Johns Creek finds success in infrastructure management through public-private partnership

Last year, the City of Johns Creek, Georgia, filled 625 potholes, replaced 6,100 square feet of concrete sidewalk, marked 14 miles of pavement, and mowed 600 miles of right-of-way.

The number of city employees needed to accomplish these tasks? Zero.

That's because Johns Creek – a North Fulton County community of about 70,000 residents and the state's 10th-largest city—relies on a private partner to manage the Public Works Department and provide a wide range of public works services. From stormwater management and ditch maintenance to transportation planning, street maintenance and signage, public works services are handled by the private-sector partner.
   
What Johns Creek is finding, as have other cities across Georgia, is that partnering with a private firm can be the most effective, efficient way to maintain and manage public infrastructure. In Johns Creek's case, it really was the only practical approach, too. The brand-new city was incorporated on Dec. 1, 2006, and it immediately needed to assume responsibility for all systems infrastructure previously handled by Fulton County.
  
As it embarked on cityhood, Johns Creek had no revenue to invest in staff or equipment, and it had high expectations of increased focus on streets and roads, so city founders evaluated proposals from three firms – ultimately selecting CH2M HILL OMI, the operations and maintenance division of CH2M HILL. The company blends operations and maintenance experts, engineers and specialty contractors into one seamless team directly focused on one goal: to flawlessly serve the city and its citizens.
   
Over the past year, the partnership has proven to be an effective approach. In fact, in January, the partnership between the City of Johns Creek and CH2M HILL OMI was recognized with a prestigious 2007 Public/Private Partnership Award from The United States Conference of Mayors.

Steps to success
So how does the partnership benefit the city? One advantage is its unique ability to leverage resources and to flex those resources as needed. In Johns Creek, the public works director has immediate access to engineering and planning experts from the private partner that can, for example, help the city conduct traffic studies to consider raising or lowering speed limits. Professional engineers specifically dedicated to the Johns Creek public works department can tap the knowledge of corporate colleagues, a resource typically not available in city-operated public works departments.
   
Johns Creek also benefits from the private partner's "lessons learned" through years of public works services delivery. A series of well-defined business processes and "best practice" metrics now govern various aspects of daily Johns Creek operations, improving efficiency and customer satisfaction.
   
A best practice that has been deployed in Johns Creek is the 24/7 operation of a citizen call center. Anyone can call anytime to report a traffic light is out, a pothole needs to be repaired, or a broken tree limb needs to be removed. Call-center employees can quickly dispatch the call to the field services or traffic services team, which will mobilize resources as appropriate. Complete GIS-based maps help responders quickly manage requests and immediately determine whether a reported problem is within city boundaries. A return call to the citizen when the problem is resolved completes the process.
   
"The city's 24-hour phone line is a wonderful thing! The immediate response we've gotten when we've called with questions or concerns has been nothing short of astounding!" wrote one citizen in an e-mail to City Hall in April. "I just don't recall living in a place where the government is so user-friendly!"
   
And, Johns Creek citizens voted to become a city, in part, to ensure a stronger focus on the streets, sidewalks, signage and other infrastructure that fell within city limits. For example, when the private partner began to assess the condition of city streets, it found hundreds of potholes in need of repair. So, a "pothole posse" was formed for Johns Creek to stamp out more than 400 potholes in just one month. A similar innovative effort quickly improved traffic signal loops to keep traffic flowing more smoothly on city streets.
   
"I continue to be amazed at all of the little (or not so little) road/safety construction projects I see around the city," another citizen recently wrote. "Some are new and some are restoration …Thanks for the good work!!"


Benefits to citizens

One of the biggest financial benefits to Johns Creek: All of this work can be accomplished without the city having to purchase a single piece of equipment. The company provides the right piece of "yellow iron" for the task of the day, whether that means bucket trucks to repair traffic signals or backhoes to clear out drainage ditches. The city doesn't own, maintain or store the equipment, and it never sits idle in a public works yard.
   
Similarly, Johns Creek can deploy the best talent for the task. For one, the company's ability to provide opportunities for training and career development not typically available in city operations helps it attract high-caliber people. Johns Creek also can bring in part-time resources as needed, for example, a horticulturalist to help with a particular park project, instead of keeping specialized workers on the city's payroll full-time. In addition, with the city's strict performance requirements and the company's own performance-oriented culture, the firm requires every member of the public works team to meet high standards. If they can't, the company has the flexibility to reach out to other potential team members to join the public works team instead. As the public works director in Johns Creek says, "We're a diverse team but we're united under one mission to serve citizens, to help cities, and to partner to get great work done."
   
"Johns Creek would not have been able to achieve all that we have in our first year were it not for our partnership," says Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker. "The team of professionals, the customer-service orientation they bring and their access to a wide range of resources mean our citizens are getting a tremendous return on their tax dollars."
   
Just like there's no one-size-fits-all technology solution, forming a public-private partnership is not the answer for every community's public works program. But for Johns Creek, which needed to quickly mobilize a public works department and meet the high expectations of its citizens, or for other communities looking for new ways to serve citizens, there are clear benefits to partnering with a company whose core competency is operating and maintaining infrastructure.
   
With its Georgia operations headquartered in metro Atlanta, CH2M HILL employs more than 1,400 people in the state and serves more than 30 Georgia communities. v