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2013/08/05 Th i s W e e k i n H u n t s v i l l e City news, features and updates August 5, 2013 Asset Management Software to streamline City processes Multiple departments to utilize single software interface The City of Huntsville has begun initial implementation with asset management software called CityWorks, which is expected to increase process efficiency with respect to work activities, long-range planning, life-cycle cost analysis of physical equipment, infrastructure and capital replacement planning. The software – to be utilized by the Water, Wastewater, Solid Waste, Streets, Finance, Parks, Warehouse and Fleet divisions – will allow staff to look forward and an- ticipate maintenance needs rather than responding to failures. “You always make your best decisions with more infor- mation, and this software will manage and retrieve oper- ational and financial data from multiple City depart- ments simply and effectively,” said Carol Reed, Public Works Director. “When employees use CityWorks, they’ll have access to information about anything the City is charged to maintain, from roads to water or wastewater infrastructure to vehicles. “I believe this program will help managers and directors to make better decisions, and I anticipate it reducing the workload on the staff they supervise.” According to Chris Vasquez, IT Director, the software will assist directors and employees not only in compiling day -to-day information, but in creating a more efficient work system. “This is going to help managers track items more effec- tively for two reasons,” Vasquez said. “First, the software will have a dashboard feature which will allow users to see key performance indicators, how many work orders are currently open, how long are they taking, and more. This should help employees pinpoint problems and get work orders closed faster. “Secondly, the software will have a reporting function that will help users create custom reports and track work more effectively.” Why CityWorks?Why CityWorks?Why CityWorks?Why CityWorks? Eleven proposals were received in response to the work order asset management software system request for proposals. The City selection committee, consisting of Public Utilities, Public Works, Purchasing, Finance, Customer Service and Information Technology staff, reviewed the proposals and selected three finalists who were invited to give a detailed presentation. After the three presentations and a period of additional discovery, CityWorks was identified as the best software to support the City’s geocentric work order and inventory tracking objectives. “The team was impressed with CityWorks’ direct integra- tion with Esri’s ArcGIS, eliminating the need to manage dual asset databases and any resulting synchronization,” said Eric Peña, GIS Manager. See CityWorks, continued on page 4 The Wynne Home Arts Center held two Kids Art Camp Sessions in July for children six years old and up, as well as regular classes for adult participants. The children’s classes included painting/collage, creative dramatics and beginning clay techniques. According to Wynne Home intern Lexi Gonzales, more than 50 students par- ticipated in the Kids Art camps. Top left, students create their own ladybugs as part of the ages 6-8 pottery class. Top right, an older student group learns several methods of applying acrylic paint to make paintings-objective, non-objective and collage. Right, a group of adult participants take part in a felted jewelry class. Wynne Home summer programming enjoyed by participants of all ages Thoughts from City Manager Matt Benoit Insurance/retirement considerations: Polling City employees Whenever I get the opportunity, I like to share with anyone who will listen how proud I am of the men and women who work for the City of Huntsville. There are countless reasons why I feel this way. I’d like to share with you one particular example of their dedication and service to the citizens of Huntsville. Like many organizations, the City of Huntsville has experienced some expenditure pressure in the fund that provides health insurance to our employees, retired employees and their fami- lies. Cities all over the nation have faced this issue over the last decade, and in the last five years in particular. The last few years saw pressures on this fund that could not be ignored. Thanks to the leadership of current and previous City Councils, City Managers and Finance Directors, the City of Huntsville is “self-insured.” This means our approach to providing health insurance to our employees is like a personal checkbook. We have to spend within our means. Not only does this insulate the taxpayers from the uncertainty of insurance markets, it also gives everyone a lot of flexibility to deal with increasing (or de- creasing) costs. After briefing the Mayor and City Council on this issue, the City Council directed me and the Human Re- sources Department to allow our employees to take matters into their own hands and solve our own problems with solutions that affect our wallets and tax payer resources as well. Here is why I’m so proud…our employees took on a $400,000 projected shortfall in the coming year, and have provided solu- tions that will not cost the taxpayers any additional mon- ey. They also solved the issue in a very democratic way. Here’s how they did it…first, they got educated on the problem and possible solutions. They took their personal time over the course of several weeks to learn about the issues that influ- ence our health insurance costs. Then we used some inno- vative technology to, as a group, select the solutions that provided the most savings and still allowed us to provide exceptional benefits for our employees and their fami- lies. This information will be a critical part of our considera- tions pertaining to insurance and benefit coverage for fiscal year 2013-14. How lucky am I to be the City Manager of Huntsville? How often do you hear about employees acknowledging a prob- lem, learning about possible solutions, working together to find the best solutions, and bringing their decisions to the City Council for implementation? All of this was done with a common understanding that we work for the taxpayers, and we have to control our costs and benefits. I don’t have enough room to thank everyone for their ef- forts. The employees and retirees of the City of Huntsville deserve more than I can offer. I would say I’m so thankful to Lee Woodward, City Secretary and Kristin Edwards, Dep- uty City Secretary for researching and implementing the technology that got us through this democratic process. I’d also like to thank Missy Davidson, Jacque Finch and Tara Miller for working so hard to educate our employees and retirees. Of course, I’d like to thank our Mayor and City Council for their direction and encouragement. They didn’t let a problem become overwhelming. They encouraged great people to do great things. As part of the annual budget planning process, the City of Hunts- ville is considering several alternatives to manage the cost of providing insurance and retirement benefits to its employees. One part of that process was a two-month effort by the Human Resources Department to work with employees to pinpoint ac- ceptable cost increases among the City’s self-insured benefits which would recover an estimated $400,000 deficit in health care costs for fiscal year 2013-14. By working with the employees to supplement self-funded insur- ance costs, the City hopes to avoid having to cut services or pro- grams, or resort to a tax increase to make up the difference. According to Missy Davidson, Interim HR Director, employees were asked to consider cost increases in four primary insurance areas. Through two series of meetings – the first providing insurance information and the second polling the City’s employees on a voluntary basis – the City Human Resources Department pin- pointed areas of cost increase most supported by the staff. “During the coming fiscal year, estimated claim levels and health insurance costs are set to reach a level approximately $400,000 higher than what we have budgeted,” Davidson said. “To get a plan in place, in case we need to increase employee contribu- tions at that point, we had our staff consider increases in contri- butions and premiums, in-network individual deductibles, front- end prescription deductibles and in-network office visit co-pays. “While we hope we won’t have to take any of those measures, we now have an understanding of what our staff could live with in the event of an insurance deficit.” Working with insurance consultant Holmes Murphy, the HR department developed levels of increases in each category that would each equate to an estimated $50,000 in savings. During the presentations, employees were instructed to pick a combination of measures which would total in a $400,000 savings. “For each insurance area, we considered increases that would have resulted in $50,000 in savings, $100,000 in savings, $150,000, $200,000 or $250,000,” Davidson said. “The $50,000 in savings in co-pays, for example, would have required an increase from $25 for both primary care physician visits and specialist visits to $35 and $50, respec- tively. “Our employees were asked to look at each of the four are- as, with sample increase levels for each $50,000 increment, and tell us which combination of $400,000 they would sup- port.” The budget process will continue through late September. Citizens are encouraged to visit the City of Huntsville Web site, www.huntsvilletx.gov, for more information, and to check future issues of the City Connection and This Week in Huntsville for updated information. Photo of the Week: Janelle Valera, Children’s Coordinator for the Huntsville Public Library, held a special Silly Poetry Workshop on Tuesday, July 23 in the Library Community Room. During the workshop, children and their families were invited to recite sev- eral children’s poems and take part in an interactive arts and crafts activity. Pictured left, Valera - with three volunteers pretending to be toothless - recited a poem written by Shel Silverstein entitled “Dentist Dan.” Children’s and Teen Events are scheduled throughout the summer. For more information, please call Valera at 936-291-5910 or visit the Huntsville Public Library website, www.myhuntsvillelibrary.com. Residents are also encouraged to subscribe to “Between the Pages,” a monthly e-newsletter spotlighting updates, new books and movie titles, special events and more information about the library. During a fiscal year full of activity, the Streets Department has made several critical adjustments to its 2012-13 and 2013-14 schedules in an effort to avoid doubling maintenance work on Avenue S. According to David Welch, Streets Superintendent, between $45,000 and $46,000 in improvements to seven streets were diverted to 2014 in order to move overlay of Avenue S into the 2013 schedule. “We are anticipating the City Council will consider installation of speed cushions on Avenue S somewhere between 19th St and the I-45 Northbound Feeder Road, but we had previously sched- uled a thin overlay for Avenue S for next year,” Welch said. “In order to keep from doing those projects out of order, we’ve made adjustments to our ten-year paving schedule in order to get the logical first step completed first.” Welch said work on 15th Street, 17th Street, Greenwood, Long- branch Drive, Palm Street, Park Hill Street and South Park Drive – most of which consisted of crack sealing and seal coating – was delayed to make time in the department’s schedule for the Avenue S overlay. This adjustment was possible, Welch said, because the depart- ment completes projects based on a flexible, ten-year projected plan for maintenance and improvements. Streets which incur damage or are designated as concerns are integrated into the plan as necessary. “We had already completed well over 50 percent of our overlays for the year, based on surface area completed,” Welch said. “Some of the major projects we completed were Rigsby Road and Wanza Road, as well as extensive work on Avenue C and 13th Street. “We’ve also taken care of a multitude of other small projects, including Gospel Hill Road, Brunch Avenue, Gainous Street and Hill Street, during this fiscal year. Everything we have left to do are chip seals with the exception of Avenue S and a few cul-de- sacs.” Crack sealing, Welch said, involves the placement of rubberized asphalt in cracks on a street’s surface. The distinction between the use of crack sealing and seal coating lies in the size of the crack. “When we say we’re working on ‘crack sealing,’ you know we’re looking at larger cracks in the street that you’d probably notice as you drive past,” Welch said. “A seal coat, on the other hand, is something we use to follow up and take care of smaller cracks and to resurface the road.” Fiscal year 2013Fiscal year 2013Fiscal year 2013Fiscal year 2013----14 plans14 plans14 plans14 plans Including the seven projects moved from the 2012-13 schedule, Welch said the Streets Department has an estimated $533,824 in maintenance and improvements planned for the next year. “Some of our bigger projects for next year include work on Old Colony Road – we plan to repair failures, complete a level-up and overlay 1.5 inches to improve overall driving conditions,” he said. “We also have proposed work on East Mosley Lane, Hol- land Street and on Greenway Drive in Elkins Lake.” By the Numbers…By the Numbers…By the Numbers…By the Numbers… According to the fiscal year 2012-13 annual budget, the Streets Department has increased its workload based on several indicators. For example, in fiscal year 2011-12, the department completed 8.4 lane miles of seal coating of existing streets, while during this fiscal year, the department had a goal of 12.53 lane miles. Additionally, the department removed approximately 75 tons of litter and debris from public right-of-ways in FY 2011-12, while their goal for the same area was increased to 100 tons for FY 2012-13. While taking on additional work, the department has also cut down on the amount of HMAC used for street failure patches and street overlays, scaling down from 2,750 tons to 2,000 tons and 4,000 tons to 3,760 tons, re- spectively. Want to know more? Want to know more? Want to know more? Want to know more? Visit the City of Huntsville Web site, www.huntsvilletx.gov, scroll over “Departments” and “Public Works,” and click on “Streets” to see maps of current and upcoming Streets Department maintenance and improvements. The page currently includes the 2012-13 projects and the projected 2013-14 projects. Streets Department on track for FY 2013-14 Where’s Waldo? Attention all residents! The City’s Emergency Manage- ment Coordinator, John Waldo, is pictured to the left at a Huntsville facility - can you guess where? The first citizen to call (936) 291-5413 and tell us where Waldo is pictured will get the chance to suggest the location of the next Where’s Waldo? photo shoot. We’ll give you a hint: Waldo could see approximately 10 miles away from where he was standing. Last issue, Waldo was standing outside of the Cabin on the Square, which is thought to be the sight of the origi- nal Huntsville trading post. “CityWorks’ ability to attach work orders directly to spatial assets and graphically track maintenance efforts through maps and event layers was key to the committee’s decision. “The decision to utilize CityWorks has leveraged the investment the City had already made in its GIS operations.” According Peña, CityWorks will base its asset inventory on GIS features already entered into the City’s records, which will save time and accelerate implementation of the new software. “CityWorks will be able to utilize all of our map features, utility lines, manholes, hydrant locations, and property lines, as well as our work history and work orders,” Peña said. “Altogether, this will allow users to look on a map, see the location of specific assets and get information about work orders related to those assets. “One of the key terms used in relation to this software is ‘hot spot’ – basically, we’ll be able to use CityWorks to see where work is being concentrated in the City.” Fiscal impactFiscal impactFiscal impactFiscal impact According to Vasquez, the purchase of the software license for City- Works from Azteca Systems, Inc. will cost $108,000, in addition to a support agreement for $36,450 per year. As well, the transition will require the purchase of implementation and soft- ware conversion from NTB Associates, Inc. – which carries a one-time cost of $65,350 – as well as miscellaneous fees for updating existing hardware, New World integration and Windows software licenses, all of which will cost $32,500. Software advantagesSoftware advantagesSoftware advantagesSoftware advantages CityWorks will allow the City to manage all daily operations by tracking work and correlating it to the number of units accomplished in order to see exactly what it costs per unit for each work activity. This capability is expected to provide insight into long-term production practices. “Instead of buying a brand of pump that seems to keep failing, for exam- ple, managers and employees will be able to use the software to learn more about the history of the asset they’re working on, figure out what’s happening and potentially buy another brand that has been more reliable throughout the organization,” Reed said. Additionally, the software will increase efficiency by streamlining work- flows, improving scheduling capabilities, project tracking and completion, and making more specific reporting possible. “This will be a more efficient way to utilize our human resources, because instead of a person having to go to the work site and gather information, come back to the service center, pull maps and historical documents and then address the problem, this new system should allow the person to skip some steps,” Reed said. “In the long-term, the software will allow us to quantify and document the abilities of our departments at any given time.” According to Tammy Gann, Support Services Supervisor, the software will also allow the City to utilize customer input and respond effectively. “Meeting customer demands is an integral part of asset and mainte- nance management,” Gann said. “Capturing customer issues and needs is as much a part of a maintenance system as doing actual work. Cus- tomers are often the first to recognize problems and required mainte- nance may be initiated as a result of a call or complaint. “CityWorks will provide staff the means for users to capture customer needs, collect caller information, and track the caller’s request.” For more information, visit the City of Huntsville Web site, www.huntsvilletx.gov. CityWorks, continued from page 1 Major Projects Under ConstructionMajor Projects Under ConstructionMajor Projects Under ConstructionMajor Projects Under Construction Updated July 26, 2013Updated July 26, 2013Updated July 26, 2013Updated July 26, 2013 Medical Center/Emergency Clinic 540 IH 45 S Hillcrest Hyundai 755 IH 45 S Goodwill 3009 SH 30 Hobby Lobby 3009 SH 30 Convenience Store - Smiley's 266 FM 247 HHS Practice Field/Bleachers 441 FM 2821 Medical Office 3233 Woodward Dr. Strip Retail Center 631 SH 75 N HMH (Cardiac) Remodel 110 Memorial Hospital Dr. Parkview Place Remodel 1110 Avenue N Convenience Store/Retail Center 1020 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Apartments 500 Vicki Dr. Walker County Jail 655 FM 2821 Good Shepherd Mission Addition 1007 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Dentist Office Remodel 901 Normal Park Dental Clinic - Lease Space Finish Out 3011 SH 30 Medical Clinic 125 B Medical Park Lane Medical Clinic 125 C Medical Park Lane Wiesner of Huntsville 230 IH 45 N Sears (new location) 1702 A 11th St.