SML Academy · Level 2
Management
Organize people, money, assets, contractors, information, and programs to deliver dependable public services.
Designed for supervisors moving into broader responsibility, current managers, project and program managers, and experienced professionals who need stronger organizational and administrative capability.
Tuition is $750 per participant. Completion of Level 1 is recommended but not required for appropriately experienced learners.
Level at a Glance
From Supervisor to Manager
What You Will Be Able to Do
Manage Systems and Results
Workforce & Performance
- Map workforce risks and improve onboarding
- Use performance systems fairly and consistently
- Recognize when HR, legal, ADA, or labor-relations review is needed
Money & Contracts
- Connect budgets and funding restrictions to service priorities
- Prepare a defensible public purchase strategy
- Monitor scope, schedule, cost, change control, and vendor performance
Operations & Information
- Build project charters, risk registers, and useful service measures
- Improve data quality, workflow, asset information, and technology adoption
- Coordinate operations, engineering, construction, and public communication
Accountability & Resilience
- Manage environmental and regulatory processes
- Strengthen continuity, resource coordination, and emergency readiness
- Prepare accessible, transparent decision briefings
Eight Self-Paced Modules
Level 2 Curriculum
- M1. From Supervisor to Manager
Systems thinking, span of control, role clarity, organizational design, planning, and competing priorities. - M2. Workforce and Employee Systems
Recruitment, onboarding, performance systems, HR coordination, ADA employment processes, development, and succession. - M3. Budgeting, Purchasing, and Contract Management
Public budgeting, funding sources, specifications, competition, ethics, contract administration, change control, and vendor performance. - M4. Projects, Programs, and Capital Work
Scope, schedule, resources, risk, engineering/construction coordination, stakeholders, and closeout. - M5. Performance, Assets, Data, and Technology
Service levels, KPIs, work orders, asset management, data quality, dashboards, cybersecurity awareness, and workflow technology. - M6. Environmental and Regulatory Management
NPDES/MS4, permits, inspections, documentation, corrective action, contractor control, and environmental risk. - M7. Emergency Management and Continuity
NIMS/ICS interfaces, EOC coordination, continuity, mutual aid, resource tracking, recovery, and tabletop practice. - M8. Public Accountability and Service Communication
Public records, open-government awareness, ethics, accessible service, presentations, governing-body support, media, and public information coordination.
Public-Sector Context
Resources Carry Conditions and Accountability
Management decisions are shaped by federal, state, and local mandates; agency policy; adopted budgets; procurement rules; and public expectations. Relevant lessons compare grants, general revenue, ad valorem and local-option sales taxes, fuel taxes, utility and other user fees, assessments, bonds, and restricted revenues. Learners practice identifying eligibility, match, procurement, reporting, maintenance, audit, and public-communication implications without treating the course as legal or financial advice.
Federal
Mandates, grants, emergency programs, national standards, and funding conditions can shape local priorities and documentation.
State of Florida
Statutes, rules, state agencies, appropriations, transportation and environmental programs, ethics, records, and emergency-management systems affect local work.
Local
Elected policy, ordinances, budgets, rates and fees, service levels, contracts, assets, community expectations, and implementation occur closest to the work.
Blended Cohort Experience
12 Live Virtual Sessions
Each level includes twelve two-hour live sessions (24 live hours). The four themes below are illustrative, not the full schedule; the complete session calendar and sequence will be confirmed for each intake.
Orientation and Management Launch
Technology check, expectations, systems-thinking baseline, and project launch. A recording plus orientation check may be used when approved.
Florida Current Issues and Decision Laboratory
Budget, procurement, workforce, environmental, technology, ethics, accessibility, and public-accountability scenarios.
Project Clinic or Operational Tabletop
Peer problem-solving and a program, continuity, resource, environmental, or service-delivery challenge.
Project Sharing, Synthesis, and Closing
Results, lessons learned, evaluation, and the bridge to organizational leadership.
Completion Requirements
Demonstrate Learning and Application
Assessment
- Complete all modules and required activities
- Earn at least 80% on instructional assessment components
- Complete live participation or approved alternatives
- Meet academic-integrity expectations
Applied Work
- Complete required reflections and management exercises
- Complete assigned field exploration or case alternatives
- Complete an operational or program improvement project
- Earn at least Proficient on the common project rubric
A detailed fictional Florida public-works or utility case is available when workplace access, confidentiality, disability, safety, cost, employment status, or employer policy limits an authentic project.
Professional Development
Connect Management Learning to Technical Responsibility
Managers may also benefit from role-specific development in purchasing, contract administration, project management, emergency management, stormwater/environmental compliance, workplace safety, traffic control, equipment operations, accessible documents and meetings, data analysis, and computer applications. These topics are mentioned as a professional-development pathway—not as a substitute for regulated, employer-specific, engineering, legal, or financial requirements.
This independent Tampa Bay Training program is not affiliated with, sponsored by, approved by, or endorsed by APWA or another association. It awards a Tampa Bay Training certificate of completion, not college credit, a license, or a regulated certification.
Level 2 — Management
Build Reliable Systems, Steward Resources, and Improve Public Service
Cindy Torres can assist with registration, technical difficulties, course administration, certificate questions, and routing to the appropriate TBT staff member.