Prokop Re-Imagines Public Works

John Prokop had a decision to make. The city’s Public Works Department bought a fine-looking new truck. Who should drive it?

That may not sound like a big deal. But it turns out to be just the kind of ​“thinking outside the box” that Prokop was told to engage in when he became the new public works chief on June 4.

Prokop asked his fleet manager, Edward D’Angelo (on the right in the photo), to assign this truck not to any old driver, as may have been done in the past; but to one of public works’ drivers with the best, accident-free records. Accidents and the attendant repairs cost city vehicles significant sums. And he had the same driver stick with the truck each day, in the hope of his taking pride in its maintenance and its appearance.

With a $14 million budget and about 130 employees, Public Works is the largest department in the city next to police and fire. And, as any New Havener knows who has waited for the recyclables to be picked up and then given up on it and mixed the bottles with the regular trash, Public Works’ record has not been perfect.

Without its own full-time director in seven or eight years, the department had been experiencing staffing and morale problems. It also become a kind of catch-all, the first place New Haveners called with problems that well might better be in the bailiwick of Parks, Recreation & Trees or Engineering.

What has he found in his first three months on the job and what can citizens expect? The Independent sat down with the new director to get an informal assessment.

NHI: What’s your perspective after only three months?
JP: Well, I’m going to give myself until December to fully assess supervisory issues here. We have four unions. I’ve met with all of them, and the stewards, and so forth, and I think they finally have someone here they know is going to be fair, who’ll abide by the contracts and who expects them to do the same. I am not disparaging my predecessors, but Dick Miller, from Engineering, and Bob Levine, from Parks and Recreation, you know, had other responsibilities, were running other departments while care-taking here. The department didn’t have its own director for seven or eight years, and that has an effect. Now the staff knows that I’m the guy.

NHI: Any other big issues you’re focusing on?
JP: Well, Public Works has become a kind of catch-all. I think it’s really important for citizens to know, but also the other department heads to know, what is our responsibility and what is not. In other words, definitions. Do you know, for example, that here in this department we fix vehicles not only of our own, but for Traffic and Parking, for Parks and Rec, and others? I’m perfectly willing to do this, but then the budgets for the departments need to reflect this, and we’ll be laying this out for the controller and the mayor for planning purposes. If other departments exceed, for example, their budgets for gasoline, guess where they come for their overages? Right to our pumps outside that door. If that’s how it will be, fine, but clarifying these kinds of things interdepartmentally is critical.
NHI: You mentioned the same kind of issue, people thinking Public Works is a catch all, when they should be calling other departments, can you elaborate.

JK: Sure. My colleague here, Donna Ferrucci, is in charge of a small staff, and they field what, 150 calls a day, 200 on a bad day. All kinds of things. If a car is abandoned on the street, who do you call? Most people call us. But first the police department needs to be called to tag the vehicle before we can remove it. What about sidewalk in need of repair? If it’s normal wear and not hazardous, the homeowner needs to fix it. If it’s caused by a generalized kind of erosion due to, say, water issues, then it’s in Engineering. If the roots are breaking through causing a hazard, that’s us. And what about open spaces in the city? A front yard that seems abandoned and the grass is three feet high? You call LCI, not us, to cut that grass. But the grass from the sidewalk to the curb, that’s us. Or a caf√© wants to expand and put tables and awnings out on the sidewalk. They go through the process with buildings, with City Plan, for approvals, and so forth. But when it’s on public property, I’m responsible for enforcing things there, not buildings. In short, I’m trying to identify the fundamental responsibilities, clarify them with the other department heads, and then we get it, make it clearer to the public.
NHI: How do you do that?
JP: Well, ​“Ask New Haven” on the city’s web site is a good place. But not all that information is accurate. It reflects some of the issues I’ve discussed. Also, not everybody in town goes online. That’s why Donna and her staff field all those calls.
NHI: Bridge safety is on a lot of people’s minds, and I noticed that your department is in charge of bridge maintenance.

JP: I’ve lived in New Haven many years, and I thought there were only three bridges in town, Ferry Street, Grand, and Chapel Street over the Mill River. But there are 50 in town! Whew. Just the other day someone came to me and said the pilot house on the Chapel Street bridge is leaking badly. One bid has come in to repair it —- $36,000. And repairs on the pilot house on Grand Avenue, we’re looking at $19,000. And then someone walks and says a motor needs to be replaced on one of the bridges….to the tune of $15,000, and that’s just the equipment, no the labor. That’s $70,000 of unexpected expenses that must be dealt with. Where do the funds come from?
NHI: Yes, where do they come from?

JP: Well, one thing, as I explained, is we reduce accidents. Like that old truck out there that our mechanics, Benjamin [Martinez] and Angelo [Messina], are working on out there. The cab is crashed in, something silly and unavoidable on the part of the driver. That’s $12,000 for the repair. Just our vehicles, not other departments that we currently repair for, but our own cost $100,000 more or less to repair. That would take care of our bridge repairs if we didn’t have to spend it there. We’re investing in the workers, giving them the overtime they need to do their routes, without rushing to the finish, which is often what causes the accidents. I’m actually taking the overtime I have to spend from the supervisors and giving it to the refuse haulers, the drivers. That combined with inspecting the vehicles before each driver takes it out in the morning, and then an inspection when they bring it back will head off problems. Problems with breaks, lights. The preemptive maintenance will reduce accidents, and the drivers will take pride in what they do. At this point, the supervisors aren’t as pleased as the line workers, so we nibble at the solutions from different angles. Accountability in equipment, repairs, now they know these are important.
NHI: What’s going on with the transfer station, where the numbers have been going the wrong way?

JP: I’m getting a handle on that, I’m seeing patterns. The key thing is that for the past five years the tonnage of recyclables has simply been going down. Why? In years gone by, we had staff positions, two, I think, a public educator and another position dedicated to the recycling. Then when we had to cut staff, those positions went. Combine that with issues of absenteeism, no funds available for overtime for the drivers, and the recycling bin sits for a day, two. When it doesn’t get picked up on schedule, what does the average person do? He dumps it from the bin into the toter, the regular garbage can. Long view, that costs big time at the transfer station. The difference is $90 to process a ton of the mixed stuff, but it would be only $35 per ton if things were properly separated. Solution? Invest in the drivers getting to the routes on time. Pay the money there, the overtime, if necessary, in so doing let staff know what’s important and build staff morale thereby, increase happiness of citizens, who get the stuff picked up when it’s promised, and recoup the funds at the transfer station end. The pieces can fit together. And there are other things.
NHI: Such as?
JP: Just the other weekend, when a community, in Fair Haven, the block associations on Lloyd Street area, were doing a clean up. We provided the gloves and bags, and I sent a street sweeper over there. Sure, it’s overtime, but it gets done, but in a way that the driver feels he’s making a contribution to the city and takes pride, and the people, everyone feels good about it.
NHI: So you feel good here, in the new job?
JP: I’m having a good time, yes.
NHI: Next steps?
JP: Well, like I say, we’ve just met with the controller and the department heads, and I’m going to provide all the data and the information to them. If the Board of Aldermen wants Public Works to continue this range of work, that’s okay. But we have to define it, spell it out, let the ordinances reflect it and change them if necessary, and then once we get it, we then get it out to the people.
NHI: Well, thank you, and have a restful Labor Day.