Chris Pelletier, Nederland Public Works Manager. Public works has been understaffed most of the summer with our Utilities Supervisor on maternity leave and the Streets Division short three employees the department has been operating with a skeleton crew. With that in mind Staff is still making progress on multiple projects and goals. This month Public Works has added a new employee to work with the Streets Division and the Department is looking to add one more person as soon as practical.

Town clean-up was on Saturday, August 1, 2020. It was a well-organized event. Public Works has been organizing this event for the past several years with much of the credit going to Nicki Dunn and Miranda Fisher for a smoothly run event. There were lots of volunteers who participated and helped Nederland divert as much trash from the landfill as possible. Every year the Department tries to improve its diversion rate by expanding recycling services. One of the new services provided this year was Shred-it, a paper shredding and recycling service for private documents. A service to recycle mattresses was added a couple of years ago and this year’s mattress haul was the largest yet.

Public Works received some valuable training in paving machine operations and techniques that the Department is anxious to put to use. The paving machine was purchased earlier this year and Staff has spent some time rehabilitating and familiarizing itself with it. Asphalt operations for the department is in a beginning phase with the hopes of being able to perform much of the needed repairs of the roads in town. 

Nederland Public Works is unique in its ability to perform all forms of maintenance and has developed a department that has a wide variety of skills and tools. Performing this work in-house will be more efficient, cost effective, and ensure that the Department develops the necessary skills for proper maintenance in the future as roads get replaced and repaved. The Streets Division is scheduled to pave Conger Street at the end of August which will signify the first road Nederland’s Public Works Department has paved. This is a huge milestone for Nederland and the Department looks forward to future development of these new skills. 

There is a bus shelter that is currently being constructed near the corner of Big Springs Drive and Hwy 119/72. This has been a work in progress for over a year and is finally coming to a close. The shelter itself is not a conventional RTD shelter but a shelter that was donated by Lumos Solar, a local business that specializes in solar shelters. This business offered to donate their shelter in recognition of Nederland’s goals of 100% renewable energy. The shelter will produce enough energy to display RTD info and charge cell phones. RTD has approved the design and installation of the shelter.

The Department has also resurfaced another sidewalk in town. The DDA provided funding to improve some of the Ned Ped sidewalks that have been difficult to maintain because of the unstable surface material and the various slopes and locations. Public Works has focused on the sidewalks that have the greatest propensity to wash out because of storms or get damaged because of excess traffic.  

The Utilities Division is in a constant state of motion with the various moving parts of the treatment facilities and the constant needs of the distribution and collection systems. A pump had to be removed and replaced at the Wastewater Treatment Facility this month. These pumps are in excess of 300 pounds and require multiple staff to manage safely. A replacement for this pump can cost as much as $15,000 and is an important example of the cost to maintain the Town’s infrastructure. It is significant to note that the Wastewater Treatment Facility is running whether someone is using water or not and that there is not a direct correlation between those residents that use more water or less, the facility must run no matter the difference in individual consumption. 

Town Staff is continually working to improve efficiency of operations and make repairs. Grit removal is going to be the next priority for improvements at the Wastewater Treatment Facility. Grit contained in the waste stream must be intercepted and removed prior to entering the treatment process. Grit will prematurely wear out critical pumps necessary to the process and increase the cost of operations. Staff sees grit removal as an essential next step to improve operations at the facility.

Utilities Staff is also working in the distribution system to repair and replace fire hydrants. Some hydrants can be repaired when they are of a standard specification that is acceptable to the Fire Department, while others must be replaced. The 1974 hydrant that the town will repair, will likely cost around $1000 to fix. Staff scheduled to replace a hydrant in September that is not repairable. Staff budgets $15,000 a year to replace hydrants with a goal of three a year and the cost of parts are continuing to increase. For perspective, there are 160 fire hydrants in Nederland’s distribution system.

(Originally published in the August 13, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)