Building Public Trust with Andy Kricun

Our August newsletter theme is “Gaining Public Trust,” explored in an article below by Andy Kricun, Principal at Moonshot Missions and former Executive Director and Chief Engineer of the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority (CCMUA). During his time at CCMUA, Andy was able to add essential updates to his plant to improve water quality, tackle a chronic odor issue the plant faced, create a collaborative of partners in the city, and keep rates stable. Read below on his take on three tenets of gaining public trust—consistency, transparency, and being a promise keeper.

In my view, it’s clear that a water utility can and should be an anchor institution in the community they serve. I define an anchor institution as an organization invested in the quality of life in their community. Your guiding star is gaining public trust. The key tenets, then, of gaining public trust and becoming an anchor institution are to be consistent, transparent, and a promise-keeper.  

Consistency- communicate on a consistent basis. Your community shouldn’t only be hearing from you when there’s a water or sewer line break or rate increase.  At a minimum, I’d recommend meeting with your community on a monthly basis to update them on things. The nature of the meetings should depend on the appetite of the community. For me, I’ve hosted meetings around brainstorming new ideas, issues, and challenges—sometimes reporting out on where we left off as well.  At these meetings and in disgruntled communications, remember to be mindful and put things in perspective. You want to listen to what people say, but the bottom line is to be an anchor institution - a public servant. You’ve got to do what’s best for all of the people that you’re serving. You’ve got to look out for all of those people that are counting on you to do the right thing, even those that aren’t in the room. For example, everyone who comes to a rate hearing might be against a rate increase, but you may need to implement that increase anyway if it means protecting the public health for the entire community.  

Transparency- it is really important that the community gain trust in you through honesty and transparency. As an anchor institution (or an aspiring one) you as the utility are the expert in this situation, and it’s your responsibility to be a public servant.  Some of this can certainly be applied to rate increases. What is the reason for the increase? Be honest and transparent about the reason for these increases. Remember to be both honest AND truthful- tell the whole truth.   

Promise-keeper: say what you’ll do, and do what you say. This tenet of public trust is important, especially in a community where there’s been a history of mistrust. If something occurs and you can’t do it and you thought you could, be very open and honest about that.  To build trust and keep promises, look for some low hanging fruit and early wins. If you are meeting with the community for the first time, you don’t want it to just be about the 5-year action plan. Find some tangible things you can do now to help build trust in the long-term too, especially if it addresses a concern expressed by the community.  

Our Utility’s Journey Towards Being An Anchor Institution 

On the way to becoming an anchor institution, our utility traversed a learning curve that you might find yourself in. 

1. Indifferent to the Community 

Before Transformation 

The utility’s approach was to stay away from the public and the press. They were indifferent to doing anything that wasn’t required. 

2. Doing No Harm 

Establishing a Baseline of Responsibility 

We had been indifferent to the significant odor problem we were causing, but shifting to a no tolerance odor policy improved us to being morally neutral- no longer doing harm but still not actively doing good. 

3. Being a Good Neighbor 

Engaging and Giving Back 

We took intentional steps to promote community well-being. We started community rain gardens to soak up stormwater and began to host a monthly community meeting. 

4. Become an Anchor Institution 

Long-term Institutionalized Commitment 

We formed the Camden Collaborative Initiative, which involved utilities, universities, national environmental groups, and statewide groups invested in the quality of life of the people we were serving. 

I'd imagine that many of you might fall into the Good Neighbor category, and are striving to become an anchor institution. We are deeply grateful for that. Take the time to listen to your community and find out what they need, and then respond to that. Tell them what they want to know, remain consistent and transparent, and keep your promises. You never know what you’ll be able to learn from them too.