Carnegie DPW Steps Up

When I first became a Council member 6 years ago we had lengthy debates about the role of our Department of Public Works. Some Council members wanted to scale back the size of the department and limit their work to snow plowing, pothole filling, and park maintenance. Everything else would be outsourced with intent to save money. But when governments outsource work they may or may not actually save money. Often it is more expensive, and this may be acceptable for short term workloads. But for work that that is steady or recurring, I have maintained that keeping the work in-house is the more cost effective solution. So I had numerous discussions with the leaders of DPW, Keith Hatcher and Pete Schepis. We reviewed the scope of work in their labor agreement and we evaluated their manpower and equipment needs.

In the years since then, we have selectively hired employees with particular skill sets and we have purchased the needed equipment. The types of jobs that our employees are now performing has dramatically increased. The borough used to pay outside contractors for:

• Purchasing and installing the concrete sewer inlets
• Paving alleys
• Borough vehicle maintenance
• Vacuuming dirt and rocks out of storm sewers
• Building retention walls in our parks
• Street lamp replacement
• Stabilizing of creek banks and hillsides by fitting Gabion baskets

  

   

When the borough funded a new salt bin at our public works facility, DPW acted as the general contractor and subbed out only the parts they couldn’t do. This saved the borough about $20,000. And now this summer they have performed a major renovation to Chioda Field. They have completely rebuilt the dugouts, built a substantial retaining wall, and poured concrete for the foundation of the new press box. Further, they did major work to the grounds that included a significant earth moving. Our public works employees are now doing much more varied work than their peers in neighboring municipalities, with no increase in staff. In all of our proposed projects we now review what parts can be performed by our own staff. This is a paradigm shift for the borough and it’s having a positive impact. Much thanks to our employees for stepping up to the challenge.