Speaker: Todd LaFountain, City Water, Light and Power
Todd LaFountain: Good afternoon. My name is Todd LaFountain. As this year's vice chair. I wish to welcome you to WATERCON 2024. The theme of this year's conference is value, impact and perception or VIP. As an industry, we have historically done an excellent job in bringing one of the world's most valued resources from the source to our customers taps. We have done so in an underfunded industry where the buzzwords have been do more with less or do whatever it takes in doing. We've offered tremendous value to the citizens we've served and the communities we live in.
How do you bring value to our industry?
Brandon Thomas: By being invested member of AWWA and other water organizations. We are able to learn and share experiences with our peers and bring that knowledge back to benefit the communities we serve.
John Burkhart: I bring value to the water industry by playing a pivotal role in the delivery of clean, safe, reliable water to our community through water, quality assurance, infrastructure management, resource conservation, and community engagement.
How does your work impact the total water industry?
Todd LaFountain: Water impacts every aspect of our daily life. Providing a safe and reliable water supply is at the core of any community's life health and safety program.
R. Scott Trotter: So our charge is to protect the public health and preserve this critical resource. But it's our investment in the professional organizations as well as each other that will continue to pay dividends.
How are you promoting positive public perception?
Don Jensen: The bottom line is transparency. It's very difficult to, to earn and maintain public trust and very easy to lose it. So number one is to be forthright and transparent. And get back to people when they have questions to answer them properly and so that they understand that they're doing it to professional staff here and we know what we're doing.
Chris Marschinke: As consulting engineers, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to convey the importance of water to the next generation. This means sharing our perspective throughout the communities, we serve to get everybody as excited about the water industry as we are.
Why are you proud to be in this industry?
Jeannie Krueger, PMP, MSP : We're very proud to be in this industry because we've changed lives. All of us have, everyone, they don't have to, you know, every company, everyone who works on water, you're changing lives, you're making things better. You're filling a need. That's so important.
Jeniece Neville: I am just in constant amazement of the people I work with and their passion for the industry. And I think there's a true element of altruism and collaboration in what we do.
Carlos A Covarrubias: We are proud to be a part of a community of unsung heroes, the best things in life and this world are some of the hardest things to come by. This industry is full of passionate individuals who protect our most precious resource that serve all of our fellow humans.
Melissa Litteken: I had a manager when I started out 14 years ago in this industry. That point blank said we are the only utility that customers actually consume into their bodies without even thinking about it. And knowing that we have that baseline trust with our customers and knowing that the people I work with every day to strive to ensure that that trust stays the way it is. is what I am most proud of.
Enjoy the 2024 WATERCON conference. And remember we as water industry professionals are all VIPs.
