Continuing Education Units (CEUs)

Public Works Institutes
Graduate Studies
Business Alliances
Contact Us
Date(s): May 22, 2003
Location: Audio/Web Broadcast
Cost: Members: $150.00
Non Members: $150.00
Purchase this program!
Description: How often are you caught off guard?
Whether in day-to-day operations or crisis situations the public and media look to you for answers.

Save yourself hours spent in “damage control” by learning:

  • How to respond to difficult and negative questions when a microphone is in your face
  • How to build confidence, credibility and respect in your constituency
  • How to set basic policies for field personnel’s interaction with the public
  • How to best prepare your community for service interruptions and right-of-the-way construction activities


    • Regardless or your agency size the same rules apply. Led by a public works director and a city information officer, this is a not-to-be-missed program that will help you keep the public informed and satisfied with your operations.
    Speaker: Bill Stowe

    Director of Public Works, City of Des Moines, IA (population 200,000)



    Bill Stowe is the Public Works Director for the City of Des Moines. He is also the Senior Operations Leader for all municipal infrastructure and services surrounding a Public Works Department of over 600 FTE’s, O/M Budgets exceeding $35 Million and Capital Budgets exceeding $50 Million, including City streets, refuse collection, storm and sanitary sewers and regional wastewater reclamation. Bill regularly deals with City Council and Business and Labor leaders in support of economic development and infrastructure of a complex, aged city and state capital.

    Mr. Stowe graduated from Grinnell College with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. In addition, he has obtained a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, and a Master of Science in Industrial Relations from the University of Illinois, and a Juris Doctorate from Loyola University Law School.
    Bill is a Director of the Iowa Chapter of the American Public Works Association, State and County Bar Associations, and Phi Beta Kappa. He is licensed to Practice Law before the Federal District Courts Sitting in Iowa, and is also the Iowa Civil Rights Commission Mediator.
    Speaker: Michelle Bono

    Director of Communications, City of Tallahassee, FL (population 155,000)



    Michelle Bono is the owner of Bono Communications and Marketing, and is a respected presenter and teacher on improving public sector communications.


    In her day job, she works as the director of Communications for the city of Tallahassee, Florida’s capital city. Bono serves on the city manager’s executive team and directs the city’s communications and marketing efforts. Those efforts encompass media relations, government access television, citizen involvement initiatives, publications and Internet services. Prior to assuming her position in Tallahassee in May 1997, she served for nearly 10 years as the public information officer for the City of Roanoke, Virginia.


    Her previous experience also includes work as a broadcast journalist, and public relations work in the private and non-profit sectors. A native of Wichita, Kansas, Bono earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Wichita State University. She has served as president of the City, County, Communications and Marketing Association, a nationwide organization committed to enhancing communications in local government, and currently is involved with a variety of other boards, professional groups and local organizations. She is also a graduate of the Certified Public Management Program through Florida State University.


    When it comes to public works issues, she has been involved in everything from major snowstorms, to building new infrastructure in sensitive historical areas, to passage of controversial bond and sales tax referendums, to recovery from hurricanes, and building of new road and bridge projects. She believes the key to successful public works projects is keeping the community involved and informed, and that the science of communication is essential for everyone working in the public sector arena.
    Content Questions:

    Technology Questions:

     
    © 2011 American Public Works Association