2005 ANNUAL REPORT OF
THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

I cannot emphasize enough the need for replacing the DPW positions eliminated over the past four years and funding our budget properly to provide the necessary services to the residents of Easton .

The DPW is responsible for maintaining the infrastructure assets of our community. The Highway Division is responsible for the 129.65 miles of roadway over 408 separate streets including sidewalks and drainage systems, overseeing catch basin clearing, street sweeping, asphalt paving and patching, crack sealing, line painting, all winter emergency operations of road and sidewalk, sanding, plowing and oversight of hired equipment.

Vehicles for police, school, and DPW are maintained at our repair facility.

The Building and Grounds Division provides maintenance to all town buildings: seven schools, three fire stations, police department, three D.P.W. facilities, the Town Offices and 50 plus parks, playgrounds, and cemeteries. All town trees along the roadways fall within the oversight of the Tree Warden, who supervises this division. Set up is provided for all elections, Town Meetings, and high school graduation.

The Water Division maintains 158.3 miles of water mains ranging in pipe size up to 16”, including 1,405 hydrants and 3,018 street valves supplying water to 7,019 services and meters from six well sources and two water storage tanks containing 2 million gallons each.

The Water Division has substantially completed the retrofitting of all meters in the community with a new radio read technology and has begun to bill all customers on a quarterly basis. The 2 million gallon water storage tank on Washington Street was taken out of service, sandblasted and repainted on both the interior and exterior.

The new well and building, including site work, has been completed for our Well #7 and will be on line in 2006. At the fall Town Meeting 13.4 acres were approved for purchase adjacent to our existing 2 million gallon water storage tank on Bay Road , insuring space for an additional water storage tank when future needs arise.

The year 2005 will certainly be remembered for all the serious weather issues. During the winter of 2004/2005 we depleted our Snow and Ice budget and ended with a $335,919 deficit.

Fourteen DPW personnel worked all day Saturday October 16, 2005 from

7:00 am-9:30 pm dealing with plugged drains and flooding issues. Elm Street, Main Street and Central Street were closed due to the over flooding of the roads and concerns of dam failures. Nearby residents were notified of the possible need to evacuate if situations worsened. Sandbags were placed on the Shovel Shop Dam as it started to flow over the top. Dozens of barrels were placed around town to alert motorists of the road flooding hazards. Many homes throughout the community suffered basement flooding with considerable personal property loss. The worst road flooding was on Union Street , Elm Street , Main Street , Purchase Street , Prospect Street , Bay Road , Highland Street, South Street , Norton Avenue , Poquanticut Avenue , Rockland Street, Chestnut Street , Massapoag Avenue , and Kevin's Way.

All DPW divisions have been busy cleaning up after the storm and making repairs during the week of 10/16/05 .

• Roofs were repaired at the DPW, Center School and Fire Station #3.
• Two days of work at the culvert on Union Street across from the pond removing rocks in the brook, repairing washouts along the road, repairing the headwall and reinforcing over the culvert with flowable fill.
• One day of work on Elm Street at the culvert, repairing the washouts and placing flowable fill above the culvert.
• 1/2 day repairing headwall and culvert on Chestnut Street at the Brook.
• Patching and repair of washouts along roadways throughout the town has been on-going all week and will continue into next week.
• Many residents have requested drainage improvements and new, additional berms in front of their homes since the storm which will have to be scheduled in the future as time and money allow.
• The Water Division increased the level of Chlorine added to the water supply as a safeguard due to the excessive 7 inches of rainfall and runoff in less than 24 hours.

I would like to commend Jim Luke and the entire DPW staff for their efforts so far this winter. We have conducted 7 sanding and 1 plowing operation.

Crews dealt with snow on Thanksgiving Day, sanding the town that morning.

We had 2" of snow on Sunday, December 4 th , which was handled with a sanding operation.

Friday, December 9th was a very difficult storm to deal with. We encountered snow, rain, sleet, and even thunder with high winds causing a white out condition during the day with heavy traffic on the roads while residents were trying to get home.

We started the sanding operation that morning with 8 sanders. The plowing operation began at 11:00 am with 22 town vehicles and 38 pieces of hired equipment. Plowing continued until  8:00 pm , then we started the sanding operation again and completed at midnight . On Saturday morning at 8:00 am we brought in all DPW personnel and a few of the larger pieces of hired equipment to try and scrape off the ice pack on the roadways that formed when we had the sleet and freezing rain conditions. Both sidewalk plows began their routes. When plowing was completed at 5:00 pm , we sanded the entire town again due to the freezing of the wet roadways. The police called for some spot sanding on Sunday and on Monday, Town personnel went back out again to try and scrape up some of the frozen hard pack on the roadways. Clearing of the sidewalks continued through Tuesday.

During the high wind conditions on Friday, we had a very large tree come down at the corner of Highland Street and South Street , bringing down power lines with it. Building and Grounds personnel were dispatched to cut up and remove this tree as well as several smaller trees around the town.

There were 3-broken water mains during this period, pulling away Water Division personnel from the snow removal operation. Saturday at 11:00 am there was a broken 8" water main on Massapoag Avenue . Monday there was a broken 6" water main on Ridgewood Road and Tuesday, a broken 8" water main on Rollins Road.

The cost for this 6" snow storm was $26,652.33 for hired equipment and $14,427.68 in overtime for DPW personnel for a total of $ 41,080.01.

The impact of the two new school projects has certainly affected the entire D.P.W. this past year with a multitude of meetings and issues of moving equipment, dealing with space requirements and relocating utilities.

The D.P.W. handled the contracts and administration of the paving at Center and Parkview Schools of the parking lots and playground areas.

We would like to thank Mr. David Howe of J. Derenzo and Co. for his very generous donation of rebuilding the lower parking lot at Moreau Hall, installing a new drainage system and completely rebuilding the parking area, saving the town a substantial amount of money.

Contractor Stephen Ando Paull of West Bridgewater was the successful bidder on the Mass Highway Transportation Improvement Project (TIP) on Depot Street from the Five Corners to Fox Ridge Road . They have completed the survey of the project and are presently installing drainage. The roadway will be rebuilt during 2006.

We continued to work with our traffic consultant, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., on the roadway design of Foundry Street , Route # 123, from the Norton town line to Eastman Street . Title searches have been conducted on parcels that will need to have both temporary and permanent construction easements completed prior to funding by Mass Highway and approved at the Town Meeting.

New traffic signal lights and paving have been completed at the entrance of the new Highland Plaza shopping complex on Eastman Street .

The Building and Grounds Division celebrated Arbor Day on April 29 th with a ceremony at the Historical Society Railroad Station on Sullivan Avenue with the planting of a tree in honor of Kenneth Martin.

The Water Division celebrated National Drinking Water Week on April 30 th with an Open House and poster contest at their facility at 417 Bay Road .

The Annual Hazardous Waste Collection Day was held on May 14, 2005 at the D.P.W. on 130 Center Street with 303 residents participating.

The Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee held their annual Awareness Day on May 7, 2005 at the Mansfield Fish and Game Club.

I am very proud of the entire D.P.W. staff, especially their unprecedented cooperation during these difficult times. The Office Staff, Shirley Tufts, Jan Jacobson , and Karen Gallo, deserve much praise for their daily efforts in providing quality customer service. The management team of James Luke, Paul O'Neill, Maurice Goulet, Jack Marsh and John Fresh has demonstrated a positive approach to a multitude of challenges.

Wayne P. Southworth
D.P.W. Director
wsouthworth@easton.ma.us