have been rebuilt, although building permits have been issued. According to a June 30 After-Action Report, door-to-door efforts by first respond ers helped save lives during the fire — but communication issues between Boulder County and local police and fire units complicated evacuation alerts and needs to be rectified. Read more at sites/15/2022/06/Marshall-Fire-AAR-Report-2022.pdfhttps://lede-admin.coloradosun.com/wp-content/uploads/andhttps://www.louisvilleco.gov/living-in-louisville/residents/louisville-rebuilds-marshall-fire-recovery.
The approximate number of volunteers — con sisting of engineers, architects, and building inspection and construction professionals — who participate in
In the early morning hours of June 18, an 8-inch, cast-iron water line ruptured in front of City Hall in Rockdale, Texas. As crews worked to repair the line, two more sixinch main breaks, approximately 15 blocks from the original, were reported by midday. If that were not enough of a headache, over the next 48 hours, an additional three main breaks occurred on the same two sections of pipe. It was a near catastrophic water failure that crews scrambled to fix.
According to Jerald Brunson, public works director for the city of Rockdale, no direct, single cause was identified to explain the first break, but six main breaks in a 72-hour period was unprecedented, especially for a depart ment that only had four experienced field technicians available on a holiday weekend.
A member of Rockdale’s crew stands alongside the repaired pipe after four days of work with only a skeleton crew available over the holiday weekend. (Photo provided by the city of Rockdale)
“Luckily, we were able to valve off an eight- to 10-block area and isolate the part of the distri bution system causing the biggest negative impact on the system pressure. Outside of the area we isolated, there was some lower-thannormal pressure, but there was no outage or boil water notice required,” he said.
By JULIE YOUNG | The Municipal A ‘main’ event: Rockdale, Texas, suffers surge of water main ruptures
18 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022 Focus on: Crisis ManagementM
Past its prime Brunson said there are no good times for a major water system failure and no quick fix for pipes that are 20 years past their intended lifespan. Over the last five to eight years, the city has averaged well over 250 water leaks, and in 2018, the city sought financing for a water main distribution system replacement project as well as a wastewater treatment plant upgrade. The Texas Water Distribution Board approved both projects, and in July 2020, approxi mately $16 million was given to the city to replace all cast-iron and asbestos-cement piping.Theoriginal projection was to replace well over 125,000 linear feet of the old pipe with C900 PVC, but due to the pandemic, sev eral steps of the engineering, planning and approval processes have extended the start of the physical replacement by over a year. Currently, phase one of the project is sched uled to begin this December, with phase two starting in the fall of 2023. The project should be completed by mid-2024. However, none of the planned improve ments helped in June, and the repairs required a combination of techniques to mitigate the ruptures. “Three of the breaks were repaired using wraps, and three required the replacement of up to 25 feet of cast iron with PVC. We did run into a shortage of parts on June 20, which was a city holiday,” he said. “With the help of Ferguson Supply and local contrac tor Martinez Backhoe Services, we were able to get the parts necessary to complete all of the repairs by Tuesday morning.”
Jerry Meadows, Rockdale’s chief of police, used a 600-gallon trailered tank to furnish non-potable water to those who needed it, refilling the tank several times over the course of the crisis. (Photo provided by the city of Rockdale)
Having a plan This is not the first time Rockdale has endured a water system failure. In Febru ary 2021, Winter Storm Uri wreaked havoc not only with the city’s distribution, but customer service lines everywhere in the city. Brunson said during the most recent event, those without water or with reduced water flow were once again severely affected so city officials knew they needed to have a plan to help. To assist those residents affected by the breech, the city of Rockdale purchased several skids of bottled water and made it available to be picked up at the local community center. “Jerry Meadors, the chief of police, uti lized a 600-gallon trailered tank to furnish non-potable water to those in need and refilled the tank several times,” Brunson said. “Barbara Holly, the city manager, and her husband helped load water into vehi cles for many residents and took the time to communicate the status of the repairs to those seeking information and support.”
Three of the Rockdale, Texas, water main leaks were repaired using wraps and three required PVC replacements to eliminate the damage. While the pipes were down, the city supplied bottled water to residents in order to help them get through the crisis. (Photo provided by the city of Rockdale)
SEPTEMBER 2022 | THE MUNICIPAL 19
Brunson said one thing that helps com munities persevere during these types of events is having a good relationship with their vendors, contractors and other local municipalities. He said Rockdale’s relation ship with Ferguson and Martinez played a major role in being able to complete the repairs as quickly as possible.
Rockdale crews frantically worked to stop six water main leaks that occurred over 72 hours in mid-June. The repairs required a combination of techniques but were able to be completed within four days. (Photo provided by the city of Rockdale)
“Fortunately, we were able to make the repairs without seeking another city’s assis tance, but we have a working relationship with Cameron, Hearne and Thorndale that we could have utilized if necessary. They also know that we are available if they ever need support,” he said. Brunson also encourages communities to use their mandated emergency response plan whenever an incident occurs. If devel oped correctly, leaders will know what to do and how to implement it in a timely fash ion. He also said communities should not wait until the distribution infrastructure is well beyond its lifespan to plan and finance improvements. Deterioration and failure will eventually impact every system so plan ahead before the system gets to the point of no“Irepair.have been a utility director or public works director for the past 10 years, and this is definitely the most main breaks I have seen in a month, much less in a long week end,” he said. “It was not the worst break or set of breaks I have seen, but it was right up there in the most stressful. With one coming right after another, I did not know how many more we might be getting. Thankfully, they stopped at six.”
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volunteers inspect each building in a disaster area to determine if the structures remain safe for use. Volunteers come from the fields of engineering, architecture, building inspection and construction and receive special training on how to evaluate a building’s structural safety by looking at its exterior. (Photo provided by Missouri SAVE Coalition)
In Missouri, local officials can ask SAVE Coalition volunteers for help. “A lot of people are going to be temporarily homeless, and they need to know which buildings they can stay in after a tornado or after an earthquake,” said Jeff Briggs, earthquake program manager for the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency. “And sometimes you can’t just tell at a glance whether a building is structurally sound. So we bring in these people with a structural background who are trained in rapid evaluation after a disaster, and they can take a look at homes and shelters and other structures and pretty quickly help local officials determine which ones are safe to go into. “It helps people get in their homes more quickly if they are safe homes,” Briggs added, “or, if they are not safe, then it quickly helps people deter mine, well, do not go back in there, things might fall on you and hurt you. Instead, go to this location maybe it’s a shelter that we have assessed and that is safe.”
Missouri state officials approved legislation in 1991 to create the SAVE Coalition. The action followed predictions by self-proclaimed climatologist Iben Browning that a major earthquake would strike the New Madrid Seismic Zone in early December 1990. The zone includes southeast Missouri and adjacent areas in Arkansas, Tennessee, Ken tucky, Indiana and Illinois. The prediction proved false, but it sparked “a whole ton of awareness” about the risk of earthquakes in that area, Briggs said. “The outgrowth of that false prediction was the creation of this SAVE Coalition. So that was kind of the silver lining to this frenzy we had back then.” By KEVIN KILBANE | The Municipal
MissouriCoalition)SAVECoalition
Missouri volunteers provide rapid structural assessments following disasters
SAVE stands for Structural Assessment and Visual Evaluation. Its volunteers include engineers, architects, building inspectors and other professionals, according to the SAVE Coalition website, sema.dps. mo.gov/programs/SAVEcoalition.php.“It’sarewardingopportunityforprofessionals and civilians,” said Joe Leahy, P.E., an engineer, SAVE Coalition volunteer and chair of the coalition’s board of directors. “We are there to assist the community. We are not there to take over from local officials.”
When a major tornado or earthquake rips through a community, local leaders and residents need to know quickly what homes and buildings are safe for use and what structures remain a risk for collapse. The magnitude of the damage can overwhelm local code enforcement and building department staff.
22 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022 Focus on: Crisis ManagementM
The Missouri SAVE Coalition’s dashboard showed real-time updates from SAVE volunteers in the field as they moved through neighborhoods to evaluate buildings and determine whether they are safe to occupy following a May 2019 tornado in Jefferson City, Mo. The results typically are visible to officials in the disaster’s local emergency operations center. (Photo provided by Missouri SAVE
SAVE volunteers go only to major disasters where lateral forces may have caused structural damage to buildings, Briggs“We’resaid.looking for things that would push or shake on a building to where you’d need some structural expertise to take a look at it to determine if it’s still safe, and those would typically be earthquakes and tornadoes,” he explained. So far, all SAVE deployments have been for tornado damage, except for assisting Van Buren, Mo., following flash floods that pushed build ings and caused structural damage.
SAVE volunteers use color-coded placards, which they tape to a structure and post on the online map, to designate the safety status of each inspected building. Green means they found no structural prob lems, Leahy said. A yellow placard means a portion of the building may be at risk of falling. A red placard flags a structure as unsafe for entry.
In addition to the opportunity to help people, the SAVE Coalition’s training also attracts volunteers, Leahy said. The training qualifies as educational credit that volunteers need to maintain their professional licenses. Volunteers also can use much of what they learn in their normalMissouri’sjobs.
SAVE volunteers must meet certain qualifications:
Officials who would like more information about Missouri’s SAVE Coalition can contact Jeff Briggs at 1 (573) 526-9232 or jeff.briggs@sema. dps.mo.gov.
A SAVE volunteer trained to serve as an on-site coordinator starts working beforehand to organize plans for other volunteers’ arrival and for building inspection work, said Leahy, a senior project engineer with Smith & Company Engineers in Poplar Bluff, Mo. At a disaster site, SAVE volunteers typically work 12-hour days for two or three days, weather and daylight permitting. If more inspection work remains, a second rotation of SAVE volunteers will be sent to the disaster site, said Leahy, who has volunteered with the SAVE Coalition since the early 1990s.
The SAVE Coalition also could be deployed to a man-made disaster that causes lateral-force damage, such as an explosion, Briggs said. Before SAVE volunteers can deploy, Missouri’s governor must declare the disaster an emergency. Local officials then can contact SEMA to ask for SAVE Coalition help. SEMA officials assess the situation and decide whether to send SAVE volunteers. SAVE help is free, but a community may need to reimburse volun teers for their mileage to the disaster location and their costs for food and lodging if it isn’t provided, information on the SAVE website said.
• Possess at least five years of experience in the engineering, archi tecture, building inspection or construction industry professions.
Several volunteers with Missouri’s SAVE Coalition gathered in an area of Jefferson City, Mo., just before going out to evaluate the structural safety of buildings in that area. SAVE volunteers deployed to help local officials evaluate buildings following a major tornado in May 2019. (Photo provided by Missouri SAVE Coalition)
Volunteers normally work in teams of two while inspecting buildings, Leahy said. They usually also request that a local law enforcement or building inspection official go with each team in case property owners want to speak with a local official about questions or concerns.
• Complete training recertification every three years.
Most volunteers are affiliated with one of nine SAVE Coalition partner groups, which include professional associations and organizations for engineers, architects, and building inspec tion and construction professionals.
• Complete one-day free training for rapid visual evaluation of build ings’ structural safety.
SAVE training prepares volunteers to evaluate a building’s structural integrity in 15 minutes or less, Briggs said. They quickly fill out a report and get the information to local officials. SAVE volunteers often post building evaluation results via a smartphone app so local officials can monitor inspection progress in real time, he said.
When deployed, SAVE Coalition volunteers typically arrive at a disaster site two or three days after the incident to allow emergency first-responders to gain control of the situation, Briggs and Leahy said.
The SAVE Coalition has worked so well in Missouri that its members are assisting people in other states who are forming or expanding simi lar coalitions, Leahy said. SAVE leaders also are talking with leaders of comparable groups in other states to plan how volunteers from one state can assist at a disaster in another state.
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SAVE training has been recognized by the Federal Emer gency Management Agency as a good standard for use nationally, Briggs noted.
Missouri modeled its program on an exist ing one in California, Briggs said. At least several other U.S. states also have programs similar to SAVE. The “Show-Me” state’s program ranks second largest in the nation behind California’s, based on the number of volunteers involved, Briggs said. Missouri’s more than 1,000 SAVE volunteers reside all around the state, which makes it easier to get people to a disaster site.
State law protects SAVE volunteers from liability for their volunteer work except in cases of willful misconduct or gross negligence. The volunteers also are considered temporary SEMA employees, Briggs said, so they could qualify for some workmen’s compensation if injured while doing SAVE work.
SAVE volunteers have deployed seven or eight times in the past 30 years, Briggs said. The most recent deployment was to Jefferson City, the state capital, and Cole County, after a tornado on May 22, 2019.
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The city of Ocala, Fla., has retained its Class 3 Community Rating System, which is basically the ISO rating for flooding and helps those in the city receive lower flood insurance costs. But, according to Sean Lanier, city engineer and director of engineering water resources, even better is the fact that the rating means the city is more resilient. Lanier explained the Community Rating System is a voluntary program supported by the National Flood Insurance and gives an indication of the risk of Thefloods.CRS is based on a points system and the more points a community receives, the better. However, in the class ratings, “the lower the number the better.”
One prerequisite is that the city has to have low ISO rankings in other departments, like fire and building inspection.
A path winds around the Chambrel retention pond in Ocala, Fla.
Lanier explained the city of Ocala differs from a lot of Florida communities in that stormwater doesn’t drain to a river or to the sea. “When we have stormwater runoff, it goes to low areas and ponds. We have a closed basin system, and the water will pond at the low areas within each basin.”
In developing the floodplain management, the city used drainage retention areas where the water stays versus detention ponds where the water gets drained out. One criterion for maintaining the rating is ensuring the same amount of discharge to the downstream as you did before it was developed.InOcala, officials have to catch the whole storm, and it percolates into the ground and soaks in. So they had to make sure the ponds are bigger in new developments, and in older areas, they tried to do excavation projects, making the retention areas bigger. They also
“Luckily, our other departments’ rankings were low enough that we met that prerequisite to get the Class 3 rating,” he said. There are multiple items and different categories and programs that can be imple mented to get points. For a Class 3 rating, it takes approximately 3,500 points, and if you get more than that, you can move to the next level.Ocala first earned that rating in 2015, and Lanier said the city shared that rating with just one other city east of the Mississippi. There were only two cities that had the Class 3 rating. “At the time, it was very rare,” he said, adding there were a couple with lower ratings but just the one other Class 3. In the April 2022 report by Federal Emer gency Management Agency, only five cities, including Ocala, received the Class 3 rating out of 1,500 communities. The other cities were Sacramento, Calif.; Avalon, N.J.; Sea Isle City, N.J.; and Charlotte, N.C. There were also four counties listed as having a Class 3 rating. Lanier said one of the biggest point earn ers for Ocala was something it’d already done but had shelved and forgotten a floodplain master plan. He explained the city had a lot of flooding after a storm in 1982, so in 1984, officials hired a firm to do a master study. This study showed a lot of flood areas that weren’t mapped by Federal Emergency Management Agency. According to Lanier, in 1978-2008, there were no new FEMA maps, so when the city did its study, some areas were on the FEMA maps, but not all of them. If the city declared it a flood hazard area with requirements of construction needing to be 1 foot of freeboard above the base flood eleva tion, that was worth a lot of points, according to Lanier. With the total amount of the area that the city declared to be a community determined flood area, “that really boosted our score,” he said. “That was the single big gest thing we had going for us.”
When Ocala first joined CRS, it was about a Class 8 rating and listing its mapping along with FEMA’s gave them 1,000 points.
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The Municipal Ocala, Fla., retains Class 3 rating
By DENISE FEDOROW
(Photo provided by the city of Ocala) The NE 28th Court retention pond in Ocala, Fla., is one retention pond that the city uses to help forestall nearby neighborhoods from flooding during a storm. (Photo provided by the city of Ocala)
Flood response plan
Ocala has two water management districts St. John’s River Water Management District and Southwest Florida Water Management Dis trict and it has to observe both of them. In 2018, Hurricane Irma came through and dropped down on I-75 in the middle of Ocala. East of I-75 received 11 inches of rain, and west of I-75, there was 11.5 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. “It tested our systems and a lot of areas that flooded during Debbie were either very lightly impacted or not impacted at all. I could go back and look at my top priorities, and it was addressed so it was a suc cess that was satisfaction knowing that the system actually worked,” Lanier said. Building code Lanier explained Florida doesn’t follow the International Building Code; the Florida Department of Environmental Management made its own building code called the Florida Building Code. Within the Florida Building Code, there’s a flood ordinance, and Ocala modeled its flood ordinance building code to the state’s “with a few tweaks for Ocala.” It has specific limitations on any construction in the floodplain and talks about the 1 foot above the freeboard the lowest level of residential building must be above the base flood eleva tion. The base flood elevation is the flood that has a 1% chance of being equaled to or exceeded in any given year the 100-year flood. If garages or basements are below the BFE, then flood vents are necessary. Points are given for maintaining elevation certificates on all buildings built in flood hazard areas before and after the applica tionThere’sdate. an annual review of floodplain management and an audit every five years. Lanier said because Ocala has a Class 3 rating, it is audited every three years. It just had an audit completed in April and maintained its Class 3 rating. He said in the annual review city employees may just pull random permits some look at all the build ing permits, but mainly in the flood area, and then spot check the elevation certificates. In the audit, they literally pull all the permits and certificates. “If you allow any substandard construction within the flood hazard area, it increases the risk of something flooding,” he said.
included pumping systems that will pump from a smaller to a larger retention area to avoid flooding the neighborhood. He said the topography of the city with a population of about 50,000 to 60,000 has high ridges and multiple basins about 320 defined basins. Lanier came to the city in 2012, shortly after Tropical Storm Debbie, which was a 10-year storm hit. Prior to Tropical Storm Debbie, an unnamed storm came and flooded portions of the city, and when Debbie hit, it flooded the same areas. He said the city council mandated him with fixing the flooding and to start with those areas. So he started working on those areas and on the CRS at the same time to improve the resiliency of the city.
The city doesn’t have a specific flood warning system, but there’s a Code Red system for storm warnings that residents can sign up for to receive alerts for storms and other emergencies.
Lanier advises other communities to join CRS. It’s a voluntary pro gram with the National Flood Insurance program and allows people to buy flood insurance within the city. “The whole program contributes to the resilience of your community,” he said. “The CRS rating is a pathway to keep you on task. You earn points for building resilience into your community. Flood insurance costs go down, but it lowers the risk of your community.”
Many things are worth points: city improvement projects, outreach to the community regarding flooding issues, even if having a dam and “dam plan.” Lanier said the city of Ocala doesn’t, but its county Marion County has a dam. He said for Ocala the biggest thing that helped its rating was the com munity determined flood hazard area mapping the areas not shown on the FEMA FIRM maps, the floodplain ordinance in the building code and the flood response plan. “The whole purpose is the risk of flooding is low that’s why you get the discount,” he said. The city’s response, as well as its mitigation and construction meth ods, plays a part. By controlling development, officials make sure they’re not putting out more water than before the development.
“It helps keep responses honed. We try to do that right before hur ricane season starts,” Lanier said.
Lanier said they are working toward a Class 2 rating. “We are trying to get to the next level; we were only a few hundred points shy from a ClassThe2.”lower the CRS rating, the higher the discount a Class 9 gets a 5% discount while a Class 2 gets a 40% discount. The Class 3 rating that Ocala has gives a 35% discount on insurance.
The city started a stormwater utility in the 1980s where customers pay a stormwater fee that funds stormwater improvements, and the city used the funds to expand the system and make improvements to deal with areas known for flooding.
The city has a flood response plan with a standard operating guide, which talks about bringing out pumps and pumping the flood water and an all hazard response manual, which advises how to deal with hurricanes.Inorderto keep its points, the city has to perform exercises and pull out the pumps and drill employees on how to use the equipment.
A worker cleans a well at the Chezel retention pond in Ocala. The city has a closed basin system and relies on the retention ponds to stop flooding in the city. (Photo provided by the city of Ocala)
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During WWII, a small town, North Platte, Neb., coordinated an amazing volunteer effort that saw every single troop train met with coffee and sandwiches and sweets; 125 different communities gave their time and resources, sacrificing their own rations of sugar and coffee and the like. Six million soldiers were ministered to in this way, with smiles and hugs by the area wives, mothers andThesesisters.days, especially since the pandemic, have seen public participation in mass efforts for many reasons. For the few who hoarded during the early days, far more shared what they had. That spilled over into every kind of service, including city-wide compacts such as the California Statewide Transit Mutual Assis tance Compact and Emergency Management AssistanceTransMACCompact.evolved to its present form after its earliest days of discussion. It was a coor dinated effort, entailing the work of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Orange County Transportation Authority and the California Emergency Man agement Agency, among other agencies. Since then, TransMAC now encompasses 22 transit agencies, including Metro, OCTA, SunLine Transit Authority, Anaheim Transportation Network, city of Montebello and Foothill Tran sit, and it serves the entire state of California. Since inception, the deal has never been activated, according to Mike Greenwood, director of operations for Access Services and chairman of TransMAC’S board of directors. He explained, “That’s a good thing, because there’s never been an emergency big enough for one transit agency to call on another transit agency for help.” Megan Abba, a senior communications specialist for OCTA, explained, “The Transit Mutual Assistance Compact was formed in 2013 to establish a formal process for member agencies to share resources with one another during emergencies. This might include providing buses, drivers or other needed equipment.” Abba added, “The Orange County
Agencies pool resources together in times of trouble
In times of trouble and need, our country has often banded together to be of assistance; celebrities and ordinary people alike shoveled sand into bags and placed them at levees during flooding. Community-wide cleanup efforts occurred after tornadoes, hurricanes and other storms. In the terrible aftermath of 9/11, every kind of assistance that could be offered, from donating blood to bringing food and water to exhausted rescue workers, fused a hurting country and provide a sense of healing — however possible — from something completely incomprehensible.
ABOVE: Law enforcement and other vehi cles are prepared to assist in an emergency in New Mexico. (Photo provided by EMAC)
By BETH ANNE BRINK-COX | The Municipal
30 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022 Focus on: Crisis ManagementM
Transportation Authority was one of the group’s founding members, with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority taking the lead.”
EMAC personnel put together their plan of action in New Mexico, determining who needs to be where and what is needed every where. (Photo provided by EMAC)
The city of Pasadena wished to be included in the compact, and it was accepted unanimously. The statewide agreement established a formal process where member agencies local governments and public transit providers may receive and provide mutual assistance to each other in the form of personnel, services and equipment neces sary during an emergency. In an agenda report for the Pasadena City Council, the department of transportation said TransMAC member agencies can coordinate response activities and share resources, even without a formal declaration of emergency. The agreement facilitates rapid and short-term deployment of emergency support person nel, equipment, materials and services prior to, during and after an incident or pre-planned major events. A plan is always in place, and practice usually takes place before parades, festivals and concerts. This poses many challenges for emergency personnel, and coordination with other first responders and local agencies is vital in times of crisis. Indeed, the compact is modeled on mutual aid agreements used by law enforcement, fire and utilities throughout the state.
Abba continued, as Greenwood had said, “Fortunately, we have not had to use the compact to request assistance during any emergency to date. But the group has been beneficial throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly early on, when we were making adjustments to our transit operations to help ensure the safety of our passengers and drivers. The group met regularly to discuss how to implement safety measures, like the shields that were installed to provide a barrier between drivers and passengers. There was also sharing of resources on how to acquire materials that because of the demand were difficult to come by, such as plexiglas.”
As for EMAC, Jon Gudel, public information officer at the Office of Crisis Communications and Media Relations at CalOES, explained, “That acronym stands for National Emergency Management Assistance Compact, and it, too, is a joining together of various services in times of crisis. EMAC is first and foremost a state-to-state compact.”
And a true compact it is. Department of Homeland Security, Fed eral Emergency Management Agency and EMAC have a long-standing agreement whereby the National Emergency Management Association, through the National Coordination Group, facilitates requests to deploy teams that coordinate EMAC activities with federal personnel wherever needed and requested by DHS and FEMA headquarters. With wildfires, flooding and other climate driven disasters, the resources have grown thin, and mutual aid is more necessary than ever before. Sharing and moving resources in state and out, and as quickly as possible, is the cornerstone of disaster response. EMAC includes all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. If that doesn’t sound very different from the TransMAC, “it is because it goes far beyond transit, and because it is implemented with orders from the governor’s office California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, to be precise, or CALOES, as it’s commonly known,” said Gubel.
In April, New Mexico’s Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham requested assis tance from CalOES due to wildfires, and Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed firefighters on April 30. But in May, more assistance was needed, and Newsom sent additional resources as requested: three strike teams, consisting of 15 CalOES fire engines (both Type 3 and Type 6), and 55 personnel. Type 3 and 6 are the most used engines for wildland urban interface fires and are known for their off-road capabilities. In total, California had sent five strike teams, because strong winds and dry conditions contributed to the massive wildfire at that time, the larg est fire, the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire, had burned more than 301,000 acres and was still only 34% contained. By June, the wildfires had burned more than 600,000 acres, making it one of the worst fire years in the state’s recorded history.
Then in California, Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency July 23 for the entire Mariposa County, because the Oak Fire was having devastating effects destroying homes, threatening infrastructure and requiring the evacuation of more than 3,000 residents. In just 24 hours, the Oak Fire had burned more than 11,500 acres. And within hours, a grant had been secured from FEMA to help ensure the availability of vital resources. In keeping with EMAC, California Fire and CalOES Fire and Rescue began working immediately with state, local and federal agencies; the State Operations Center coordinated the fire response, sending mutual aid and addressing emergency management needs.
Whether those words are ever spoken aloud by public servants and workers, they are certainly a part of their makeup.
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Does this sound like a bowl of alphabet soup? With so many acro nyms, it might, but it’s an incredibly rich, well-blended and powerful “soup.” TransMAC, EMAC and all the other agencies and services they encompass are here to help. In the words of John Wesley, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
Pictured are just two of the OCTA buses that are a steady presence in the TransMAC. (Photo provided by TransMAC)
When living near the ocean, a hurricane preparedness plan is integral for a municipality to have in order to help take care of and support the resi dents should a natural disaster strike. Ensuring the community is informed, sharing best practices and providing shelter and resources are some of the primary ways a city or county can help set their residents up for success.CarteretCounty, N.C. For the past four years, Carteret County in North Carolina has held an annual hurri cane expo for the community to help keep residents informed and up to date on best practices for how to prepare for a hurricane. “We wanted to offer an opportunity where residents and business owners could get crucial storm-related information from ven dors at one convenient location,” Jen Sawyer, emergency management coordinator for Carteret County Emergency Services, stated. “The expo promotes hurricane readiness, safety and all hazards preparedness. Attend ees have the opportunity to learn about the many services and resources available before, during and after a hurricane.”
CARLSON | The Municipal Municipalities strive to provide crucial information and resources before, during and after a hurricane
In states along the ocean, having a hurricane preparedness plan can be an integral part of survival. Cities in these areas help the residents prepare such a plan by holding annual events, like Carteret County, N.C., keeping citizens informed of best practices and provid ing emergency shelter. (Speedshutter Photography/Shutterstock.com)
A variety of vendors are included in the hurricane preparedness expo each year. This year’s vendors included: Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative; Veterans Coalition of the Crystal Coast; Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina; Ann Street United Methodist Church Emergency Response Team; North Carolina Emergency Manage ment Office of Recovery; Coastal Carolina Center for Women’s Ministries; North Caro lina Cooperative Extension Carteret County Center; Carteret County Health Depart ment; Broad Street Clinic; The Gathering Place Community Kitchen and Outreach; One Harbor Church/ReachGlobal Crisis Response; Loaves and Fishes of Beaufort; Carteret Food Waste and Recovery; Peer Recovery Center of Carteret County; Crys tal Coast Habitat for Humanity Inc.; Healthy Blue North Carolina; and RT Power Systems. However, there is also a core group that goes into planning the preparedness event each year. This core team consists of County Emergency Management, Ann Street United Methodist Church and the Food Bank of By NICHOLETTE
The annual hurricane preparedness expo is open and free to the public. While this year was the fourth year for the event, the past couple of years have needed restructuring due to challenges faced with COVID-19. “Our last expo was a drive-thru event where attendees were able to pick up promotional and educational items from vendors,” Sawyer said. “We were thankful this year we were able to return to a more traditional approach with an in-person event at our civic center.”
32 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022 Focus on: Crisis ManagementM
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At this year’s expo, vendors could offer giveaways of disaster food boxes, gift cards and hold a raffle for a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather radio. “We’re constantly looking for ways to expand the event and offer more ways to engage the community,” Sawyer continued. “We’re hoping that next year we can have more participation from our public safety agencies and provide an opportunity for attendees to view apparatuses and other equipment. The National Weather Service will be providing hurricane awareness education, and we will also look at hosting food trucks on-site to attract additional attendees.”
Central and Eastern North Carolina. Each year, planning begins far in advance of the event with discussions regarding venue, advertising and vendor participation. Each organization in this core group has an active role in response and recovery following a hurricane.Besides the annual preparedness expo, Carteret County Emergency Management promotes hurricane preparedness as the best way to protect against potential hurri cane“Wehazards.provide hurricane preparedness pre sentations to civic and community groups and also hold an annual hurricane forum in cooperation with the National Weather Ser vice,” Sawyer explained. “We also utilize our media outlets to push messaging to encour age hurricane preparedness.”
The city applied for the Virginia Emergency Shelter Upgrade Assistance grant fund. Any money awarded from this fund had to be used for providing matching funds for the municipality to install, maintain or repair infrastructure in relation to backup energy generation for local emergency shelters. Hampton was one of only 11 municipalities to receive the grant. The city of Hampton was awarded $416,771 for the emergency generators from VDEM. The city will then contribute $104,471 toward the project, and the school division will con tributeWhen$49,677.itcame to choosing where to place the generators, Walker and McCormick explained, “The locations were determined through a city shelter committee, which included schools, fire and EMS, Department of Social Services, Hampton Police Depart ment, Virginia Department of Health and emergency management.”
The three locations chosen to install gener ators were West Hampton Community Center, Bethel High School and Tarrant Middle School. Both the high school and middle school already have generators, but these additional generators will help power the air conditioning and kitchen at the high school as well as the middle school gymnasium. “By installing these additional genera tors, it increases our capacity to better serve residents through an emergency,” Walker and McCormick emphasized. “Emergen cies can cause prolonged electricity outages. Having generators allows for crucial medi cal needs, keeping insulin cold or powering oxygen machines, for example. There is also a comfort factor in having air conditioning fol lowing a hurricane in extremely hot weather, which can impact health as well.”
Hurricanes can wreak havoc, and cities in hurricane threat areas must ensure resi dents are prepared. Survival kits, proper preparation and disaster resources can be provided to residents during events to promote hurricane readiness. (Mia2you/ Shutterstock.com
Hampton, Va., recently helped its residents prepare for hurricanes by applying for and receiving a grant to purchase and install three new generators at emergency shelters. These generators allow the city to aid residents with crucial medical needs, such as keep ing insulin cold or powering oxygen machines. (Bespaliy/Shutterstock.com)
Hampton coordinates within the region to send messaging to local media so that the media market is not bombarded with the same tips each time the threat of a hurricane arises.This year, Hampton received a grant from the Virginia Department of Emergency Man agement. “There was an opportunity for grant funds from the state to support shelters with emergency generators,” Walker and McCor mick mentioned via email. “When all the power goes out, it allows us to have a safe place for residents during disasters.”
If another city or county is interested in planning a similar event, Sawyer recom mended, “Start planning early and invite stakeholders to participate. Be sure to con sider contingencies for weather if using an outside space and try to incorporate some type of virtual engagement if possible for those who may be unable to attend.” Hampton, Va. Officials with the city of Hampton, Va., work to encourage general disaster preparedness for the residents and refer individuals and families to ready.gov for information on best practices to prepare for a natural disaster, such as a hurricane. According to Hui-Shan Walker, Hampton’s emergency manage ment coordinator, and Robin McCormick, communications strategist, “We encourage general disaster preparedness planning for families along with having a family disaster plan and disaster supply kit for humans and pets.”Presentations on preparedness can be arranged for the community if requested. Information is also sent out periodically in the city’s weekly online newsletter as well as information shared via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, NextDoor channels and videos.
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ABOVE: The Rosberg House offers lodging to visitors of the city of Lindsborg, Kan. Lindsborg residents relish the faithfulness with which the community has preserved the culture of its Swedish founders, Jacob O. Sundstrom and John G. Bergsten. (Photo pro vided by Lindsborg Convention and Visitors Bureau)
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When thinking of Kansas, Truman Capote’s description or “The Wizard of Oz” might come to mind. But there is a hidden gem called Lindsborg that, if a person hasn’t heard of it, they will want to experience it. Holly Lofton, director for the Lindsborg Convention and Visitors Bureau, said, “I know of very few people who come here and don’t come back.”
Lindsborg has a low crime rate, and it has grown by 8.3% since the last census, Lofton said. “The surrounding cities of McPherson and Salina have good-paying jobs, so a lot of our residents choose the small-town living we offer and commute there. It’s worth it. We choose to live here because of the quality of life. “We also have excellent schools, and I can say that with all confidence as a parent. We have Bethany College here, too, with about 800 students.”
The city’s Swedish-Lutheran settlers worked with the Rev. Dr. Carl A. Swensson to establish Bethany Academy in October 1881. The college grew rapidly, becoming Bethany Normal Institute in 1886, then Bethany College and Normal Institute in 1887, to its final incarnation, Bethany College in 1889. Lofton said there are many additional aspects of the city to be proud of. “We opened the J.O. Sundstrom Conference Center in 2013, although our goal wasn’t to make money so much as it was to bring people to town.”Jacob O. Sundstrom and John G. Bergsten arrived in Lindsborg at different times and partnered in 1879 to build a department store, some thing not common in small cities at the time. After Sundstrom’s death in 1926 various businesses filled the space, but the building eventually fell into disrepair and was purchased by the city in 2003. Ten years later, after a full renovation, the Conference Center was ready for use, fitting the needs of the community as well as honoring the historic site. “We don’t have a chamber of commerce here,” Lofton noted. “We have an ad hoc roundtable group that meets weekly to discuss needs and issues, plan projects, whatever business is pressing.” She also mentioned a new childcare facility the city just completed. “And we already need to expand it. We have plans to do that.”
“It is a little treasure in a flyover state. It’s a very special place settled by very poor Swedes: They were hard workers with a great idea of what they wanted for future generations, and they were willing to deny themselves almost everything to make that happen as quickly as possible.”
Lofton waxes poetically, lyrically and enthusiastically about all the won derful attributes of this city of 4,000.
By BETH ANNE BRINK-COX | The Municipal
TOP PHOTO: Perfect for slow walking and window shopping, the downtown area of Lindsborg has all the feel of small-town living. (Photo provided by Lindsborg Convention and Visitors Bureau)
A little bit of Sweden in the Heartland
Lindsborg has an organization known as The Associated Churches of Lindsborg, or TACOL. “Our people clean out closets or decide they’re done with furniture and furnishings, and they donate to TACOL. It receives so much they have to stop accepting donations at times. This means we’ve got things that can help transients or those who have lost everything and are starting over. And we donate the sales profits. Out of the goodness we have, we give. Our food pantry is basically like a grocery store, and they even make Thanksgiving boxes.”
This all takes place in a community whose heritage is known for seven kinds of cookies being the perfect number to serve your guests when they come for coffee. Any less could be seen as lazy, and any more is seen as bragging.
Kansas State Bank didn’t ask for intent; if you needed it, you got it. And after every need was granted, we still had money left, in part because there were some who told us ‘No, I’m okay. I don’t need anything right now.’ We saw amazing things in partnership during that time, too.”
An artisan painstakingly paints a dala, featuring the family name of Johnson. (Photo by Jim Richardson, photographer) Small World Gallery is owned by retired National Geographic pho tographer Jim Richardson. His work is displayed and sold there.
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The city is also happy to have sponsored a YouTube episode of “Tast ing History with Max Miller,” specifically “Semlor: The Dessert That Killed a King.” Semlor are traditional Fat Tuesday buns served in Sweden. Something that is being lost to time are the original Swedish names found in Lindsborg, many of which were Anglicized when the residents’ ancestors came to America. Some modern-day names are more easily recognized as being faithful to their Swedish origin. Walk through the streets of Lindsborg and experience a living history that is lovingly tended and shared. Lofton is certain that everyone who does will want to come back again.
The city doesn’t spend the principal, she explained, “but it allows us to write plenty of grants, mostly early in the year. That was a good thing when the pandemic hit us. We made funds available to businesses as well as individuals and families. ‘You need money for rent, utilities and so on? You lost your job and can’t pay your mortgage? We’re here.’
There is access to the fine arts in Lindsborg. Bethany College presents “The Messiah” every Holy Week: It is North America’s longest-running performance. The schools have lots of art programming for the students, and the Chamber Orchestra of the Smoky Valley is comprised of musi cians from across the country who come to the city four times a year for special performances. In January, the college received a $10,000 grant from the David Nutt Fund for Lindsborg, which greatly assisted it in its mission. According to a news release, the ensemble is unique in terms of its smaller size, fostering a level of intimacy in their performance and venues and cre ating a different concert experience from the large halls of symphonic orchestras.Thecityis also the proud home of Jim Richardson, a National Geo graphic photographer for 30 years. Richardson has been named Kansan of the Year and received the Governor’s Arts Award. His work is displayed and sold in a Main Street gallery and studio called Small World. Lindsborg is also well-pleased with the way local generations have handled its finances. Lofton shared a special bit of history. “There was a gentleman who grew up here, never married and had no children or family, who eventually went to California. For about five years, we received annual, anonymous donations of $5,000 with no idea where they came from: Then we got a bequest from the gentle man, which is when we figured it out only now there was more than $15 million left to us. In round figures, $3.7 million went to the hospital, another $3.7 million to the college and $7.4 million to the community.”
(Photo provided by Lindsborg Convention and Visitors Bureau)
Lindsborg Child Development Center was built to care for 10 tod dlers, 20 early preschoolers, 40 pre-kindergarteners and 28 elementary school-aged children. Infants are cared for at a nearby church for the time being. Seventy-five additional spots are recommended. The city’s goal is to construct a building that communicates that Lindsborg cares for kids, reflects the dignity of the work being done, and bolsters a com munity image of being a “Little Sweden,” it tells visitors to the city website. Directly across the street from the conference center is a new housing complex, Stockholm Estates. As of July, 42 new homes had been built or were under construction, with only 21 lots left; all indications are that, like the Child Development Center, the attractive housing area will need to expand, too. “You can build a house for approximately $50,000 less than sur rounding areas,” Lofton said, “so lots of new homes are going up. The businesses are growing, and we have a need for more workforce, which means a need for more housing!”
Farming is a dangerous occupation. Every day in the U.S., 100 farm workers suffer a time-loss injury. Agricultural workers are eight to 10 times more likely to die on the job than the average U.S. worker, and they endure some of the highest injury rates.
One question Minor often asks his per sonnel is, “If it can happen to your patient, can it happen to you?” The answer, of course, is yes.He, his firefighters and emergency medi cal services felt it wasn’t enough to respond to emergencies. It was important to have the knowledge to deal with the accidents, but what if the accidents could be avoided? They wanted to do more, to be proactive hence RF-DASH.RuralFirefighters Delivering Agriculture Safety and Health was created to protect farmers and first responders from injuries and fatalities by helping the agricultural community recognize hazards on the farm and reduce the potential for serious and fatal injuries. The program is of benefit to both farmers and first responders, though: It works to equip rural emergency respond ers with farm-specific first-aid curriculum,
ABOVE: Life Link Medical Flight stands by to airlift a victim to the hospital. (Photo by Max Bailey)
According to The National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety, in 2019, 410 farmers died because of work-related injuries. Overturned tractors accounted for most of these deaths. Because half the chil dren living on a farm also work on that farm, children, too, die in agriculture-related incidents approximately every three days. Most of these fatalities result from trans portation accidents, including tractors. The second-highest cause of death involves con tact with machinery, followed by animal or human violence. At one time, the first responders to agri cultural accidents were often firefighters and medical personnel who were farmers themselves and therefore familiar with the environment to which they were responding. That has ceased to be the case. Pittsville Fire Department Chief Jerry Minor, recipient of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau’s 2022 Hero of Hope award, started a program with the National Farm Medicine Center called Farm Accident Rescue. For 20 years Minor and his team have traveled around the state, teaching rural fire depart ments how to deal with different hazards on a farm. But in 2001, the program stopped. “The feeling was, we had the market satu rated,’’ said Minor. Three years ago, Minor asked that the program be reinstated. He knew there was significant turnover among EMTs and fire fighters, and that there were more hazards on farms.
Bringing first responders and farmers together to reduce farm fatalities
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By GLENDA THOMPSON | The Municipal
RF-DASH began in 2016. A Midwest program, it is grant-funded with the aid of Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center and the Centers for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupa tional Safety and Health. Kyle Koshalek, a member of the RF-DASH team, shared that a new five-year grant has been issued, which will carry the program into 2028. “The goal of the next grant will be to research dissemination and implementation strategies by enrolling 15 RF-DASH sites five sites in the Midwest, five national sites and five sites in Canada conduct ing interviews and sharing successes and challenges throughout the RF-DASH network. Each site would enroll five new farm participants for a total of 75 farms, Koshalek noted. “Lastly, we would continue to support future sustainability of the program through more formal alignment and fed eral standards like those of the National Fire Protection Association and Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as providing technical assistance to a growing and now international network.”
RF-DASH course content is comprised of five modules. Module one is an introduction to agricultural emergencies. Compared to roadway accidents, first responders rarely respond to accidents on farms. This module introduces them to and discusses the causes of the most common farm emergencies, including strategies to expedite and improve responses to them. Module two covers pre-planning and farm mapping using a free, online tool that gives fire departments the ability to pre-plan and map farms, improving response times in the event of an emergency. FarmMAPPER lets the fire department develop a response plan specific to an individual farm, including the safety features of equipment used, the location of flammable agents, chemicals, unique electrical sys tems and multistory structures. Having this information in advance cuts down on response time and alerts first responders to potential hazards.Module three analyzes the farm hazards. Most individuals under stand the need to identify farm hazards; however, that is only one stage of the goal in managing hazards and risks. Farm hazards must also be evaluated and ranked in priority. The three stages tend to be cyclical as opposed to linear, sequential steps. Saferfarm.org and the Farm Hazard Analysis Tool provides everyone the ability to correct hazards and reduce the risk of injury on farms.
A firefighter simulates rescuing a patient from an overturned tractor. (Photo by Max Bailey)
An instructor discusses safety issues in a dairy barn. Rural Firefighters Delivering Agriculture Safety and Health was created in part to protect farmers and first responders from injuries and fatalities by helping the agricultural community recognize hazards on the farm and reduce the potential for serious and fatal injuries. (Photo provided by Kyle Koshalek)
safety consultation capabilities and farm hazard mapping strategies to assist in emergency response and prevent injuries and fatalities to both groups, once assembly on farms and ranches. To develop the program, the National Farm Medicine Center and the Upper Midwest Agriculture Safety and Health Center collected information from a variety of sources to see who farmers would trust when it came to making changes on their farms regarding safety. Of course, the people they trusted the most were family and neighbors. Surprisingly, their second choice was local firefighters and EMS.
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RF-DASH aligns with National Fire Protection Association standards, specifically NFPA 1300. The team is also working with rep resentatives from the FEMA, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the National Response Team to help rural communities prepare for agricultural hazards. Since 2016, over 100 firefighters/EMS have been trained as instructors in the program in Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, Mas sachusetts, Ohio, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Ontario. “This program is a win-win,” Koshalek said. “Firefighters, EMS and the farmers are brought together for one goal to reduce farm fatali ties. RF-DASH fills the gap.” For more information on the Ag Rescue Training program, visit rfdash.org.
Farm First Aid makes up module four. This module teaches the farm family members basic first aid such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and Stop the Bleed. It also focuses on what information needs to be shared with emergency dispatch. Module five focuses on the fire departments. It is all about approaching the farm community. “We want to let the farm community know this program has nothing to do with OSHA and that there are no fines or penalties. The entire purpose is not only to teach farm safety, but the root is how to stay safe,” said Minor. This module teaches first responders how to develop a relationship and how to reach out to the farming community.
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By DANI MESSICK | The Municipal ABOVE: Students of the Culinary Kitchen Cook Certifications program in Savannah, Ga., learn culinary skills. The opportunity was developed by the city as a result of a Racial Equity and Leadership task force recommendation to improve opportuni ties for young people to advance in career skills at an early age. (Photo provided by the city of Savannah)
Career-training equity program a natural fit for Savannah
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In 2020, the newly elected mayor of Savannah, Ga., Van R. Johnson II, with the cooperation of the city council, fulfilled one of his campaign promises by creating eight task forces, including the Racial Equity and Leadership task force, aimed at examin ing the racial disparities and equity in the city. In October 2021, the 45-members of that team brought their recommendations to city leadership. “One of the things they spoke to was early childhood centers and ensuring that there’s opportunities for our young people to advance at an early age,” Reid said. “They saw that as a correlation between having individuals in the classroom who are certified even at that age of early childhood development. When we were looking at opportunities for bringing programs into our centers that our staff could implement, that felt like one we could actually go after and put some weight behind.”
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In May, two job training programs funded by the city, began their first cohort. “We’ve seen a tremendous response,” Savannah Director of Human Services Kerri Reid said. “Both classes are full and the next cohort is full, so we’re seeing a lot of traction and interest. The hope is that once the funds are depleted, we’ll be able to sustain these programs with other funding.”
In Savannah, students of the Child Development Associate Certifi cation learn the necessary skills for childcare certifications. (Photo provided by the city of Savannah) For no cost to students, the city has begun funding certification programs for essential community jobs. The programs are housed at the city’s resource centers. By using those locations, a partner ship has been formed with the facilities that provide the services.
Culinary Kitchen Cook is a partnership between the city and Savannah Technical College, which provides the training and campus resources, while the city provides tuition costs. “We’ve actually had people from outside the city of Savannah calling us for these services,” Reid said, explaining that long-term, they’d like to be able to provide services to community neighbors.
The funding source for the Child Development Associate Certi fication is the city’s general funds. The program aligns itself with the Community Development Block Grant guidelines to deter mine eligibility for its participants. Additional programs are being considered as well, including manufacturing. “It was a lot of research and meetings with our partners,” Reid said. “Everything that we do starts with research and ‘is there a need?’ What is the need in the community, and is it based on a city council Savannah’spriority?”resource centers were already equipped with com mercial-grade kitchens. Prior to COVID-19, they would partner with local restaurants to offer cooking classes. “We already had the classroom space, and we had the commer cial-grade kitchens that are vetted by the health department. It just felt natural to try to bring programming into that space to benefit the residents of Savannah.”
(Photo provided by the city of Savannah)
Students at the Moses Jackson Advancement Center in Savannah, Ga., learn the basics of childcare for free. (Photo provided by the city of Savannah)
The Child Development Associate Certification is a 12-week program offered at the Moses Jackson Advancement Center. The Culinary Kitchen Certifications program is an eight-week program offered at the Pennsylvania Avenue Resource Center. “Both of them are on bus lines. Both are in areas close to neigh borhood schools, where people can walk to them. They literally are right smack-dab in the middle of communities. Around both of the resource centers there are probably about five neighbor hoods, so folks have access. It’s not something that’s far away or downtown in the middle of traffic.”
“It’s kind of like a win-win,” Reid said. The Emerge Job Training Program is one of two programs that came from the Racial Equity and Leadership task force. It pro vides scholarships for training in high-demand jobs in the area and a location to teach them in. Currently, the city of Savannah offers just two categories of free education programs: the Culinary Kitchen Cook Certifications program, which garners students cer tifications in America Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute Kitchen Cook Certification, Customer Service Certification of Completion and ServSafe Manager Certification; and the Child Development Associate Certification, which provides a certifica tion issued by the Council of Professional Recognition. “One of the things that we noticed over the years is that there are a lot of people who have the desire to enter into the workforce, but they may lack the competitive edge,” Reid said. “Considering that our resource centers provide individuals with opportunities for advancement, we saw them as natural partners.”
The job training programs are housed at the city’s resource centers, which provide additional wraparound services for any individual seeking a variety of supports, including public benefits assistance, job training, after-school programs and health and wellness classes. By using this location, a partnership has been formed with the facilities that provide the services.
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A bright future for the Great Dismal Swamp
What comes to mind when someone utters the name, “Great Dismal Swamp”? John Bunyan’s “Slough of Despond,” perhaps, which in modern English means “Swamp of Despair”? Or Bastian’s Bux’s “Swamp of Sadness”?
The Great Dismal Swamp was originally much larger, part of a natural area listed in land records as simply the Great Dismal. At that time, close to 300 years ago, it was more than a million acres in size, with part of it laying as far east as Back Bay in presentday Virginia Beach, Va. Now protected, it is known as the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and is more than 110,000 acres covering parts of Suffolk and Chesa peake in Virginia as well as northeastern NorthThoughCarolina.itwill take some time, an excit ing new project is in the works for the GDS. The city of Suffolk has requested assistance to acquire land adjacent to the swamp with the intent to create a city park. Additionally, a contact station, environmental education facility and wetland restoration area are planned. The entire trailhead project will create a strong connection and access point between downtown Suffolk and the refuge. The plan was first proposed 15 years ago and is only now getting underway with a $50,000 grant from Dominion Energy. The grant purchased the land and materials needed for the enhancement. Chris Lowie, who heads the project, said it will make the GDS more visible and accessible for both frequent visitors and first timers. Lowie explained that there are actually two projects contained within the grant. Besides creating the park, adding signage and moving the trailhead closer to White Marsh Road will make the Jericho Trail more accessible.“TheSuffolk Project will build the park adja cent to the GDS. My connection is with the
Jericho Lane Trailhead Enhancement Proj ect,” he explained. “We have a trailhead, but it’s underutilized. We want it to be a greater asset to the city of Suffolk and tourists, too. The Jericho Lane entrance to the pavilion is 2 miles down and not visible, so we are going to move what we have. There will be a new parking lot, plenty of room for cars and buses, a new pavilion and a visitor/educational center everything together in one place. In this way, visitors can stop at one location and get the information they need, then move on to other spots in the refuge with no more driving here and there.” Lowie explained that the project has actu ally been talked about for 20 years. “We were talking about it, and at one point this man came over to me and said he’d been part of these kinds of conversations when the plan was originally discussed. ‘You got a lot to do here,’ he said. I started walking around and realized we were close to the urban community, within walking distance of an elementary and middle school, and I said, ‘Let’s do it.’ We started five years ago
By BETH ANNE BRINK-COX | The Municipal ABOVE: The very face of the project, Chris Lowie stands next to a very old cypress tree. (Photo provided by Chris Lowie)
The history of the Great Dismal Swamp is equally rich and colorful despite the mosqui toes and snakes that live there. It was a home and refuge to generations of Indigenous and Black communities, a way to hide from those who would enslave them.
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He is pleased about the progress. “We’re taking baby steps. We’ll get there. Our second big success is the Dominion Energy Grant: $50,000 is a steppingstone, though. I’m going to need about $1.3 million to buy all the land we want. Everyone is a willing seller, Lowie noted. “We aren’t evicting anyone from their property. The landowners are all on board. They love the swamp and want to see good things for the city. We’re putting a pack age together that will go out to potential vendors and we’re actually looking at building a sort of rustic amphitheater, something that will blend in and look natural, with seating and a slightly elevated stage. We want to surround this with interpretive kiosks to provide informa tion about the swamp, the natural resources and the cultural history of the place.”
When this amphitheater is complete, it will be a great asset to the park, for programs, music and any number of things. The natural setting makes it doubly inviting. (Photo provided by Chris Lowie)
The goal for completion is the end of March 2023. The city park closed in August on its property, that part of the plan will be more in the 2025 timeline. The National Environmental Policy Act is a law that analyzes impacts and aspects because, when asking people to commit to fundraising and giving donations, it’s important that they feel heard. Lowie said, “If you’re going spend major dollars, it requires public analysis and comments. We did that, and we addressed the comments about the human and natural world, and we have to go back out: It has been 16 years since this began, and landscapes change. We have to revisit the concept of trails and building a building. We hope that will happen this fall.”
A project such as the one that will be called Suffolk Park takes more than a year to complete. In the meantime, several other funding sources have already been found, including a $200,000 grant from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. There’s even more, much more, planned for Suffolk. In March 2022, the Suffolk Parks and Trails Alliance began fundraising to replace the KidsZone Playground at Lake Meade Park. The inclusive playground for differently abled children was installed three years ago, and the older pieces are reaching the end of their safe, useful life. The members of the Alliance decided to take on the replacement as their first project; they have set a goal to raise $300,000, which the city will match in their capital budget. Many of the original fundraising group are part of the new committee. Pete Acker, district biologist for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, explained that the department’s goals are to connect people and“Wewildlife.encourage other agencies and landowners to do that, and to pro mote that for others. Municipalities do reach out to help accomplish our goals. And the Great Dismal Swamp offers public access, so we support them however possible. We own wildlife management areas, 200,000 acres, for public enjoyment and experiencing nature primar ily hunting and fishing but we also do habitat management, and we do everything we can to provide the best experiences for the public.”
Great projects cannot happen without great partners, and Lowie said they have some of the best. “We have the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and the Friends of the GDSNWR. We have the city of Suffolk Parks and Recre ation department, and we have the Izaak Walton League a national organization that protects plants, water and soil. They were instru mental in establishing the Refuge. And the partners keep coming! We also have the Nature Conservancy, and it looks as if we’ll have more coming from Dominion at some point. Local landfill people may be coming to the table, too.”
Whether a person is looking at the Great Dismal Swamp in its current state, seeing the plans for the future or looking into helping raise funds for playground equipment, Sussex is on the move. The results promise to be anything but dismal. This concept rendering makes it easier to envision what the finished project will include. The design incorporates a pavilion, pollinator garden, information kiosk and a retention pond with a bridge. (Photo provided by Chris Lowie)
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Landowners are excited to be part of the transformation too. “One of the best things was a local church. They’ve owned a piece of property for about 30 years, were going to build on it and never did. We asked if they might be interested in selling it to us. They are ecstatic about this project, and our buying the property actually helps them.”
and acquired our first piece of land, 8 acres, all agricultural: That wasn’t going to be enough, so we went to parks and recreation and asked if they were interested in making this greater. And they were.”
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Urban farmers with small flocks felt the effect particularly hard. Common signs of the virus are discharge from the nose and mouth, possibly with spots of blood in it; ruffled feathers; swollen or blue combs, wattles or legs; a tilted head; lack of coordination; tiredness; or sudden death. Avian flu is known to be extremely contagious and spread rapidly among birds and flocks.
The county’s public health blog recommends residents not approach or touch wild birds that appear to be infected. If there are any unusual deaths in a flock or one sees a bird that may dis eased, they are asked to report it to the Washington Department of By NICHOLETTE CARLSON | The Municipal of bird flu. (Shutterstock.com)
This year’s avian flu strain, named H5N1, is the same one seen in Europe, Africa and Asia. It has been devastating among wild birds, and cases among them had led to more frequent outbreaks among commercial and backyard poultry farms. To prevent the spread of the avian flu, Cole suggested that it’s very important for breeders to follow biosecurity recommendations to protect poultry from avian influenza. “This is the best way to protect both our birds and people. For tunately, this strain does not infect people easily. Many agencies across the state and the U.S. plan how to respond in case a strain of avian influenza becomes effective at infecting people.”
Washington Backyard flocks, including chickens, ducks and mixed poultry, within the state of Washington experienced confirmed cases of the avian flu this year. Kate Cole with Seattle and King County Public Health, one of the affected counties, commented, “Along with our partners at the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we worked to track new cases of avian influenza and share information with the public about how to identify, report and prevent spread of the disease. Avian influenza viruses can come in many variations, and some of these are better at spreading among birds.”
Northwest prevents outbreak of avian flu
This year, the highly pathogenic avian influenza hit the U.S. again. Some of the first confirmed cases popped up in Northwestern states, although flocks throughout the country were affected.
She continued, “With the implementation of footbaths, changing the cleaning products we use and creating quarantine areas, we are hopeful we will be able to not only contain any future outbreaks but help prevent the spread to the greater wildlife population in Oregon and the surrounding states.”
Furthermore, county experts suggest farm tools and equipment not be shared between farms. Eggs from backyard flocks should not be shared or sold. While eating cooked eggs does not pose a risk, moving eggs can aid in spreading the virus.
The county publishes a blog recommend ing the washing hands before and after caring for a flock and keeping any shoes or clothing worn around the birds stored outside the home. When handling live birds, carcasses or feeders, hands should be washed before and after contact. All surfaces and equipment should also be thoroughly washed. Any poultry found sick or dead should not be harvested, residents areIntold.order to protect a flock, the county con firms the importance of preventing contact between the flock and wild birds and sepa rate domestic water birds such as ducks. Poultry should be kept in outdoor pens with a roof or overhead netting whenever possible and kept away from other animals. Poultry should be kept at home and not taken to fairs or exhibitions until 30 days or more have passed since the last confirmed case in the county.
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Urban farmers are urged to keep a close eye on their flock. “Stay ing vigilant and monitoring flocks is incredibly important because, if there is one suspected HPAI case in the flock, measures can be taken to isolate that particular bird in order to restrict the spread to the rest of the flock,” Sabiers said. “It is important for the county and the community to remain vigilant during this time and report any mass die offs or unusual behavior of wild animals to the ODFW disease reporting hotline so that they can manage the next steps and help keep the public informed,” she advised.
When considering potential causes for the outbreak, Sabiers noted that while the cause of the outbreak remains unknown, it is believed it may partially be weather dependent. “The virus does not do well in hot and dry climates,” she explained. “But with our long, rainy and cold spring, we think it was easier for the virus to make it into the state. There was an HPAI outbreak in Oregon about five to seven years ago, so we are not surprised to see it again.”Thewildlife center is using footbaths at every entrance as a solu tion-containing intervention, which is a known cleaning agent that kills the virus. “We also require that volunteers, interns and staff don’t wear the same shoes and clothing that they may have used or come in contact with wild birds or their flocks and pets at home. We have suspended tours and encounters currently, but are planning to reopen soon. We are also not accepting meat donations such as chicken and turkey on the off chance that it may be contaminated.”
Fish and Wildlife or the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Avian Health program.Oncea sick or dead bird is reported, a vet erinarian reviews the case and contacts the individual for more information to deter mine how likely it is a flock is infected. If the flock seems at high risk for having the avian flu, it will be tested at no charge. If the flock does test positive for the avian flu, the entire flock is euthanized.
Oregon Ashlee Sabiers, Oregon’s Chintimini Wildlife Center wildlife reha bilitation director, said her primary concern with this year’s avian flu is the urban and commercial flocks, since they are the most sus ceptible to infection. Outbreaks within the state are monitored by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and reported online through press releases. Sabiers confirmed, “HPAI typically presents with neurologic symptoms such as abnormal head positioning, head twitching, head bobbing, lethargy and weakness. Death normally occurs rapidly, within three to five days of exposure. If an urban farmer has sudden or mass deaths, that may be the first sign they notice. Any sickness or odd behavior should be reported to their veterinarian and the U.S. Department of Agriculture so further evaluation can be done.”
One of the most important ways to preventing the spread of the avian flu is for the city, county and state, urban farmers, commercial farmers and wildlife farmers to work together to properly monitor and report any birds that may have been exposed to the flu. Cities across the U.S. have embraced urban chickens as residents seek resiliency and in some case to educate their children through the raising of flocks. With their inclusion to city life, cities are keen to keep flocks healthy and prevent the spread of bird flu. (Shutterstock.com)
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Speaking of rentals, Miran offered context about the city’s demo graphics and how that translates to housing situations. “Roughly 50% of residents are renters,” she said. “It’s a post-indus trial city and there was a lot of manufacturing in the 1950s-60s era here that left. Today, there are neighborhoods that are in better condition and higher income, but there are definitely some very deteriorated properties as well.”
Roughly 50% of Elmira, N.Y.’s, residents are renters, and a new program will help land lords bring their rentals up to date. (Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock.com)
State grant program solves rental property headaches
The 2008 financial crisis devastated communities and stressed the rental economy. Years later, a program funded by the New York State Attorney General’s office is benefitting both landlords and tenants in the city of Elmira.
The data suggested there were a lot of rental properties that were not up to code. The priority was to focus on units occupied by lowincome individuals, who are often the most vulnerable.
The Rental Rehab Grant Program was among them. According to Miran, some initial research around code enforcement was done:
The Rental Rehab Grant Program is managed by the city’s community development arm. Director Emma Miran, who has a background in economic development, said it was a long time coming. “This money was settlement money,” she said. “(The Attorney General’s office) had sued larger banks for practices during the fore closure crisis. They decided they wanted to give the money back to communities that were impacted by those bad practices. They obvi ously want to do something around housing and put out a couple of programs that we have applied for.”
By LAUREN CAGGIANO | The Municipal
All of this has set the landlords and tenants up for success. Miran said Elmira’s goal for the future is to try to seek out additional fund ing to continue the program.
A rental unit in Elmira, N.Y., is pictured before exterior painting funded through the Rental Rehab Program. (Photo provided by the city of Elmira, N.Y.) Here is the same rental unit after it received exterior painting. The Rental Rehab Program is offered by the New York State Attorney General’s office. (Photo provided by the city of Elmira, N.Y.)
SEPTEMBER 2022 | THE MUNICIPAL 47
“I think the response (from the landlord community) has been really positive,” she said. “I think that there’s a need for the pro gram. If we seek additional HUD funding or receive American Rescue Plan funds, we could keep the program going for a little bit longer.”
The goal of the grant program is to help ensure units are safe and up to code. Accord ing to Miran, the program requires a 10% match from the landlord as a show of good faith, and sometimes the landlord can ben efit from pairing participation in the Rental Rehab program with the lead paint remedia tion“Inprogram.somesituations, their property can have an entirely new roof, new windows and new siding,” she said. “That can really be transfor mative for the neighborhood.”
The other component of the program is intensive case management, which is handled by a nonprofit group called the Eco nomic Opportunity Program, a community action agency. This piece has been important because it helps at the individual level. “There were still a lot of people falling through the cracks in terms of not paying their rent, not maintaining their properties and other basic challenges that resulted in them getting evicted,” Miran said. “So, the goal of case management is to work really closely with the tenants, but also with the landlord to see what they could do to keep people in their homes instead of eviction.”
To that end, Miran said they have identified roughly 83 properties that are candidates for the grant program. They’re currently waiting on tenant verification of income. In any case, she’s bullish on the program’s future and offered a few key points from which leaders in other cities and towns might benefit.“Ithink for us, the planning piece was really important getting our ducks in a row,” she said. “We did a lot of preliminary work, trying to make sure we’re actually meeting the needs of the community. I think that that was one of the things that helped us.” Miran said you can’t discount the power of partnerships, either. “The way the city structure is structured, community development is a separate department,” she said. “In some cities the code department is under that umbrella, but here we have two separate departments. I think that fact that we have a good work ing relationship with code enforcement has helped. We also have a really good working relationship with the health department.”
Streets, Highways & Bridges
By JULIE YOUNG | The Municipal M
Park place: Costa Mesa creates parking permit program
In order to combat street parking conges tion and offer a fair and equitable solution for all residents, Costa Mesa, Calif., has revamped its residential parking permit program. (Photo provided by the city of Costa Mesa)
48 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022
In areas of many cities, where multi-family units and commercial businesses compete for a limited number of spaces, parking becomes a precious commodity. To combat the scarcity of parking places, the city of Costa Mesa, Calif., is revising its Residential Permit Parking program to relieve congestion and provide an equitable solution for citizens.
Known as the parking coach, Dixon has supported several munici palities throughout the U.S. with extensive knowledge and hands-on experience in providing best-in-class parking and transportation solu tions. The company collected data about parking turnover and which streets were the most congested so that Costa Mesa could make the best decision for its community. “We also held four public outreach meetings, which drew 100 par ticipants. They were very passionate about their parking situation and were interested in equitable access for all residents,” Rosales said. Costa Mesa’s RPP program was established in 1984 as a response to parking impacts from the Pacific Amphitheater and the Orange County Fairgrounds but evolved in the early 1990s to include residential areas with limited parking that have experienced an increase in demand from new housing units and complexes. In 2016, new RPP program guidelines were approved to safeguard residential parking access from nearby businesses and entertainment forums. For a street to be evaluated for the program, 51% of the households must support its inclusion in the RPP program. Then the street is studied to verify that parking utilization is over 70% at any time of the day. Once a restriction is implemented, eligible households can apply
Gathering data “We started working on this program a couple of years ago, but due to COVID-19, everything got put on hold for a while,” said Costa Mesa Transportation Services Manager Jennifer Rosales. “We hired Dixon Resources Unlimited, which specializes in parking programs, to study the issue and make recommendations to the city council.”
A street view shows the heavy parking congestion that the city of Costa Mesa faces due to both residential and commercial development. However, new changes to its residential parking permit program may help alleviate some of that congestion and give residents a parking space closer to home. (Photo provided by the city of Costa Mesa)
for up to three regular permits and up to 100 guest permits per year. Unfortunately, only households within R1, single-family residential districts or single-family households within 250 feet of a designated street are eligible to apply for a permit. Those living in apartments or con dominiums do not have the same opportunity.
recommendations include the establishment of right-sized zones that meet the need, a revision of RPP petitioning, the introduction of a permit fee and escalating rate structure, clarification of rules for multi-family properties, and the installation of technology to manage the program while minimizing the potential for permit abuse.
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Costa Mesa’s updated Resident Parking Permit program is designed to help single-family and multi-family units find parking spaces close to home. (Photo provided by the city of Costa Mesa)
Rosales said after collecting the data, Dixon recommended that the city revise its RPP pro gram to be more inclusive, sustainable and something that could continue to be adjusted overSpecifictime.
Getting the word out Rosales said the implementation phase will take place over six weeks and involve the installation of new technology like cameras and license plate readers to be used by law enforcement, training and launching new permit fees. There will also be a public out reach component to help residents learn more about the revamped RPP program and how they can be part of it, because not only is the information online but it is also important that those without computers know about it and know where they can go for assistance. There is also a need to make sure the information is available to anyone for whom English is a second language. “It will involve quite a bit of work and will require a lot of public outreach efforts so that we can have a smooth transition to the new program,” she said. “We have been fortunate to work with Dixon, who has so much expe rience in this kind of thing. They have done work all over the nation and that was one of the reasons we chose them. I’m excited to see what happens as we bring this new program to the public.”
“In May, we went in to get approval for a revised program from the city council and then began to create changes to the municipal code. We had the first reading of the proposed changes and just recently went back to hear the revisions to the code,” she said. “Over the next few weeks. we will begin working on the implementation phase of the project.”
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Fort Worth becomes first city government to mine cryptocurrency
“This pilot program, launched by the Office of Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and the city of Fort Worth, in partnership with Texas Blockchain Council, recognizes the exponential growth of the blockchain and cryp tocurrency industries while advancing Fort Worth’s goal of becoming a leading center of tech and innovation,” the city’s April press release stated.
50 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022
According to investopedia.com, the mining of Bitcoin, a cryptocur rency, is a process by which new bitcoin are entered into circulation. To “mine” cryptocurrency, sophisticated software must be used. This hardware solves extremely complex math problems; the first computer to solve the math problem receives the next “block” of bitcoin, and the process starts over. Bitcoin can be turned into feasible money once it is transferred to the owner’s wallet. “It is also the way the network confirms new transactions and is a critical component of the blockchain ledger’s maintenance and development,” investopedia.com states. According to the press release, Fort Worth received donations to begin mining from the Texas Blockchain Council, a nonprofit association made By STACI REAFSNYDER
Starting on April 26, the three S9 Bitcoin machines started mining around the clock in a climate-controlled room. The machines are housed on a private network to minimize cybersecurity risks.
The Municipal M Technology Mattie Parker, mayor of Fort Worth, plugs in the mining machines for the first time on April 26, 2022. These machines will run for six months as part of a pilot program to understand the benefits of crypto mining. (Photo provided by the city of Fort Worth)
Fort Worth, Texas, is now home to the first ever municipal crypto mine. Pictured is its skyline. (Shutterstock.com)
Fort Worth, Texas, made history in April as the first city government to mine cryptocurrency.
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up of companies and individuals who work in Bitcoin, Bitcoin mining, crypto and blockchain industries. The donations for the equipment were formally accepted by the Fort Worth City Council on April 26. The three machines are a part of a pilot program designed to allow the city to responsibly assess and execute a municipal mining program. City offi cials close to the project plan to use that time to learn more about the mining process. “The program will still be evaluated six months from the initial launch. I plan to give a report to the council the month following the conclusion of the pilot program to recap and assess the lessons learned,” Deputy Chief of Staff Carlo Capua said. According to Capua, the pilot program is a flexible, exploratory pro gram that allows the city to better understand the implications and opportunities of cryptocurrency at no cost to the taxpayers, even with recent fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin. Based on the number and type of machines being used, the city esti mates each will consume the same amount of energy as a household vacuum cleaner. The nominal amount of energy needed for the program is expected to be offset by the value of Bitcoin mined, the press release stated.Themining of cryptocurrency has become a hot topic. Currently, as far as the federal government is concerned, crypto mining is legal; however, certain municipalities have prohibited it. The controversy has gained national and international attention. A piece written by Elizabeth Kolbert of The New Yorker magazine in April 2021 highlighted the controversy behind crypto mining and its effect on the environment. In certain countries, such as China, Egypt and Tunisia, the practice of mining has been banned. “Monitoring the energy implications of Bitcoin mining is an important piece of the pilot program, which is in part why the program is small in scale to ensure a nominal impact on the city’s energy usage,” Capua said. “It’s worth noting that last month the Texas Blockchain Council exchanged the program’s three older mining machines with one new s19
The crypto machines will be housed on a private network to mini mize cybersecurity risks and hacks. (Photo provided by the city of Fort Worth) Fort Worth is known for being home to the oldest stock show and rodeo in the country. Now they have made history by becoming the first city to mine cryptocurrencies as a municipality. (Shutterstock.com)
Fort Worth also boasts many beautiful sites and amenities; pictured is the Fort Worth Water Gardens, just adjacent to the Fort Worth Convention Center. The urban park features many water features right in the heart of Urbania. (Shutterstock.com)
Bitcoin mining rig, a significant upgrade. The s19 machine consumes 18% less energy and mines 147% more Bitcoin than the three older machines combined.”Thecrypto pilot program is a part of the city’s larger growth plan. It builds on the recent efforts of a partnership with Texas A&M University System’s planned Research and Innovation Center in downtown Fort Worth.Adopted by the city council, the Economic Development Strategic Plan of Fort Worth has set a next-level strategy of encouraging innovation and creativity while building an attractive environment for talented indi viduals and businesses. The strategy also maintains a forward-looking organizational structure.
Sept. 11-14 Missouri Municipal League 88th Annual Conference Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake of the Ozatks, Osage Beach, Mo. MMLAnnualConferencehttps://www.mocities.com/ Sept. 13-15 Oklahoma Municipal League Annual Conference Tulsa, Okla. https://www.omlconference.org/
Sept. 19-23 Emergency & Municipal MaintenanceApparatusSymposium Ohio Fire Reynoldsburg,Academy,Ohio news/https://oaevt.org/events-and-
Sept. 28-29 OACP/OSSA Fall Leadership Conference Salem, Ore. content&viewnet/index.php?option=com_https://oracp.memberclicks.
or email the information
Sept. 29-30 Florida Association of Governmental Fleets Administrators Fall Event Tradewinds Island Grand, Treasure Island, Fla. dates.phphttps://www.flagfa.org/future_ Oct. 2- 4 Virginia Municipal League Annual Conference Downtown Richmond Marriott, Richmond, Va. www.vml.org
Sept. 13-15 NDRPA State Conference The Clarion Hotel, Monot, N.D. ndrpa-state-conference/https://ndrpa.com/event/2022Sept. 15-17 Illinois Municipal League 109th Annual Convention Hilton Chicago, Chicago, Ill. https://conference.iml.org/ Sept. 18-21 ICMA Annual Conference Columbus/Franklin County, Ohio icma.org/events
list your upcoming
Oct. 8-10 The League of Kansas Municipalities Annual Conference Overland Park Sheraton Hotel & Convention Center, Overland Park, Kan. https://www.lkm.org/ Oct. 13-14 Midwest Leadership Fall 2022 Institute Northern Illinois University’s Naperville Campus, Naperville, Ill. midwestleadershipinstitute.https://org/
American Road & Transportation Builders Association National Convention Conrad Nashville, Nashville, Tenn. conventionevents/2022-artba-national-https://connect.artba.org/ Sept. 26-28 FIERO Station Design Symposium Hyatt Regency Downtown, Greenville, S.C. symposia-and-workshopshttps://www.fieroonline.org/ Sept. 26-28 StormCon Gaylord Nationala Resort 7 Convention Center, National Harbor, Md. https://www.stormcon.com/ Sept. 26-29 WaterPro Conference Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor, Md. waterproconference.org/https://www.
Oct. 5-7 Utah League of Cities & Towns Annual 2022 Convention Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, Utah conventionconvention/2022-annual-conferences/annual-https://www.ulct.org/ Oct. 6-7 Vermont League of Cities & Towns Town Fair 2022 Killington Grand Hotel, Killington, Vt. events/town-fairhttps://www.vlct.org/trainingOct 6-8 Montana Fire Service Convention Copper King Hotel, Butte, Mont. https://montanafirechiefs.com/fireserviceconvention/
Oct. 5-6 Idaho Rural Water Association Fall Conference Red Lion Hotel Templin’s on the River, Post Falls, Idaho FallConference.aspxcom/Training/Conferences/https://www.idahoruralwater.
. 52 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022 M Conference Calendar
SEPTEMBER OCTOBER OCTOBER To conference or seminar The Municipal at no charge, call (800) 733-4111, ext. 2307, to swright@the-papers.com
Sept. 7-9 League of California Cities Annual Conference & Expo Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, Calif. https://www.calcities.org/ Sept. 11-14 SGFMA Annual Meeting & Equipment Show Sheraton Myrtle Beach Convention Center, Myrtle Beach, S.C. php?incfile=annual_meeting.https://www.sgfma.org/sgfma.html
Sept. 20-22 NRPA Annual Conference Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Ariz. conference/registration/https://www.nrpa.org/ Sept. 21 NYC Watershed Science & ConferenceTechnical Bear Mountain Inn & Conference Center, Tomkins Cove, N.Y. https://www.nywea.org/ Sept. 22-24 North Dakota League of Cities Annual Conference Alerus Center, Grand Forks, N.D. https://www.ndlc.org/ Sept. 25-28
Sept. 28-30 Iowa League of Cities Annual Conference Convention Center at Sullivan Brothers Plaza, Waterloo, Iowa workshops-events/annual-https://iowaleague.org/conference/
Sept. 28-30 WASWD Fall Conference & Trade Show Convention Center, Kennewick, Wis. general/page/workshops-https://www.waswd.org/conferences-and-trade-shows
in
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/pet-insurance/best-cities-for-dogs/. Man’s best friend is enjoying privileged status these days: More rental properties and retail establishments than ever before are pet-friendly and welcome dogs and their owners. What cities are the most accommodating of canine companions? Forbes Advisor looked at 93 large cities across the U.S. and considered several factors, chief among them access to parks, the availability of apartments that allow dogs and how much they charge in pet rent. The best ones, Forbes noted, “have a fair number of dog parks and access to parks with just a 10-minute walk.” The metropolises most amenable to dog ownership are: 10TOP 1. San Francisco, Calif. 2. Henderson, Nev. 3. Denver, Colo. 4. Albuquerque, N.M. 5. Portland, Ore. 6. Aurora, Colo. 7. Sacramento, Calif. 8. Madison, Wis. 9. Chicago, Ill. 10. New York City, N.Y. Best cities for dogs 58 THE MUNICIPAL | SEPTEMBER 2022
Advertorial www.truckingladders.com(620)577-2577 Municipalities across the United States have been receiving praise from both mechanics and management for their decision to bring LockNClimb ergonomic safety ladders into the maintenance shop. Mechanics like them because their work is faster, safer, easier and they work in more comfort to reach service points than by any other method. Management likes them because they help prevent acci dents and injuries which means more productivity higher morale, faster vehicle maintenance turn-around and lower costs. Using these ladders is a win-win-win for the mechanics, management and the municipality. Features include: • Rated as 300-lb. 1-A Special Purpose Ladders. • Meet OSHA and ANSI specifications. • 6061-grade aluminum patented support frames. • Commercial grade wheels for easy rolling. • Yellow safety handrails on both sides. • Protective rubber padding on railbacks and treads. • Rubber drop bumpers on sides of ladders. • Slip-resistant extra wide comfort treads. • Replaceable brass and rubber feet. • Less than .1% repair rate after 3 years. • 100% made in the U.S.A. Ergonomic Safety Ladders Prevent Accidents and Increase Productivity The LockNClimb platform ladder slides easily around 42-inch or 44-inch tires on many types of work trucks. Video: https://vimeo.com/422945982 The LNCEXTTRKFIBER is the ladder of choice to reach high service points on dump trucks, class 8 trailers, solid waste and redi-mix trucks video: https://vimeo.com/656212576 LockNClimb ladderstands provide ergonomically safe methods for mechanics to reach service points on all types of vehicles including school buses. https://vimeo.com/441633959 The 9LNCRFRTRKPLT is a stable platform ladder for high service access to refrigeration units and other points on vehicles like solid waste trucks: https://vimeo.com/504214206 LockNClimb has designed ladder systems to serve the needs of work vehicle maintenance personnel in most all segments of the trucking industry including redi-mix, utility, solid waste, and dump trucks in addition to passenger buses. Web links to videos showing LockNClimb ladders in use are included in the descriptions below the photos. For more information and to save by buying direct from the manufacturer call (620) 577-2577 or visit www.truckingladders.com. “Ladders designed by mechanics, for use by mechanics.” SEPTEMBER 2022 | THE MUNICIPAL 59
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This index is provided courtesy of the publisher, who assumes no liability for errors or omissions. Advertiser Index A Air Technical Industries 28 All Access Equipment ................................... 60 Alumitank............................................. 14 American Landmaster Manufacturing 56 American Shoring ...................................... 25 Andy Mohr Ford 16 B Bedlock Safety Products 38 BendPak Incorporated .................................. 15 Bonnell Industries BACK Buyers Products Company ............................... 63 C CleanFix North America .................................. 24 Clearspan Fabric Structures 9 Curbtender ............................................ 57 D das Manufacturing ..................................... 25 E Ebac Industrial Products Incorporated ..................... 38 Edinburg Auction Sales 25 F Fluid Control Services 20 G Global Environmental Products ................... Cover, 10-11 Greystone Construction 16 GVM Incorporated 55 H Henderson Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 I ICOM America Incorporated 5 International Code Council 2 K KM International 3 L Land Pride ............................................ 54 Lock-N-Climb LLC ....................................... 59 M Monroe Truck Equipment ................................ 29 N National Construction Rentals ..............................9 S Switch-N-Go 24 T Tech Products Incorporated 53 Tenco Incorporated 54 Track Star International .................................. 21 TrafFix Devices ...........................................7 Trinity Highway 38 U Uline 28 United Plastic Fabricating ................................ 62 W Wisconsin Surplus...................................... 20 SEPTEMBER 2022 | THE MUNICIPAL 61 M
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