5CITIES PLUS th Anniversary

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1 5CITIES PLUS th Anniversary INVITATION The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSD) is pleased to announce that registration for the 26 th Annual Cities Plus Conference, August 4-6, 2015 at the Cincinnati Hilton Netherland Plaza, is now open online. In order to provide opportunities for more robust dialogue about the challenges facing many utilities, and your innovative approaches, we have structured the format of the conference a little different this year. We trust this format will allow us to learn from others and then return with renewed vigor to our day-to-day business of providing exemplary wastewater service to our customers. The Cities Plus Conference, Utilities Performing for the Future will be expanding beyond the traditional technical presentations to include more discussion on support services and management issues. During the conference we hope to encourage participation from the human resource, pre-treatment, safety, finance and communications personnel, as an example. As the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky area is within easy range for all participant cities, we trust this will be an opportunity for many first-time attendees from all of our utilities. Given budget constraints, we want to make this conference the most important learning and networking event of the conference season. We look forward to receiving your topics over the coming weeks, and most importantly to seeing you in Cincinnati in August. James A. Tony Parrott Executive Director Metropolitan Sewer District Of Greater Cincinnati

2 Topics for Discussions The subject of 5 Cities Plus 2015 is Utilities Performing for the Future. This theme recognizes the need to make today s decisions that will be effective and sustainable for future generations to come. This year we are inviting St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Sanitation District 1, Fort Wayne, ALCOSAN, Cleveland, Akron, and Evansville to join in our discussions. This year s conference will feature a new discussion panel format in lieu of technical presentations. There will be 18 discussion panels focusing on 3 primary tracks: Regulatory, Operations and Management. Ideally, each panel will consist of three utility subject matter experts plus a facilitator. Each panelist will be given 15-minutes to present on the identified topic with a 15-minute question and answer following each complete panel discussion. The panel discussions will take place on Wednesday, August 5 th. Each utility Director and Deputy Director are asked to encourage participation within your staff by submitting us your list of top five priority topics that your organization would prefer to share during the conference. The conference committee will make every effort to comply with your selections during the drafting of the program. There will be no need to submit abstracts or presentations in advance, just provide us with the topic area your organization would like to present on. In the spirit of the theme, Utilities Performing for the Future three tracks will be offered. Each City should submit their top five topics including the names of their panelists and titles of presentations to April Norman at April.Norman@cincinnati-oh.gov no later than July 6, Below are suggested topics for each track: Regulatory Measuring Results of Green Infrastructure Consent Decree Compliance Pre-Treatment & Lab Challenges Stormwater Management Wet Weather Strategies

3 Integrated Planning Operations Key Performance Indicators for Effective Wastewater Treatment Maximizing Your Collection Systems Preserving Your Assets Innovative Technology & Processes SCADA/GiS Mapping Odor Control for Wastewater Treatment Plants Safety Management Rates and Budget Increases Communications & Branding Staff Supplementation vs. Permanent Staff Hiring and Retaining the Best Talent Performance Assessment Tools for Employees Social Media The above are suggested topics. If your organization has a topic that is not listed, please feel free to submit it and we will work it into the program in one of the three tracks. This year, our gold sponsors will be provided the opportunity to facilitate the panel discussions. The facilitators will be granted on a first-come-first serve basis to the 1 st 18 companies that register as gold sponsors.

4 Thursday morning a representative of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) has been invited to be our keynote speaker prior to the 5Cities Director s reports. Immediately following the reports, we ask that the Directors and/or Deputy Directors stay around to participate in an enhanced roundtable discussion on Performance Indicators/Benchmarking. We are also hoping to organize an editorial meeting with the local media on Thursday afternoon with our utility directors and the NACWA representative.

5 PROCEDURE FOR SUBMISSION Directors/Deputy Directors may submit a list of topics that include the following information: Panelist name and affiliation 5 Topics Title of presentations Contact person s address, postal address, and telephone and fax numbers. DEADLINES Topic submission: July 6, 2015 Confirmation of Program: July 20, Conference: August 4-6 th, 2015