A MOM's Work is Never Done Virginia Beach's MOM Program Sets a Path for Continuous Improvement

The City of Virginia Beach Department of Public Utilities (City) began working with Brown and Caldwell on the development of a Management, Operations and Maintenance (MOM) program in 2004. The purpose of the City's MOM Program is to provide a formal documented approach to:Effectively manage, operate and maintain the sanitary sewer systemInvestigate capacity constrained areas of the sanitary sewer systemProactively prevent sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs)Respond to SSO events.The City's MOM program is structured to provide expected level of service to customers and to reduce regulatory non-compliance associated with reportable SSOs. The MOM program is also intended to optimize use of human and material resources by shifting maintenance activities from “reactive” to “proactive”, which can lead to savings through reduced overtime and emergency construction costs and risk mitigation. The MOM Program promotes improved relations both within the City and with the public, other regional utilities, regional planning organizations and regulators.The initial MOM program efforts included identifying activities necessary for the City to fulfill its mission as a public utility, establishing target service levels and work management priorities, assessing the resource needs to maintain service levels, and identifying opportunities for improvement in existing business processes. In September 2007, the City entered into a Special Order by Consent with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ), Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) and 13 other localities in the HRSD service area. The SOC required submittal of a documented MOM Program to VA DEQ in December 2008.The City incorporated existing management, operations and maintenance activities into their formalized MOM documentation, which was organized into 31 discreet, prescriptive programs. Each program includes a definition of the program and its purpose, goals and performance measures, a description of the program components/activities, relevant training, information management systems used to implement the program, resources including labor and equipment, and continuous improvement processes.This paper discusses key elements of the City's MOM Program development and documentation and the resulting benefits to the system and City.