Enjoy this classic film from one of our landmark projects, the South Tahoe (Calif.) Public Utility Project. Before they joined forces to become CH2M HILL, company founders Holly Cornell, Jim Howland, Burke Hayes & Fred Merryfield (CH2M) teamed up with Clair A. Hill and Associates to help design and construct the world's first full-scale, advanced wastewater treatment facility. The video includes an appearance by then California Governor
and future President Ronald Reagan.

The Spokane County Water Reclamation Facility design-build-operate project in Washington, which will significantly reduce pollution going into the Spokane River and Lake Spokane, began operations six months ahead of schedule and $1 million under budget. A dedication ceremony held Dec. 1 celebrated the facility launch and marked the start of 20 years of operations by CH2M HILL.

Twelve years ago, Spokane County began planning a new water reclamation facility to serve long-term regional wastewater treatment needs. The new facility uses state-of-the-art membrane filtration technology to achieve treatment levels for nutrients that are among the nation’s most stringent. It has initial capacity to treat up to 8 million gallons of wastewater daily, with the capability to expand up to 24 million gallons a day. The plant’s sustainable design recovers energy used in several processes to produce electricity that helps run the facility. Using this renewable energy will help the environment and reduce electrical costs for the county. All non-process buildings are designed to meet LEED™ Silver criteria.

 

The cities of Temple and San Marcos recently were recognized in the Texas Municipal League Excellence Awards program. Temple was honored in the “City Spirit” category for its Strategic Investment Zone Program that improved 10 key gateways into the city. The program incorporates code enforcement efforts, code enhancements and economic development incentives to encourage redevelopment and improve the quality of life in those zones, utilizing public and private partnerships with both individual property owners and private investors. San Marcos was recognized in the Public Works category for its Wonder World Drive Extension Project that involved 10 years of efforts by the city, its citizens, the Texas Department of Transportation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The initial project goal was to relieve heavy truck and through traffic in downtown and historic neighborhoods. However, it evolved to incorporate parks, hike and bike trails, water quality measures and natural resource preservation, creating a sustainable city amenity to be enjoyed for generations.

CH2M HILL has operated the City of San Marcos’ wastewater treatment plant since October 1994 and the City of Temple’s plant since October 2005.

 

CH2M HILL employees in Hoboken, N.J., teamed up with the North Hudson Sewerage Authority to “Chip in for the Children” and brought smiles to the faces of more than 80 youngsters at the annual Elks Children’s Christmas Party. Richard Wolff, NHSA chairman; Frank Raia, NHSA commissioner; Phil Reeve, project manager; and Steve Hudock, construction site manager, all attended the joyful event. The Hoboken project also held its second annual toy drive, and “Chip in for the Children” donated the remainder of the 80-plus toys that were delivered to the event. CH2M HILL has provided operations and maintenance services for the authority since 1989.

CH2M HILL employees participated in the fifth annual City of Johns Creek, Ga., Founders Day celebration, a weeklong event marking the city’s incorporation and kicking off the holiday season. Activities included a holiday workshop, Toys for Tots drive, holiday book reading, a children’s craft workshop, lighting of the official city tree and dreidel, signing Christmas cards for the military and the “Santa Jam” children's party. The celebration culminates with the Founders Day parade, which this year included 80 float entries, 2,000 participants and some 8,000 spectators. CH2M HILL’s parade entry, “Together from the Start,” highlighted the company’s five-year partnership providing a variety of municipal services for the city.

 

CH2M HILL will join with our partners at the University of Kansas School of Public Administration to present a FREE preconference session on public-private collaboration as part of the upcoming 2012 Transforming Local Government Conference in Kansas City, Mo., April 18-20. The session, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., April 17, will feature presentations by leading academics and practitioners on emerging forms and practices in public-private collaboration and will encourage speaker/audience engagement on new approaches to meeting some of our more daunting public service challenges. The preconference is part of a KU-CH2M HILL partnership formed last year designed to educate emerging local government leaders in new strategies for delivery of services; develop thought leaders and collaborative capacity in local government organizations; and conduct research on excellence in public-private collaboration.

 

CH2M HILL’s Valerie Garcia, assistant project manager at San Diego (Calif.) County’s Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant, recently was elected to the Southwest Membrane Operators Association board of directors. SWMOA, an affiliate of the American Membrane Technology Association, is a membrane operators group representing Arizona, California, Nevada and Hawaii that provides a forum to exchange information, share experiences and knowledge, obtain training and acquire continuing education credits necessary for Operator Certification requirements. Garcia also represents Twin Oaks in several San Diego County Water Authority programs including the small contractor outreach and opportunities and internship.

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The start of a new year provides a time to reflect back on accomplishments and resolve to make improvements in the year ahead. If CH2M HILL made New Year’s resolutions, one that would make the list every year is to improve our safety performance.

As I reflect on 2011 from a safety perspective, we continue to make numerous strides toward our goal of Target Zero. For the second year in a row, CH2M HILL earned top honors from the National Safety Council, earning the Occupational Safety Award of Excellence for multiple site locations with no recordable incidents for the year. We also were one of seven companies to receive the Corporate Culture of Safety Award in recognition of companies receiving more than 50 awards from the NSC. Actually, we far exceeded that benchmark, receiving 221 NSC workplace safety achievement awards from 121 locations – almost twice the number we received last year.

And I’m particularly pleased to note that our Operations & Maintenance Business Group led the way. Of those 221 awards, 111 of them went to us. All told, we received over 300 safety awards from the NSC and various state agencies and organizations, as well as internal CH2M HILL honors.

Naturally, these achievements are only realized when all of our employees step up and focus on safety as part of our Everyday Excellence commitment. Two individuals whose dedication to ensuring all our employees go home safe every day earned significant recognition. Regional Health and Safety Manager Sean Kriloff was named one of 40 leaders under age 40 as a National Safety Council Rising Star of Safety. Western Region business group manager Rob Kuta was recognized with CH2M HILL’s highest Health & Safety Award, the fourth such award to an O&M employee in three years.

Those accolades are a great testament to our efforts, but we can always do better. That’s why every year we resolve to improve our safety record. For our clients, this means our employees come to your projects each day focused on working safely to protect themselves, those around them, and the community at large. We’ve been accused of being “obsessed” with safety—a label we wear proudly!

Thank you for all your support in 2011, and I offer my best wishes for an exciting, prosperous and, of course, a safe 2012.

Respectfully,

Elisa M. Speranza
President

Jan. 18-20
U.S. Conference of Mayors
Winter Meeting
Washington, D.C.

Jan. 21-23
Georgia Municipal Association Mayors’ Day Conference
Atlanta

Jan. 30-Feb. 2
WEF/AWWA Utility Management Conference
Miami

Jan. 31-Feb. 1
Governing Outlook in the States and Localities 2012
Washington, D.C.

Feb. 9-11
Colorado City and County Management Association Annual Conference
Glenwood Springs