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MRSC Insight Blog


Posts for Administration

Fire Season Brings Renewal of Certain Worker Protections, More Action, and Funding

Fire Season Brings Renewal of Certain Worker Protections, More Action, and Funding

Temporary rules are in place to protect outdoor workers from excessive heat or hazardous air quality. Meanwhile, some local governments are adopting provisions of the International Wildland Urban Interface Code, and state and federal governments are boosting firefighting efforts.

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Protecting Public Works Projects from COVID-19 Economic Impacts

Protecting Public Works Projects from COVID-19 Economic Impacts

This blog post reviews how local governments can protect public works projects from COVID-19-related economic impacts. 

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Capturing O&M Knowledge and Expertise from (Soon-to-be) Retirees

Capturing O&M Knowledge and Expertise from (Soon-to-be) Retirees

Some advice from local government public works leaders on what types of strategies to use to help ensure a smooth transition as employees retire.

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4 Things You Should Know About Asset Management

4 Things You Should Know About Asset Management

Many jurisdictions feel that AM is too hard for them. But in this blogt we explain how AM can be a fantastic tool for any size jurisdiction and doesn’t take a huge investment to get going.

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Public Works Board’s FirstStop Initiative Aims to Better Connect Local Governments to Infrastructure Resources

Public Works Board’s FirstStop Initiative Aims to Better Connect Local Governments to Infrastructure Resources

The Washington Public Works Board has a new FirstStop Initiative bringing together a host of resources, including a robust online tool, to provide local governments with financial and technical support to develop sustainable infrastructure systems.

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Tacoma's Murray Morgan Bridge, courtesy of Scott Hingst.

The Case for Asset Management in Public Works

This is a guest post from Toby Rickman, 2014 APWA-WA President, and Deputy Director of Public Works for Pierce County.  This post is adapted from an article in APWA-WA's latest issue of PUBLICworks Magazine.

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goats.jpg

Doesn’t That Just Get Your Goat!

Once in a while. I get a research request that appeals to my (admittedly) wry sense of humor. Many of you, I am sure, have heard of goats being used for vegetation (weed) control. Probably some of you have even...

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Chameleon Contractors

I recently received a research request involving a contractor who was operating under several names, which in itself is not a bad thing, but in this instance at least one of those "aliases" was an obvious attempt to cover up a bad reputation as another company.  MRSC and the agency's attorney had discussions about how to develop supplemental bidder responsibility criteria to address this issue. ...

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New Indemnification Language for A/E Contracts

Is there a “brave new world” in which architects and engineers have gained the upper hand by limiting indemnification language that can be included in their contracts?  Maybe not, but legislation enacted this year should cause local governments to review the indemnity language in their construction and design professional contracts.  Read on for specific recommendations.
An indemnity is an...

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