Page 6 - Jan-Feb2019

TCAPWA/SWANA CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS By Shannon Carey

2018 Conference Overview

Hundreds of Public Works professionals took
Music City by storm Oct. 21-23, for the annual
conference of the Tennessee Chapter of the
American Public Works Association and Solid
Waste Association of North America. Based in
the Hilton Doubletree in downtown Nashville,
the conference was three days of fun, fellowship,
networking, charitable giving and professional
development.

Activities included a golf outing, Young
Professionals gatherings, technical sessions,
demonstrations, the Equipment Rodeo, a Nashville
Predators hockey game, and a tour of Nashville’s
historic Omohundro Water Treatment Plant. Plenty
of exhibitors and vendors were on hand with booths
and displays. Silent auctions, raffles and prize
drawings made sure plenty of participants went
home with something special while contributing to
a good cause.

Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation
President Butch Spyridon welcomed attendees
during the Host Branch Reception Monday evening,
followed by a talk by special guest speaker Peter
Laviolette, Head Coach of the Nashville Predators.

In attendance were Chapter President Ryan
McReynolds, President-Elect Phillip Jones, Vice
President Justin Holland, Executive Director Mark
Miller, and many more board members and officials.
We would like to thank all our sponsors and
vendors, our hosts from Metro Nashville, Chairman
John Anderson and the entire Conference
Committee for all their hard work. Also noteworthy
for their work in registration for the conference
and the Equipment Rodeo are Bonnie Dodson and
Kimberly Strong. We also send thanks to all the
volunteers who helped make this conference run
smoothly.

Touring Omohundro Water Treatment Plant

A group of 20 conference-goers spent Monday
afternoon on a fascinating tour of Nashville’s
Omohundro Water Treatment Plant. Listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, Omohundro
is at once a tribute to the past and a vision of the
future. The plant is still operational, and the historic
buildings house a thoroughly modern system for
keeping clean, safe water flowing in Nashville.

Gilbert Nave, Assistant Director of Water
Operations for Metro Nashville Water Services, led
the tour, taking visitors across a footbridge to the
pumphouse on the Cumberland River, and down
spiral staircases into the depths of the George Reyer
Pump Station to view equipment originally placed
in the 1870s.

In the nearby Omohundro Water Treatment

6 TPW January/February 2019