Introduction

• Good afternoon, Chairman Graham, members of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, and staff.  I am William O. Howland Jr., Director of the Department of Public Works.  I appreciate this opportunity to discuss the FY 2011 proposed budget for the department.
• As Mayor Fenty said when he presented the proposed FY 2011 budget, “. . . these are tough economic times.”  Our circumstances demand that every dollar spent yields the highest quality service.  The economic challenges also present opportunities to refashion our operations, introduce new efficiencies and test new ways of conducting business.
• DPW will continue to provide its core services to achieve our mission of providing 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:
  • Each week, we collect trash and recycling from almost 103,000 households, which translates into 250,000 collections per week. 
  • We promote efficient traffic flow along the District’s commercial corridors to support our retail and other business establishments.  
  • We assure residents’ access to neighborhood on-street spaces by enforcing parking regulations.
  • We maintain the city’s fleet of 3,000 vehicles. 
  • We fuel more than 6,000 DC government vehicles, including those for MPD, Fire/Emergency Medical Services, DC Public Schools and the Water and Sewer Authority.
• In FY 2009, we:
  • Collected more than 98,000 tons of trash and 27,000 tons of residential recyclables.
  • Recovered almost 1,200 tons of scrap metal and 93 tons of shredded paper.
  • Composted more than 4,500 tons of leaves.
  • Made more than 46,000 bulk collections.
  • And cleaned almost 30,000 miles of residential streets.
  • We also removed more than 3,600 abandoned and dangerous vehicles from public and private space, and we removed more than 19,000 vehicles that impeded rush hour traffic flow.

FY 2011 Proposed Budget

• The proposed FY 2011 budget is $123,799,420, which will support 1,367.8 FTEs.  This represents a 23.0 percent reduction in funds and an 8.2 percent reduction in FTEs when compared to FY 2010.
• DPW’s proposed budget, like those of other District government agencies, reflects the grave economic times we face.  I will explain how we will meet our budget mandate.
• A leaner DPW is committed to delivering high quality core services, including trash, recycling and bulk collections, street and alley cleaning, sanitation and parking enforcement, and fleet management. 

Transforming Challenges into Innovation

• DPW is building upon earlier efficiencies by taking over our online vehicle auction program, which currently is handled by a vendor.
• By conducting the program ourselves, the District will realize more than $200,000 in savings and provide more robust reporting that will increase accountability.
• Another parking enforcement initiative is deploying 15 ticket writers per shift on mountain bikes.  The savings from this mid-year FY 2010 initiative will be fully realized next year in reduced costs for vehicles, fuel and maintenance.
• These parking officers report a number of advantages over automobiles.  The bicycles improve their line of sight and eliminate finding a legal parking space when they need to write a ticket.  They also are able to cover more territory than on foot.  The result is they are producing more tickets.
• Parking officers riding Segways were the first to do their work on two wheels.  In March, 15 Segway-riding officers per shift led the way to achieving reductions in vehicle use, fuel consumption and fleet maintenance.  
• Our Solid Waste Management Administration is incorporating technology to produce better programs, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).  We are installing RFID  to increase efficiency of operations at the Ft. Totten and Benning Road transfer stations.  RFID will allow electronic capture of vehicle-specific information to provide more accurate and quicker billing.
• Chairman Graham, you have been very supportive of our sanitation programs, and we appreciate that support.   I believe you will be happy to know we are introducing a new notification system to let motorists know when the Sweepercam vehicle has completed its work and parking will be allowed.
• Sweepercam was introduced last year, with your assistance, to help us conduct a more effective street cleaning program by encouraging greater compliance with parking restrictions.  The next step is to inform residents their streets have been cleaned and they may resume parking.  We will do this through applying technology to increase parking availability on these residential streets.
• DPW is working with MBA students at the Howard University School of Business and Alert DC to develop the means to complete this technological development. 
• DPW also is the beneficiary of stimulus funds, which we will use to increase the use of alternative fuel vehicles.  We are replacing traditionally-fueled vehicles with alternative fuel vehicles (hybrids, CNGs and electric-powered) through the use of $1.1 million in federal stimulus funds to purchase approximately 18 medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, such as trash compactors and front-end loaders.
• We also will use $963,000 in local funds to buy 24 medium- and light-duty vehicles, such as vans and pickup trucks.
• DPW is the District’s first green department, so we are especially adept at achieving outcomes that are good for the budget as well as the environment. 
• For instance, DPW was awarded the Life-time Partnership Award from the US Department of Energy for our work as a stakeholder with the Metropolitan Washington Alternative Fuels Clean Cities Partnership to successfully incorporate the use of natural gas and alternative fuels into the fleet.
• When we introduced the DC Fleet Share program, we revolutionized motor pool operations.  In FY 2011, we will expand the number of vehicles in this motor pool to further reduce the number of light vehicles in the fleet.
• In addition to the above innovations, we also will streamline certain operations, such as leaf collection, and restructure other services, such as sanitation enforcement, again, to meet our budget mandate.
• In FY 2011, we will reduce the number of people per leaf collection team from six to five.  This will save about $331,000. 
• We will save $465,000 by conducting a monthly, rather than weekly, household hazardous waste, e-cycling, personal document shredding program. 
• The integration of streamlined street and alley cleaning programs and sanitation enforcement will result in substantial savings of more than $5.1 million.  More importantly, it means DPW will work smarter and more collaboratively with our sister DC government agencies to maximize the use of all tools available to keep the District clean.
• At issue here is ensuring we use the tools available to keep the District clean and that means everyone has a role to play.
• In FY 2010, SWEEP (Solid Waste Education and Enforcement Program) inspectors, along with abandoned vehicle inspectors, collectively conducted enforcement “blitzes” in predetermined areas. 
• These intra-agency teams worked to clean up chronic sanitation and abandoned vehicle problems throughout the District. These approaches will be used more often to leverage the capacity of a smaller enforcement team.
• Additionally, starting June 1, SWEEP inspectors will be cross-trained to enforce the new recycling regulations.  They will begin enforcement July 1.  The impact will be a greatly expanded enforcement team to address recycling issues.  As I testified earlier this year, commercial recycling enforcement can use more resources.
• The reduction of street and alley cleaning services in commercial districts means commercial property owners will need to fulfill their obligation, and the law, to keep clean the public space around their property to 18” beyond the curb.
• SWEEP inspectors will educate commercial property owners about their role and issue citations if compliance doesn’t follow.  A clean DC is a win-win for us all.
• In conclusion, I want to commend my leadership team for understanding our current and projected economic environment and developing well-considered plans that will meet our customers’ needs.
• Chairman Graham, thank you for this opportunity to share information about our proposed FY 2011.  I am prepared to answer your questions.