Next week (May 19 - 25) is National Public Works Week, and it is a great opportunity to think a bit about the interesting and important parts of our community infrastructure that we all use. The City (and by extension, all Islanders) owns and is responsible for nearly $207 million in physical assets. Our infrastructure portfolio includes these selected highlights:

In this respect, our community is very much like a small county. Taking care of these assets in a way that, first, meets our standards for safety and, second, manages the realities of our small City staffing requires a great deal of commitment, organization, and attention to detail.  All of the "things" listed above are necessary to support the people who live, work and visit on our island. The City's Operations and Maintenance Division is only 23 staff, but they manage to coordinate and complete all this good work island-wide throughout the year. 

The other part of the Public Works function is our Engineering Division.  This is the team that plans City capital projects for transportation and utilities. This group of 19 City staff works on projects that may take years to plan and build - like Waterfront Park or the new City Dock.  But they are also working every day to review new private development, ensure our compliance with State stormwater rules, and stepping in to problem-solve when parts of our infrastructure need immediate repair.

The City's Public Works Department is our largest department, in terms of both staffing and share of the budget. The department is currently doing the work needed to achieve accreditation through the American Public Works Association (APWA). Receiving this designation will signify that the City is following best practices in managing our assets and will clearly establish benchmarks for levels of service delivery and maintenance for our public infrastructure.  We expect to apply for APWA accreditation in 2020 and to use those standards to guide our operations going forward.