What is Public Works

What Is Public Works?

Connie Hartline

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What Is Public Works?

Connie Hartline

What Is Public Works?

Connie Hartline

Publications Manager American Public Works Association

ISBN: 978-1-60675-009-4 American Public Works Association 2345 Grand Blvd., Ste. 700 Kansas City, MO 64108-2625

ŠAmerican Public Works Association, March 2009

Acknowledgments We appreciate the assistance of the following people in formulating a definition of public works.

Michael J. Adams

Robert Kopp

Mary Anderson

Bob Kuhn, P.E.

Kurt Blomquist

Larry Lux

Public Works Director Sweet Home, Oregon

Director of Public Works Highland Park, Illinois

Public Works Director Keene, New Hampshire

Robert D. Bugher

Executive Director Emeritus American Public Works Association Scottsdale, Arizona

Bill Fitzgerald

Board of Public Works Superintendent Fairhaven, Massachusetts

Larry W. Frevert, P.E.

Vice President & National Program Director of Public Works HDR, Inc. Kansas City, Missouri

Director of Public Works Carrollton, Texas

Director of Public Works Muskegon, Michigan

President Lux Advisors, Ltd. Plainfield, Illinois

Al Mabrouk

Infrastructure Unit Manager AMEC Infrastructure Sparks, Nevada

Fred Mullard

Public Works Director Village of Lake in the Hills, Illinois

Carl F. Peter, P.E.

Director of Public Works & Environmental Services Deerfield Beach, Florida

Len Goodwin

Assistant Director of Public Works Springfield, Oregon

Dr. Neil Grigg, P.E.

Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado

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What Is Public Works?

Most of us can probably name some of the great public works projects of history without too much effort: the Great Wall of China… the Roman Roads and Aqueducts…the Pyramids of Egypt…the Hoover Dam…the Tennessee Valley Authority…the Lincoln Tunnel… the St. Lawrence Seaway...the Interstate Highway System…the Alaskan Pipeline…the Boston Big Dig. On the other hand, if we think of public works projects as making life easier or more convenient, or as improving the quality of life, we might not think to put some of those projects on our list at all. How should we categorize the projects? What qualifies any project as “public works”?

Defining the Indefinable!

Trying to define public works can be very much like the ancient folk tale from India, “The Blind Men and the Elephant.” It tells the story of six blind men who have repeatedly argued about what an elephant must be like. Weary townsfolk seek to end the constant bickering by taking the men to “see” an elephant for the first time.

One man touches the elephant’s side and declares that an elephant must be like a wall. The second man, fingering the elephant’s tusk, likens the animal to a spear. The third man feels the squirming trunk and announces that an elephant is like a snake.

The fourth man, who has his hand on one of the elephant’s enormous legs, says the elephant is like a tree. With his hand exploring the elephant’s ear, the fifth man exclaims that the beast must be like a fan or even a magic carpet. But the last man, grasping the tail, proclaims that an elephant must surely be like a rope.

Of course, from his own limited perspective, each man had a portion of the truth, but none could perceive the elephant in its totality.

So it is with finding a definition for public works. To a certain extent, the scope of public works is so varied that it is indefinable—truly incapable of being precisely described or analyzed. Like the blind men, we can describe pieces of it, but trying to pin it down with one description is not only difficult but also inadequate.

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What Is Public Works?

The 2005 edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary defines public works as: “the work of building such things as roads, schools, and reservoirs, carried out by the government for the community.”

In its most succinct comment on the subject, Wikipedia, the Internet’s “Free Encyclopedia,” defines public works as “the construction or engineering projects carried out by the state on behalf of the community.” In the overview section, Wikipedia describes public works as “a concept in economics and politics” that “can include such things as: mines, schools, hospitals, water purification and sewage treatment centers.” However, anyone involved with public works knows that these pieces are a small selection of the many functions and facilities we collectively consider public works.

The 2002 Census of Governments, from the U.S. Census Bureau, reported a total of 19,429 active municipal governments (cities, boroughs, towns, and villages) in the United States. Two hundred forty-one of those jurisdictions had populations of 100,000 or more, while 9,361 were at the other end of the spectrum with populations of less than 1,000. In each community, whatever its size, there are needs common to all human beings that must be met through the provision of public works services. But, those services may not be identified and delivered in the same way, or to the same level, from one community to the next.

Most often to identify those needs, the American Public Works Association (APWA) has used the definition of public works proffered by the association’s founder and first executive director, Donald C. Stone: The physical structures and facilities developed or acquired by public agencies to house governmental functions and provide water, waste disposal, power, transportation, and similar services to facilitate the achievement of common social and economic objectives.

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The Foundation of Civilization

Think of those common needs as foundational building blocks of civilization. Some communities fulfill the needs of their constituents with what, virtually, may be no more than a set of “Baby’s First Blocks.” Other communities, with greater resources and a higher level of need, may have the equivalent of Lincoln Logs or sophisticated packs of Legos at their disposal. And a fortunate few communities have access to massive resources on a footing with the 3,200-piece dream set of Uberstix.

The different sets of building blocks are analogous to the hierarchy of basic human needs, and each governmental unit provides services to meet the needs according to the degree of their importance and the amount of resources available. Primary needs—like the need for clean water, roads, and waste disposal—are met first, and services to fulfill less crucial needs—like a playground or even mass transportation in some places—are provided afterward when possible.

In the real world there is no one, ideal structure for a public works operation. Even though some public works services are considered “must haves” in every community, they are not necessarily readily identified on a city organizational chart. In fact, some municipalities may not even have a department named public works.

The following chart is the result of a quick, and very non-scientific search of municipal sites on the Internet. It is arranged according to population categories and reveals a wide scope of organizational constructs for providing public works services.

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What Is Public Works?

Under 50,000

Under 100,000

Emporia, KS

Hammond, IN

Public Services Department • Covers from Administration to the Emporia Zoo Department of Public Works • Specifies responsibilities for Street, Sewer, Water, Signing Street Department • Underground Utilities • Water Treatment Plant • Wastewater Treatment • Transfer Station Recycling Center • Sanitation • Airport • Engineering

Bangor, ME

Public Works • Electrical • Forestry • Cemetery • Highway • Recycling • Sanitation Public Works Directors & Managers Contact List includes: • Engineering • Construction & Maintenance • Traffic Operations • Lakes & Stormwater • Facilities Management • Fleet Management • Solid Waste

Kingsport, TN

Public Works • Engineering • Streets & Sanitation • Water • Sewer • Traffic

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Board of Public Works & Safety • Control of public right-of-way (includes digging requests, cable, street & alley closures, street solicitations, requests for street signs) • Exclusive control over all matters and property dealing with police, fire, transit • Contracting arm of executive branch (all purchasing for public works, street projects, gasoline & vehicles) • Appeal panel for building codes, business licenses, dangerous dogs designations by animal control) Building Department City Engineer Environmental Management Parks and Recreation Planning and Development Recycling Department Sanitary District Sanitation Department Sewer Department Streets Department Transit Department Water Department

Boulder, CO

Public Works Department • Transportation • Utilities • Facilities & Asset Management • Fleet Services • Jointly oversees: Work, Planning & Development Services groups

Columbia, MO

Public Works Department • Administration Airport • Building Maintenance • Transit & Para-Transit: Bus Services • Engineering • Fleet Operations • Parking Utility • Get About Columbia: Non-motorized Transportation Pilot Program • Protective Inspection • Public Works Volunteer Program • Sewer Utility • Solid Waste Management • Stormwater Management • Streets & Sidewalks Maintenance • Traffic

Palm Bay, FL

Public Works Department • Administration • Capital Improvements/Engineering • R-O-W Services • Administrative Services • Maintenance & Construction • Traffic Operations • Fleet Services

Under 500,000 Denver, CO

Public Works Department • Finance & Administration 1. Contracts 2. Finance 3. Fleet Maintenance 4. Human Resources 5. Policy & Planning 6. Wastewater Customer Services • Engineering 1. Capital Projects 2. Development Engineering Services 3. Construction Engineering 4. R-O-W Enforcement (Parking) 5. Permitting 6. Engineering 7. Traffic Engineering Services • Operations 1. Solid Waste Management 2. Street Maintenance 3. Wastewater Operations

Oakland, CA

Public Works Agency • Administration 1. Public Works Call Center 2. Fiscal Services 3. Human Resources 4. Training & Safety Coordination • Infrastructure & Operations 1. Electrical Services & Traffic Maintenance 2. Equipment Services 3. Infrastructure Maintenance • Facilities & Environment 1. Environmental Services 2. Facilities Servcies 3. Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful 4. Park & Building Services

Tempe, AZ

Public Works Department • Engineering 1. Transportation 2. Transit 3. Light Rail 4. Trash/Recycling 5. Street Maintenance 6. Traffic Operations • Internal functions include custodial, fleet and facilities management

Under 1,000,000 Phoenix, AZ

Public Works Department • Personnel Services • Administrative Services • Equipment Management 1. Equipment Maintenance 2. Fleet Operations 3. Auto Stores Section 4. Fleet Control • Metro Facilities & Energy Management Division • Solid Waste Disposal 1. Engineering 2. Solid Waste Management Facility 3. Inspections/Maintenance 4. Skunk Creek Landfill • Solid Waste Field Services 1. Operations Management 2. Contracts Administration & Education

Boston, MA

Public Works Department • Permits & Applications • Sanitation • Recycling • Street Lighting • Street Reconstruction • Street Maintenance & Cleaning • Bridge Maintenance • Public Improvement Comm.

• Snow Operations • Emergency Storm Center • Residential Trash & Recycling • Hazardous Waste Drop-Off

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What Is Public Works?

Under 1,000,000

(continued)

Milwaukee, WI

Commissioner of Public Works • Operations • Water Works • Infrastructure Services (Shared with City Engineer) • Administrative Services • Board of Assessment • Board of Deferred Assessment

Charleston, SC

Department of Public Service • Technical Divisions 1. Building Inspections 2. Engineering (enforce building codes, develop building & utility construction standards) • Operational Divisions 1. Road/Sidewalk Maintenance 2. Storm Drainage & Flood Control 3. Garbage & Trash Collection 4. Street Sweeping 5. Environmental Code Enforcement

Over 1,000,000 Chicago, IL

(No Public Works or Public Services Department Listed) Animal Care & Control Aviation Buildings Environment Fleet Management General Services Geographic Information Systems Planning & Development Streets & Sanitation Transportation Water Management Zoning

Houston, TX

Department of Public Works & Engineering • Engineering & Construction • Planning & Development Services • Public Utilities • Resource Management • R-O-W and Fleet Maintenance • Traffic and Transportation

Los Angeles, CA

Department of Public Works • Contract Administration • Engineering • Sanitation • Street Lighting • Street Services

Dallas, TX

Public Works and Transportation • Engineering & Construction • Infrastructure Management • Transportation Operations • Facilities Planning & Construction • Geographic Information Systems • Survey Division • Stormwater Management Section

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How Public Is Public Works?

It doesn’t take an exhaustive comparison of the chart to determine that no two municipalities are alike. It’s also obvious that not every possible public works service area appears on the lists, but that does not necessarily mean that they aren’t available to those communities. In some cases, functions simply may be lumped under the auspices of one of the agency’s departments or divisions without being listed. In other cases, the agency may not have responsibility for particular functions. For instance, not every jurisdiction will have an airport, and if it does, it may not be a public works responsibility.

Although some functions are not common to every community, each of them will have such things as water, utilities, and trash collection—unquestionably. What IS in question is by whom they are delivered. The traditional concept of public works is that governmental units provide the services, own the facilities, and are usually funded through taxation. However, the situation often is not that clear-cut today, and other models also exist, which include publicly owned corporations and partial outsourcing. It’s not uncommon for the private sector to be involved in delivering public works services as well. For instance, some communities may own a fleet of trash collection vehicles, but other communities will contract out that service to private companies. It’s also common for a municipal engineering division to plan and design large construction projects but to contract out the actual construction work.

Another public works model—complete outsourcing or contracting out with a privately owned corporation—is somewhat more controversial and considered “borderline” on whether it actually fits the definition of providing public works services. Although the services are delivered on behalf of government, the high degree of private sector control and/or risk tends to discount them as valid public works in some people’s consideration.

Quite often, public utilities—such as water, gas, electricity, telephone, mass transportation, and communication facilities—are not owned and operated by a government agency. However, if utilities are not owned by a governmental unit, they still are said to be “affected with a public interest” and are subject to a degree of government regulation from which other businesses are exempt. In such situations, the utilities often operate as a monopoly in their markets, under a license or franchise, and are required to render adequate service at reasonable prices to all who apply for the service. Although it is not always feasible or cost effective for a municipality to own utilities, the absence of these essential services would be injurious to 11

What Is Public Works? public health and welfare. Therefore, whether publicly or privately owned, the services themselves still can be considered public works.

A Variety of Definitions

Past APWA President Larry Frevert identified the difficulty of arriving at an adequate definition for public works when he said, “We have too long defined public works too narrowly and related it simply to the responsibility we ourselves have.”

In general, APWA has considered public works to be the primary facilitator in improving a community’s quality of life. Many public works practitioners echo that contention; however, despite its overall importance to society, an interesting side note is that public works is not listed as an occupation or a profession in the Department of Labor Standards Occupation Handbook. In fact, federal classifications for public works jobs do not exist at all.

During the preparation of this booklet, several APWA members offered their own definitions of public works.

Fred Mullard described public works as the “foundation of the comfortable lives we all desire.” Larry Frevert said public works is “any activity that expends public funds to do a project that benefits the public.” Former APWA Executive Director Bob Bugher described public works as “designed to protect and enhance the human environment, they represent investments in the future for the people who create them and for succeeding generations.”

Kurt Blomquist took a lighthearted approach by defining public works as “roads and commodes, with the big yellow trucks for pushing snow.” Then, on a more serious note, he described public works functions as the “core things that make our society work… accomplished for the greater community and not necessarily for a segment of community.”

Al Mabrouk cited the allocation of “resources to protect the health and safety of the public” while Mary Anderson noted that public works “services are essential to a high quality of life.” Carl F. Peter formulated a reverse definition of public works, which states that if the function is “not clearly a fire or police department responsibility, it is probably public works.”

Professor Neil Grigg of the University of Colorado explained that the world “has human, natural, and built environments. The built 12

environment includes private property, like houses and businesses, and a public part: public buildings and facilities and support networks—like water and electric lines.”

Michael J. Adams acknowledged that public works can be “many things to many people” and went on to make the observation that “public works professionals may want to be and are sometimes expected to be, all things to all people.” Robert Kopp, in his definition, chose to focus on the people of public works, describing his agency as an “organization of hardworking professional men and women who are entrusted to provide and sustain public safety, health and vitality of a community.” He explained that public works professionals “must be visionary, values-driven, environmental stewards with cost and business savvy and flexible in an everchanging world.”

Grigg cited William Hardenbergh—a noted sanitary engineer in the first half of the 20th century and editor of Public Works magazine— who took a global view by calling public works the “glue that holds together the national economy.” He asserted that the “road to a stronger economy is not found in clogged streets and highways slowing traffic to a crawl…nor in water shortages, open garbage dumps and polluted streams.” Instead, he said, “national strength will come through the provision of those everyday facilities whereby industry, commerce, and agriculture can thrive and citizens can enjoy the benefits of our national way of life.”

Larry Lux summed up his thoughts on the nature of public works by saying, “My simple definition is—if it has an impact on the quality of life in your community, it was public works that made it happen.”

Bob Kuhn pointed out that the list of his agency’s duties keeps expanding to the point that the agency’s motto has become “Just do it.” He has even given himself a new—and more appropriate title— “The Director of Everything No One Else Wants”!

Functions and Facilities

After all these definitions, you may well still be asking, “What IS public works?” In keeping with its role as an “umbrella” organization having a membership with widely varied public works interests, APWA has identified the following broad categories of public works functions: • •

management buildings and grounds 13

What Is Public Works?

• • • • •

equipment engineering solid waste transportation water

Currently, APWA has ten technical committees to develop programs, provide information and promote understanding of issues stemming from those categories: • • • • • • • • • •

Emergency Management Engineering and Technology Facilities and Grounds Fleet Services Leadership and Management Solid Waste Management Transportation Utility and Public Right-of-Way Winter Maintenance Water Resources Management

So, what do we find when we look under each of these umbrella terms? Larry Frevert’s list includes: planning, design, construction maintenance and operations; streets, roads, bridges; public transit systems; drinking water, wastewater and stormwater; parks, playgrounds, pools; publicly owned fleets; buildings and grounds; public airports; schools, dams, locks and ports; and sometimes even utilities are publicly owned.

A 1976 APWA publication, History of Public Works in the United States 1776-1976, devoted 16 chapters to a list of topics similar to Frevert’s to tell the story: waterways; roads, streets and highways; highway structures and traffic controls; railroads; urban mass transportation; airways and airports; community water supply; flood control and drainage; irrigation; light and power; sewers and wastewater treatment; solid wastes; public buildings; parks and recreation; military installations; and aerospace.

Possibly, to the average citizen, the inclusion of military installations and aerospace may be the only surprises on either list. However, dams, locks and ports, and airports may also come as a surprise 14

to people who tend to think of public works only on a local government level. But, even that perspective produces a lengthy list of categories and functions, which— like the elephant—is a multifaceted entity that includes but is not limited to: • water distribution and treatment (provides everything from safe, clean drinking water to treatment of wastewater); • solid waste management (includes collecting, processing, and disposing of recyclables, yard waste, and trash); • engineering technology (design of buildings, water and sewer systems, roads and bridges, etc.); • facilities (manages and maintains government offices, power plants, water treatment facilities, equipment and fleet facilities; oversees all phases of construction on public structures, such as government offices, libraries, police stations, recreation centers, etc.); • streets (effects street surface repair, places road signs; manages street cleaning program; implements emergency weather procedures, such as deicing and snow removal) • traffic and transportation (designs roadways, operates mass transportation systems); • construction management (constructs streets, bridges, detention basins, curbs, sidewalks, etc.); • fleet services (repairs and maintains cars, light and heavy trucks and all municipal vehicles and equipment); • parks and grounds (maintains public parks and other green spaces available for public use); • emergency management (acts in coordination with other first responders to emergency events to place barricades, remove debris, provide and operate heavy equipment).

What’s in a Name?

So far, this booklet has avoided using the word “infrastructure” when describing public works. But, it’s not appropriate to end without making mention of the “great debate” about terminology that has gone on in public works circles since the 1980s. Is it infrastructure or public works?

The word infrastructure is a French word coined slightly more than 80 years ago to mean “installations that form the basis for a system or operation.” The word was used predominantly in military applications until 1981, then it became popular when Pat Choate and Susan Walter used it in their book, America in Ruins, to discuss an “infrastructure crisis” set off by years of inadequate investment and poor maintenance of public works.

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What Is Public Works?

Some people choose to apply the word “infrastructure” to public works to refer to an interdependent system of works beneficial to society. Other people believe that the implied interdependency doesn’t provide enough flexibility to describe all of the varied facets of what they consider to be public works. In public policy discussion, the U.S. National Research Council adopted the term “public works infrastructure” to refer to the system and its individual elements simultaneously.

Use of the term “infrastructure” got a boost in 2009 when President Barack Obama included funding for infrastructure projects in his stimulus package and endorsed a National Infrastructure Bank.

However, columnist Alex Marshall of the online Governing magazine, registered his preference for the term “public works” in his February 2009 column “because it denotes that these are ‘works’ that we the people do together.”

Whatever term you prefer, it will only describe a portion of the panorama of structures and services commonly known as public works. The scope is too wide to precisely describe or analyze it, and when we try, each of us only has a portion of the truth.

So, What IS Public Works?

Essential, multifaceted, cutting-edge, quality-of-life-enhancing, progressive, sustainable, community-oriented—what combination of words will best define the indefinable? The discussion may never be settled but, for now, the following definition seems appropriate: Public works is the combination of physical assets, management practices, policies and personnel necessary for government to provide and sustain structures and services essential to the welfare and acceptable quality of life for its citizens.

Trying to define public works isn’t nearly as important as finding ways to refine the delivery of public works so that every community receives the highest, most cost-effective level of service possible to enhance its quality of life.

As any debater knows, the definition of terms only sets the stage for discussion. The real work comes afterward.

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