Engineering

Infrastructure Asset Management

Knowing the condition of the City's infrastructure assets is a vital step in prioritizing the City's limited resources toward infrastructure needs in the most efficient way possible. To do this, Public Works staff makes site visits, performs inspection programs, monitors maintenance logs and commissions specific planning studies and general assessments. One recent high level assessment is the Infrastructure Report Card, which graded the City's assets using grades based on criterion developed by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) guidelines that have been consistently used for almost 2 decades. Another is the Master Plan of Drainage, which was recently completed to help the City prioritize repairs and improvements to the City's drainage system.

The City also benefits from interaction with the public in daily informal ways and in the more formalized committee roles authorized by City Council. The Infrastructure Management Advisory Committee, which works directly with the Public Works Director, has the specific task of helping to shape the priorities of the City Council as it applies to the City's infrastructure.

Once priority projects are identified, they are programmed into the Capital Improvement Plan, which is a 5-year financial model that identifies the project's preliminary budget and year of initiation. The engineering staff serve as project managers through the funding, environmental, design and construction phases of these projects.

Engineering Programs

In addition to project work, the engineering staff also lead efforts for safety, regulatory compliance and operations programs. Storm Water Quality, Traffic Calming and operations of the City's sewer systems are a few examples.