SETTING GOALS
Department of Public Works outlines agenda for 2019
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> The Saratoga Springs Department of Public Works (DPW) is responsible for overseeing the infrastructure of a demographic of more than 30 square miles.
At the recent State of the City address, DPW Commissioner Anthony Scirocco presented a detailed itemization of the goals for the department for 2019.
As well as Scirocco, the DPW leadership team consists of Joseph J. O’Neill, III, Deputy Commissioner of Public Works, and Michael Veitch, DPW Business Manager.
An overview of the enormity of the work ahead for DPW in the year ahead is detailed below, along with comments provide by the leadership team members.
2019: Goals for the Department of Public Works
“The scope of work the Department of Public Works is involved with is quite complex. Obviously the lightning strike and all the damage that occurred at City Hall put a huge burden on Public Works as we are responsible for all city buildings. Not only was the building no longer acceptable as a safe working environment but all of the employees and their offices had to be moved to the Recreation Center in a short amount of time” O’Neil said.
Overall Initiatives
DPW will work to increase teamwork, communication, and increase efficiencies in the delivery of services for residents in 2019. This includes consistent lawn debris pickup, improved road repair, diligent snow and ice removal, tree planting and maintenance, and the award-winning beautifica-
tion program in the downtown core.
DPW will also continue to maintain and care for the City’s parks, including Congress Park, trails, and open space.
City Hall
The paramount project for DPW is the completion of the renovations and restoration project for City Hall in 2019. While the project has many goals, the overall objective is preserving City Hall’s historic charm, while updating the building’s infrastructure and layout to improve the delivery of services to the public.
“Restoring City Hall to its historical preeminence while at the same time updating the building to bring it into modern times is no easy job. I could not be prouder of Commissioner Scirocco and his leadership in seeing this through while serving as a member of his team” O’Neil said.
The City Hall project has four general phases. The first phase is asbestos abatement by Alpine Environmental Services, which is ongoing right now, on schedule, and will conclude the second week of March.
The asbestos abatement project has created the need to set up temporary accommodations for the Saratoga Springs Police Dispatch in a mobile command vehicle borrowed from the Saratoga County Office of Emergency Services.
This multi-agency coordination enables the County to better provide services that protect life and property during disasters and emergencies. The van is prominently parked by the Police Department entrances to provide a safe working environment for dispatch employees. Another vehicle can be seen being used to facilitate asbestos removal during the project.
The second phase is the conceptual design by city staff and engineering consultants and is ninety-five percent complete. Following that, the third phase is design development for bidding the project, and the final phase is construction renovation. The project is currently on schedule for completion by the fourth quarter of 2019.
Additional 2019 Projects and Objectives:
The restoration of the Katrina Trask gateway will be completed in early spring 2019.
A new state of the art DPW dispatch building will be constructed and re-opened in the summer of 2019 (following a fire which damaged the prior dispatch in 2017). The new building will be in safer and more suitable location for the surrounding neighborhood and the DPW operation.
The new steel structure will be fully outfitted with cameras, IT, a sign shop enabling quicker turn around for sign creation and replacement.
A final phase of implementation for the fleet management/GPS system to track, inventory, and safeguard the DPW fleet is starting now and should be completed within a few months.
All DPW vehicles will be outfitted with sensors using Verizon Network Fleet technology that provides the location, notification alerts for vehicle maintenance needs, and workforce management-employees work hours can be tracked through the application.
The data can be sorted into reports and made readily available to the department as needed.
“The GPS lends an added level of safety by allowing us to tie an employee to a vehicle, to save on insurance, facilitate FEMA reimbursement it needed, and it added to increased efficiencies across the board” Veitch said.
Improvements in corrosion control at the Water Treatment Plant have shown significant progress. If another round of testing demonstrates positive results, the NYS Department of Health will allow for reduced testing and monitoring for copper and lead because the treatments introduced in 2018 are working.
The Department of Public Works have identified aging water mains throughout the city and have diligently began replacing these water mains with new ductile iron pipe or (HDPE) high-density polyethylene pipe.
Currently, Public Works is replacing an aged 8” cast iron water main with a history of rupturing on Route 9S with a new 10” (HDPE) high-density polyethylene water main. With the upgrade of the new water main residents can expect increased water pressure and no interruptions of water service.
“We’re able to make the improvements because of the two end-user Capital Improvement fees (water, sewer) which pays for the debt service” said Scirocco.