Public Works Documents

National Public Works Week May 19-25, 2024 Advancing Quality of Life for All

The role of the Public Works Department is to operate and maintain existing, as well as plan and design future, public facilities of the City. This role is performed in close coordination with the City’s Community Development Department to ensure adherence to the City’s General Plan and other development regulations, and the City’s Police and Fire Departments to ensure adherence to public safety requirements.

A good way to discuss some of the numerous tasks and responsibilities of the Public Works Department is to describe a typical day of what a citizen (Mrs. C) in our City may experience from the time she wakes up in the morning, leaves her residence for work, and returns after. To get ready, she uses the tap water from the water utility system to bathe which in turn drains to the wastewater utility system. Both of these water systems are the responsibility of the Public Works Department. After she prepares herself for the day, she enters her car and backs out of her driveway. The skies are overcast and the street light is on. She notices a crew removing debris from a plugged drainage inlet which was causing some local flooding from the previous night’s rain. On her return trip from work, she sees children playing in her neighborhood park as she stops at a stop sign, a City crew patching a hole in the street, and a City employee trimming City trees. All these facilities (streetlight, drainage inlet, stop sign, park, street pavement, trees, and street-cleaning) are examples of the responsibilities of the Public Works Department.

Although this example does not illustrate all the tasks such as vehicle maintenance, building maintenance, and transportation planning, it does illustrate some of the many tasks that are the responsibility of the Public Works Department. For more information, please refer to the following list: