2010 Highlights

 

Productivity Improvements for Street Sweeping & Curb Repair

The spring street sweeping program was completed by May 8^th, which was approximately 4 weeks earlier than normal. This was due to reduced amounts of sand applied to roads during the snow program, and this resulted in greater efficiency for street sweeping crews.  This faster response represents a benefit to citizens, as streets were swept earlier than in previous years.  Another benefit to citizens due to the faster completion of sweeping was to allow crews to take on other work sooner than in the past, such as storm water system construction and curb repair. A further benefit was that the street sweeping program was more productive for this year because fewer personnel were used on the crew to carry out the program than in the past.  This also allowed staff to perform other work during the street sweeping period. Because the street sweeping ended earlier, the Town was able to carry out the curb repair program earlier than in previous years.  This year we completed the curb work several months earlier than last year. 

Storm Water System Repairs

Due to the productivity and efficiency improvements in our street sweeping and curb repair programs, we were able to assign more resources to handle storm water system construction and repair work this year.  This became especially important because the heavy rain we received in 2009 resulted in more pavement cave-ins requiring repair. The number of crews performing storm water system repairs was doubled this year in an attempt to better maintain our drainage infrastructure.  We are also attempting to reduce the size of a typical storm water system repair crew without adversely effecting safety. This will allow us to make staff available for another drainage crew, while continuing our level of service in other priority areas of Public Works. 

Snow Program Improvements

We have installed computerized spreader controls on the four newer snow plow trucks with the “all-season” bodies.  These new controls will also allow for greater efficiency in the use of materials, including brine (liquid salt) or magnesium chloride.  These trucks (along with the new tandem-axle truck, which has the computerized controls and brine tanks) respond at the beginning of a snow storm with the “on-call” crew to spread pre-wet salt or salt/sand to certain streets. The spreaders on all the snow plows were calibrated for the most efficient distribution of materials during storms. Refinements to snow plowing routes were made to complete the plowing work quickly and more efficiently.  The dump body and spreader on truck 103 were determined as being in poor condition and unusable, and were replaced. This truck is an example of the type of vehicle that we will not replace as part of the vehicle replacement program, therefore, components of these trucks will be replaced as needed.  This component replacement plan will save hundreds of thousands of dollars over ten years in avoided vehicle replacement costs.

Cleaning of the East Street Yard

The East Street Yard is the property immediately west of the Veteran’s Cemetery.  This site had been used as a storage yard for the town for many years. The property was cleaned out last year and significant amount of materials, including soil, were removed. This soil will be reused as top soil for lawn damage repairs, curb repairs, construction projects and other similar uses, instead of purchasing top soil for these initiatives. In the future, it may be possible to expand the Veteran’s Cemetery into the adjacent yard area. It is estimated that the existing areas of the Cemetery will reach capacity in about 10-12 years.  A plan will be developed to continue to improve the yard for this purpose, should a decision be made in the future to expand the existing Cemetery.

Pavement Management

The pavement, drainage and curbing were completely rehabilitated on Timothy Terrace and Michael Lane.  Work on these streets included the milling off of the existing pavement, removal of the old curbing and various drainage improvements.  The base under the streets was augmented with stone and related material to improve the strength of the base and to increase the height of the crown on the streets (to also improve drainage).  Some of this material was reused from the reconstruction project on Day Hill Road (saving the purchase cost of this material).  The project on the two streets was completed with the installation of new curbing.  Performing the work in this manner saved hundreds of thousands of dollars versus the cost of reconstructing the street.  Street sections which were milled and paved included Matianuck Avenue between Rood Avenue and West Wolcott Street, as well as from Park Avenue to Sunnyside Circle.  In addition similar work was done on a section of Deerfield Road.  Streets that were resurfaced included Poplar Drive, Walnut Drive, Stone Road, River Street, Graham Road and Timber Lane.

 

Volunteer Efforts

The Public Works Department partnered with various volunteer groups to make improvements in town.  We worked with the Civitan Club to beautify the town-owned property along the Farmington River and the Riverwalk. This effort included the removing of dead plantings and weeds from the planter boxes and adjacent areas.  Replacement plantings and mulch were installed to beautify and allow for improved maintenance. The Civitan Club has committed to continue their efforts and take on the maintenance of this area in the future.

Volunteers from ING, with department assistance, worked to beautify the front of Sage Park Middle School by removing dead plantings and installing new shrubs at the school.  The costs of this effort were paid for by ING.

Lastly, employees from public works assisted a group from Clover Street School with the installation of a new playscape at the school.  The department excavated the site, installed drainage, backfilled it with stone, and assisted the group with the installation of the playscape.  Our thanks go out to the volunteers for their efforts in improving the town.

In addition to the volunteer efforts mentioned above, town management staff worked in conjunction with department personnel to make improvements and beautify the Deerfield Memorial following the replacement of the Globe. Overgrown shrubs were removed and replaced with new colorful plantings, and the stone Deerfield signage was painted to improve the visibility of the memorial.