Bruce Brooks stands in front of the Menzi Muck AG. Each wheel acts independently, and there a grinding, scooping and mowing heads. The vehicle is used to chop weeds and clear obstructions in ditches and canals.
PHOTO BY NICOLE DROEGER
PUNTA GORDA — Public Works is a big job in Charlotte County, encompassing hundreds of square miles of territory and providing dozens of essential services that residents often take for granted.
Charlotte County Public Works leaders took time out this week at their Punta Gorda headquarters to explain their fundamentals of service and explain some of the equipment they use.
Public works manages six divisions of service, each with a leadership team, which are overseen by the public works director. Five out of seven leaders are women.
“We like to put the best people in the best positions, and these are it,” said Chad Ray, public relations manager for the Public Works Department. “You couldn’t ask for a better team.
ASSET MANAGEMENT
The county uses Trimble through CityWorks, a geographic information system that organizes and manages public assets, so managers can make data-informed decisions. The software includes GPS capabilities and tracks information like the location of underground pipes.
That’s important when you’re trying to keep track of hundreds of facilities and projects that all need upkeep — and repair when disaster strikes.
“Using CityWorks, we’ve got a zone map that we use for hurricane debris,” John Elias, public works director said.
Included under asset management are camera inspection vehicles, ground-penetrating radar devices and shelter mobilization during storms.
The pipe camera is operated by a console controller.
PHOTO BY NICOLE DROEGER
The inspection vehicle uses a 360-degree camera that can spin in multiple directions to capture live footage of the inside of a pipe as it probes for leaks, chokepoints or other problems. The camera is operated using a console-like controller, and a worker inside the vehicle controls what footage is captured.
Before modern technology, public works used a pipe camera nozzle to investigate the interior of pipes.
“The camera would screw on, but the pressure from the nozzle would actually loosen it and blow the camera off,” Carly Hobson, leadership for asset management said. “You would have to crawl in and get it.”
BUSINESS SERVICES
Grants, public relations, onboard training and administrative support is operated under Kenna Hubai’s leadership. The division also maintains and sell plots in local cemeteries.
Public works is accredited under the American Public Works Association.
“There’s some standards that you’re put up against, and then you either make your accreditation or you don’t,” Elias said. “Not only will we make the accreditation, but I think nine of our model practices were so good that they get published in their actual document, and that’s national certification.”
The division is responsible for connecting county schools to the School Zone Speed Enforcement Program.
“This was pushed down from Tallahassee,” Elias said. “That got pushed down the local county commissioners. We’re working with the city of Punta Gorda and they’re still going to bring on some schools online.”
The county uses RedSpeed cameras to track license plates of vehicles in violation of the school zone speed limit. Elias said the cameras are installed and maintained by RedSpeed rather than public works.
ENGINEERING
A CAT small wheel loader gets plenty of use.
PHOTO BY NICOLE DROEGER
Transportation, surveying, excavation and stormwater management fall under engineering’s scope of responsibility.
Joanne Vernon serves as leadership.
“She’s responsible for all the paving of the road network,” Elias said.
The county tries to resurface roads at a maximum of 20 years.
Public Works has had to work around underground fiber network installations that go block to block, and Florida Power and Light upgrades across the county.
The fiberoptic installation has been known to wreak havoc on underground water and sewer pipes, roads and other utilities that residents count on.
“Another program that we’re not against, but that whole high-speed internet was pushed down federally to state and then locally,” Elias said. “It kind of ties our hands to it, but they’ve torn up a tremendous amount of infrastructure.”
MAINTENANCE & OPERATIONS
The largest division in public works is responsible for drainage, road and bridge maintenance, including the Tom Adams Bridge in Englewood and the South Gulf Cove Lock.
MSBU-TU and project management falls under the responsibility of Karly Greene’s leadership.
“There are specific taxing units where only this money can be spent through an assessment — not your ad valorem taxes — but a special assessment for every vacant or occupied property,” Elias said. “It’s how we fund stuff here.”
Rich Lisenbee with traffic management control said public works uses Bosch cameras to monitor traffic intersections.
PHOTO BY NICOLE DROEGER
The lighting district is in charge of operating and maintaining traffic signals in the county. Live cameras are used to observe traffic intersections, but the cameras do not record vehicle information.
Some intersection cameras use virtual detectors to determine traffic patterns and when a car passes through the dilemma zone, when a traffic light is turning from yellow to red while a car is moving.
“If there’s enough time and you hit that dilemma zone, you will get green,” Rich Lisenbee with traffic management control said. “So you don’t have to worry about that.”
The division also ensures traffic signs are installed and maintained to withstand future storms, and they are in charge of updating road paint.
MOSQUITO & AQUATIC WEED CONTROL
With only one city in Charlotte County, the Public Works Department is in charge of a very large residential area, that includes Port Charlotte, Deep Creek, Rotonda West and a good portion of Englewood. Many areas were plotted out by developers like General Development Corp., and have been built up at varying rates over the decades.
“We’re in a very unique situation where we provide almost urban levels of service in a very rural-type setting,” Elias said. “There’s some areas that there’s barely a house out there, but we have to do mosquito control.”
Under Laura Kraft’s leadership, scientists research the mosquito population and determine methods to deter mosquito breeding.
A jar full of mosquitoes public works have identified in the region.
PHOTO BY NICOLE DROEGER
“There’s only so many modes that we’re using to kill mosquitoes, and there is a resistance that we’re seeing being built up in the population,” Elias said. “It’s something that we’re working through and trying to deal with.”
To track mosquito-borne illnesses, public works runs a sentinel chicken program and draws blood to determine diseases in the region.
The division also uses a water conveyor system for aquatic drainage and weed control.
SOLID WASTE
The county contracts with Waste Management for residential curbside services. The company operates a recycling program and bulk-item pickup in addition to household trash collection.
The Solid Waste division is also in charge of maintaining the landfill along Zemel Road, south of Punta Gorda.
“We’ve recently permitted and are now doing a vertical expansion of our landfill, which will give us probably another 10 years,” Elias said. “We’re well poised and ready to expand our landfill horizontally.”
Under Richard Allen’s leadership, the division also operates mini transfer stations and recycling facilities, collects household hazardous waste and works alongside the Keep Charlotte Beautiful program.
The transfer stations — the Mid-County station off Veterans Boulevard in Port Charlotte and Gulfstream Boulevard in West County — allow residents to get rid of yard cuttings, old furniture and construction debris on their own. (The Mid-County station is partially closed for renovations.)
“Solid waste is an extraordinarily expensive thing that you don’t hear anything about — unless there’s something wrong,” Elias said.
Ray said, although public works works the hardest after a hurricane, they remain on-duty.
For more information about Charlotte County Public Works, visit: inyurl.com/chpublicworks.