Page 23 - May-June 2021 Vol 39 No 1
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TCAPWA EVENTS AND HIGHLIGHTS
Upper East TN Branch Meets in February By Klair Kimmey
The Upper East Branch meeting speak at chapter and branch meetings. workers with the right skills
was held via Zoom February 25 with Following chapter business, the • Positions with high turnover
an impressive variety of panelists and • Occupations where a highly skilled
presenters on the topic of “Workforce four presenters discussed educational
Recruiting and Retention: Ideas for opportunities in the Public Works field. workforce is retiring
Finding, Developing, and Keeping Great For PSCC, Sami Ghezawi and Christina • Challenges helping workers keep pace
Employees.” Attended by approximately 46 Carbajo represented their programs, and
members and guests, it was sponsored by Anita Ricker and Jama Spicer-Sutton with continuing advances
LDA Engineering, Mattern & Craig, and represented WSCC. • Positions requiring skills that can be
Gresham Smith.
Presenters: Ghezawi is program coordinator for learned on the job
Civil and Construction Engineering • Difficulty in attracting new and more
Sami Ghezawi, Ph.D. and Christina Technology. This program is broken into
Carbajo, Pellissippi State Community two options: diverse talent pools
College (PSCC) Apprenticeships are designed not only
Civil Engineering Technology option: to train employees through classroom
Anita Ricker and Jama Spicer-Sutton, This option is designed to provide critical programs, but also with on-the-job
Walters State Community College job skills in testing and design, estimating, learning, to continue employment.
(WSCC) scheduling and technical reporting, Spicer-Sutton, Dean of the WSCC
Panelists: preparing graduates for entry -level Sevierville Campus, outlined other
positions in a broad range of supervisory programs offered by WSCC that are
Chad Weth, City of Knoxville and management careers related to civil designed to help students and employers.
Tim Phillips, City of Maryville engineering and construction industries. Following the speakers, Scott Jenkins,
Shira McWaters, City of Oak Ridge City of Knoxville Planning and Safety
George DeCroes, City of Kingsport Construction Science option: This Manager, introduced the panelists who
Bryon Fortner, Director for the Upper option prepares students to transfer would be discussing the challenges of the
East Branch, prepared an informative seamlessly to the University of Tennessee hiring process and retention of employees.
session with speakers from area (UT) program in Environmental and Questions included:
community colleges, followed by a panel Soil Sciences, Construction Science Describe your city’s hiring process
discussion of Public Works industry concentration. The curriculum prepares The four cities reported similar
professionals. students to be effective communicators, processes – post the position; have a
The meeting began with updates to perform technical tasks and to gain panel review the applications and provide
on the State Chapter and the National valuable leadership and teamwork skills. a list of names for interviews; interview
Association. Justin Holland, chapter candidates. One challenge mentioned
president and Nick Bradshaw, chapter Carbajo is program coordinator for the is the need to keep the job description
vice president, discussed the upcoming Water Quality Technology Program, a current.
State Conference, which will be held in fairly new major offered at PSCC which What is your city’s application process?
Memphis in November. Another topic began in August 2019. Part of the discussion centered on the
was the National Conference scheduled application process being online vs. paper.
for August 29 through September 1 in St. The Water Quality Technology Program Three of the four use online methods only
Louis, Missouri. degree is designed to prepare students to but offer assistance if that is a barrier to a
Bradshaw reminded attendees that work in a water or wastewater facility and candidate.
the Chapter is accepting nominations to help prepare them for the Grade IV What is a typical timeline?
for the Murphy Snoderly award through state certification exams. Timelines varied from three weeks to
July 19. This award, recognizing a front- almost two months. Most agreed they
line operations employee, is presented What is involved in completing the were positive about a candidate who
yearly at the Tennessee Municipal League coursework/requirements? showed their character by working out
Conference. (See the nomination form on • Water Quality Technology, A.A.S. a two-week notice at their previous
page 22.) employer.
Kimberly Strong, Chapter Delegate (Associate of Applied Science) is a What is working for you (successes)?
and National Diversity and Inclusion 2-year degree The panelists agreed that character
Committee Chair, gave a national update. • 60 credit hours of coursework are and attitude play a role in finding the
Strong reported that national membership required right employees. Training programs for
is 29,190, showing a loss of only about • For a Grade IV certified operator, up new hires and cross training are working
1000 members since the beginning of to 27 credit hours can be awarded for well for some of the cities. Cities are
COVID. Strong also shared information courses also finding it is beneficial to highlight
about the availability of speakers from • Complete site visits and internships are the positive things their employees do
the Diversity and Inclusion Committee to part of the degree in the course of their work within their
Ricker, Assistant Dean of WSCC communities.
Workforce Training, spoke on the
Apprenticeship 101 program. This Continued on page 25
program addresses the following jobs:
• Jobs for which it is difficult to find View online at tnpublicworks.com 23
