Government of the District of Columbia
DC Department of Public Works

Testimony of
William O. Howland Jr.
Director

Performance Oversight Hearing on the Department of Public Works Fiscal Year 2010-2011 Budgets

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATION
Tommy Wells, Chairperson

John A. Wilson Building
Room 412
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004

March 7, 2011 / 2 pm

Introduction

Good afternoon, Chairman Wells, committee members and staff. I am William O. Howland, Jr., Director of the Department of Public Works. I appreciate this opportunity to share with the committee the work of our department in FY 2010 and to date in FY 2011.

The mission of the Department of Public Works is to provide environmentally healthy municipal services that are both ecologically sound and cost effective. To that end, DPW serves all District residents, businesses, visitors and commuters by providing:

• Trash, recycling and litter collection and disposal.
• Street and alley cleaning.
• Solid waste education and enforcement.
• Snow removal.
• Parking enforcement, including towing, booting and removing abandoned vehicles.
• Fleet management, including acquisition and disposal, fueling, and vehicle maintenance services

In FY2011, the District’s fleet was recognized as the 8th greenest by Government Fleet magazine for our implementation our green fleet programs, including our extensive use of alternative fuel vehicles and the DC FleetShare motor pool program. I would like to add that DPW is the pioneer among government fleet managers in the use of the Zip Car vehicle reservations model. Through its use, we have transformed our motor pool operation, increased vehicle productivity and reduced those annoying circumstances that plague shared-used vehicles.

Our success is recognized widely among government fleet operators who seek our advice about adapting their own motor pool operations to achieve similar results. Our next step is to add an all-electric vehicle to the FleetShare pool.

Another success is personal document shredding provided as part of DPW’s monthly household hazardous waste/e-cycling drop-off program. In FY 2010, residents brought almost 118 tons of old bank statements, credit card bills and other documents to the Ft. Totten Transfer Station for shredding and safe disposal. In fact, the shredded documents are recycled along with other paper products.

The District was the first local jurisdiction to provide this service and it has proven to be one of our most popular services. Residents may bring these items to Ft. Totten the first Saturday of the month, except holidays.

I always like to highlight programs that work, and MuralsDC is one of the most effective.

MuralsDC, a partnership between DPW and the DC Commission on the Arts and the Humanities, was created in 2007 by Councilmember Jim Graham to help replace illegal graffiti with artistic works, to revitalize sites within the community and to provide youth with a legal means to practice and perform their skill in a way that promotes respect for public and private property and community awareness.

During FY 2010, District artists worked with youth to complete seven murals in Wards 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8. These murals helped to promote healthy eating in Adams Morgan, fitness along the Metropolitan Branch Trail, and paid tribute to the history of the African American businesses in the Deanwood community.

Since the MuralsDC pilot project began in 2007, 27 murals have been installed on walls that were once repeatedly tagged. All of these walls are in highly visible areas considered prime locations for graffiti artists. To date, only about three murals have been tagged and only minimally at that. They have been restored.

Now, I’d like to call you attention to what’s new at DPW.

Strategic Plan

In FY 2010, DPW managers created our strategic plan to map our future by identifying the most critical issues we need to address. We are taking the first steps toward re-engineering our waste disposal strategy to reduce the District’s waste stream footprint, deploy useful and alternate forms of energy, and create new revenue streams.

DPW is interested in identifying and contracting for the most beneficial integrated solid waste management disposition alternatives to serve the District for the next 20 or more years. We recently began a solid waste generation and composition study that provides a sound baseline of information for future planning purposes.

Understanding the District’s waste stream and assessing our ability to control the flow and/or management of the waste stream, are key to assessing the long term management and disposition options that serve the best interests of District residents and businesses. The study’s results will provide the basis for future solid waste management planning.

How we manage our fleet also plays a huge role in future decision making.

To improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions generated by District vehicles, DPW has made a concerted effort to purchase more fuel efficient vehicles, alternatively fueled vehicles (CNG, E-85) and electric vehicles. We also encourage District agencies to use DC FleetShare rather than purchase vehicles. And DPW supports an electric vehicle powering station infrastructure.

The more efficient vehicle purchases include passenger vehicles as well as heavy equipment. For example, DPW will purchase two CNG trash compactors, one CNG street sweeper and one electric packer. Increasing the number of vehicles that use alternative methods of fuel reduces the number of gallons of unleaded gasoline consumed by the District.

By the end of this fiscal year, Fleet will have developed a plan to replace standard gasoline vehicles in the fleet with alternatively fueled vehicles. The first step of our conversion program is to complete an analysis of greenhouse emissions associated with our current fleet. When this analysis is completed, Fleet will identify the most appropriate fuel efficient and alternative fuel vehicles and then compare the life-time cost associated with them to our current standard gas vehicles.

Based on our comparison analysis, Fleet will establish mileage milestones for conversion of standard vehicles to the designated fuel efficient or alternative fuel vehicle. As a result of this conversion program, DPW expects to:

1) Greatly reduce fuel usage.

2) Greatly reduce greenhouse emissions; and

3) Enhance the overall efficiency of our fleet while also becoming more cost-effective a result of reduced fuel cost.

DPW is working with DDOT as they install electric vehicle charging stations in public space infrastructure throughout the city. The first station is located near the Reeves Center. DPW and DDOT have developed a regulatory structure that allows electric vehicle operators to charge their vehicle for up to 4 hours at a time.

Before concluding this section on Fleet, I would like to acknowledge the considerable attention our acquisition program has received during the past several weeks. We lease and purchase vehicles in compliance with the law.

What's New at DPW in Solid Waste

March 1, 2011 marked the beginning of our new, expanded street sweeping program to encompass more residential neighborhoods. DPW conducted a study of the sweeping program and found that rerouting the sweepers would increase efficiency and allow us to increase the number of streets we can sweep regularly. Another plus of the new program is that it has a specific start date – March 1 (barring any snow) – and end date – October 31 – each year. And that information is on the signs so that everyone knows when parking restrictions will be in effect.

In neighborhoods where signs advise motorists of parking restrictions during weekly sweeping hours, parking enforcement will begin Monday, March 21, 2011. This will allow residents and others to become accustomed to moving their cars again, especially since street sweeping days and/or times changed for some neighborhoods. In residential neighborhoods where there are no signs identifying parking restrictions, sweeping will occur twice a month.

The District of Columbia leads the nation in the use of technology to better ensure the effectiveness of its residential street sweeping program. By linking twice-a-month sweeping to our weekly, signed sweeping program, the District will be positioned to meet future US Environmental Protection Agency requirements for storm water cleanliness and set an even higher standard for other local governments to reach.

The effectiveness of our street sweeping is linked directly to motorists obeying the parking signs, which allows us to reach the curb. The reality is that in our most densely populated neighborhoods motorists are willing to take a chance on getting a ticket because parking is so scarce. With Sweepercam, which was introduced in 2009, the possibility of getting a ticket increased to 100 percent for vehicles parked on the street when the sweeper moved along its route. To help relieve motorists’ angst, DPW is working with the Howard University School of Business to develop a notification system, through Alert DC, to let motorists know when the sweeper has completed its work and parking will be allowed.

March 1 also marked the launch of the expanded public space recycling program, conducted in partnership with the DowntownDC BID and PepsiCo. In 2008, DPW and the DowntownDC BID began testing the feasibility of public space recycling in the BID area by installing about two dozen cans co-located with street litter cans.

This spring, we will install 300 cans, donated by PepsiCo, and saturate the BID area. Our partnership is a win-win for everyone, especially the environment. Soon, visitors, workers and residents will not have to search for a recycling cart to dispose of their newspapers or beverage containers. These materials will be brought to a DPW site then transported to our recycling contractor’s facility for processing and marketing.

What's New at DPW – Increased Focus on Security and Safety

Sometimes, new procedures can be the outgrowth of tragedy.

Everyday DPW employees are exposed to hazards as they do their jobs. Whether it’s the parking enforcement officer who is accosted by an irate motorist or the sanitation worker who is exposed to hazardous materials when emptying a trash can, DPW employees are at risk.

I believe that every employee who comes to work should be able to go home after his tour of duty. However, on October 13, 2010, that did not happen. Larry Hutchins, a dedicated sanitation employee was fatally shot at the collections division headquarters and a second employee was badly wounded. To prevent similar harm coming to other employees, we are installing security cameras at our W Street, NE site.

I would like to take this moment to acknowledge the Simpson-Hamline United Methodist Church congregation, which this year is hosting its 13th Annual Sanitation Workers Dinner. Each year, the congregation commemorates the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by inviting DPW sanitation workers to the church for a wonderful meal. This year, because of the loss of Mr. Hutchins, we are especially grateful for their acknowledging our work.

Another measure we are taking to improve workers’ safety is offering a series of defensive driving training courses for employees who drive passenger vehicles as well as our employees who possess a Commercial Driver’s License. Employees who have taken either of these courses have told me how their ability to concentrate has improved along with their ability to recognize potential risks on the roadway and take the appropriate precautions.

We also began using a simulator to train drivers in the snow and ice removal program. In addition to replicating possible roadway hazards during a snow storm, the simulator also reproduces the sound and feel of a heavy dump truck. We expect this tool will boost our drivers’ self-confidence when they face real snow conditions.

What's New at DPW in Parking

Solid Waste isn’t the only area where new programs are at work. Our Parking Enforcement Management Administration also has embraced innovation.

In conjunction with our Office of Information Technology Services, parking enforcement is getting ready to introduce “TicPix,” the new, online tool motorists may access to see images of the violations for which a parking ticket was written. These images will help motorists recognize why they were issued a parking ticket. We will roll out “TicPix” this spring.

For a year now, DPW has deployed parking enforcement officers on Segways and mountain bikes. Instead of covering their beats in a car, some parking enforcement officers use bicycles or Segways. They are better able to see violations and address them promptly, without having to take the time to find a legal parking space before writing a ticket. In addition, there are environmental benefits. Segways are two-wheeled electric, zero emission vehicles, and bicycles, of course, also are zero-emission vehicles. Another benefit is these officers are exercising all the time!

In 2010, we initiated the in-house auction of abandoned vehicles that are impounded by the government and not reclaimed by their owners. This began as a cost saving measure. Bringing the auction in-house saves the District a contractor’s 4.7% service fee and generates a 15% premium fee based on the sale price of all vehicles sold.

As well, we improved the process to alert the Metropolitan Police Department to stolen vehicles that received parking tickets to help the police more quickly locate stolen vehicles and return them to their owners.

Conclusion

I want to give my heartfelt appreciation to all the DPW employees whose work makes this a cleaner, safer, more beautiful city to for its residents, visitors and commuters.

Thank you, Chairman Wells, for the opportunity to testify about our work. I am available to respond to your questions.