The Review Magazine May / June 2021

Impacted Services: Composting and Tree Trimming The compost center remained open, but the punch card program was dropped to avoid person-to-person contact. Park playgrounds and restrooms were closed:it wasn’t feasible to clean them after every use. Some projects were postponed because necessary parts or materials weren’t available. Forestry had to be outsourced to trim and remove dead limbs and trees in the right of way. “It takes three guys: one in the bucket truck, two on the ground shoving limbs into the woodchipper and cleaning up,” said Smith. “With only three guys total I couldn’t put my sole team on cutting trees so that went on the back burner as well. But you’re still responsible and the city is liable, so we had to outsource.”More than 50 trees had to be trimmed or removed

Impacted Services: Cemetery

Maintenance “This last year has

been a first in the 20 years I’ve been here,” said Public Works Foreman Ron Ashby. “It’s been a year where we’ve fallen behind on a lot of things and had to let a lot of other things go.” Spring cleaning projects were the first to be impacted. “You really saw it at the cemetery. By Memorial Day there were a lot of things we’d normally do to clean up from the winter that we didn’t get to this year,” said Ashby. “In the winter we just cover the vaults and then in the spring we settle the dirt and put sod on top to cover. We didn’t get that done before Memorial Day. The head- stone foundations didn’t get done either. That was a first. “It’s always been a thing for us to have that done to help the families. The cemetery is a thing of pride for a lot of families, having a nice place that people can visit and pay their respects. When it’s not cleaned up, the flowers aren’t planted and the graves aren’t sunk and looking good, it makes you feel bad.” Impacted Services: Potholes and Storm Sewers The city maintains 56 miles of streets, 34 miles of sidewalks, 36 miles of storm sewer pipes, 42 miles of sewer mains, and 233 acres of designated public parks. MISS DIG orders come in daily, requiring utilities to be marked out within three days; in emergencies, that’s cut to three hours. Snow removal and sewer backups are inescapable. Everything else had to be prioritized. “The most affected was pothole patching. It normally takes two guys in one vehicle, but two people in one vehicle is definitely not social distancing. So, the same job now took a second pickup truck following the patch truck. So now your costs go up and it takes longer to do that same job,” said Smith. Storm sewer cleaning was limited to major blockages. “We started and got a few streets done, but with man hours cut in half we had to make priority changes so that went on the back burner,” said Smith. “Luckily it was only the storm and not the sanitary drains as we switch back and forth every year between them and we typically don’t have as much trouble with the storm sewers.”

last year. “It got frustrating,” said Ashby. “Never, as far back as I can remember, have we ever had to hire someone to come in and cut trees for us.” Meanwhile, staff and citizens transitionedto the “new normal.”

MAY / JUNE 2021

25

THE REVIEW