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Other stories by Stephanie%20Johnston

• What's a Manager to Do?

• How to quantify the long-term benefits of infrastructure spending

  Success in stimulus spending is measured primarily by more jobs and less fraud. But while easily quantifiable, these criteria don't help recipients show taxpayers the long-term benefits of their $787-billion investment.

• EPA beats almost all other agencies in processing funds

  Only the National Endowment for the Arts - which received a paltry $50 million - is ahead of the EPA in allocating its stimulus allotment.

• What a difference a year makes

  In each of the last four Novembers, we've asked our faithful readers to (anonymously) share budget projections for the coming year.

• Increasing service with no budget impact

  Folks on the coasts like to sneer at the Midwest, but I should know better. I've lived in Illinois all my life. (And, no, I'm not going to reveal how many years that's been!)

• A Partnership That Actually Works

• LEDs are the new technological wild, wild west

  Last year, public works draped the 40-foot Christmas tree in downtown Webster, Mass., with strand upon strand of LED lights that Director Michael Suprenant estimates used one-fifth the electricity of the old incandescent bulbs.

• Unions are surprisingly cooperative when faced with potential pandemic

  Early on, medial experts thought the H1N1 virus that's killed almost 1,500 people worldwide originated in Wisconsin.

• Getting around the lowest-cost imperative when hiring consultants

  Both client and consultant know that the method for contracting professional services is broken, but only the client pays the price.

• Rapid Deployment

  Backlog prompts county engineers to switch project delivery methods.