Chapter Works
An electronic publication of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the American Public Works Association

May 2024 Newsletter

President's Corner

By Gaynelle L. Hart, Director of Public Works, City of Lynchburg, VA

Dear APWA Mid- Atlantic Chapter members and friends:


First of all, allow me to introduce myself to our chapter members and friends. I am Gaynelle Hart, I currently live in Lynchburg, Virginia. I originally hail from the Cleveland, Ohio area and I am still a huge Cleveland and Ohio State sports fan. I have worked for Lynchburg Public Works for 37 years starting as a maintenance crew leader in public works operations and currently I serve as the director of the department.


I would like to give a heartfelt thanks to Denise Nelson for her leadership of our Chapter and Chapter Board of Directors over the past year. Her energy, enthusiasm, inclusiveness and creativity energized the chapter and brought new faces and ideas to the table to help improve our chapter. Denise will be a tough act to follow.


The 2024 annual Chapter Conference, held at Hotel Roanoke, is behind us and what a great conference it was. Thanks to the City of Roanoke staff, our chapter conference committee, numerous volunteers, our chapter administrator, Erica Trout, and the City of Lynchburg staff for your hard work, creativity, perseverance to ensure everyone had an educational and entertaining conference. I stand ready to assist, Jeff Wilkerson, President- Elect, with the 2025 Chapter Conference in Ocean City, Maryland.


My initial goal as President is to ensure a smooth transition between myself and Denise and to continue the initiatives she began as well as to welcome our new chapter board members into the fold. Please note that our chapter membership is down slightly which we believe may be due to implementation glitches with the national APWA website. I asked that you check your membership status and if you have not done so renew your membership or consider becoming a member in the next few months.


Finally, it is a privilege and an honor to be elected President of the Mid- Atlantic Chapter of APWA. I have been involved in our chapter starting early in my career; first by attending conferences and then helping to plan them. I had the pleasure to serve on the planning committee to develop the Public Works Institute, a benefit of being a APWA member and an accomplishment we can be proud of as a chapter. I have had the opportunity to attend several APWA national conferences and I encourage you to do so as funds and schedules allow.


If you have any suggestions or input about how to make the chapter better, email me at: gaynelle.hart@lynchburgva.gov


Sincerely,


Gaynelle

Gaynelle L. Hart

President, APWA Mid-Atlantic Chapter

Director of Public Works, City of Lynchburg, VA

gaynelle.hart@lynchburgva.gov

Mid-Atlantic Chapter of APWA -Conference 2024

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of APWA Annual Conference was held at the Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke, VA on April 30 through May 3, 2024.


The conference kick -off event began on Tuesday, April 30th with a golf tournament at the Hanging Rock Golf Course in Salem, VA. The golf tournament proceeds are used to fund two types of scholarships. The first is student scholarships for members or members' dependents who enroll in an accredited college or university; the second is for professional development for chapter members.


Wednesday morning, May 1st, featured the equipment roadeo competition and touch a truck event held at the Berglund Center. Participants had the opportunity to compete in eleven different events including backhoe, bucket truck, knuckle boom truck, front loader, refuse truck, snowplow, street sweeper, CDL skills, and zero turn mower.


The kids had a blast at the touch a truck event. Over 450 first graders from Roanoke City schools attended. Students were thrilled to see the equipment in operation, clapping, laughing and jumping, as the sound of air horns blown by the students resounded through the air. The students also learned about stormwater thanks to Henrico County and Roanoke City Stormwater Divisions. Students received their own safety vest, hard hat and educational materials.


Thanks to the Cities of Roanoke, Salem & Lynchburg, the Towns of Blacksburg &Vinton, Roanoke County and the Western Virginia Water Authority for providing the equipment and staffing these events.


Wednesday afternoon three people participated in a Rock the Block event where participants planted a tree and picked up trash along Roanoke’s city streets. This community service event may be something we want to consider expanding at future conferences.


Next up was the official grand opening of the exhibitor’s hall with a carnival themed social. Hotel Roanoke provided tasty carnival food and drink as attendees took time to visit over forty-seven exhibitors and network with colleagues.

Wednesday’s activities rounded out with twenty people attending a YP/ PWI Poo & Brew social featuring a tour of the Roanoke Regional Water Pollution Control Plant and culminating in a stop at the Twisted Track Brewery.


Thursday morning began with a warm welcome from Roanoke’s Mayor the Honorable Sherman P Lea Sr. followed by a keynote address from Lynchburg City Manager Wynter Benda. Next, the chapter recognized our outstanding public servants, consultants and award-winning projects in our chapter awards ceremony.


The Roanoke Center for Animal Care and Protection offered opportunities for conference participants to walk shelter dogs through downtown Roanoke. It provided exercise for the people and allowed time away from the stressful shelter environment for the dogs and shelter staff.


In addition to networking opportunities, we had over thirty-seven technical sessions on various public works-related topics such as asset management, environmental, education and technology and transportation, including three equipment demonstrations.


Finally, attendees had fun at sports-themed reception at the Virginia Transportation Museum. The music was sizzling with our own Public Works Institute graduate and rockin’ dee jay, Timyarn Benjamin. The food and drink were plentiful, and the weather was beautiful.


A heartfelt thanks goes out to the conference planning committee and especially to the staff of the City of Lynchburg and the City of Roanoke. See you next year in Ocean City, Maryland. The Mid- Atlantic Chapter of APWA Annual Conference was held at the Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke, VA on April 30 through May 3, 2024.

Support for Funding Environmental Justice Communities

By Denise Nelson, P.E., CFM, ENV SP, LEED AP, APWA Past President

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE) set up national and regional Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (EJ TCTACs) to remove barriers and improve accessibility to federal funding for underserved communities with environmental justice concerns. The EJ TCTACs help organizations navigate federal grant application systems, write strong grant proposals, and effectively manage grant funding. They also provide guidance on community engagement, meeting facilitation, and translation and interpretation services to remove barriers and improve accessibility for communities with environmental justice concerns.


The three national EJ TCTACs are at the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC), the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). The national EJ TCTACs are not taking funding requests; instead, they are supporting the 13 regional EJ TCTACs. ISC supports the EJ TCTACs in EPA Regions 1-3. The National Wildlife Federation is the Region 3 EJ TCTAC serving the states of DE, MD, PA, VA, and WV and DC.


The National Wildlife Federation (Environmental Justice, Health and Community Revitalization Program, Climate and Energy Program and Choose Clean Water Coalition), in partnership with the University of Maryland’s (UMD) Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH) and Environmental Finance Center (EFC) and multiple community-based partners received $12 million to lead the Mid-Atlantic Thriving Communities Hub (MATCH). They will work closely with multiple community-based partners as core partners. Using a ‘hub’ approach, the core partners will act as ‘core hubs’, and the community-based ‘hubs’ will allow for service delivery to be more accessible to potential program participants, both geographically as well as culturally, due to their on-the-ground community presence.


The community hubs include Morgan State University, West Virginia State University; Centro De Apoyo Familiar, Empower DC, South Baltimore Community Land Trust, Overbrook Environmental Education Center, Sussex Health & Environmental Network/Sentinels of Eastern Shore Health. To volunteer resources or to inquire about technical assistance, please call: (202) 792-5350 or 1-800-757-1405.


Resources:

EPA website, ISC website, National Wildlife Federation website

2023 Big Year for Mid-Atlantic Food Scrap Programs

By Ryan Duckett

Cities and counties are increasingly providing a new service to many of their citizens: Source Separated Organics (SSO) collection –specifically of food scraps— for municipal composting. A common driver for diversion of the organic material from landfills is to avoid degradation of disposed food into methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to meet local climate action plan goals.


Mid-Atlantic local government programs have been geared towards collection from residents. Howard County, Maryland’s program, which has participation by about 18,000 of its eligible 38,000 households, last year announced a coverage expansion of 6,000 more households. The program has diverted an average of over 200 tons of food scraps to its Alpha Ridge composting facility annually since its inception in 2013.  Prince George’s County started its food waste collection with a 200-resident pilot and owns the Prince George’s County Organic Composting Facility, a 200-acre site in Upper Marlboro. It hopes to expand curbside service by early 2024 to all 180,000 of its residents currently receiving trash services.


In Virginia, Arlington County rolled out its curbside food scrap program in 2021. It started by hosting town halls and supplying residents with educational materials, a 2-gallon kitchen scrap bucket, and compostable bags. In the first half of 2023 the City of Alexandria started a pilot curbside program.


Also in 2023, DC launched a pilot curbside program to supplement its 10+ residential drop-off sites. Other mid-Atlantic local governments offering food scrap collection, either via drop-off or curbside, include Takoma Park, MD; Fairfax County, VA; and the VA Cities of Falls Church and Richmond. In 2023, the City of Baltimore received a $4 million Federal Infrastructure grant to construct a solar-powered composting facility projected to divert 12,000 tons of organics.


Finally, several states in recent years have implemented “waste bans” targeting recovery of organics generated by certain entities. Maryland’s HB 264 mandates organics diversion went into effect in January of 2023, requiring entities generating two tons of organic waste per week to find disposal alternatives for the material if processing capacity exists within 30 miles.


With the combination of recent state and local government-led efforts, we can probably anticipate more programs in the near future. Local government public works programs will be key to their success throughout the various planning and implementation processes.


Ryan Duckett is a professional engineer registered in Virgina, North Carolina and Puerto Rico. He is also a management consultant for multi-faceted issues in solid waste management, a role he has served his entire career. He focuses on advisory services for materials management out of Geosyntec Consultant’s Richmond office, addressing waste collection, transfer, recycling, and processing through analysis, studies, design, and other work including financial, economic, and operational consulting. Ryan is on the Board of Directors of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) Old Dominion Chapter and leads its Technical Committee. He serves as President of the Virginia Composting Council.


Sources:

Community composting programs gain foothold in Bay region | Pollution & Solutions | bayjournal.com


Howard County Executive Calvin Ball Announces Significant Expansion of Curbside Food Scraps Pickup Program | Howard County (howardcountymd.gov)


4 New Maryland Laws to Spur Local Composting – Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ilsr.org)

New Chapter Leadership Roster

By Denise Nelson, P.E., CFM, ENV SP, LEED AP

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter Board consists of 19 volunteers: four officers that rotate annually (Vice President, President-Elect, President, and Immediate Past President), four other roles (Treasurer, Secretary, Historian, and Delegate), and 11 Directors.


At the Membership Meeting at our annual conference, these professionals were elected by the members to the indicated positions:

  • President Gaynelle Hart
  • President-Elect Jeff Wilkerson
  • Vice President Amy Linderman
  • Director 2 Tony Russell, Jr.
  • Director 3 Matt Stolte
  • Director 4 Jason Calbert


Also at the Membership Meeting, these professionals were appointed by the Board to the indicated positions:

  • Secretary Catherine Sydnor
  • Delegate Jim Long
  • Alternate Delegate Jason Calbert
  • Director 5 Julian Brooks (his first term)
  • Director 6 Travis Davis (his first term)


Committee Chairs: Jennifer Caples, Sharyn Fox, Catie McCarthy, Deana Williams, Matt Adams, Harold Caples, Renee Lafollette, Monica Barnette, Becca Russell, Darryl Syler, Don Cole, Kyle Logue, Scott Smith, and Terrell Hughes.


Keith Pugh, APWA Immediate Past-President, conducted the swearing in of officers. This included reviewing the APWA “Standards of Professional Conduct,” providing an admonition, and administering the “Oath of Office.”


Congratulations to all our new and returning chapter leaders!



Resources:

APWA Standards of Professional Conduct

https://www.apwa.org/wp-content/uploads/APWA-Standards-Professional-Conduct_2023.pdf

APWA Oath for Office 

https://www.apwa.org/resource/oath-of-office-for-chapter-or-branch-officers/

Meeting MS4 and Chesapeake Bay Program Compliance While Achieving 90% Savings on Phosphorus Reduction in Lynchburg, Virginia

By Sivan Schlecter, Senior Marketing Analyst, OptiRTC, Inc.

Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Lynchburg sits along the historic James River, Virginia’s largest source of drinking water supply for 2.7 million people. The river also drains into the Chesapeake Bay, making the City of Lynchburg subject to special conditions for its MS4 system. Upstream from Richmond and at the center of Virginia’s fifth largest metro area, the City needed a new approach to meet its TMDL permit while protecting both water bodies from stormwater pollution.


To help meet its MS4 permit and Chesapeake Bay TMDL Action Plan goals, the City of Lynchburg retrofitted an existing regional detention facility, Warren Pond, with Opti’s Continuous Monitoring and Adaptive Control (CMAC). CMAC integrates data directly from in-field sensors with real-time weather forecast data to monitor performance and make automated and predictive control decisions. In doing so, the City of Lynchburg actively manages stormwater storage and flows across its watershed. Using the Opti CMAC platform enables them to increase runoff residency time, mitigate peak flows, and generate water quality credits.


Since 2017, Opti’s CMAC controls over 158,000 CF by utilizing the dry pond’s available capacity. By retrofitting Warren Pond with Opti’s CMAC, the City of Lynchburg achieves 5% of its pollution reduction goals for Chesapeake Bay TMDL and 100% of its local TMDL nutrient target goals to meet its MS4 permit. To learn more about how the City of Lynchburg is benefiting, read Opti’s case study here.

City of Virginia Beach’s Phil Koetter selected for the APWA’s Mid-Atlantic Chapter Distinguished Service Award

Phil is a familiar face within the Mid-Atlantic Chapter, he has held several leadership positions, including President. He has also served on the Board of Directors and numerous committees.


From 2014 to 2021, Phil served on the Steering Committee that created the Public Works Institute (PWI). The Mid-Atlantic Chapter PWI has become a sustainable training program with 228 participants and 129 graduates since its creation in 2015. He has provided presentations at chapter meetings and actively created and implemented Board objectives, chapter goals and trainings.


Additionally, in 2020-2021, as the immediate Past President, Phil chaired our Chapter Conference planning committee for the second time in as many years due to the COVID pandemic. He successfully leveraged the enthusiasm of the City’s staff as well as our membership to return to a sense of normalcy with the return of our Chapter Conference in Virginia Beach after a 2-year hiatus. He continues to serve the chapter on the awards committee.


If you have worked with Phil on the board or committee you know he is dedicated, dependable and compassionate about serving this association and its members. Thank you for your service, Phil, and congratulations on your achievement!

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2024 - 2025

OFFICERS/DIRECTORS


 Officers


President

Gaynelle L. Hart

Director of Public Works 

City of Lynchburg, VA


President Elect

Jeff Wilkerson

Director of Public Works

City of Martinsburg, WV


Immediate Past-President

Denise Nelson, PE, CFM, ENV SP, LEED AP

Director of Resilience and Grants

Launch! Consulting Inc

Richmond, VA


Vice-President

Amy Linderman, P.E.

Department of Public Works

Fairfax, VA



Secretary

Catherine Sydnor

Engineer

Kimley-Horn

Richmond, VA


Treasurer

David Bradshaw, PE

Principal

Clark Nexsen

Virginia Beach, VA


Chapter Delegate

James W. Long, III, PE, DBIA

Project Manager

Rummel, Klepper & Kahl, LLP

Virginia Beach, VA


Chapter Delegate (Alternate)

Jason Calbert

Administrator Street Maintenance 

Department of Public Works

Newport News, VA


Historian

Dawn V. Odom

Planning and Investment Manager 

Virginia Department of Transportation

Suffolk, VA

Directors


Julian Brooks

Precision Safe Sidewalks

NC | VA | WV | DC | NY | W-PA


Jennifer Caples

Whitman, Requardt & Associates

Richmond, VA


Travis Davis

Arcadis

Virginia Beach, VA


Shwan Fatah, P.E.

Wastewater Collection Division

Fairfax County, VA


Yosef Kebede

Department of Public Works

Howard County, MD


Ryn Kennedy

Engineering and Environmental Services Henrico County, VA


Renee LaFollette

Department of Public Works Capital Projects Leesburg, VA


Kyle Logue, P.E.

Greeley and Hansen

Richmond, VA


Anthony Russell

Department of Public Works and Transportation

Baltimore County, MD


Ian Shaw

Department of Public Works

Roanoke, VA


Matt Stolte, P.E., ENV SP

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA

APWA Mid-Atlantic Chapter | 5007 C Victory Blvd, #280 | Yorktown, VA 23693
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