Village of Howard, IL

Project Description

The Village of Huntley is a vibrant, growing community that is home to a large retirement population in Huntley, Illinois. With some partnered assistance from Ruekert & Mielke, Inc., the Village implemented VUEWorks in 2018. The long-overdue asset management solution enabled the team to create a robust, systemic sidewalk maintenance program, the Pedestrian Access Route (PAR) Inspection & Repair Program.

THE CHALLENGE

While it’s important for all municipalities to maintain public sidewalks and other pedestrian access routes, the unique needs of the Village’s demographic demand exceptional walkway management.

Before VUEWorks, the Village of Huntley managed its resident sidewalk service requests with a municipal-based ﬁnancial software solution with limited capabilities that could not effectively support a robust sidewalk maintenance program.

To track and manage service requests, the Village relied on emails, paper inspection reports, and spreadsheets. The program had limited ﬂexibility and offered few options to address and maintain the sidewalks to better provide a safe pedestrian access route for residents. This was mostly due to the difﬁculty of managing such a program through a software solution not designed to handle the demanding and complex maintenance responsibilities of the pedestrian access routes in the Village.

THE TECHNOLOGY

The Village created the Model PAR Inspection and Repair Program to provide a more systematic sidewalk evaluation and maintenance planning solution. VUEWorks allows the Village to create a customized detail form to model the pedestrian access route repair policy. The system provides necessary program guidance and offers the ﬂexibility to add multiple inspection criteria ﬁelds for the evaluation and the maintenance of the PAR.

The MobileVUE app allows for further ﬂexibility and streamlines the inspection process for real-time evaluation from ofﬁce staff and connects all stakeholders to the inspection process.

All Village employees use the PAR Evaluation form in VUEWorks to document sidewalk, curb ramp and multi-use path conditions. When a resident submits an issue, Village staff captures the concerns through a service request.

A Work Order is created from the service request, and all timeline and contact information are documented in one record. The custom detail form is then used to gather necessary information about the sidewalk conditions. Once this assessment is complete and treatment determination is established, the Work Order is assigned to the appropriate project group for prioritization and scheduling.

THE PROCESS

VUEWorks allows the Village to establish and streamline service levels, work activities, mobile field operations and operational intelligence through an efficient, customized program that replicates the Model Pedestrian Access Route Inspection and Repair Policy. This system provides necessary program management and guidance, but at the same time offers the flexibility to manage multiple workflows and programs when evaluating the need for maintenance of PAR’s. VUEWorks allows the Village to combine:

> Past practices
> Subdivision ordinances
> Risk management and legal advice
> The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) Accessible Public ROW Field Guide
> United States Access Board Technical Requirements and Proposed Accessibility Guidelines for Pedestrian Facilities in the Public Right-of-Way
> Funding and other resources necessary to balance pedestrian safety needs with other public works priorities within the purpose and scope of the PAR Policy

This system also provides necessary program guidance and offers the flexibility to add multiple inspection criteria fields for the evaluation and the maintenance of the PAR.

THE RESULTS

Using VUEWorks, the Village created an innovative process that provides a higher quality of service to the citizens, increases efficiency for staff and reduces liability exposures that municipalities have to navigate. The Village accomplished the goals of the PAR by leveraging multiple VUEWorks modules and their wide range of capabilities, including Service Requests, Work Orders, Projects and Reporting. Additionally, the program relies heavily on the prioritizing, scheduling and time stamp function for tasks, comments and photos.

The PAR Inspection and Repair Program has allowed the Village to make significant improvements to public walkways. Residents have expressed a particular satisfaction with the Village’s recent initiative to install yard drains adjacent to low stretches of sidewalk, preventing dangerous walkway conditions as a result of water pooling with increased risk of injury from ice formation in the winter.

Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. partners with communities throughout Wisconsin and Illinois to develop a customized public infrastructure strategy that covers a broad range of municipal services.

The Village of Huntley received the 2020 Environmental/Community Impact Award for the PAR Program and Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. received the award for Community Partnerships at the VUEWorks 2020 Asset Management Excellence Awards.

VueWorks Asset Management Implementation