Public Works Week

Have you ever wondered how the city’s sidewalks, roads and other assets stay safe for the community to use? Managing those assets and supporting the city’s infrastructure is part of the work Amy King does every day as one of the city’s Asset Management Technicians. Our Asset Management team inspects the City’s assets, analyzes data and creates business plans for necessary updates to those assets. They look at the condition of city infrastructure, monitor lifespan and determine when maintenance or repairs need to be done to maximize the lifecycle of those assets.

In her role, Amy runs several of our inspection programs, including those for some of our roads and all of our sidewalks, and also acts as an expert witness when information on the City’s asset management program is required. Each year, her team inspects the roads in their portfolio and every sidewalk in the city for general condition, deterioration and hazards. They then use that information, along with other data they collect and manage, to make recommendations for repairs and improvements. With so many assets across the city to maintain, they also work with other departments to help prioritize and organize improvements. They help with strategic decision making, looking at the broader picture of planned work to make the best recommendations. For example, they may look at required road repairs and planned underground infrastructure repairs together to determine whether all the required work can be done at the same time, or whether some repairs may need to be done sooner, and what the impact of each approach would have on the city’s resources and budget.

“Every asset the City owns – every piece of roadway or sidewalk, every tree and garbage can – is something we keep track of,” said Amy. “We’re out in the community every day inspecting those assets and working to make the best decisions we can for our infrastructure. Whenever I see people moving through the city safely on a sidewalk I inspected, I know I’ve done my job!”

One of the things that helps make Kitchener a great place to live, work and play are the guidelines that help make sure any new development in the city aligns with the community’s goals and standards. Managing and helping to enforce those guidelines is the work of our Planning team, including Student Planners like Maitland. In his role, Maitland connects with members of the community to provide zoning and planning information for their projects, helps process zoning applications and permits, and engages with the community to provide zoning information and seek input on strategic initiatives. As part of the Planning team, Maitland helps provide clear guidance on zoning and planning rules to residents and businesses, supports them with applications and permits and helps make sure decisions made about their project are clear, all to make sure development in Kitchener meets community standards.

For Maitland, interacting with residents and making sure their voices are heard is a highlight of his role, whether that’s through one-on-one interactions or through public engagement for projects like the Kitchener 2051 Official Plan. “Every day brings something new,” said Maitland. “Interacting with residents, helping them navigate their projects and seeing the positive outcomes of their plans and proposals is something that never gets old!”

Whenever you’re enjoying a hike through a city forest, having a picnic underneath a tree in your neighbourhood park or enjoying the shade on a walk down a city street, you’re experiencing part of Kitchener’s urban forest! Our urban forest is cared for by the City’s Forestry team and staff like Hajnal. As our Forestry Project Manager, Hajnal helps coordinate Kitchener’s forestry projects. She works with technicians, technologists, arborists, supervisors and other Forestry staff to help explore new tools and innovative technologies, analyze data, develop business cases for new projects, improve how we do our everyday work and track progress toward the goals in our Sustainable Urban Forest Strategy. Caring for our urban forest is a responsibility we all share, so Hajnal works with other City departments, community partners and contractors to coordinate efforts to support and maintain our urban forest across the city. She also shares data and information on open data portals like our urban forest map to help the entire community appreciate, understand and learn about the trees in our city.

“It’s really special to not only do my job during the day but enjoy the outcome of that work in the evenings and on weekends as a resident,” said Hajnal. “I’m driven every day to do the best I can and do things to improve the community I share with my fellow Kitchener residents.”

Kitchener’s fleet of vehicles and equipment keeps the city running, but what keeps them running? It’s staff like Hailezghi, a Licensed Technician on our Fleet team! In his role, Hailezghi maintains a wide range of fleet vehicles, from smaller equipment like mowers to large vehicles like the plows that clear our roads, but he specializes in lighter duty vehicles as a 310-S licensed technician. His work includes scheduled maintenance and yearly checks to certify each vehicle, like fluid changes, equipment and system checks, and preventative maintenance or replacements. He also addresses repairs that arise from the day-to-day use of each vehicle, which helps keep our equipment operational to meet the community’s needs. Hailezghi’s work means our operators have safe and effective equipment to help them do their jobs, which in turn means our community can continue to enjoy beautiful parks, safe roads, effective utilities and more. He takes his time to follow safety guidelines, policy and maintenance schedules because everything starts with good equipment.

“Every day brings something new in Fleet,” said Hailezghi. “I love getting to work on all different types of equipment and I’m proud of the amount of skills we possess in this team. Things wouldn’t be as easy or as enjoyable without the skill and willingness of the team I get to work with every day.”

In the winter months, Geoff supervises 25 per cent of the City’s plow routes, helping to keep our streets safe for travel and accessible to emergency services. He also manages all city sand boxes for winter maintenance. He and his team work around the clock to stay on top of the snow, often working overnight and early in the morning to ready the roads for the people who need them.

“My favourite part of the job is working with people – both the tight-knit team I supervise and the residents we serve every day,” said Geoff. “It’s satisfying to know that at the end of the day, I’ve provided a service that keeps the city connected year-round.”

Vibrant, colourful flowers and lush greenery fill planting beds at City facilities across our community. Behind them all are Horticulturalist Mike and his team! All year long, Mike is responsible for preparing, planting, and caring for gardens and planting beds throughout the city, introducing the plants that help support our local ecosystems and making sure they stay healthy year after year.

The lifecycle of a city plant starts at our greenhouse, where Mike and his colleagues determine which plants will be planted in the coming year, then grow them from seed. Horticulturalists monitor conditions as planting season nears and develop planting plans to make sure every garden and planting bed in the city are addressed. Ultimately, each decision is made by our Horticulturalists to maximize the health and longevity of the plants in each space. Throughout the year, they are cared for by Mike and his team with watering, weeding, pruning and shaping in the warmer months, and cutting back or removing annuals in the fall. With weather changing constantly and many beds to care for, timing can be a challenge, but for Mike, the challenges are outweighed by the rewards.

“It’s nice to be able to see the result of your work in a role like this,” says Mike. “I have people come up to my team all the time and share how much they love the gardens in their neighbhourhoods, so it’s really rewarding to know at the end of every day you’re doing something the community can enjoy!”

Do you use Kitchener's trails? Kitchener is an active community and our trails are used hundreds of thousands of times every year. Liz is a trails project manager and has dedicated her career to providing users with the best possible experience on our wide variety of trails. She’s the mastermind behind many of the improvements to the iconic Iron Horse Trail, which is part of the Trans Canada Trail that stretches right across the country. When the 13-year member of the City isn’t busy working on our trail network, she enjoys figure skating where she’s won international events.

Doug is a frontline staff member who delivers a variety of valuable services on behalf of Kitchener Utilities. Doug maintains natural gas and water services and does everything from installing and replacing water mains, maintaining water valves and fire hydrants, and performing water main flushing so that residents have clean and safe drinking water. When a water main breaks, whether it’s during the day or at night, Doug is on the scene for the repair, in any weather. The 16-year veteran takes pride in public service and says he enjoys doing something different every day and helping his community.

Whether you’re a driver or a cyclist, Kitchener’s transportation network is something we all rely on to get us from point A to point B. Faranak is a project manager on the Transportation team that makes roads and active transportation more convenient and accessible for all ages and abilities. She’s been with the City for four and a half years and enjoys trying out new technologies and coming up with ways that make getting around the city safer for everyone. She’s proud to deliver a service that our community just can’t do without.

Whenever you visit a City facility, you can expect to find it clean and tidy thanks to Alena and her team. As one of our Custodial Services Supervisors, it’s Alena’s job to maintain our facilities’ health and safety through cleanliness. In public spaces, this is no small job! Alena and her team make sure all public spaces are disinfected and every surface is cleaned to the standards of both the City and Public Health. These facilities are used year-round by our staff, residents, and visitors to Kitchener, so keeping them clean is a 24/7 job. In her role, part of Alena’s job is making sure there are staff available at all times, because her team’s services can never be deferred even if someone is sick or on holidays.

For Alena, one of her favourite part of her job is working with her team. It takes over 80 custodial staff working around the clock every day of the week to make sure our facilities meet the level of service we expect. These dedicated staff handle everything from maintaining core cleaning duties, sanitize, disinfecting, and garbage removal, to unexpected messes that could make our public spaces unusable if not addressed. With a diverse range of facilities, from Kitchener City Hall to community centres to pools and parks and beyond, her team is specialized and knowledgeable in how to keep all these unique spaces ready for use.

“Our work is truly a team effort,” says Alena. “My team is there even if you don’t see them, but without their dedication and commitment, we wouldn’t have clean and safe public spaces to enjoy!”