18469_Authority_June

18 The Authority | June 2025 ent Wastewater Wastewater Rate St R STEM EVALUATION Water Water Tapping Fee Plann i Funding n rmwater r egulatory Compliance System Evaluation s PLANNING WASTEWATER WATER WATER STORMWATER ASSET MANAGEMENT RATE STUDIES COMPLIANCE TAPPING FEES FUNDING GDFENGINEERS.COM S uccession P lanning – F illing the T alent P ipeline By Barry Wolfe, Argos HR Solutions, LLC Most of Pennsylvania’s municipal authorities are taking great care of their infrastructure to ensure water and sewer services are available for years to come. Boards and executive leaders undertake careful planning so that resources today are applied to the needs of tomorrow. Ensuring continuity of service is the number one job of any board of directors. But none of that prudent work will keep water and sewage flowing if there are no capable people to run the facilities. And in 2025, human capital is becoming as precious as the monetary kind. Much of PA’s municipal authority leadership and technical talent is, shall we say, a graying breed (don’t be offended, I’m there with you). At the same time, Pennsylvania is seeing ever fewer high school or college students, and few of those remaining are dreaming of storied careers in municipal water and sewer service. So if your authority hasn’t undertaken a succession planning process, now is a good time to start. Succession planning is not a one-time paper exercise that winds up lost in some file drawer; it’s an ongoing process of review and action. The good news is that it doesn’t require a lot of agony. Like your asset management plan, succession planning is about ensuring continuity of service—it just focuses on ensuring the capabilities not of physical systems, but of leaders and key individual contributors (e.g., licensed operators). You can include more than that if you like, but it’s probably overkill.