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Public Works accreditation
On August 27, 2001, the city's Public Works Department received the American Public Works Association's Full Accreditation Award. The department was the first department in the state of Florida and eighth in North America to receive the award. The purpose of the accreditation program is to provide a means of formally verifying and recognizing public works agencies for compliance with the recommended practices set forth in the Public Works Management Practices Manual. It is a voluntary, self-motivated approach to objectively evaluate, verify, and recognize compliance with the recommended management practices.
The objectives of the accreditation program are to:
- Create impetus for organization self improvement and stimulate general raising of standards
- Offer a voluntary evaluation and education program rather than government regulated activity
- Recognize good performance and provide motivation to maintain and improve performance
- Improve public works performance and the provision of services
- Increase professionalism
- Instill pride among agency staff, elected officials and the local community
The Public Works Department is responsible for the maintenance of the 876 miles of city streets, 159 miles of drainage rights of ways, 26 bridges, traffic control devices, mowing, drainage control structures, landscaping, aquatic spraying, sidewalk maintenance, and much more. The City Manager also assigned the tasks of Emergency Management to the department naming Donald Freedland, (Public Works Director) as the Emergency Management Coordinator for the city.
On February 28, 2006 the department became the first in Florida to achieve re-accreditation by the APWA. A successful examination by the board revealed that all of the best management practices that were required were met with substantial compliance by the department.
Second re-accreditation
On March 10, 2010, the department achieved a second re-accreditation. To achieve this re-accreditation, a team of public works professionals from Virginia, Pennsylvania and Missouri completed a thorough evaluation of operations during a site visit in February 2010.
The APWA accreditation program recognizes public works agencies that go beyond the requirements of the management practices established nationally in the public works industry. On a daily basis, accredited agencies meet or exceed standards of performance in areas such as water, solid waste management, street/sewer repair and maintenance, engineering, building maintenance, stormwater drainage, traffic safety, environmental services and vehicle maintenance.
The American Public Works Association is a not-for-profit, international organization of nearly 30,000 members involved in the field of public works. The APWA is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, has an office in Washington, D.C., and 64 chapters in North America.
For questions concerning accreditation contact:
Carmen Capezzuto
Accreditation Manager
(772) 871-5100
carmenc@cityofpsl.com