PROJECT SUMMARY
In 1999, the City of Gulfport, MS, scored a utility hat trick--water, wastewater, public works--when it began a public-private partnership with Operations Technologies, Inc. Known as OpTech, the city's corporate partner gives Gulfport a virtually turn-key utility and public works operation. Included in the comprehensive contract are: Water & Sewer, Streets & Drainage, Customer Service & Billing, Cross Connection and Special Projects.

Given the public's high expectations, Mississippi's second largest city has joined other cities of its size (about 72,000 people in 63 square miles) in turning to outside companies for the management and staff expertise to operate certain of its departments. These kinds of public-private partnerships "allow local governments to stretch tax dollars by taking advantage of private-sector efficiencies and management approaches that can reduce costs."(1) Gulfport is doing just that.

In OpTech, Gulfport found a Mississippi-born firm that has the lowest overhead and is one of the most cost-competitive in the industry. Saving the city about $500,000 per year, the partnership enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of its operation by:

• Reducing labor costs through staff consolidation over time;
• Introducing technical training programs to reduce the use of subcontractors for repairs and maintenance;
• Instituting a performance-based compensation system to increase worker productivity and involvement;
• Conducting energy and chemical audits for additional cost savings; and
• Upgrading technological applications.

These methods encompass not only the obvious processes, like pumping, pipelines and purification, but also the management of electrical and chemical usage and the proper utilization of operators, mechanics, and laboratory technicians. The company also shoulders the responsibility from environmental compliance and indemnifies the city from any regulatory fines.

Innovative Streets & Drainage Program
Through Gulfport's Streets & Drainage program, one of the first of its kind in a public-private partnership, OpTech renders an unusually wide range of support operations, such as culvert installation (7,273 feet in 2001), ditch cleaning (313 miles), trash pick-up (37,795 cubic yards), asphalt installation (1,775 tons) and grass cutting (6,191 miles). For a major tourism destination like Gulfport, in which appearance is critical, the value of these services to the city's bottom line is immeasurable.

Addressing Infrastructure Issues
Crumbling water infrastructure is a nationwide epidemic that Gulfport is addressing through its partnership. OpTech fulfilled more than 4,100 related work orders in 2001. These included bolstering sewer line cave-ins (200), repairing water leaks (1,502), clearing backups (1,384), locating pipeline fissures with special video cameras and smoke generators (472), and installing new water and sewer meters (693).

It also conducted 7,110 "line locates"--with development along the Mississippi Coast growing at an astonishing rate, Gulport must ensure that its water and sewer lines are not damaged during new construction. To that end, OpTech fields a special radio-dispatched team that marks pipeline locations before any digging starts at a building site.

Technology Improvements Add Quality
OpTech recently upgraded its Service Work Order system to include Global Positioning Satellite technology that assists in tracking and documenting when, where, and what type of work has been done, as well as in quantifying productivity. The company also invested in the development of proprietary software that allows for remote or on-site operation of water and wastewater facilities. With just a laptop computer, an operator or public works director can monitor water distribution and treatment, wastewater collection, pumping, and even heating-ventilation-air conditioning systems, boilers and generators.

Customer Service & Billing, Special Projects
Through the billing and collections provision of its contract, in 2001 OpTech processed and collected $16 million in water and sewer bills, relieving the city of Gulfport of a mountain of paperwork. Speaking of mountains of paper, OpTech renders additional special services, such as trash and debris cleanup on streets throughout the city, repairs potholes and installs surface drainage pipes.

Partner and Neighbor
In addition to fulfilling its day-to-day contractual obligations, OpTech brings special capabilities and benefits to its partnership with Gulfport. It participates actively in the life of the seaport city, providing financial support to youth athletic teams, the Boy Scouts, the Harrison County Cancer Walk and the Memorial Hospital Development Foundation. The arrangement is a textbook demonstration that "...contracting with a private company can provide a community with a long-term partnership that best serves citizen needs."(2)

(1) "Long-term Contracting for Water and Wastewater Services." Robin Johnson, MPA; John McCormally, MPP; Adrian Moore, Ph.D. White paper, Reason Public Policy Institute of the Reason Foundation, Los Angeles, 2002.
(2) Ibid.