Let us hope that winter's gone because it's time for putting its ravages behind.
Streets are laced with cracks and pocked with potholes, storm damage is everywhere about and departments of public works in our cities and towns are faced with work lists begging for attention.
I spent an agreeable hour with Newburyport's Tony Furnari on Tuesday after a hiatus of nearly six years to catch up on what changes, if any, had occurred at the city's Department of Public Services since we had last met.
The major one was his departure to Danvers two years ago to serve as its director of operations. He resigned the post last fall and was sought by Mayor John Moak to serve as Newburyport's interim deputy director during the absence of Andrew Lafferty, who is serving his military year in Iraq.
I had brought a copy of my Oct. 19, 2004, column to this meeting to see whether much of was in it had changed. He laughed when I pulled it from my briefcase.
"I still have it,'' he said.
It was a long column because it touched on just about everything the department faced at that time. It could run without notable changes today.
There have been changes to be dealt with. Our communities have grown over those six years and they've become magnets for visitors during high seasons and wear and tear on our infrastructures. What hasn't changed are the challenges of how to keep abreast of all that needs attending without popping the lid on budgets.
That's the reality of public works. Most of what they face year in, year out is repetitive because that which is built by man to cope with nature is undone by man and nature, and the cycle is never-ending.
Newburyport has an elaborate recreational infrastructure spread from Plum Island Point to the West Newbury and Amesbury lines, and needs all the help it can get. Volunteers do that generously — the central waterfront park and Atkinson Common are two case points — but the new and truly charming bike trail beckons, as will Brown Square when it is completed.
The major city improvement will be the two-year modernization of the wastewater system recently begun.
The column of six years past noted the following realities.
"Vacations and sick time add to the workload of those in a total force of 22 employees who are responsible in one way or another for everything ... from Plum Island ... to West Newbury ... .''
It still does. Furnari and general foreman Alan Frost, together with a senior construction foreman, four mechanics to service 100 city vehicles from all departments, one administrative assistant, two foremen responsible for heavy equipment and trucks, six highway equipment operators and five truck drivers try to stay ahead of demands.
There are open-ended lists of needs for all schools and city parks, two large cemeteries and public properties. Small wonder Furnari happily welcomed five college students and help provided by Essex County Sheriff Frank G. Cousins Jr. to help last year.
What's to be done for street repairs and resurfacing will depend on state approval, street by street, and a budget that will have to be stretched to cover only about three miles of them.
As for sidewalks, there's never enough time or money to end the complaints. Considering their condition, it won't go far. It never has. Tree roots, frost heaves, clay bricks that crack and break — no matter the surface, sidewalks are perennial beggars for attention that's limited at best because of labor and material costs.
That would seem to discourage anyone in charge, but Furnari, ever upbeat, remains unfazed. Moak had been aggrieved when he left and delighted when he found him available for the emergency of Lafferty's call to military duty, but he's a commander with only the equivalent of two army engineer squads in a mission that never ends, and he loves it.
¢¢¢
Bill Plante is former executive editor of Essex County Newspapers. His e-mail address is plantejr@comcast.net.
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