019: Part 2- A Case Study in Revolutionizing Community Engagement in Utility Master Planning
Bio: Tom Hickmann is a civil engineer with over 25 years’ experience in wastewater, stormwater, water supply, water rights, system design, hydraulic modeling, utility management, and utility master planning. Mr. Hickmann is the City of Bend Engineering & Infrastructure Planning Department Director focusing on oversight and implementation of all master plans and capital improvement projects.
He has been credited with bringing innovative ideas to the City, solving challenging issues and overseeing record infrastructure growth in one of the country’s fastest growing cities. He is noted for championing a unique approach to big-ticket infrastructure decision making and bringing these concepts to engineering audiences nationwide. He introduced hydraulic modeling techniques and implemented an enhanced modeling analysis which has been used as an example for assessing future infrastructure needs of growing communities.
We met Tom at the Utilities Management Conference in February 2018 and his presentation rocked us to our core. We had an incredible chat with him that we decided to break into two episodes. This is the second half of our conversation where we talk building a team that can implement community engagement, affordability, justifying technology, and the power of coffee (or beer) diplomacy. If you didn’t catch EP018 you’ll want to check that one out first.
Top Takeaways:
Resources:
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration— Ed Catmull
Plain, Honest Men — Richard Beeman
On Thinking Institutionally — Hugh Heclo
Public Process in Utility Master Planning — Thesis by Tom Hickmann, P.E.
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