City of Morgan Hill Communications Assessment

3. A Special Ops Sgt. will ultimately approve the messaging and determine whether the Nixle alert gets sent via SMS (text) and/or email. Public Works, Utilities The Public Works Department has multiple responsibilities, ranging frommanaging its water service and wastewater collection to addressing traffic issues to overseeing the City’s Capital Improvements Program (CIP). Morgan Hill also has its own Enterprise Fund for water and wastewater, which is run through the Public Works Department. Tripepi Smith spoke with three members of the Public Works Department: Public Works Director Karl Bjarke, Senior Engineer Scott Creer and Utility Services Deputy Director Dan Repp. The Department receives the majority of customer/resident complaints through phone calls to the Public Works front desk. Sometimes, other City teammates will route complaints to the Department via internal email as well. One of the more common requests is to repair roads— these requests can come through phone calls to the Department, the Mayor (based on inquiries/questions he receives), the City’s social media sites, and emails. There is no single ‘Communications’ role within the Department: multiple teammates have the ability to update content on the City website. Interviewees pointed out a reasonable concern: transparency efforts can lead to constantly having to update project dates and statuses on the City website. There can be multiple variables that negatively affect project timelines. If project information on the website is inaccurate, it could invite unnecessary commentary or inquiries about project statuses. Addressing these inquiries requires time, energy and resources from Department staff. On a related note, the Department’s Project Engineers do provide information on a weekly basis to Cynthia Iwanaga (Management Analyst) for “The Scoop.” This weekly blog post and email highlights project progress (namely, construction) that might affect the day-to-day routines of City residents and commuters. Recently, Public Works (working with Maureen) tested out the “Community Engagement Strategy” document for use on the East Dunne Hillside Tank Project that includes: team members and contact info, time frames, background information on the project, communication objectives, a list of stakeholders, related projects, and a Communications action plan. Currently, there is no Emergency Communications Plan for Public Works emergencies, such as a broken water main or power outage. Operations/Utilities The Operations Division handles the day-to-day maintenance and administration of the city's water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as street and park maintenance. Within the Operations Division, Utility Services has three divisions of its own: Water Division, Program Maintenance Division, and Sewer Division. The City supplies water to approximately 12,900 residential, commercial, and industrial customers. 23 Dan Repp is specifically in charge of the City’s Urban Water Master Plan (UWMP), its Water & Wastewater Systems Master Plans (WSMP), and its Recycled Water Master Plan

23 http://www.morganhill.ca.gov/587/Water-Division

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