Organization

The East Lyme Public Works Department consists of Highway and Sanitation, Fleet Maintenance, Building Maintenance, and the Engineering Department.  The Water and Sewer Departments are separate entities of the Public Works Department as they serve the ratepayers and have separate enterprise funds to support their organizations; however Public Works and East Lyme Water and Sewer work together on a regular basis to coordinate all our efforts.

Mission

The Public Works Department is a professional team dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in East Lyme for our residents, businesses, and our visitors. We make every effort to efficiently and effectively use the Town resources provided to us in the support, maintenance and upkeep of the Town’s infrastructure including but not limited to our town roads, sidewalks, streetlights, and public buildings. We are committed to the public and our employees’ safety and providing the highest level of service to the community.

Responsibilities

Highway and Fleet Maintenance

  • Maintaining our 115 miles of Town Approved Roads and over 14 miles of Town sidewalks.
  • Providing snow and ice control for all town roads, sidewalks, and town facilities.
  • Maintaining over 120 vehicles and numerous types of equipment for: Sanitation, Water, Sewer, BOE, Police, Parks, and Recreation, Building Maintenance, Commission on Aging.
  • Maintaining over 39 miles of double yellow lines as well as all stop bars and crosswalks.
  • Installation and maintenance of all traffic and street signs on Town roads.
  • Brush control and Street cleaning.
  • Cleaning and replacing Catch basins and storm drains.
  • Maintain over 1,600 streetlights throughout Town.
  • Maintenance of trees within the Town Right-of-Way.

Sanitation

  • Providing curb side municipal solid waste (MSW) and recycling on a regular basis.
  • Operating the Town’s Transfer Station for our residents.
  • Performing additional curbside collections including leaf pick up in the fall, bulky waste special collections between the months of April through October as well as Christmas tree collections after the holiday.
  • Through our regional trash authority, we provide Household Hazardous Waste Collections throughout the season.

Building Maintenance

  • Maintaining all Town owned building including the Town Hall, the Community Center, the Public Safety Building, the Field Services Building, the Judge of Probate Office, the Flanders Fire Department, the Niantic Fire Department Main Building and Station 2 along with the Highway Garage on Roxbury Road.
  • We are constantly doing upgrade projects at each of these facilities to ensure that they are in good condition and that they are as energy efficient as possible within the funding that we are provided.

Engineering

  • Managing all town projects in-house with our staff.
  • Ensuring compliance with and currency of the town’s CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection permits.
  • Reviewing all new and proposed development plans submitted to the Town Land Use Departments.
  • Providing engineering support for all town departments.

The Public Works Team

  • Highway – Consists of twelve team members not including the sanitation and fleet maintenance employees.  We have a Highway Superintendent that oversees the planning, budgeting, and oversight of the Department along with a General Foreman that assists with the day-to-day operations of the Department.
  • Sanitation – Consists of three regular trash and recycling drivers daily along with a Sanitation Working Foreman.  We also have three team members at the Transfer Station at 91 Roxbury Rd to assist residents as they use that facility.  We use team members from the Highway Department to backfill these positions when someone is out and to assist with hauling bulky waste and/or recycling from the Transfer Station to the disposal locations.
  • Fleet Maintenance – Consists of three mechanics along with a Master Mechanic who is tasked with managing the Town’s entire fleet.
  • Building Maintenance – Consists of four full-time custodians, one part-time custodian and one Buildings and Grounds Supervisor.
  • Engineering – Consists of the Town Engineer, a Civil Engineer, and Administrative Assistant.
  • Public Works Director and the Deputy Public Works Director – Management, planning, budgeting, compliance, etc.

For further information about the Public Works Department, feel free to call us at 860-691-4118 or send an email to PublicWorks@eltownhall.com.