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d Eddie Downs paint the lines of the soccer fields at Jordan Park as part of summer-into fall preparation for local fields and parks.<br />
ant, fire is important, teachers are important,<br />
but we keep the town functional during<br />
snowstorms, and we bury folks, we maintain<br />
the parks, all the buildings here so we have a<br />
hand in just about everything,” Tomasz said.<br />
“Essentially, as soon as you leave your property<br />
you’re dealing with some sort of public<br />
works.... If your toilets are not flushing, you<br />
can have problems. If you can't get fresh water,<br />
you're gonna have problems. If the streets<br />
are not plowed in the winter, good luck trying<br />
to drive through two feet of snow.”<br />
When asked what the strangest encounter<br />
he’s had on the job was, Tomasz said that he<br />
received a call from a man who claimed that<br />
DPW workers were engaging with prostitutes<br />
in his back yard. Upon arrival the man, who<br />
was holding his clothing out in front of him,<br />
dropped his pants and jacket.<br />
“I was in one town, and I got a call from<br />
a resident. And he said that my guys were<br />
meeting prostitutes in his backyard. I said,<br />
‘Okay, I'll come up, investigate.’ I go up there,<br />
it's an older gentleman. Skinny as a rail. He<br />
meets me at the door, holding his jacket in his<br />
pants. And as soon as I saw him, he let go and<br />
his pants dropped down. I had to convince<br />
him that my guys weren't meeting hookers in<br />
his backyard. He was convinced that my guys<br />
were doing that. So that was probably one<br />
of the weirder ones I think I've had as far as<br />
trying to but you know, yeah, that's definitely<br />
not in the job description,” Tomasz said.<br />
Tomasz said that he loves his job because<br />
STAFF PHOTO: SPENSER HASAK<br />
he gets to work with his hands and physically<br />
accomplish tasks. He said that he looks<br />
forward to completing one task, such as the<br />
school repair projects, so that he can move on<br />
to the next one.<br />
“You get things done. I think that's it. I<br />
mean, it's definitely, it's never boring, for<br />
sure. And you’re always getting things done,<br />
again, I'm kind of excited that we got two big<br />
projects, again, 20 odd million dollars worth<br />
of work, and it's going well,” Tomasz said.<br />
“We're getting done, and we're going to move<br />
on to the next team to hopefully a new public<br />
safety building. So I find construction projects<br />
or getting things done exciting, rather than<br />
just pushing paper someplace, you know, I feel<br />
like I'm really getting something done.”<br />
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