TAKING CUES TO WALK A MILE IN A CLIENTS SHOES

The saying goes, “You never truly know someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” In this specialized industry, it may be hard to imagine trading places and working from the opposite side of the desk. If you were to do so, would your perspective change? Would you look at the design, permitting or construction differently? At Johnson Engineering, some of us have. Many of our employees have taken a step into their client’s shoes and received additional licenses, which are complementary to their disciplines.

Erik Howard, P.E., LEED AP, holds various licenses that put him steps above his peers. Erik works within our utilities group, helping clients with all aspects of water, wastewater, irrigation water and surface water conveyance systems, focusing on pumps and pressurized pipes. He serves multiple roles for many of our clients, he is not only a State of Florida professionally licensed civil engineer, he is also a certified general contractor (CGC), certified plumbing contractor (CFC) and licensed water well contractor. Erik is also a member of the Charlotte County Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board.

Having these additional licenses helps Erik negotiate with contractors on behalf of the owner, helping eliminate duplication of staff and responsibilities, saving clients time and money. It also gives him a great understanding of the importance of proper paperwork regarding contracting, payments, change orders, field directives and schedules. Erik has hands on knowledge of pumping and piping systems from 5 gpm to 24,000 gpm that gives him an acute edge over most engineers when it comes to evaluating system problems or making an efficient design.

Erik is a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP), which helps him incorporate sustainable ideas and green technology into his designs. He chooses appropriately sized pipe by considering long term pumping cost associated with pipe hydraulics. Erik explains that, “many times, pipes can be upsized to reduce pumping costs at a fraction of the installation cost”. Saving clients green, typically makes the design green. His contracting experience helps him make accurate cost estimates for both material and labor costs of pipe and pump installations to see clients are well served. He not only has the experience to act as the engineer for the project, but has the qualifications, licenses and understanding of how to actually construct the project.

Also, strapping on the client’s shoes is James “Vee” Lofton, third generation Johnson Engineering employee. Vee is the director of our construction engineering and inspection (CEI) team, within the transportation market group. He is responsible for working with various contractors daily to oversee that they are constructing roadways in accordance with the design plans, following specifications, and are complying with Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) rules and regulations.

Vee worked for the FDOT for many years prior to coming to Johnson Engineering giving him a unique understanding of their needs and allowing him to manage his work group with the same strict adherence to their rules and regulations. In addition to his past FDOT experience, he holds his State of Florida certified general contractor (CGC) license. As a CGC, Vee works closely and relates with other contractors on his projects, giving him a rare understanding of monetary and time critical issues which can affect all stakeholders. This knowledge and experience allows him to understand simple and complex constructions issues, schedules and provides him the knowledge to administer construction contracts for our clients.

Erik and Vee are part of a Johnson Engineering team, who combined, hold 28 professional licenses, numerous certifications and are members of countless organizations, all for the benefit of our clients. This vast knowledge and experience coursing throughout the Johnson Engineering network, allows our projects to be nothing but well-rounded. Our team members speak the language of not only their discipline, but others as well, making for cohesive project coordination with each other as well as the client.

Going back to the quote, “You never truly know someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes”, Johnson Engineering employees can truly say they have walked in these shoes. We have put on the work boots and hard hats, gotten out from behind the desk and gone out to the trenches to see what works for our clients. By obtaining these additional skills our employees are proactive in their approach to find the best solution for our clients, sharing their viewpoint for the makings of many successful projects.

_____________________________________________________________

GIS METHOD HELPS CAPTURE WILDLIFE DATA

Using GIS technology, our team has developed an innovative GIS methodology used to capture and analyze wildlife data. In June, Church Roberts, Director of Environmental Services, presented this methodology for conducting hazard wildlife assessments at airports to a crowd of more than 300 wildlife experts and airport officials from around the world at the 12th Annual Bird Strike Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Church will also be moderating “Wildlife Assessments and Airport Wildlife Hazard Management Plans: What Every Airport Manager Should Know!” at the 2010 Florida Airports Council (FAC) – 41st Annual Conference & Exposition, the largest single-state aviation conference in the United States, August 8-11 in Tampa, Florida.

For more information on wildlife assessments using GIS methodology, please contact Church Roberts at 239.461.2464 or mkt@johnsoneng.com.

_____________________________________________________________

EARTH DAY EARTH DAY EFFORTS HELP THE CITY OF FORT MYERS’ ADOPT-A-CANAL PROGRAM

In honor of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Johnson Engineering employees took part in the cleaning of one City of Fort Myers canal. The company has adopted Carrell Canal as part of the City’s Adopt-a-Canal initiative. This kick off event will be followed by quarterly cleanings of Carrell Canal for the next two years. We made this commitment because of our deep roots in the community dating back more than 64 years. We have worked, in one capacity or another, on all of the canals in the program throughout our long history and wanted to do our part to give back to the community.

The program began as a way to decrease the amount of litter that flows through the City’s municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4), ultimately affecting the Caloosahatchee River. The City selected 10 canals covering 12 miles of waterways.

During the mornings clean up efforts, the volunteers collected 42 bags of debris totaling over 1000 gallons of trash for the one mile stretch of canal. Employee volunteers found a large amount of typical items such as styrofoam cups, cans, bottles, plastic bags, and some unusual items such as a couch, lawn furniture, sports equipment, clothing, and wood.

_____________________________________________________________

SUPPORTING NATIONAL LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MONTH

In support of National Landscape Architecture Month our landscape architecture and environmental team members participated in several local Earth Day and Arbor Day events hosted by Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) and the City of Bonita Springs.

In early April, Johnson Engineering team members participated in FGCU’s Earth Day Celebration. The celebration was a partnership between Tree Campus USA committee members, FGCU, Johnson Engineering and the Division of Forestry. FGCU is one of three schools in Florida recognized as a Tree Campus USA school. Our team collaborated with students and staff to help plant 100 littoral trees throughout the campus wetlands. Working closely with the University, our environmental and landscape architecture team was able to recommend planting locations, select the most appropriate planting materials, and provide exhibits to help educate students on the importance of littoral shelves and the carbon sequestration benefits of these trees on campus.

Our team also participated in Arbor Day activities at Depot Park in Bonita Springs, celebrating the designation of the City of Bonita Springs as a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation. Johnson Engineering Landscape Architect, Steve Trudnak, who sits on the City of Bonita Spring Tree Advisory Board, was onsite throughout the event providing environmentally friendly advice and sharing expertise about the Live Oak trees that were available to the public from the Division of Forestry.

As a member of the Friends of Bonita Nature Place, Steve Trudnak also assisted with the grand opening of the 45-acre Bonita Nature Place in Bonita Springs. He helped with the day’s events, classes, and exhibits. Johnson Engineering ecologists’ knowledge of the site’s environmental features was useful for creating the educational displays on endangered species and gopher tortoises found on site. The site was originally a 10-acre City owned parcel, which grew to approximately 45 acres with the addition of 35 acres deeded to the City by the South Florida Water Management District. The facility includes bee and bat houses, butterfly garden, and various other displays and exhibits, designed to educate children about our unique natural landscape.

_____________________________________________________________

CHARLOTTE COUNTY DECLARED APRIL 13, 2010 AS “JOHNSON ENGINEERING DAY”

The Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners recognized our efforts in support of the County’s first annual Southwest Florida Green Futures Expo and Energy Options Conference held last year. Commissioners proclaimed April 13, 2010 as “Johnson Engineering Day” in Charlotte County. The proclamation below was presented to Steve Morrison, Jaime Boswell, and Chris Beers by Commissioner Duffy at the April 13th Charlotte County Commission meeting.

In support of Charlotte County’s endeavor to attract industries that promote environmentally-friendly and renewable energy concepts and practices, Johnson Engineering ecologist Jaime Boswell provided a carbon assessment for the two-day event. Her calculations determined to offset the 30 metric tons of carbon dioxide created by the event, 23 Cypress trees over their lifetime, would equalize the amount of carbon generated by the event. These trees where purchased from a Charlotte County nursery and planted earlier this year at Florida Gulf Coast University.

_____________________________________________________________

People & Projects: ON THE MOVE

Ryan Bell, P.E., PTOE, Director of Transportation Roadway Design & CEI Services, has recently earned his Professional Traffic Operations Engineer (PTOE) certification.

Laura DeJohn, AICP, has been named the Director of Johnson Engineering’s Planning & Landscape Architecture Services Market Group.

Michael Ekblad, RLA, Landscape Architecture team Landscape Designer, has become a State of Florida Registered Landscape Architect (RLA).

Churchill Roberts, Director of Environmental Services, has been selected to represent the Assoc. of Florida Community Developers to serve on the 2060 FL Transportation Plan Community Livability, Environmental Stewardship and Mobility Advisory Group.

Peggy Grant, Environmental team Ecologist has successfully completed the U.S. Fish & Wildlife and Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Official Marine Turtle Exterior Lighting course and exam.

Eric Carrico, P.E., Utilities team Project Engineer, has been reappointed to the Brownfields Advisory Board by the City of Fort Myers as part of its Brownfield Redevelopment Program.

Laura joined Johnson Engineering in 2004 to lead the planning services in the firm’s Collier County office. She has 11 years of professional experience in the planning field, in both the public and private sector. Prior to joining Johnson Engineering, Laura served five years as a planner for the City of Naples, Florida. She graduated from the University of Virginia with Bachelor of City Planning and Master of Planning degrees.

Laura manages projects involving development feasibility studies and site assessments, monitoring reports, code writing, preparation and presentation of land use and zoning applications, site design, master planning, and community visioning. Her scope of experience includes entitlement of residential, mixed use, community facility, commercial and industrial development and redevelopment projects; historic preservation; architectural design review; annexation; and incentive-based codes. Laura works to facilitate projects that implement smart growth principals and sustainable strategies. She has presented for the American Institute of Architects of Southwest Florida and the Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association, and sits on the Collier County Development Services Advisory Committee. She has worked as lead planner for the Collier Park of Commerce annexation, interlocal service boundary agreement negotiations, comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning; the Vision for the East Trail Corridor; and the Lee County Port Authority comprehensive planning and rezoning projects.

Michael has consistently proven his unique ability to collaborate with other professions; and has assisted in the design and execution of several beautiful landscapes. During his career, Michael has worked on several private and public sector landscape architecture projects; including, city master planning and revitalization projects, land use analysis and site design, large and small scale commercial designs, urban and streetscape designs, roadway design and installations, and stormwater mitigation projects. To compliment his landscape design skills, Michael is highly trained in the design and construction of irrigation systems. He has been responsible for numerous irrigation projects including: Mercato in Naples; Alico Lakes in Lee County, and Northern Trust Bank (Certified LEED GOLD) in Fort Myers, as well as the irrigation design and construction observations for over 15 miles of roadways in Lee and Collier Counties. Michael’s additional training includes: Rainbird Academy Irrigation Technician’s Course and Installation Course, and HIT Logic Plus Certified Installation Program.

The program began as a way to decrease the amount of litter that flows through the City’s municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) ultimately affecting the Caloosahatchee River. The City selected 10 canals covering 12 miles of waterways.

During the mornings clean up efforts, the volunteers collected 42 bags of debris totaling over 1000 gallons of trash for the one mile stretch of canal. Employee volunteers found a large amount of typical items such as styrofoam cups, cans, bottles and plastic bags and some unusual items such as a couch, lawn furniture, clothing, shoes, a bicycle, traffic cone, basketball, football, steel angle iron and wood.

Roberts has been with Johnson Engineering for more than 16 years and has been involved with environmental issues in Southwest Florida throughout this time.
Founded in 1946, Johnson Engineering provides a complete range of services in land development, planning, landscape architecture, transportation, utilities, water resources, environmental consulting, surveying and mapping, and geographic information systems. The firm has offices in Fort Myers, Naples, Port Charlotte, LaBelle, and Land O’Lakes. With more than a half century of experience, one of our strongest assets is our comprehensive knowledge and familiarity with the Southwest Florida region and our ability to apply this to projects throughout the State of Florida.

CODE BLUE:

Johnson Engineering is proud to be part of history as Edison State College constructs its unique state-of-the-art nursing facility and expands its nursing program to attract students to Southwest Florida, meeting the demand for medical services in our community.

With a fragile economy in the forefront of people’s minds, many are thinking of ways to bring in revenue for Southwest Florida. Edison State College has found their niche, as more students will soon flock to Lee County to be a part of the new state-of the art, real-time nursing facility currently under construction.

Scheduled to open this fall semester, a fully operational mock hospital including nurses’ stations, emergency room, intensive care unit, operating room, maternity ward and pediatric ward will supplement traditional classrooms allowing students real world, hands-on training. No live volunteer patients here, but realistic anatomical mannequins, computer simulated specifically to emulate heart attacks, strokes, constricted airway, birth, and a variety of other medical situations. The mannequins are designed to provide feedback on how they feel, based on the care they receive, providing a tremendous learning opportunity for students. Under the watchful eye of their professor via video monitoring, students will operate the nurses’ stations and care for ten patient beds. Students will review charts, take vitals, and tend to realistic situations similar to those that arise on a typical hospital day. Following each simulation, professors meet with their students for a video debriefing session, which allows them to review their performance handling each situation.

Attracting students is one thing, keeping them here is another. Lee Memorial Health System supports the growth of Edison’s nursing program and provides an environment for students to complete their residencies during the last year of study. With such a hands-on learning environment, students are well prepared to enter the workforce where currently more than 80% of the graduates end up living and working here in Southwest Florida.

This retention is vital since Lee County’s population is anticipated to grow as baby boomers move toward retirement. Edison is proactive in their thinking to train highly qualified professionals who will be ready to fulfill this need in our community. Currently, there are 700 students enrolled and more than 300 graduate annually. The Edison nursing program was established in 1967 and has continued to rank among the top 15 programs in the nation. In addition to the registered nursing (RN) program, the college now offers a 15-month completion program, allowing RN’s to earn their bachelor of science in nursing degree (BSN).

Not only will this nursing building and its programs enhance the lives of students and their future patients, but the building itself will support our community’s movement for more sustainable design and is slated to become the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building on campus. Striving for Gold LEED Certification, our Johnson Engineering team worked to receive the following credits:

Behind every newly constructed building are layers of responsibility and months of planning and construction. For more than 20 years our team has been one of the integral layers that has helped Edison grow by providing civil engineering, including site design, surface water management design, utilities, roads, parking, construction observation, certification and permitting. This work has helped us recognize innovative ways we can save the college money. One such way is reducing permitting timelines, therefore, expediting future development. Using Edison’s existing development master plan, our team provided conceptual permitting and construction plans on how to manage stormwater runoff in other areas of the campus. Having a South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) conceptual water management plan already in place when future buildings are constructed has the potential to reduce the permitting timeline and allow actual construction to commence on an accelerated schedule.

Edison State College has created a way for all health students to enrich their career path and see, feel, hear and touch what it truly means to work in the medical community. With our rich history of working with Edison since the early 80’s, we are privileged to be a part of this thriving educational community.

Mr. Steve Nice, Edison State College Facilities Planning & Management District Director

_____________________________________________________________

NUMERIC NUTRIENT CRITERIA

There have been many articles written since 2009 about numeric nutrient criteria. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently in the process of setting numeric limits for the State of Florida, replacing the current narrative format. The draft rules were published in January of this year in the Federal Register. There are considerable differences in the limits throughout the state. Although it answers some questions, it raises others.

One of the more challenging parts is the definition of streams and lakes. Streams include many canals around the state, some are used to transport water to treatment facilities. According to the new draft rule, the water quality in these canals would have to meet the same requirements as streams. This means before water can enter the canal heading toward the treatment facility, it will have to be treated first. Likewise, the definition of lake could include stormwater treatment ponds that exist to meet state attenuation and treatment requirements. If left as written, treatment facilities could be required to treat water prior to it reaching the stormwater ponds.

Public meetings will be held in April and the comment period has been extended to April 28, 2010. For more information on ways to submit comments, visit www.regulations.gov, search by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OW–2009–0596. The final ruling is currently scheduled for October 2010. For additional information on how these rules could affect you, please contact Andy Tilton at 863.612.4055 or mkt@johnsoneng.com.

_____________________________________________________________

UNITING WITH CHARLOTTE COUNTY & FGCU FOR SUSTAINABLE INITATIVE

Supporting Charlotte County’s vision of this region to become known as the ’Green Coast’

In recent years, we’ve seen a rapid increase in the movement to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainability in our area. Taking these initiatives and actually applying them to tangible events and projects is what our team strives to accomplish. The first annual Southwest Florida Green Futures Expo and Energy Options Conference was just the event needed for our professionals to put their skills into practice.

The purpose of the event was to spark discussion and information exchange on the importance of renewable and alternative energy and demonstrate how the industry is poised to redefine economic development for the state and the nation in the near future.
The multi-day event was attracting worldwide interest with more than 2,230 participants and it was clear the carbon emissions generated would be counterproductive to its intent. Jaime Boswell, Johnson Engineering Environmental Scientist, saw this as an opportunity to offer her expertise in greenhouse gas accounting by way of sponsorship for the event.

Using the data collected through her survey, Jaime determined the event’s total emissions were close to 30 metric tons of carbon dioxide (MtCO2). To offset these emissions and promote the event as being carbon neutral, Jaime’s calculations determined that, over their lifetime, planting 23 Cypress trees would continually capture and sequester equal amounts of carbon from the atmosphere.

Keeping the carbon offsets in this region, Johnson Engineering recommended purchasing the trees from a Charlotte County nursery, and then planting them at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). While continuing our longstanding relationship with the University, this initiative also supports FGCU’s mission to practice and promote environmental sustainability, nurture community partnerships, and value public service.

A morning ceremony brought together Johnson Engineering team members, Charlotte County Economic Development and Charlotte County Building Construction Services staff, Charlotte County Commissioner Dick Loftus, FGCU’s Vice President of Administrative Services Dr. Joe Shepard, FGCU staff and student volunteers from the Anthropology Club. All assisted in planting the Cypress trees in the hand-selected FGCU wetland area, the intended site of a future nature trail similar to those existing throughout the campus.

For information on how Johnson Engineering can assist with your greenhouse gas accounting, contact Jaime Boswell at 239.461.2449 or mkt@johnsoneng.com.

_____________________________________________________________

ARE YOU PREPARED TO RECEIVE FEDERAL FUNDS?

Has your agency been approved to receive FDOT Local Agency Program (LAP) funding? Is your team prepared to administer your project(s) to ensure strict conformance to the LAP requirements? After a project has been LAP qualified, the project must adhere to rigorous reporting processes throughout construction to ensure funding. The LAP process includes complying with EEO/AA, wage rate and DBE requirements, amongst many others. The process is intricate, time consuming and takes a dedicated team to manage the meticulous details.

We have successfully administered LAP projects from bid package assembly through final inspection, ensuring projects were in compliance to receive their LAP funding. Our construction engineering and inspection (CEI) team has been assisting local municipalities in construction project administration for more than 30 years. We have experience in LAP funded projects and know their specific requirements.

We can help your agency through this complex process and assist in securing these much-needed funds for our community. For more information, contact James “Vee” Lofton at 239.461.2406 or mkt@johnsoneng.com.

_____________________________________________________________

People & Projects: ON THE MOVE

Erik Howard, P.E., LEED AP, Utilities group, has been appointed to serve on the Charlotte County Construction Industry Licensing Board, representing the ‘professional engineer’ category.

Laura Brady Herrero, Environmental team ecologist, has been appointed to sit on the City of Fort Myers Planning Board. The board consists of eleven members, each serving three year terms.

Charlotte County staff, Commissioner Dick Loftus and Johnson Engineering were joined by FGCU’s Vice President of Administrative Services Dr. Joe Shepard, FGCU staff and student volunteers from the FGCU Anthropology Club, to plant the 23 Cypress trees, which over their lifetime will continually capture and sequester carbon from the atmosphere to offset the emissions from the event, making the multi-day event carbon neutral.

As part of Johnson Engineering’s sponsorship, ecologists calculated the event’s total emissions, finding they were close to 30 metric tones of carbon dioxide (MtCO2). Event organizers were able to reduce the event’s carbon emission by 7% through careful planning and use of alternative technologies such as web conferencing, hybrid vehicles, energy efficient green buses, together with common sense practices such as car pooling, patronizing restaurants that use locally grown produce, and buying locally. To offset the emissions produced from the event, calculations determined 23 Cypress trees over their lifetime would continually capture and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. In an effort to keep the carbon offsets in the region, Charlotte County agreed to partner with FGCU, supporting the University’s mission to practice and promote environmental sustainability, nurture community partnerships and value public service. Donations collected at the event to promote a carbon reduction project in Florida were used in part to purchase the trees from DB Nursery in Port Charlotte.

The attendance at the first annual Green Futures Expo and Energy Options Conference proved this event was an overwhelming success, and revealed this region is on its way toward being known as the ‘Green Coast’. The multi-day event brought 2,000 Green Expo attendees and nearly 230 participants to the Energy Conference, which included renowned speakers Patrick Birley from the European Climate Exchange, Cisco DeVries from Renewable Funding LLC, Kevin Lynn from the Department of Energy, Syd Kitson from Babcock Ranch, et. al. provided Southwest Floridians a world-class level of discussion and information exchange on the importance of renewable and alternative energy and how the industry is poised to redefine economic development for the state and the nation in the near future. Also present during the conference were local and regional businesses that are making their mark in various areas of the renewable energy and sustainable development arena. Overall, the first annual Green Futures Expo and Energy Options Conference was timely and well-positioned as it showed how the private, public and various sectors of the community can come together to create synergy and bring in overall positive development for the region.

Charlotte County, Johnson Engineering and the event sponsors, Waste Management, The Mosaic Company and Innovation Future Energy Corporation, are excited about the promising future of the ‘Green Coast’. Waste Management of Charlotte County, the event’s platinum sponsor, services more than 80,000 residences and 2,400 commercial customers in the county. Waste Management Green Squad’s National Director, Jim Hall, was the keynote speaker at the conference. They work toward providing sustainability solutions to help organizations create efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance branding.

For more information about the Southwest Florida Green Futures Expo and Energy Options Conference, please visit http://charlottecountyfl.com/BCS/GreenFutures/.