The third sure thing in life after “Death and Taxes” is frustration with project meetings for many reasons: meetings that had no focus and no end; lively discussion but no action plans or follow- through; defined camps on “opposing sides” of issues; and participants’ lack of mutual trust. Smith Culp Consulting has filled the role of neutral facilitator to provide meeting structure and design and a safe environment for discussion. This is particularly valuable for public infrastructure projects where buy-in from multiple stakeholders is critical to the success of the project. Smith Culp Consulting provides facilitation services for public infrastructure projects and regional planning programs for local, regional and national agencies and organizations involving multiple stakeholders, including agencies, citizens, design consultants, technical advisory groups, businesses, contractors, interest groups, etc. Selected projects include:
- Clark County Water Reclamation District, Paradise Whitney Interceptor final design phase. Facilitated ongoing coordination and design submittal review workshops with owner and 4 design consultants on a $140M cross-town interceptor, comprising 3 separate design contracts.
- City of Las Vegas for the planning phase of the interim capacity expansion project of the Water Pollution Control Facility pending the removal of the City of North Las Vegas flows. Designed and facilitated the planning workshops with the designer and the City plant and engineering staff.
- Clean Water Coalition, CWC, regional agency studying the long-term alternatives for locations of the discharges of wastewater from the Las Vegas Valley made to the Las Vegas Wash and downstream water supply in Lake Mead. Facilitator for 10 years for the Citizens Advisory Committee advising the CWC Board on community concerns, the public scoping meetings for the EIS and many workshops with member agencies, regulatory agencies, technical panels and stakeholders.
- Provided facilitation and support to consulting engineering teams performing wastewater regional optimization and odor control studies, and Capital Improvement Program (CIP) evaluation and benchmarking for Pima County, AZ. Assisted with stakeholder interviews, facilitating multi-agency workshops, benchmarking evaluation and supporting the related public involvement program.
- Facilitated workshops for King County, Washington to develop a consensus among the policy and decision makers from the several jurisdictions served by the Seattle-area metropolitan sewer system on a recommended approach to providing long-term wastewater treatment and sewer service and combined sewer overflow control. These jurisdictions had many divergent interests that were successfully addressed leading to the development of the new regional Brightwater wastewater treatment plant.
- Facilitated an input workshop for City of Modesto, CA for 60 wholesale customers (industries, irrigation districts) on a regional wastewater plan.
- Facilitated local public meetings for a King County Stormwater Management Division, WA, flood control project to solicit input and feedback on the proposed project.
- Facilitated an input workshop for East Bay MUD, CA, for stakeholders on water quality management practices for the Mokelumne river watershed, CA.