Bucher Municipal: Soaring high to deliver your best street sweeping solution
Bottom line, you need the best street sweeper for your street sweeping program. Whether you are a small municipality, regional airport or contractor buying your first street sweeper or if you are a large city, airport or conglomerate buying your … More from our cover sponsor →
News & Notes
Monroe Truck Equipment acquires Towmaster MONROE, WIS. — Monroe Truck Equipment Inc. recently announced it has acquired Towmaster Inc., based in Litchfi eld, Minn., a leading manufacturer of high-quality tag and large fifth-wheel trailers for the construction and rental markets. … Continue reading →
Maintaining good driving habits, even as technology makes things ‘easier’
Autonomous vehicles are leading headlines, with expectations that by 2020 there will be nearly 10 million cars with defined self-driving car features, according to a report from BI Intelligence. Motley Fool noted in August 2016 driverless cars could save about … Continue reading →
The move back to gravel
Budget crises have forced many rural governments around the country to revert back to gravel roads. Montpelier, Vt., and Franklin County, Ala., are among them. In order to understand the decision, it’s important to put the moves in context. It’s … Continue reading →
Abandoned malls call for creativity
Malls bring a vibrant center to many towns — new restaurants, specialty shops and something for people to do on weekends or to swing by for convenience. But when a mall goes south and becomes abandoned, it’s not only an … Continue reading →
Pools show value, albeit costly
Pools are a sparkling part of summertime, especially for children. And while many cities operate pools, they can be difficult to maintain; however, most cities see value in them when it comes to the entertainment and recreational exercise opportunities they … Continue reading →
Punta Gorda, Fla., hosts epic Fourth of July festivities
All over the country, flags are unfurling, the national anthem is being sung to summer skies and high-spirited parades of red, white and blue stride down Main Street USA while high school bands blare their toe-tapping marches. School-free children frolic … Continue reading →
Firework displays bring communities together
Annual fireworks displays are usually one of the most anticipated events of summer. Sure, the big bangs and bright lights are fun to admire, but there is a lot that happens behind the scenes before crowds can enjoy the show. … Continue reading →
Municipalities using lighting to send a positive message
Using lighting to send a message is becoming more prominent in municipalities across the country. Lights can be used as celebration for holidays and to show solidarity with other cities and countries when tragedy strikes such as in France, Belguim … Continue reading →
New bridge over the Prairie: Michigan DOT replaces historic M-86 bridge
It’s never easy to let go of the past, much less embrace the future, but the Michigan Department of Transportation managed to span the divide and do both when it announced plans last year to replace the M-86 bridge over … Continue reading →
Building resiliency in communities through utilities
Unpredıctable extreme weather has become normal in the world, which is why municipalities have started taking the initiative to make their utilities — including electricity, water and wastewater — more resilient in retaliation, especially since outages can last for weeks … Continue reading →
Technology improves crosswalk safety
Remember jaywalking as a kid? Well, outside of that dangerous little practice being against the law, crossing the street has gotten a lot more sophisticated. You still have to look both ways, but there are new items in place that … Continue reading →
Always assume hazards exist in confined spaces
“Stop, drop and roll.” We’ve drilled that into our children so that in the event of a fire — rather than panic — they’d automatically know what to do. A similar mindset needs to be implemented when it comes to … Continue reading →
City Seals: Danville, Ill.
It is not always easy to distill the diverse industries of a municipality into a single seal, but Danville, Ill., has done just that. Danville was founded in 1827 on an 80-acre parcel, and the sale of lots began April … Continue reading →
The Coffee Pot Bedford, Pa.
If Route 66 is America’s Mother Road, the transcontinental Abraham Lincoln Memorial Highway, 13 years older and nearly 1,000 miles longer than its parallel counterpart to the south, is certainly the father. Constructed in 1913, the 3,389-mile asphalt ribbon of … Continue reading →
Get the job done safely and effectively with Switch-N-Go
Switch-N-Go Interchangeable Body Systems allow for easy four-season use of your municipal vehicles, whether you need to switch out a sprayer for a dump body, stake bed, chipper box, dumpster, service bed, salt spreader or just about any other body you can imagine. Switch-N-Go also improves safety by allowing workers to load or work out of a body on the ground.
Continue reading →Jonathan Gano puts his overalls on
Remember the successful TV program “Undercover Boss”? Jonathan Gano, public works director of Des Moines, Iowa, invokes an unusual twist to that idea. Gano, who moved to Des Moines two years ago to take his current job, had been working … Continue reading →
No need to wait for a California-style drought
Droughts, given the right collision of conditions, can take root anywhere, with sections of The Municipal’s readership already having experienced varying levels of drought early on in 2017. And as the traditional saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention” … Continue reading →
Wisconsin takes on lead service lines
Wisconsin cities are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to replacing lead pipes with those of an environmentally neutral material. Curt Witynski, J.D. assistant director, League of Wisconsin Municipalities, said that this issue has been discussed … Continue reading →
