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Accreditation
In 2014, Ventura Public Works joined national and international standards of excellence in Public Works operations and practices by receiving the American Public Works Association (APWA) Award.
This process compared the City to national industry standards for the effective use of resources to deliver public works services. The City of Ventura Public Works Department becomes the 92nd agency in North America and the 11th agency in California to receive such a prestigious award. Visit the APWA website to learn more.
Other AWPA-accredited agencies include: City of Berkeley, City of Oakland, City of Encinitas, City of Fresno, City of Palmdale, City of San Francisco, City of Thousand Oaks, Alameda County, Contra Costa County, San Fransico County, and Orange County.
What is Accreditation?
The APWA Accreditation program is a multi-year program for public works agencies to conduct an in-depth self-assessment of its policies, procedures, and practices. It is a way for agencies to be compared to nationally established best management practices and is also a valuable tool for continuous improvement.
The City’s Public Works Department went through a rigorous two-year self-assessment process to review, validate and improve every aspect of its management, practices and procedures. Once the selfassessment was completed, a team of public works professionals from various parts of the country conducted a detailed on-site evaluation before granting accreditation.
The accreditation self-assessment process was a valuable exercise for performance comparison of best practices identified by national experts in the field. As a result, the City of Ventura Public Works department had 17 Model Practices identified by APWA. Typically, APWA only finds 3-4 model practices when they conduct their reviews. “Other cities can now look to Ventura as an example of public works programs, training, and customer service,” said APWA Director of Accreditation Ann Daniels.
Key model practices
- Excellent Customer Service and Practices in Facilities and Fleet Management and Operations.
- Excellent Preventative Maintenance Program and Schedule
- Preventive Maintenance and Repair Practices clearly demonstrate an effort to enhance customer satisfaction.
- Outstanding Safety Training
- Safety and Condition Inspection reports exceed expectations.
- Excellent Custodial methods and contracting, and thinking outside the box!
- Outstanding Public Works Strategic Plan
- Excellent Public Works Employee Recognition Program
- Solid Waste Collection: “Model practice to have online search by individual location for pick up days