From the City of Beloit, Wis.:

The American Public Works Association – Wisconsin Chapter is awarding Christine Walsh, Director of Operations, City of Beloit, the William J. Rheinfrank Award.

Christine Walsh has served in a variety of public works positions for the last 17 years. Currently, she is employed as Director of Operations for the City of Beloit, Wis. She is responsible for the successful management and direction of the operations, including the administration of public works emergency management, snow, streets, fleet, stores, terrace, solid waste, recycling and traffic safety.

Chris has been committed to public works and emergency management throughout her Public Works career. Under her direction the City of Beloit won the North American Snow and Ice Excellence Award in 2009 and the Cities and Villages Mutual Insurance Safety Award for snow and ice management. In the past several years, Chris has mentored many communities across the country with snow and ice control.

Chris is a member of the Wisconsin chapter of APWA and is the current chairperson of the Technical Committee of Emergency Management. Chris also formerly served as President of the Southern Wisconsin Association of Public Works Supervisors.

She was appointed to the National American Public Works Association's Emergency Management Technical Committee in 2007, and in 2009 she was appointed chairperson by President Larry Kohl. Chris serves on our Nations Homeland Security Consortium Council, representing the American Public Works Association providing vision for Homeland Security. Chris also serves on the Nations Emergency Service Sector including the Emergency Services Sector CIKR Information Sharing Environment working Group. Chris was instrumental in the development of a Federal Emergency Management Course being piloted this spring for FEMA “The Public Works Role in Emergency Management.” For many years, she has developed and taught courses in safety, snow and ice management, and emergency management, including Public Works and the current Pandemic threat, and Public Works response to agricultural emergencies. Some of the training she has done included a Live Broadcast on “Restoration of Lifelines” for St. Petersburg College-National Terrorism Preparedness Institute, Gov Sec U.S. Law and Ready 2007, and an Emergency Summit and Snow Removal Workshop for South Suburban College, Chicago, IL. For APWA she has spoken at the 2008 North American Snow and Ice Conference and at the 2009 Congress on H1N1 and public works.

In 2008, Chris attended a Pandemic Planning stakeholder meeting on behalf of Public Works for Homeland Security. She assisted Homeland Security in the development of “Pandemic Influenza – Best Practices and Model Protocols”. On behalf of the Department of Homeland Security, Chris assisted in the development of an annex to the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness, Response and Recovery Guide for Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources, which assists water and waste water utilities in planning for catastrophic pandemic. Chris also presented “Public Works and Pandemic Preparedness” at a Congressional Hearing on behalf of the American Public Works Association.

The City of Beloit has implemented an inter and intra-state Mutual Aid Agreement under her leadership with other Public Works Agencies. Currently, under her leadership, the State of Wisconsin has developed a Statewide Public Works Mutual Aid Program.