AWWA ACE60091

In 1999, the Akron Public Utilities Bureau (APUB) had the highest water and sewer rates for cities of similar size across the state of Ohio. Debt service was high and getting higher. The Mayor issued a challenge - APUB needed to streamline operations and fix the rates. APUB handles a variety of functions including: water and wastewater treatment, water distribution, sewer maintenance, billing and collection, meter reading and engineering/inspections. Surface water is collected from the Upper Cuyahoga River via three reservoirs, and distributed to 80,000 homes in the city of Akron and surrounding communities. Soon after the Mayoral mandate, APUB initiated a Competitive Action Program. This program redesigned the entire utility including water and wastewater treatment plants, water distribution, sewer collection, customer service, and engineering. Today, Akron's water and sewer rates are stable. APUB has made tremendous progress in improving the service delivered to its customers. In addition, APUB has achieved its desired participation goal - 70-80 percent of all employees have participated in the program. Just over four years into the Competitive Action Program, APUB has already saved $13 million exceeding its five-year goal by 30 percent. This paper discusses six major workforce strategies that APUB used to transform the utility: establish a labor-management partnership based on the belief that a new, positive work environment will be created if everyone works together to achieve the common goal of becoming a best-in-class utility; develop a new participation model that includes employees, unions, and management, that targeted at least 70 percent of all APUB employees and management for participation in the redesign of new work practices; reduce resistance to change by establishing an aggressive communications program called "Tool Box Talks" that includes regular informal meetings to share information and provide an opportunity for two-way communications; change the organization's structure from hierarchical to teams that are trained and certified in multiple areas and are empowered to make decisions pertaining to the scheduling work, setting team goals, and evaluating performance; provide extensive training for employees and for team leaders, all teams received training on how to work in teams and Team Leaders received training on leading teams; pilot new work practices and implement quick wins. The objective of new work practices is to test the designs, develop flexible workers and move employees closer to their work. Quick wins are essentially best work practices that can be implemented in less than 30 days Includes figures.