Success Story: The City of Genoa, IL
From Spreadsheets to Strategy: Genoa IL’s Affordable Journey to Usable Data
Genoa is a small city located in DeKalb County in Northern Illinois, with a population of just over 5,000. The city’s groundwater-based system handles about 0.5 million gallons per day (MGD), and the wastewater plant treats about the same. The small but mighty Genoa team has about 4 full-time staff members, led by Paul Naugle, Assistant Director of Public Works, and Lucas Smith, Director of Public Works. Notably, Genoa was also recently awarded the Asset Management Award by the Chicago Metro Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) in Spring of 2025. This award showcases Genoa’s dedicated stewardship of their water, wastewater, and street departments through updated, detailed asset management and preventative maintenance (PM). Genoa is a small, simple, and smart city who makes the most of what they have.
ABOUT GENOA, IL
Until recently, Genoa lacked a solid system for tracking assets and staying on top of maintenance. Data was stored on paper, which was difficult to read and hard to access. As a result, staff lost time to duplicate entry, and equipment sometimes had shortened lifespans due to missed ideal preventative maintenance. Now, through their partnership with Waterly and overall commitment to asset management, Genoa uses Waterly Assets and Core to leverage data and reports that keep systems running smoothly and more efficiently. With this data, they are able to make effective cases for capital improvements which their City Council appreciates by typically approving requests, as Public Works is able to clearly demonstrate the benefit of proactive maintenance above the cost of reactive replacements, something many small towns struggle with.
AT A GLANCE
Previously, Genoa struggled to utilize its staff’s time and skills optimally. Because all reports were done using pen and paper, and later copied into Excel, staff had to spend unnecessary time double-checking things like handwriting, out-of-range numbers, and re-entry when moving things to spreadsheets. With only 4 staff members dedicated to water and wastewater, assets were difficult to manage without a defined system and was often handled “as they remembered,” Lucas explained. Because of this, maintenance occasionally slipped through the cracks, leading to premature asset failure and a tangle of data that felt more like a junk drawer than a usable tool. Without usable data, capital improvement planning was very difficult for Lucas; it was tough to justify and prioritize upgrades. Additionally, “big city” solutions are just out of reach for smaller towns like Genoa. They needed a solution that was affordable and straightforward for their busy staff to adopt and buy into.
PROBLEM ADDRESSED
SOLUTION USED
With Waterly Assets, Genoa can easily generate annual asset reports, which in turn help justify maintenance costs and make a strong case for replacing equipment before it fails. They now have an organized, straightforward view of their assets and a way to support new employees with learning the system. Knowledge is captured and shared, ensuring it stays with the organization even as staff members move on.
“Monthly reporting now takes 10 minutes instead of an hour ”
After a month or so to onboard Waterly Core and Assets, Genoa is able to access and utilize the data they’ve had all along. With automated alerts, real-time data, and accessible reports, the team is able to better prevent asset failures and create manageable PM plans. When Lucas first introduced Waterly Core and Assets, the team was somewhat hesitant; learning new software had been a pain point in the past, and they would be changing their daily routines. Lucas shared that “starting is the hardest part” but that “upfront time will pay off in the end.” For systems like Genoa, integrating new technology can feel daunting, but Genoa proves that with commitment, the payoff is worth it. Today, their staff has fully bought in and successfully made Waterly Core and Assets a part of their everyday routine, paying off with hours each month to better steward their systems and stay on top of the endless list of things to do.
OUTCOMES
They have usable, helpful data... faster. Because Genoa has taken the step to digitize and has used Waterly to help make it easy, they are able to visualize, analyze, and use the data they’ve always had. Time is saved through one-time data entry and one-click reporting on both their water data and asset health.
Staff time is more effectively allocated and utilized. Because of Waterly Core’s real-time alerts and easy-to-access manager views, staff time is optimized. Highly certified team members can spend more time planning and less time double-checking numbers, allowing for a larger community impact.
Budget requests and capital planning now have simple justification. With Waterly Assets, Genoa can justify preventative maintenance costs, proposed budgets, and easily prevent asset failure. The council can feel more confident in the budget, and the Genoa water and wastewater team can better optimize funding, in a system instead of someone’s memory.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
For both Waterly Assets and Rounds, Genoa pays
≈$7,000
per year.
