The week of May 16-22, 2021 was National Public Works Week, and the Communications team showcased just a few of our stellar employees and departments on the City Blog.
On a cool May afternoon, Kenny Dockins drives his water tank truck onto Waterfront Road in Suttree Landing Park and pulls up alongside a Bald Cypress. He checks the tree on his list, sets the timer in his pocket for four minutes and points the water hose at the tree’s base to give it an 8- to 10-gallon drink.
Kenny has worked for the City of Knoxville for 11 years, all of them in the Urban Forestry division. His role is watering the City’s newest trees --those the City has planted during the past two years -- in parks, rights of way, and other locations all over Knoxville.
Read how he
helps the City's 300 newest trees get established in the first #KnoxvilleJobWellDone
blog post.
Mayor Indya Kincannon met with
Fleet Services Director Nick Bradshaw and staff members on May 20, 2021 to thank and congratulate them on being named No. 34 of the Top 100 Best Fleet Departments in the United States!
Mayor Kincannon noted that all City departments rely on Fleet Services and trust the expertise of its technicians.
Without them, fire engines and police cruisers wouldn’t remain in tip-top shape, allowing our first responders to so dependably reach people in distress, the Mayor said.
Without Fleet Services, engineers and inspectors and parks staff wouldn’t be able to deliver services so efficiently.
And without Fleet Services, plow trucks and Public Service crews wouldn’t be ready to clear streets and take care of downed trees during winter storms.
Read more about how they moved up from No. 61 in a year.
Meet
Joe Collins, the City's Public Service Department Foreman whose crew did the recent landscaping on Market Square.
Collins took note of a threadbare area at the foot of the square's trademark sawtooth oaks, and he knew that he and his crew could do better. So they laid sod and built new beds, planting gold-leaf aucuba, laurels, begonias and azaleas.
Collins was a newbie landscaper when he came to work for the City six years ago.
"I enjoy landscaping a lot," he says. "I enjoy coming in every day, and that says a lot about a job. I learn a lot, and I've got a really good crew. They know what to do."
Read more about the project and see photos of the results!
This #PublicWorksWeek blog post highlights
Charissa, Trey and Robert from our Stormwater Engineering Team and the work they do to keep our waterways clean.
The Stormwater team works with KUB to identifying possible leaks in nearby sewer laterals, which connect to every home. If they find cracks or failures, they repair them. And Stormwater tests the water again to measure any improvements. If there are none or not enough, the process begins again, but a bit farther away from the contaminate site.
Read about the Stormwater Division's ongoing work and see more photos
here.
Meet Robin Tipton, a 25-year City employee who's seen as something of an engineer's engineer: She oversees all of the City's capital projects -- roads, bridges, streetscapes, ramps, sidewalks and drainage upgrades. In a recent year, her to-do list included 40 projects valued at $72 million.
Thanks to all the team members who so generously shared with us your expertise and passion for serving the residents of Knoxville!