When it became apparent that the COVID-19 global pandemic would have a direct and dramatic impact on Sanitation District No. 1 work processes, staffing routines and service delivery, the message from Executive Director Adam Chaney was simple – SD1 would succeed through the crisis with patience, persistence and positivity.
And while those three words would be become the official guideposts for Healthy at SD1, SD1’s comprehensive response to COVID-19, three other words would become just as important – business as usual. The goal, it quickly became clear, was not to merely “get through” the pandemic, but to thrive through it.
In an environment that can only be described as unprecedented chaos, SD1 was forced to reevaluate all facets of the regional storm water and wastewater utility, from how it engages customers to how it keeps staff healthy and safe. New technologies were implemented, processes across the district were enhanced and staff worked together like never before to adapt to the “new normal.”
While the COVID-19 crisis continues, SD1 has demonstrated a nimble and creative approach that stresses patience, persistence and positivity while ensuring the job of reliably providing Northern Kentucky with wastewater and storm water services continues to get done.
Business as Usual
Despite necessary policy and process changes in virtually every department, SD1 has managed to move forward with very limited disruption to daily operations. Here are some examples of how the District has managed to continue its work under these changed circumstances:
- Submitted its Updated Watershed Plan to state and federal regulators ahead of the Amended Consent Decree deadline;
- Worked with local county officials to define the scope of identified priority growth needs;
- Developed a social benefit analysis tool to assist in evaluation of storm water projects;
- Worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to get new pipes running through the flood levee system inspected and also received approval to have SCREAM labeled as an acceptable pipe condition assessment system for their records;
- Created, developed and implemented the SCREAM Structure Module to rank sanitary and storm manholes, catch basins and similar structures similarly to how SD1 currently handles sanitary and storm pipe;
- Employees were able to complete a majority of their annual mandatory safety training online, ahead of schedule, freeing them up to focus on their core responsibilities as the year progresses;
- Expanded project communication outreach, resulting in increased exposure for Clean H2O40 projects;
- Completed an evaluation of potential storm water basin retrofits along with supplemental ArcHydro analysis to identify new areas for potential storm water runoff storage;
- Completed a full review of its Storm Water Rules and Regulations;
- Worked with the City of Florence to adjust the storm water boundary to more accurately and fairly reflect each utility’s storm water service area;
- Modified or installed new flow monitoring hardware and tools under new procedures to address the risk of COVID in sewage and close-proximity installation;
- Initiated and/or implemented numerous capital improvement plan projects earlier than planned, resulting in Amended Consent Decree goals and asset management needs being addressed sooner;
- Completed construction projects that require work within the roadway during this time of lower traffic volume, causing less disruption and resulting in cost savings;
- Completed payroll processing remotely without disruption, including new processes to ensure time cards could be approved remotely and bi-weekly payrolls could be processed remotely;
- Completed all residential and nonresidential billing without disruption using a combination of remote and on-premise processes;
- Modified processes where necessary to ensure that supply line for essential services remained uninterrupted – this included critical purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other safety items;
- Modified accounts payable processes to ensure that vendors continued to receive payment, including remote approval of invoices and twice-a-week processing of checks;
- Completed comprehensive budget process remotely, including creation of stakeholder videos for operations and maintenance budget and capital improvement projects budget, which were shared with the Board of Directors prior to virtual budget discussions;
- Using Citrix and VPN, gave staff the ability to access the same work resources from home that they could from the office, without introducing additional IT security issues;
- Moved forward with Utility Billing System replacement process, using remote tools to communicate with vendors, perform software demonstrations and client reference checks;
- Completed several SCADA projects that were in process when COVID-19 began, including system upgrades at Dry Creek and Western Regional (completed) as well as Eastern Regional (ongoing);
- Moved forward with planned migration to Office 365, including enhancements to email retention software, extensive use of Microsoft Teams for internal meetings, new functionality in PowerPoint (used for Board video presentations) and Microsoft cloud storage to assist with system backups;
- Completed several aerial photography projects, taking advantage of reduced air travel around CVG;
- Ensured employees could complete mandatory annual OSHA fit testing, developing new protocols to provide a safe testing environment;
- Moved the first six months of the fiscal year 2021 annual training catalog to online or web-based programs, minimizing the need for employees to gather for live sessions while maintaining a strong program for safety training;
- Installation of backflow valves and repair of private laterals has continued without disruption;
- Our industrial pretreatment work has continued unhindered by COVID-19 thanks to changed protocols related to sampling and inspection location and following social distancing guidelines;
- Replacement of the Dry Creek Blower continued unimpeded by enhanced safety protocols and was completed on schedule, and the Dry Creek Primary Clarified Rehabilitation Project is underway under similar safety protocols.
Adaptability & Process Improvement
“Business as usual” wouldn’t have been possible without a Lean SD1 culture of adaptability and continuous process improvement. Here are examples of how COVID-19 presented a unique opportunity to improve our processes to better serve our customers and other stakeholders:
- A COVID-19 Response Team was created to provide guidance and support to all departments and staff;
- The team has guided SD1’s response in accordance with national and state protocols, developed a transition plan that allows as many employees as possible to continue their work remotely, focusing on employee safety and outlining successive levels of response as the pandemic escalates or deescalates; • Increased the security of the main office back parking lot by installing a camera for remote monitoring, an intercom system and a remote open button at the main gate;
- Conducted a complete review of the guidelines and standards for grates on the inlets and outlets of SD1’s assets and the prospect of retrofitting existing inlets and outlets to meet these standards;
- Collaboration and communication was improved by moving internal and external meetings online through the use of new technologies such as Microsoft Teams, WebEx and Zoom. This has included pre-bid meetings, bid openings, employment interviews, job and safety training, team meetings, performance evaluations and many other scenarios;
- Created a review and approval process for all full-staff emails to ensure accuracy, consistency and effective messaging – this has been particularly important during COVID-19;
- Transitioned the Customer Care center to individual agent homes while providing the same level of service as in the contact center. Reduced call volume during the pandemic also allowed the contact center to begin conducting outbound call campaigns for topics such as collections and e-bill registration;
- Developed and refined a new process for creating, vetting and sharing standard operating procedures. This also included an inventory of all departmental policies, SOPs and guidelines;
- Adapted the Illicit Discharge Program and Stream Monitoring Biological Assessment Program to allow this important work to continue under modified procedures that ensured the health and safety of SD1 staff, such as conducting sample analysis at SD1 as opposed to in the field in case a safety issue were to arise;
- Many processes were transitioned to paperless with the help of VPN technology, including easement requests, tapper and inspection documents, plan submittals, accounting and finance documents, submission of sanitary plans and projects to the Kentucky Division of Water, etc.;
- Streamlined and improved the line-locate process, eliminating missed or delayed line locate requests and thus ensuring full compliance with the law;
- Converting Certified Tapper training to online, reducing staff time associated with in-person training;
- As part of our COVID-19 response, online forms were created to allow staff to report health information prior to returning to the office;
- New workflows were set up to assist with document retention and ensure that SD1 is complying with state retention rules;
- New policies, procedures and forms were developed in response to changing laws allowing enhanced employee benefit opportunities for those experiencing illness or childcare challenges;
- The video conferencing ability that emerged during COVID-19 has had secondary benefits as well, such as allowing the Asset Management team to more quickly discover and correct an error in Sewer Line Rapid Assessment Tool data collection;
- When COVID-19 travel restrictions prevented a scheduled 4-day on-site training program for the new website content management system, SD1 staff instead participated in a 1.5-day online training, saving $10,000. The staff not only managed to learn the system in preparation for launch, but has subsequently trained numerous additional staff members;
Improved Customer Service
One of the goals of SD1’s Strategic Business Plan is to create a culture of exceptional service by focusing on understanding and meeting the needs of both internal and external customers. Below are examples of work that has advanced that goal during COVID-19:
- To support customers impacted by COVID-19, and in response to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SD1 closed its lobby in March and temporarily suspended penalties, late fees and water disconnections for non-payment. These changes remain in effect;
- In further support of customers, SD1 delayed a planned 5-percent revenue increase for FY21. Instead, increases to the base rate and environmental fee were offset by decreases to the variable rate, continuing the rate restructure, but remaining revenue neutral for FY21;
- A new website was launched during COVID-19, improving the user experience and making it easier for customers to engage with SD1. Highlights of the site include multiple entry points for critical information, topical FAQs, responsive design, full ADA accessibility, and a customized user experience. On the new site, visitors can subscribe to receive emails and/or texts when SD1 posts meeting agendas, news stories, bids, jobs, or other content;
- With the technology in place to allow Customer Care agents to respond to calls in their homes, SD1 is now able to offer expanded contact center hours, which will begin in August;
- Agents now use the chat feature of Microsoft Teams to request support and assistance from senior agents, reducing the time a customer must wait on hold during agent consultations;
- SD1 has maintained an impressive trouble call response time of just 2 hours during COVID-19, ensuring customers receive the same excellent service they are used to;
- SD1 staff performed several “front-door closings,” to keep the easement acquisition process moving forward when people were afraid to leave their homes to execute easement documents;
- Enhanced our Open Records Request process by incorporating new technology such as Dropbox into the document and video delivery process, reducing the time it takes to respond to requests and also resulting in cost savings;
- Converted the Storm Water Credit Application to a fillable PDF form and made it available on the new SD1 website;
- Created social media campaigns to help local families adjust to non-traditional instruction while also ensuring that SD1 meets the educational requirements of our MS4 permit;
- With restrictions on public attendance at Board meetings, utilized a combination of Facebook Live and Microsoft Teams to ensure that all Board members could participate remotely and that the public still had the opportunity for questions and comments;
- Combined multiple tapper applications into one to simplify the process and reduce confusion;
- Conversion of the staff newsletter from a static PDF to a mobile-responsive e-newsletter;
- Implemented daily disinfection of the main office’s frequently touched surfaces such as door knobs, appliances, conference tables, etc.;
- Modified protocols to allow developers to electronically submit a photo of a fee check with the electronic plan/application submittal so that the review process can begin sooner.
### SD1 ###