2009 Annual Report.pdf - Town of Milton

PERSONNEL
In addition to employee departures resulting from position eliminations, the
Department had two long time employees retire and two others leave to pursue
different opportunities. Paul Hazel retired after 39 years of service and Joseph
Martinelli retired after 35 years of service. We wish them health and happiness in
their retirement and thank them for their years of dedicated service to the Town.
Director of Public Works, Walter Heller left the Department when he was selected
as Director of the Accelerated Bridge Construction for the Massachusetts Highway
Department. Mr. Heller’s dedication and vision will be sorely missed. Timothy
Lynch, a two year employee of the Department, resigned from the DPW in order
to pursue different opportunities, and we wish him well in his future career.
THE CHALLENGES AHEAD
The Department of Public Works has been downsized through attrition
since 1973. This is excellent if it does not affect the services which residents
expect. Last year the DPW again saw attrition of its workforce ranks in addition
to the elimination of key service positions. The Department eliminated a
full time secretary and the program manager. Though these changes have not
drastically affected the service levels of operations undertaken “on the street”,
they truly affected the overall service that the Department is expected to deliver
to its citizenry. Just the elimination of the Program Manager’s position
alone has affected the town’s ability to effectively keep the public well-informed
regarding recycling programs, construction projects, and the pursuit of grant
opportunities. With continued pressure exerted by funding limitations, the
DPW’s ability to provide the same service with less is becoming more and more
challenging. The Department continues to monitor and evaluate the need to
alter or limit some services being provided in order to meet the necessary financial
constraints of the town. We have established a workforce and funding
levels sufficient to provide a modest level of service and maintenance to the
Town. The challenge ahead is to continue to find new ways to become more efficient
with the continuous funding pressures and reductions we will be facing.
The Department looks forward to meeting these challenges in the same
way past challenges have been met, through creativity, teamwork, hard dedicated
efforts of its’ workforce, and the cooperation of all town officials. In that
spirit, I express my sincere appreciation for the efforts and support of the DPW
field employees, engineers and management staff; the Board of Selectmen, Warrant
Committee, Personnel Board, other Town Departments, Town Meeting;
and the residents of Milton.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph W. Lynch
Director of Public Works
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