BUSINESS PLAN / QUALSERVE LINKAGE IN AUGUSTA, GEORGIA: AN OPPORTUNTITY FOR TRACKING SUCCESS

In the mid-nineties, Augusta, Georgia merged its government with Richmond County, Georgia, resulting in two water and wastewater utilities being merged into one. Both of these two utilities were in dire need of overhaul, both from a technical standpoint and from an administrative/management perspective. This paper addresses several of the proactive steps taken to address these concerns and to result in this utility reaching its vision of being a utility to which others turn for advice by the year 2010, a program adopted, called, “Benchmark 2010". Topics covered in this paper will be elaboration on the new direction, the benchmark program, development of a business plan and action plan, an issues prioritization process, QualServe and its linkage to the business planning initiative, details of the action plan, and a supervisor leadership training program.