Here's a subject most citizens don't like discussing, but perhaps it's time. One method of solving the country's water problems - recycling of waste water - is getting lots of visibility. Some call it "toilet to tap," but that's a bit harsh. This particular process is perfectly safe, but most don't like the concept.

Recycled water purification is becoming a common solution to water shortages caused by droughts in western states. The process takes water already processed through sewage treatment and converts it into potable water through additional processing and purification methods.

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More than 900 highway, bridge network improvements planned in state this year

They're doing something right in Pennsylvania! While other states are at a loss for state funding for transportation needs and the federal funding faucet has been reduced to a trickle, Pennsylvania officials recently announced an additional 250 transportation projects that will begin this year.

And, it's all thanks to the state's new transportation plan. As a result of the bill signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett (pictured), at least $2.1 billion will be earmarked for the state's network of bridges and highways. That's $600 million more than would have been invested without the bill. The state is looking at more than 900 projects that will start this year. And 18,000 new jobs are expected this year alone.

"This plan is creating safer roads, bridges and transit systems while at the same time saving 12,000 jobs and creating 50,000 new ones over the next five years," said Corbett. "We are putting these transportation investments to work quickly as we strive to build a stronger Pennsylvania both now and in the future."

According to the Governor's Office, some of the projects slated include:

• Resurfacing more than 142 miles of roads in northwestern Pennsylvania;
• Rehabilitating the Birmingham Bridge in Pittsburgh;
• Resurfacing and bridge preservation on the Lock Haven Bypass, in Clinton
  County;
• Rehabilitating the Spring Garden Street Bridge over the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia;
• Resurfacing the Trexlertown bypass in Lehigh County; and
• Resurfacing more than 145 miles of roads in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Corbett also ordered an internal review of PennDOT procedures that has already resulted in recurring savings of $100 million per year.

In addition to the state benefitting from Act 89, local governments and transit services also reap benefits. Nearly 50 transit projects that would not otherwise have been started will this year move into the design stage and some could even begin construction. Additionally, liquid fuels reimbursements were increased by $25 million, helping local governments improve their roads and bridges. That figure will increase to about $220 million over the next five years. Local governments, too, can qualify for a program in which the state will pay 50 percent of the costs of coordinating and improving traffic signals to mitigate traffic congestion.

"These improvements are starting without delay and the benefits of our plan are now on display in every corner of Pennsylvania," said Corbett.

Bean Town issue exceeds $1.1 billion; Florida city seeks $500 million renovation

Two major American cities are considering overhauls of their convention centers, with a total price tag for the two exceeding $2 billion.

In Boston, state lawmakers this week will consider a $1.1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in South Boston. And, in Miami Beach, city officials are already considering negotiations with an architect to begin $500 million in improvements to their convention center.

Looking to increase the size of the Boston facility, the House Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets will meet Thursday to discuss financing for the Boston facility improvements. Plans are to use revenue from the current hotel occupancy tax to back bonds that would be issued for construction. Officials not only see upgrades to the facility as a way to attract larger national and international conventions to the city, but also to boost the regional economy and create new jobs.

The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center is the largest exhibition center in the Northeast United States, with some 516,000 square feet of contiguous exhibition space. Last month, the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority issued a request for qualifications from parties interested in developing, financing, constructing and operating a headquarters hotel project on two Massport-owned parcels located along Summer Street in immediate proximity to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

In Miami Beach, city officials already are negotiating with an architectural firm to draw up plans for $500 million in renovations to the Miami Beach Convention Center. A similar proposal was aired last year, but that renovation carried a $1 billion price tag. This new proposal has trimmed the costs by half. The old plan included adding a headquarters hotel, shops and restaurants, new public spaces and possibly even new housing on the site. A public-private partnership would help pay for the more expensive project by leasing out its land to private developers. That plan was dumped for the current proposal that uses money on hand in the city coffers from a bond, a special taxing district and a new hotel tax. 

Based on public-private partnership to help recruit new businesses to state

A draft version of a bill that was approved by a joint legislative committee creating a public-private economic development agency in North Carolina was called "a good starting point" by the bill's author, North Carolina Sen. Harry Brown (pictured). The nonprofit corporation will handle business recruiting functions for the state.

The bill would create the state's first public-private economic development agency and was heard by the Joint Legislative Economic Development and Global Engagement Oversight Committee. After ironing out some questions regarding ethics, transparency and salaries, the joint committee unanimously approved the draft version. However, officials note it will take some more hammering out before the bill is ready to be sent to the General Assembly next month for debate.

Before the proposed nonprofit corporation gets started, it must raise $10 million in private funds to pay operational costs. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and his administration have been pushing the public-private partnership method as a better approach to recruit new business and help existing businesses expand. To ensure credibility, the corporation's employees and board members would be required to adhere to the restrictions and reporting requirements of the State Ethics Act. Other requirements regarding ethics are still under study.

The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina has been approved to operate as a tax-exempt organization under the 501(c)(3) federal code. The corporation could also contract with the state's Commerce Department to use public funds to recruit companies and to market the state as a business and tourist destination.

"North Carolina is starting to see signs of economic recovery, and this new partnership will strengthen our state's recruiting efforts and increase efficiency," said McCrory.

Washington State school district preparing for construction bond vote

Voters in the Sequim School District in Washington State are attending forums in advance of an April 22 bond election. The vote seeks passage of a $154 million bond package aimed at construction projects. The $154,325,000 bond proposal would provide for construction of a new elementary school, remodeling and renovation of the high school and two elementary schools and construction of a new athletic complex.

Indiana city approves funding for paving, repairing city streets

A $3.5 million bond issue for paving and repairing some streets in Portage, Indiana, was recently approved by the city council. Repaving one road alone is expected to cost approximately $700,000 of that figure and two other roads could cost another $200,000 to $300,000. The city's Traffic Commission will review other possible paving projects and make recommendations to the city's works board so that projects can get under way. City officials say it is not likely the projects will begin before June or July. With a projected budget deficit of about $800,000 by the end of the year and payments on a five-year bond at about $740,000 per year, the mayor is putting together a plan to finance the repayment of the debt using motor vehicle highway funds and money from the Redevelopment Commission and from the County Economic Development Income Tax.

Check out these recent awards:

• IlliniCare Health Plan Inc., a division of Centene Corp., has won a contract worth up to $1.8 billion over five years from the Cook County (Illinois) public health system board to manage health care for an estimated 115,000 low-income residents as the county adapts to the federal Affordable Care Act.

• Schwarz Paving Company has won a $1.9 million contract from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to improve roads in Grady County, including grading roads, modifying the current drainage system, resurfacing half a mile of Cimarron Road and installing flashing school zone and crosswalk signs.

• Austin Bridge and Road, LP has won a $23 million contract from the Texas Department of Transportation for a road improvement project in Kaufman to extend State Hwy. 34 from U.S. Hwy. 175 to State Hwy. 243 and for an interchange at U.S. Hwy. 175 to build four lanes of an ultimate six-lane bypass in Kaufman.

• Midwest Contracting Inc. won a $205,000 contract from the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority to replace doors at Toledo Express Airport's passenger terminal. The port board approved a $255,000 appropriation for the door replacements, including money for project management and a 10 percent contingency fund.

• Bray Construction was awarded a $1.8 million contract by the city of Paris, Texas, to replace deteriorated water and sewer lines as part of a $45 million infrastructure bond project approved by voters last May.

• Moltz Construction Inc. won a $20 million contract from the federal government to build the first pumping plant for the Navajo-Gallup pipeline project, which will bring drinking water to tribal and rural communities along the Arizona-New Mexico border.

• Texas Gulf Construction Company, Inc. won a contract for $1.04 million from the Texas Transportation Commission to construct a new boat lift and new screening canopies at the Galveston-Bolivar Ferry landing.

• Accenture recently won a contract from the U.S. Department of the Navy with an aggregate value of $53.7 million to support the Naval Supply Systems Command's Business Systems Center to provide human resource and information technology (IT) solutions, including maintenance, integration and development support for systems, under a prime indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract.

• Blythe Construction won a $1.6 million contract from the North Carolina Department of Transportation to build a new bridge on Poplin Road.

• Agralytica won a $398,548 contract from the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Business Center in Herndon, Virginia, for rainfall and vegetation index crop insurance programs evaluation.

Michigan State seeks P3 for new biomedical research facility

Michigan State University has issued a request for qualifications for developers interested in participating in a public-private partnership for a new biomedical research facility. MSU officials are looking at a developer-financed model or a university-financed model. The facility would be built in downtown Grand Rapids.

The new facility will be approximately 145,000 square feet and is expected to be ready for use by late 2017. University officials say they have been encouraged by the community to pursue a developer-financed model. That would allow the university to take advantage of private developers with access to more capital than the university alone would have. Those developers also would bring a level of expertise to the table that the university does not have. Much of the risk would also be transferred to the private partner.

"I think that one of the important aspects of building a building like this is that we need the expertise of lots of different people, and we are fortunate, in the early phases, to have those people available to work with us to design the building," said Dr. Jeffrey Dwyer (pictured), associate dean for research and community engagement. He said the facility is expected to provide space for 36 principal investigators and their teams, occupying two-thirds of the building.

Requests for proposals are likely to be issued later this summer.

Project in Texas could result in mixed-use riverfront project

City officials and private developers are in talks over a proposed $300 million project that could include hotels, condominiums, restaurants, a marina, a grocery store and shops along the riverfront in Waco.

Waco Mayor Malcolm Duncan Jr. has confirmed the deal is in the talking stages, but neither side of the proposed partnership is releasing any details yet. But, the mayor said both sides are "making progress." The holdup in moving forward may well be that land along the river has been specifically reserved for park and public use.

Developers said the deal is about 80 percent done and they are hopeful to have an agreement in place by May.

 Are you a government official who has moved into a new position or to a new agency? Did you recently retire? Were you recently named to an executive-level position at a state-supported college, university or community college? Have you secured a new job as superintendent of a public school? If so, we'd like to hear from you - and so would your friends and colleagues - for our "Where Are They Now" column. Just drop us a line at editor@spartnerships.com and let us know about your previous job and where you are now. This week we feature Philip Eure. 

Philip Eure, head of the District of Columbia Office of Police Complaints, has been appointed the first inspector general of the New York Police Department, a position that was created by the city council over the opposition of then-mayor Michael Bloomberg. Eure earned his bachelor's degree from Stanford University and his law degree from Harvard Law School. After earning his law degree, Eure became a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1988 in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. He served from 1997 to 1998 as a resident legal assistant at the U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, through the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division. From 1989 to 2000, Eure was a senior trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Employment Litigation Section in Washington, D.C. From 2008 to 2010, Eure was president of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, a non-governmental organization that encourages greater police accountability and reduction of police misconduct in the United States by promoting establishment and improvement of independent government agencies that review police activities. He was named executive director of the Office of Police Complaints in Washington, D.C., in 2000 and served in that capacity until his recent appointment as inspector general of the NYPD.

University of California Chief Financial Officer Peter Taylor (top left) will be leaving the University of California, effective April 25, to take a position as president of a newly formed private foundation based in Los Angeles that focuses on improving educational outcomes, particularly among underserved populations. The Texas Woman's University Board of Regents has named Carine M. Feyten, Ph.D. (top center), dean of the College of Education, Health and Society at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, as sole finalist candidate for chancellor and president of the university. After 36 years in law enforcement, San Marcos, Texas, Police Chief Howard Williams (top right) has announced he will retire Aug. 1 after a career that included 11 years as chief in San Marcos and 25 years with the Austin Police Department. Former New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly has been hired by ABC News as a law enforcement consultant and will work on all ABC News platforms, according to network news chief Ben Sherwood. Massachusetts State Rep. Kevin Murphy, who has served in the legislature since 1997, will resign his office and leave his private law practice after being named city manager for the city of Lowell, Massachusetts. John Strycker, current superintendent of New Lothop Area Public Schools, will take over as the new superintendent of Algonac (Michigan) Community Schools on July 1. Debra Saunders-White (bottom right), a former math teacher who also spent 15 years with IBM as a systems engineer and former acting secretary for the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education, recently took the oath of office as North Carolina Central University's 11th chancellor. Chief Technology Officer Mark Headd (bottom center) recently announced that he will leave his position in early April, and says he will return to being a professional technologist. The city of Palo Alto has selected Harriet Richardson (bottom left), a veteran from the city of Berkeley, as its new city auditor, taking over a position that has been vacant since Jim Pelletier resigned in September. St. Helena, California, City Manager Gary Broad has announced he will retire June 1 after a nearly three-decade career in city government, more than two of those years with St. Helena, and will be replaced by interim city manager Toby Ross. Albert Escalera, a West Richland police captain and former Washington State Patrol trooper, has been chosen from a field of five finalists to become police chief for the city of Sunnyside, Washington. A 39-year veteran of the Tempe Fire Department and instructor at the International Association of Firefighters for 25 years, Assistant Fire Chief William Thomas Abbott has been chosen the next chief of the Surprise, Arizona, Fire-Medical Department.