Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County

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Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County

• Employee Development
• Advanced WW Topics Seminar
• September 9, 2009

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MSD HISTORY

• MSD was formed in 1962 by State Statute as a
  special District with the sole purpose to collect
  and treat wastewater and to eliminate the direct
  discharges to the surrounding rivers and streams.
• In 1968 the Treatment Plant was completed and we
  began treating the wastewater from the various
  local governments in the region.
• In 1990 all the local governments and special
  districts gave all of their collection lines to
  MSD for ownership and maintenance in agreements
  we call Sewer Consolidation.

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MSD Governed by Independent Board

• Governed by a twelve-member Board appointed by
  the following entities
• City of Asheville (3) Montreat
• Buncombe County (3) Weaverville
• Biltmore Forest Woodfin SWSD
• Black Mountain Town of Woodfin
• Active subcommittees
• Capital Improvement Program Personnel
• Construction Planning
• Finance Right of Way
• The Board employs a General Manager, P.E., who is
  responsible for daily operations.

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Management Structure
Ratepayers of the Metropolitan Sewerage District
MSD Board
Auditing Firm Cherry, Bekaert Holland

• Committees
• CIP
• Finance
• Personnel
• Planning
• Right of Way
• Construction

General Manager Thomas E. Hartye, P.E.
Executive Secretary Sondra Honeycutt
Legal Counsel Roberts Stevens
Engineer of Record McGill Assoc.
Director of Human Resources Jim
Hemphill Personnel admin. Payroll Employee
Benefits
Geographical Information Systems
Director of Finance Scott Powell
Director of Wastewater Treatment John
Kiviniemi
Director of Engineering Services Stan Boyd, P.E.
Director of System Services Barry Cook
Director of CIP Ed Bradford, P.E.
Director of Administrative Services Peter Weed
CIP Department Project Management Design
Drafting Construction Right-of-Way
Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations Maintenance
Structural Maintenance Industrial Waste
System Services Construction Pipeline
Maintenance Technical Services
Engineering Services Planning Development
Financial Services Finance Budget Accounting In
vestments Purchasing
Administrative Services Fleet Maintenance Environ
mental, Health/Safety IT Section MIS Section
Employees FY 2001-- 167Employees FY 2009-- 150
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MSD ISO 14001 Registered

• ISO 14001 Implementation Team
• Entire Organization ISO 14001 Registered
  encompassing Treatment Plant, Collection System,
  Engineering and Administration
• Largest Public Utility in NC to be registered

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NACWA Excellence in Management Award 2009

• Signifies MSDs commitment to both its customers
  and its employees through efficient operations,
  teamwork, long term planning, and effective
  management.

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MSD Treatment Plant
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Treatment Plant

• 1995 Plant expansion to 40 MGD completed (65 MGD
  Peak)
• Current Average Daily Flow 16.7 MGD
• 152 Rotating Biological Contactors (RBC)largest
  in world
• 2880 KW Hydroelectric Generation Facility
• 2 MW Diesel Generator Back-up
• 900 KW Gas Generators
• Land-fill Gas supply from closed county Landfill

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Treatment Plant receives NACWA Peak Performance
Awardfor Excellence in Environmental Protection

• Peak Performance - nine consecutive years for
  excellence in wastewater treatment in 2009

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Hydroelectric Generation Facility

• 1986 Reconstructed Craggy Dam Hydro Plant
  (Originally Built 1903)
• Can generate 2,880 KW
• Avg. FY Avoided Power Cost of 300K

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Organizational Change. . ?
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Organizational Change. . ?
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Understanding people is key!
Analytical Need To be Right Orientation
Thinking Growth Action To Declare
Driving Need Results Orientation Action Growth
Action To Listen
CONTROLS
TELLS
ASKS
Amiable Need Personal Security Orientation
Relationships Growth Action To Initiate
Expressive Need Personal Approval Orientation
Spontaneity Growth Action To Check
EMOTES
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Do unto others. . .
Observed Style Analytical Driver
Expressive Amiable
Person Want to be Right In
Control Recognized Sure

To Strengthen Relationship, support
Principles Conclusions Dreams
Feelings Thinking Results
Intuitions relationships
Use Time to be
Accurate Efficient
Stimulating Agreeable
To Get Action, Provide
Evidence Options with Testimony
Guarantees w/Service probabilities
w/incentives w/assurances
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You cant motivate but you sure can
de-motivate. . .
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Demotivators Hall of Shame

• Surprises at the annual employee review
• Micro-management
• Public criticism
• Asking for one behavior rewarding another
• Unachievable deadlines
• Asking for input then ignoring it
• Preferential treatment
• Empty phases

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Avoid procedures/systems that send the wrong
message

• People are expendable
• Some people are more valued then others
• Employees are not trustworthy
• Employees arent capable of making good decisions

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Creating an Environment for Success

• Articulate the organizations mission
• Recognize appreciate contributions
• Provide clear congruent feedback
• Deal firmly/respectfully with performance issues
• Eliminate obstacles be advocate for staff
• Share organizational data

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Knowledge is Power

• Incentive for increased levels of certification
• Tuition assistance for secondary education
• In-house training continuing education
• Cross training appreciation training
• Skill based compensation programs
• Succession planning
• Individual employee development plans

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High Training Level for Wastewater Treatment
Plant Operators
Treatment Plant Operators
Grade II (Minimum required)
0
Grade III
0
Grade IV (Maximum)
10
100.0
Total
10
100.0
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Tuition Assistance, In-House Training
Continuing Education

• MSD funds annually in OPS budget for employee
  tuition assistance
• MSD offers annual continuing education training
  for WW and collection system certification
  maintenance
• MSD offers a variety of lunch learn in-house
  training opportunities around pertinent WW
  industry topics

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Cross Training Opportunities

• Implemented comprehensive cross training between
  plant operations, utility maintenance (i.e.
  mechanical, electrical, instrumentation),
  facility maintenance, and process control (i.e.
  PLC SCADA)
• Implemented cross training opportunities between
  plant and collection system divisions

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Skill Based Pay - Maintenance

• Developed comprehensive skill based compensation
  program for all maintenance disciplines
• Predicated on compensation increases as defined
  skill acquisition is demonstrated
• Individual employee paced - field demonstration
  of skills
• Serves to dampen/eliminate pay comparison
  complaints since they are skill acquisition
  defined
• Apprentice Journeyman Specialist designations
  define ranges for compensation adjustments
• Organic system in that periodically evaluate
  system improvements with respect to defined
  skills, etc.
• Working on parallel system for operations with
  opportunities for cross pollination of
  employees to broaden employee versatility and
  value to organization

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Succession Planning

• Recognize eventual brain drain associated with
  aging workforce
• MSD has very low turnover which magnifies
  potential affects in this regard
• Initiated comprehensive corporate succession
  planning effort to identify needs available
  resources for future
• Initiated individual employee development plans
  as well as potential leadership development
  opportunities for existing staff

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Individual Employee Development

• Bore out of succession planning effort
• Met with each employee to define their current
  skills/aptitudes as well as inquire about their
  interest for the future
• In conjunction with known succession planning
  needs established employee development plans for
  each individual
• Developed leadership development training for
  those interested and with identified potential
• NO guarantees NO cherry picking of particular
  employees for specific roles with respect to
  succession planning
• Helped to frame funding needs for budget planning