Bloomfield DPW reorganizes to stay on top of its work

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — With very little snow accumulation this winter, the Department of Public Works and Park Maintenance is busy with work ordinarily delayed until spring. Due to the large number of key retirements in the last year, the department has been reorganized, with Frank Simone being given the newly created position of general maintenance supervisor. Simone had been the senior signal systems technician, handling all electrical issues and traffic lights, but he will now oversee all supervisors. Replacing him as the signal systems technician will be Anthony Santora, who is pursuing certification.

Other recent retirements, which contributed to making it a good time to reorganize, include yard supervisor Lou Siciliano and road supervisor Joe Raimondi, both of whose responsibilities will be handled by Simone, as well as grounds manager Stephen Siciliano and water and sewer supervisor Mike Stanley, who have been replaced by Jason Wiles and Joe Barba, respectively. According to DPW Director Anthony Nesto, these retirements constitute more than 125 years of experience, but his department was prepared for any change.

“When I got here, my main priority was to cross-train everyone,” Nesto said earlier this week in a telephone interview. “Our guys bounce around and Frank knows what I need.”

Nesto said no one in his department works above their title, but sometimes they will work below it.

“Most of the men have bought into it,” he said. “It’s never boring around here, but safety is paramount. I think the guys like being in different departments every day, and we’re giving the residents a bang for their buck.”

The DPW has been doing more tree work while the snowplows remain parked.

“We’re responsible for 10,000 trees,” Nesto said. “It’s tough to stay on top of it and tree work is essential. We’re also sending guys out on foot patrols to clean catch basins. And there’s pothole repair. We’re staying on top of that. Right now, there’s less than a dozen potholes. Usually, at this time, there’s a couple of hundred. But now we’re taking care of potholes twice a week. What pothole work can you do with snow on the ground?”

Park maintenance is also ahead of schedule and, with temperatures forecast in the 50s for the next two weeks, it will remain that way. On Monday, repairs to the Brookside Park “amphitheater” were made.

“That’s where they watch the games,” Nesto said. “And there’s been a lot of sidewalk repairs, catch basin and manholes repairs.”

The snowplows have been used a couple of times so far this winter and salt has had to be spread about seven times. Ordinarily, by this time on the calendar, there would have been 15 to 20 salting events. And in a normal winter with snowstorms, some DPW workers would sometimes clock 30 straight hours.

“The overtime is drastically lower than last year and the year before,” Nesto said. “We hate snow. We have 405 roads in Bloomfield. It’s not an easy task.”

The street sweeper has been more active this winter, too.

“Most towns sweep until the end of November,” Nesto said. “This winter, we sent the sweeper out about a dozen times. If you travel the roads in Bloomfield, they’re pretty darn clean. We’re proud of that.”

In addition to his guys on the street, Nesto gives a lot of credit to his inside people: Simone; Samantha DePalma, Nesto’s assistant; and Kim Beese, a clerk who Nesto says is proactive in taking on responsibilities.

“I have a good inside administrative staff,” he said. “It makes me want to stay longer.”

But it was only last year when he was thinking about retiring.

“The guys that retired did an excellent job,” he said. “I was stressed when they retired. But everyone across the board stepped up. They have pride in their work ethic. We were losing maybe 135 years of supervisory experience. As stressed as I was, we weren’t going to fall off.”

Mother Nature helped out a little, too.

“We’ve been blessed,” Nesto said. “I don’t want to jinx us. It looks like the weather is going to cooperate.”

  Anthony Nesto, Anthony Santora, Bloomfield Department of Public Works, Frank Simone, Jason Wiles, Joe Barba, Kim Beese, Samantha DePalma