Public Works Week Puts City Staff In The Spotlight

While city crews are often championed in the heart of a blizzard for opening roads, the rest of the year staff work mostly the background.

However, Public Works staff took centre stage last week for national Public Works Week.

"To keep Winkler up and running is not an easy chore," Director of Works and Operations Pete Froese explains.

From pothole repair, street cleanup, tree planting (300 trees were planted in Winkler this spring so far) maintaining sewers, "it's a year-round process," he says.

Working for the city, Froese notes you're always viewing the city through the public works lens.

"What's really amazing is very often Monday morning they come back to work and they've been biking through town on the weekend and point out things that need to be done," he says. "Really these guys are at work even through the weekend subconsciously, it never really leaves them."

"It's a bit of a thankless job to work at night, missing putting your kids to bed," he says. "They do certainly appreciate once and awhile when someone comes around and says thanks for getting the water going."

The national public works week is also an opportunity to remind the public to slow down when passing crews on the streets.

"That they get room to work, and people respect the equipment and pylons that have been set out... that's very important," he says.