FOLEY – At the Jan. 16 Foley council meeting, Public Works Superintendent Darrell Russell gave a presentation on Public Works 2017 Department Review, with gathered data and numbers collected both during the fiscal year as well as the calendar year.

“Public Works consists of 53 employees now,” Russell said. “Two that work for maintenance, 17 plus one part-time temporary sanitation, and 26 plus three permanent part-time in street department.”

The department began tracking phone calls during the month of Nov. 2017, and in two months’ time they received 1,613 calls, averaging 42 calls per day. Ninety-two percent were for sanitation, six percent for street department, and two percent for the city maintenance shop.

Mosquito complaints were low for the past year, with only 29 calls concerning mosquito problems.

For street department, two different sections are run.

“We got the grass cutters and the right of ways, that sort of thing, and then we have the construction side of it,” said Russel. “We started doing work orders when we hired the new street supervisor, and since March we’ve had 16 maintenance work orders and 220 construction.”

On the construction side, more than work orders has been handled, with city projects such as multiple Graham Creek projects, the dog park, and the tennis court revitalization.

There are two employees on the sign crew, who handled 169 sign additions and replacements. The total does not include any banners that are changed out downtown. With nearly 100 banners, it equals to around 400 to 500 banner changes per year for events such as the balloon festival or Graham Creek events.

“Going to sanitation, 920 galloons of cooking oil didn’t go into the sewer or on the ground,” said Russell. “We disposed of 300 tires, and that is our tires that we generated, that’s not the tires that we picked up off the street. Five hundred thirty-one tons of recyclable material, 1,000 tons of bulk, that’s refrigerators and couches and such, and I want to make a point, but 75 percent of that total is picked up by hand. Not machine, not equipment, but hand.”

The sanitation department disposed of 5,510 tons of garbage during 2017.

The department has also begun using an old rear loader and dedicated a cardboard truck out of it.

“We’ve made two loads to Mobile, and they’re averaging around $250, $300 a load that we get paid,” said Russell.

The city maintenance shop is made up of four employees, and the city currently has 296 active vehicles. The shop mechanics performed 253 oil changes, changed 307 tires, used 285 gallons of hydraulic oil, 641 gallons of motor oil, 62,047 gallons of diesel, and 103,524 gallons of unleaded.

For information on the city’s Public Works Department, schedules, or contact information, find them on the city website at www.CityOfFoley.org.